As a mathematics’ teacher, I come to the classroom with a toolbox of skills to share with students that will prepare them to be lifelong learners. I plan to teach with a constructivist point of view that students construct their own knowledge using the experiences that their teachers give to them. As an educator, my job is not to teach my students what to learn, but how to learn.
My goal in the classroom is to foster an independent student discovery of mathematics so that my students become self-sufficient. Through the use of manipulatives, technology, and hands on activities I will teach my students to generalize these skills so they can learn better in all content areas. I will create authentic activities while utilizing Mathematica, Overleaf, Desmos, and GeoGebra to assist my students with their conceptual understanding of the problems. Using Nearpod, I can create interactive, hands on lessons for my students that they can follow along with on an iPad or laptop, either in the classroom or during distance learning.
I will use real life applications and project-based learning to ensure that my students develop an understanding of the strands of mathematical proficiency: adaptive reasoning, strategic competence, conceptual understanding, productive disposition, and procedural fluency. A project-based learning approach will benefit my students because it builds learning around a topic rather than a skill which gives students the opportunity to learn a wide range of skills and concepts within one topic. Through practice, my students will hone these skills in order to take control of their own learning.
I want to teach mathematics because I want to create a student centered, positive learning environment where my students feel comfortable participating in active, collaborative learning that will enhance their critical thinking skills. When I walk into a classroom to teach, my goals are to differentiate instruction so that I can reach all different types of learners. I will implement a universal design for learning which will allow for all of my students to access, contribute to, and advance through the material by decreasing barriers to instruction. This will enable me to accommodate my instruction to my student that are performing lower while also benefiting my advanced students so that they can continue to grow. I will ensure that students really understand the mathematics’ concepts I teach through progress monitoring. Through the use of formal and informal assessment, my students will be able to show their abilities so that I can analyze the data and come up with a plan for adapting my instruction to meet their needs. This process will allow me to get to know my students and truly understand their specific needs. Overall, progress monitoring will assist me in building relationships with my students so that I can enable and empower them to believe in themselves and their mathematics skills.
A teacher’s role in the classroom is to facilitate learning, not dictate what and how students learn. My classroom will be a place that blossoms intellectual curiosity and discovery. Through the use of a universal design for learning and differentiation, I will create lifelong learners that construct their own knowledge.