Teaching Space

These past few teaching days actually took place outside. Because of that, I wasn't able to take direct pictures of the children in the classroom. However, I was able to find pictures of my students uploaded to a site that I could use. Here are some pictures from their field day.


Initial Impression of School: When I first walked into the school, it reminded me of an old school I visited when I first started doing observations. It reminded me of Dawson Elementary, a school that's in central Austin. I could tell that it was one of the older schools in the city because of the way it was built. I saw pipes along the ceiling in the hallways. I saw a lot of student art work on the walls with posters about bullies. I thought it was sort of diverse. There seemed to be a lot of parental involvement. I saw a lot parents and this made me believe that they have strong parental support.

Math Class: She pulls out students for math instruction. Because it was so early in the semester when I observed the teacher, she hadn't established a system for what/when she would be working on math. She explained to me that one thing that they liked to do last year was something called 'fast math' or 'minute math'. This is something that she had began to do with the kids earlier during that previous week. 'Fast Math' is when she gives them a sheet with addition math problems and they have one minute to work out as many problems as possible. When they are done, she grades them on the spot and gives them an opportunity to correct their mistakes. This is something that is helping them become more comfortable with math at the beginning of the year. Also, she told me that the children see it as more of fun challenge than anything else.

Teacher's beliefs: After talking to my teacher, I have learned that she really enjoys working with her kids. She believes that with the child's full, undivided attention, they are a lot more productive. This is the reason why she has arranged her groups and my groups the way that they are grouped. For example, we have two sets of twins. Last year, when the brothers were in the same class, my cooperative teacher and their general education teacher report having a lot of problems with the student's behavior. They realized that they reacted to each others actions a lot of times. This wasn't helpful when trying to keep them engaged. As a result, they have put the brothers in two different classrooms and they are also pulled into two different groups at two different times of the day. My cooperative teacher has told me that they have made a lot behavioral improvements. As a result, they are getting more work done.

Me as a teacher: Being in this classroom is really important to me. This is the first time I am working in a resource room. I plan on teaching a resource room, but I have always leaned towards high school aged children. Being in this classroom, in this elementary school, is really starting to change my mind. They are not too mature to appreciate the special handshakes and not too young to have productive conversations. I like how they like a lot things, but are slowly transitioning to more 'teenage' things. This is important to me because I plan to use their interests to setup incentives for the students, especially for those with a BIP. This is also the first time I am working with so many Black students who share a similar household background with myself. This is the most important because by sharing a similar background, I hope this will help me build repor with the students in such a short time. Being that I plan to work with children who have similar background, I look forward to being the 'teacher' for the first time and learning everything I can.

Questions: problem solving vs teaching the skills

Q1: I think it takes less time to do problem solving. Also, using problem solving allows them to pull from their own understanding/background is more effective.

Q2: They will force me to seek out help from other teachers. From my experience, I have learned that some students get it better when someone else explains the concept. Often, other people can explain things in way that's easier than myself. Different strokes for different folks

Q3:  I would argue that they don't have to discover 'everything' and we as teachers have to be creative enough to pull children close enough to the answer and solutions without giving it to them. Usually, "reinventing wheel" for themselves proves to be better for them in the long run.

Q4: You can ask them to explain how they got to where they are in the problem. You can ask them questions that force them to think more critically about the problem.

Q5: They were asked to build on their prior knowledge and pull from previous mathematical experiences.

Special Education Teacher

Why do you want to be a special education teacher? What is your vision/belief about teaching mathematics to your students? 

When it comes to math, money is an important concept. I want my students to understand that eventually they will have to make their own decisions and this will include paying bills and working for a paycheck. Being that people with disabilities can be taken advantage of (at times more than most other people), it's important that they understand the value of computing their wages, bills, and other things that involve monetary exchanges. I sincerely believe that people, in general, are good people. At the same time, I am very aware that there are people who have no spines and will take the opportunity to take from people, even if they have disabilities. I want my students to understand this when I am done teaching them.

Greatest Challenge

What is the single greatest challenge that you have faced in math? How have you faced, handled or dealt with this challenge? Have other people assisted you in dealing with this challenge? How has the challenge had an impact on your experiences with math?

The single greatest challenge that I have ever experienced was in college. I had to take a college algebra class. This was the first class that I had ever taken while I was in college and I had given up on math in the 10th grade of high school. I not only had to go back and memorize formulas, but I had to remember how and when to apply them. Also, my teacher gave us (what seemed like) a ton of homework every night. It was summer class so we met everyday. I never had to work that hard memorizing and applying anything. I didn't know anyone and I didn't know how to ask for help. I am very happy because later realized office hours were made to help, so I started to go. It didn't make the work load lighter, but it did help me in my understanding. Thanks Mr. Garcia

Other Important Scenes

 Describe at least two more scenes involving math in your life that stand out as especially important or significant. Think in terms of scenes from your childhood, adolescence and adulthood. 

One scene that comes to my mind comes from the first book I learned to read. The title of the book was "How many ways can you cut a pie". My mother read it to me A LOT because it was the only book I wanted to read. I think I liked the book because it was about math. More particularly, the book was about fractions. I thought that was funny; the first book I learned to read was about math. 

Another scene that comes to my mind occurred when my brother lived with me. He used to have problems 8th grade algebra. At first, I couldn't understand why he was having problems. I felt like I was explaining everything so well. I then realized that he learns like me. He needs a model to constantly refer to to better understand mathematical concepts. We ended up making a tablet full of algebra concepts like adding/subtracting fractions and certain formulas. It made it easy once I realized that he needed something to refer to and that he needed a lot of foundational mathematical knowledge to better understand the work he had. He didn't have a good understanding of negative numbers in general and other things.

Turning Point

Sometimes when people look back over their lives they can identify critical points when some kind of important change occurred.  Was there a point in your life when you experienced a turning point, that is, you changed in some way regarding your understanding of or feelings about math?  Please describe a specific episode when you feel you experienced a turning point.  If you think you have not experienced a turning point, describe an event that comes closer than any other in qualifying as a turning point. 

My turning point happened when I first started to take geometry in the 10th grade. I had always felt like math came so easy to me. If I didn't understand a concept or anything, I wouldn't worry about it and ask a teacher to explain it to me. That would be the end. I would understand. Coming to this class changed my view. This was the first time when something was explained to me, one on one, and I had to pretend like I understood to keep the teacher from staying longer. She had other students who needed her just as bad as I did. It didn't stop that day. Later on in the school year, she would introduce more concepts and I would find myself not knowing what to do, with the explanation. She explained things well, I just couldn't get it. This changed me and showed me that I was no longer mathematically invincible. 

Nadir Experience

A ‘‘nadir’’ is a low point. A nadir experience, therefore, is the opposite of a peak experience. It is a low point in your experiences with math. Thinking back over your life, try to remember a specific experience in which you felt extremely negative emotions about math. You should consider this experience to represent one of the ‘‘low points’’ in your math story. What happened? When? Who was involved? What did you do? What were you thinking and feeling? What impact has the event had on you? What does the event say about who you are as a teacher?

A low point in my mathematics career happened during my 6th grade. I was sitting in class and my teacher was reintroducing division and my inner circle of friends all knew long division. I was really embarrassed because I managed to make it to the 6th grade without learning division and all of my friends could do it. I was even embarrassed to tell my teacher. Eventually I told my teacher and she made me feel so bad at first, but not on purpose. She couldn't believe it. She took me in and taught me division in that same hour. 

Peak Experience

 A peak experience would be a high point in your story about math in your life – perhaps the high point. It would be a moment or episode in which you experienced extremely positive emotions; like joy, excitement, great happiness, uplifting, or even deep inner peace after some math experience. Describe what happened, where it happened, who was involved, what you did, what you were thinking and feeling, what impact this experience may have had upon you, and what this experience says about who you are now as a teacher.

I had a peak math experience this past summer  with my little brother's best friend. He was hanging out at my place with my brother and I knew he was really into math, so I showed him some of my homework from class. I had no idea he was as smart as he was (or maybe I'm just not that bright #shrugs). He not only figured out how to do my homework, but he did it faster with more accuracy. I didn't look at him the same or math. For a second, he was teaching me. I was humbled by that experience so I invited him to class.