“Children can a…

“Children can and do construct their strategies, and when they are allowed to make sense of calculations in their own ways, they understand better. In the words of the mathematician Blaise Pascal, “We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others” (Fosnot, Dolk pg.102)

Loved this quote from Young Mathematicians At Work. I was reminded of a conversation we had earlier in the day, where we talked about students learning through their own exploration in science. It seems to be applicable also to math, exploring ideas on their own does not force information on to students. It encourages they to seek out new possibilities. Number sense now makes more sense than traditional algorithms.

Education is Politics

While reading Sonia Nieto’s first chapters of What Keeps Teachers Going? I have all this thoughts that are going through my head. I cannot believe how much of her own curiosities as a young teacher, I can relate to.

So far I am a little scared about what I already know is true and what I need to work on, which is collaboration. Sonia Nieteo (2003) argues that, if we want to make a difference it will have to be in “combination of personal, collective, and institutional action.” It is more than I am ready to think about at this point nonetheless it is something for me to think about.

I am also wondering about this idea that “education is politics”. She quotes Paulo Freire and say, “”education is politics!” And he added, “[T]he teacher has to ask, What kind of politics am I doing in the classroom? That is, in favor of whom am I being a teacher?”” (Nieto, 2003, pg.15). Nieto again seem like is talking about big ideas, but I wonder what is it that I must already be doing? I am curious also about what others are doing especially when I think of multicultural education.

Lectura Persuasiva

            

The first week back at my MP I was able to do some practice teaching two mini lessons. Both were read alouds one was a persuasive letters and the other was about the power of persuasive writing. The first was an article called “Elimina comida basura.” The second was a short article about Jane Goodall and the many letters she wrote in defense of animals and the environment.

It was a great experience to have my first week back. Teaching two mini lessons gave me some idea of how one lesson builds on another. I also really appreciated working with my CT side by side because I knew that if I needed help she would jump right in. It felt good just to teach. For each read aloud I was able to elicit student thinking and with help from my CT write students thinking.

Some of the challenge for me the first day was definitely using my teacher voice while also transitioning from recess to Lectura Persuasiva. Also while planning the read alouds, I debated what were good stopping points and turn and talk. It turned out that what benefited the students the most was stopping and doing turn and talk, when key points were made. Letting students discuss among themselves lent itself to figuring out the meaning of words on their own. I did not have to stop and explain every new word that they were reading. The students figured it out on their own using the context of the writing, with the help of each other and the class discussion. I also did a lot of thinking out loud, while I read I highlighted on the smart board some of the ideas that stood out to me and let students discuss.

It is all still rough but is work in progress.