Today is the first day of my Summer 3 course, New Literacies in Practice. I am excited to be learning some new things, especially those that will motivate me as a teacher and engage my students. Based on the things we have done today, as well as what I have read in the syllabus, I am hopeful that I will add many things to my bag of tricks!
Currently teaching mathematics to sixth graders, I am yearning for ways to help my students communicate their understanding to each other and to me that go beyond just following procedures correctly or being able to solve problems. While these are very important to mathematics competency, it is not the whole picture. Students' ability to communicate in multiple ways is key to their development as succesful learners, citizens, and people. Enhancing the math communication piece of my classroom is what I hope to accomplish from taking this course.
Matt, have you taken the course "Reading in the Content Areas" at Kent? It is a great course that, like this one, gives you ideas for incorporating other disciplines (like reading or multiple literacies) into the math classroom. It was not something I had ever thought about until I took that course. Reading, writing and arithmatic all in one:)
ReplyDeleteI always thought I would love to teach Math if I hadn't taught LA, but then I was never sure how to be creative with solving algebra problems, so I really admire that you are yearning to find new and exciting ways to add to your math classes. Sometimes with literacy comes up, Math teachers are the first to say they "don't teach reading"-- but there is so much that can still be encouraged literacy-wise. I am excited to read more of your solutions and ideas for the Math classroom. I hope I will be able to share a few with our teachers too!
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