Thoughts....

We've been doing a lot of talk about students reading. Whether it be a textbook, trade book, novel, fiction, etc. And it got me thinking, do students not like to read because of the wording in the books or do they just not like to read? I think back on my childhood and I loved to read it allowed me to use my imagination and sort of create my own story in my mind that went along with the words. When i would come to words I didn't understand i would just skip over them or make up my own meaning whether it was right or wrong. My point being i didn't let the words keep me from reading. I think most students today do not have a drive for going to school or doing things that relate back to school i.e. reading. With technology on such a high rise, books have a lot of competition and using lose out to ipods, psps, PlayStation's, and all the other gadgets out there. The question is now how, do educators incorporate these new technologies into their classrooms and how do we get students to like and want to read books again?

The Language of Math

This semester I am student teaching, so I am developing lessons and handouts for the students. As I was creating a worksheet, I came across an issue that we discussed in class about on what level should we talk to the students and on what level do we expect students to be on. The worksheet is for 7th graders and I was struggling with should I write 'what is the measure of the missing angle' or 'what is the missing angle'? What if they do not understand what is being asked of them or why I worded it in such a way? In the end, I chose "what is the measure of the missing angle' because it is the correct mathematical terminology. If we ever want our students to know and use correctly math terminology we should not dumb things down for them but explain to them why we use certain wording. I have to keep this in mind.

What shaped Me?

An experience that has shaped me as a learner of mathematics occurred when i was in high school taking an Algebra II & Trigonometry class. The teacher was going over how to factor. In my opinion she was teaching what we call the long way and I knew of a shortcut and voiced that she should teach the shortcut because it's easy to understand. This resulted in a big confrontation between the teacher and I and a phone call home. From then on, I always wanted to know the shortcut and wondered why teachers just didn't teach the shortcut and that's all. Looking back I see how important it is for students to know how to solve problems using the long way and shortcuts.You miss out on so much mathematics when you only focus on the shortcuts. Also that teachers should be flexible in how they teach and know that they can learn from their students as well.

Thoughts from Talking Their Way into Science

-Overall, the book was very insightful on how discourse in the classroom can be beneficial and to the struggles that teachers may experience if they have discourse in their classrooms
-For schools today (2010), I think this may have to be an afternoon, extracurricular activity because so much material needs to be covered during class time
-pg.102 "The separation of creativity, imagination, and wonder from the pursuit of science is artificial and disruptive to the development of children of any age." I agree that if you do not allow children to use their imagination and be creative, they will lose interest in any topic especially in their earlier years
-pg. 40 "Language is socially constructed, and new ideas emerge from the meeting and blending of voices." Having children discuss their thoughts allows for new ideas and thoughts to be explored and for children to learn from each other
-pg. 13 "We have been trained to teach a curriculum without fully exploring both the history of science and the nature of science discourse. Thus our practice as teachers reflects our own flawed education as students." As new teachers we can not hold our previous educational flaws against our students. We must adapt to new teaching styles, curricula, and techniques to provide our students w/the best education we can
-The early 90's is when these talks take place, I feel that schools are not the same as they were then. Teachers have a lot more on their plate such as standards, testing, demands from administration, etc. that these talks may not be able to take place in schools today
QUESTION: In an urban school setting in 2010, do you think these types of talks will be able to occur in any subject not just science? In which subject(s), why or why not?