Monday-May 24, 2010

Today's class was challenging. We have been working on putting word problems in order according to their level of difficulty. This process has really made me have to think about the way in which children might solve word problems. It made me think of word problems in a whole new way. I really had to pay attention to the wording of the problems and look for words that may confuse children. I like how our professor does not give us the anwser right away but instead makes us try to figure out the problem for ourself. This process frustrated me at first, but it really has opened my mind. In class today, we also watched short video clips that involved children solving word problems. I really liked the videos and they were very benificial to me instead of simply reading about the strategy that they were using in the textbook. I'm looking forward to watching more kids solve math problems this semester.

Wednesday's class-May 20, 2010

Today I got to meet my professor for my elementary math methods course. He seemed like a very interesting teacher with a well experienced background teaching mathmatics. I think that he will have a lot to offer to the course in a very short amount of time. I liked how he talked about his background and why he chose to be a professor. I also liked how he really made us think about ways to solve problems. This was hard for me because I never really think about the steps that I take to solve a problem. This is important because if I'm going to teach someone else how to do math, I need to first be able to learn how to explain how to solve a problem. I am very excited to begin the semester with our teacher and I hope to gain a lot of useful tools and information that I can take with me to the classroom this semester.

Math Autobiography

My name is Jenna Bobinchak and I am originally from Sheridan, Wyoming. I enjoyed math when I was in elementary and junior high school but began to dislike math when I entered high school. I like algebra more than I like geometry and I always struggled with fractions when I was younger. I enjoyed taking math 122 and 123 and I'm excited to learn how to teach math to elementary students. This semester I am completing my praticum 2 experience at Batterman Elementary School. I have a 1st grade class and my mentor teacher has been teaching for about 30 years! The kids are very well behaved and love their teacher!