Mathematics during my Long Practicum

Mathematics during my Long Practicum

At the school where I completed my long practicum, students are divided into three groups of math: high achievers, struggling students and those who were really having a difficult time. For the first five weeks of my long practicum I was required to teach math to the high achieving group and then transitioned on to the group with students who were struggling with this subject. When I was first told that I would be doing this, I was frightened but open to the opportunity as it would develop me as a teacher.

Teaching the students who caught onto mathematical concepts easily was a bit simpler to me as it did not require as much prep time because the workbook was fairly straightforward. As we employed the Daily 3 model to teach math, I spent the first 25 minutes teaching, the next part of the class was designed to have students work independently on either their homework or to further develop their understanding of the concepts that we learned in class by using their devices to access online applications. All of these additions were meant to not only be hands-on but also to keep the students’ attention by breaking each math section into 25 minute segments. In order to make math more relevant for my students, I added in real life examples so that students could make connections between their learning and the outside world. My examples focused on how students could apply their learning immediately or in the near future to make it more relevant.

During the latter five weeks of my practicum, I taught the group with students who were struggling with math. For this class, I had to forego the Daily 3 method as I needed more time to teach. Therefore, I split one of the three blocks into teaching / doing and independent work, and gave students two blocks instead of three. At first, teaching this class was challenging to me as the students were not able to focus for more than a couple of minutes and struggled with their homework. I spent a great deal of time prepping by adding in more real life and hands-on examples for students to work on with me. I also included physical activities, songs and dances to help reinforce the ideas. I knew that the students would enjoy this method of teaching because whenever I asked them questions about specific concepts, they would sing the song that went along with it or they would do the activity while explaining the idea to me. I also tested the waters by including a bit of rap into my teaching even though I am not well versed in this genre of music. I incorporated it because I knew that my students enjoyed listening to pop, hip hop, R&B and rap. As well, knowing that they had a difficult time with their homework, I spent a lot of one on one time helping them with it. When students did not complete their work in a timely manner or did not understand concepts, I spent time with small groups around the board and then asked them to hand in their work the next day to show me growth. The students liked this approach as I was not chastising them, but because I genuinely cared about them and their progress.

The experience of moving from one level to the next was daunting at first but became progressively more exciting. I enjoyed my time with the students as it taught me a lot about them and I learned different ways that I could make learning more interesting and relevant to them. During their independent working time, I spent time going through my list and talking to students because I wanted to find out what they needed from me to progress. I ensured that students learned new concepts by incorporating tactile techniques and focused on conversation.