Brianna's EDUC 450 Blog

I think praise definitely can be useful in classrooms as a way of building students' confidence but I think that the way a teacher goes about it is an important factor. The type of praise a teacher gives students can either promote a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Complimenting students on having creative insights or for working hard may encourage them to try to continue to have creative insights and work hard. Telling students they are smart not only promotes a fixed way of thinking about intelligence and mathematical skill but also might make other students feel like they are not smart. I also think that part of the "tact of teaching" is being able to observe how students react when you praise them and responding accordingly. Some students may like praise and feel like it helps to boost their confidence. Other students may be embarrassed by praise and may prefer a nice comment on the top of their paper or an aside compliment after class. As always, I think it is ver...

"They do not care for their students in the abstract, they care for their students as persons who have names and personalities and with whom they have concrete interactions." I felt this quote was particularly applicable to me because as a teacher candidate, I can only think about my future students in the abstract. It is always easier to think about what you would do in a situation in which you are not emotionally involved. The risk of this type of thinking is that it makes the situation seem more simplistic than it really is. I do think that it is important that we care for our students but this care will make things more complicated when we have to make difficult decisions. "The social context of any classroom incident is always too complex for any single theory or set of principles to fit the bill." I felt that this quote was also very applicable to teacher candidates. We spend so much time discussing theory and that theory often seems somewhat basic or ob...

I think that most of the class agreed that short educational videos can be a useful teaching tool but that they cannot fully replace a teacher's lectures. The question then becomes to what extent should we rely on these videos? Personally, I think that these videos may be best used as an opportunity for extra exposure to the material. Instructing your students to watch a short video before class gives them the opportunity to be exposed to the material and have some time to think about it before class. When they come to class the next day, they may be more prepared to discuss it and potentially have some questions that the teacher can then answer. These videos may also be useful as a resource to provide to your students after a lecture that they can use if they are struggling with a concept or as a review before an exam. Additionally, it can sometimes be useful to have a concept explained in a new way. A certain student might be struggling with understanding a teacher's explanat...

One of the things this article emphasized was just how many choices teacher candidates face as they try to figure out what type of teachers they would like to become. This is a sentiment that really resonates with me. When I think about the challenges and opportunities that are ahead of me as a future teacher, there are some areas where I feel very capable and confident and others where I am less sure. I feel confident in my understanding of mathematics and my ability to teach it. What I feel less confident about is my ability to make all the "right" choices about the kind of teacher I would like to become. I have lots of ideas about what I believe education should look like and what is important but I think the challenge is the actual implementation of these ideas. I guess that is why it is important to be a reflective teacher. It is inevitable that we will all make mistakes as teachers. Reflection allows you to acknowledge and analyze your mistakes and then get back on the ...

One of the quotes that really stood out in the videos was when Frank McCourt talked about how you can't be a good teacher if you aren't learning. This idea of learning with your students while you are teaching them is very important, especially in the modern world of technology where things are changing so quickly.  A teacher who is not learning is eventually going to come across as out of touch and out dated. I like the idea of the teacher acting as a guide through the learning process rather than an authority figure imposing their knowledge on students. I think students are much more likely to be engaged with the material if they feel like their opinions and perspectives are validated. I believe learning from your students can also help you to connect with them and understand their perspective. Getting into the minds of your students may help you to understand where they are coming from and ways you could modify your teaching methods to better suit them. Not every class is go...

One area of education that I am interested in exploring is how movement can be used as a teaching tool. I think it is obvious that spending all day sitting can be challenging for students and can make learning more difficult. One way educators address this problem is to have breaks where students can get up and move around. However, I would like to explore ways in which movement can actually be used as a teaching tool in classrooms, specifically in mathematics. Math and dance are two things I have always been passionate about so I am very interested in exploring how the two can converge. I think bringing in movement activities related to areas students are already passionate about (sports, dance, etc.) and linking them to math concepts could also help to get students more interested in the math topics and help connect these abstract ideas to the real world. Another area of education that I think would be interesting to explore is how to teach to all the different levels of the classr...

After reading the six controversial statements about math education, it seemed like the majority of the class agreed that these statements seemed outdated and incorrect. While discussing why these ideas are problematic, I thought that much of the discussion seemed pretty black and white. For example, it seems obvious that students can learn from their mistakes and that it would be beneficial to spend time reviewing them. I think that the challenge here will be actually applying the ideas we discussed in the real world. While it seems obvious that reviewing mistakes can be beneficial, in a real life scenario it may be easy to say "I don't have time to review my mistakes. I'll do it next time." or "It would be nice if I could teach proofs and math history but I don't have the time". I think it can be easy to get complacent or distracted and end up sacrificing quality for efficiency. That's why I believe that even if these statements do seem obvious, it...

Test blog post!!!