What was your greatest 'learning' this semester with regard to teaching children mathematics? How has your thinking shifted?
Through this semester, with my mathematics course, I have really grasped the concept that children need to learn for themselves, how to work things out, rather than simply being told what to do and reciting rules to solve a problem.
There are various ways to approach a problem. Neither of which are better than the other, yet one of which may be better for an individual than it is for another individual. Supplying various manipulatives and guidance towards various methods to approach a subject is the best way to teach mathematics, rather than telling and showing students how to 'do' mathematics.
They will after all, be faced with situations in which they can apply what they have learned to various other problems and situations. Even in real life. Being able to approach such real life situations with an idea of how to solve it rather than a learned mathematical formula, will be much more useful and applicable to many problems that they can face in their lives.
This idea has helped me to strengthen my belief that mathematics should be taught from a realistic standpoint, in which problems are offered based on real life situations, and that the application of these problems should be as interactive and hands-on as possible. Use the world around your students to apply mathematics, allowing them to see for themselves, that math exists around them at all times. This course has opened up my eyes to the possibilities and variety of ways in which to do these things.
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