A Mathematical reflection on my Learning Week 9

I would once again like to welcome you all BACK to my math blog :)

Although the past few weeks have been very busy, they have also taught me a lot. I continue to learn through my mistakes, feedback, and peers in all of my classes. As the weeks go on, I am becoming more and more comfortable with the thought of teaching during my internship and have actually become very excited!

In regard to my math class, I still continue to learn more and more useful mathematic tools and techniques through both my instructor and my peers. I reflect on how grateful I am going to be when I am looking for new ideas for math lessons, and can look back on my peers learning activity presentations for inspiration and ideas. 

One topic we focussed in on in the past two weeks was coordinates and coordinate sheets!

coordinate sheets allow student to work on their plotting skills but can also be made super fun and engaging through having students plot coordinates, and then connecting them to create a picture or design! Students are unable to know what the picture is of until they are done plotting which ultimately keeps them super engaged.

...oh my the suspense!!!!

Here is an example of the one that we did in class! it turned out to be a boat.

 

This is just one example of a game type lesson that teachers can use to help their students with coordinates and plotting. However, there are many different games and activities that can help students learn how to use coordinate systems (Small, 2013). Another example of a game would be battle ship, a game that everyone loves! Students can play battleship without even knowing that they are working on their coordinate skills (Small, 2013). Eventually, as their coordinate grid skills progress, students can begin to move their shapes and work on their transformation skills.

References

Small, M. (2013) 3nd Edition. Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students, K-8. 3rd Edition, Toronto, Nelson.