Love to teach/love your students

Entry#10: (11/30/2019)

Synopsis:
It's the last post in this amazing journey and I want to wrap it up by dedicating this space on focusing not on what to teach, but on the individual that is doing the teaching. In the end, we might post amazing ideas, methods, teaching styles and so on, but if the teacher her/himself does not embody someone who emphasizes love for their material, dedication towards their students, patience towards student success and in-depth cultural understanding, then a day in this type of classroom, under the guidance of a monotonous, uninspiring individual is as excruciating as sitting outside the desert waiting under the hot sun. Let's dedicate this entry to the amazing teachers that give it all for their students.

HERE IS TO THE HUMOR, THE PATIENCE AND THE OVERALL JOY THESE TEACHERS DECIDED TO PORTRAY ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS TO THEIR STUDENTS AND COMMUNITY AROUND THEM, REGARDLESS OF OBSTACLES, CHALLENGES OR HARDSHIPS. THESE ARE THE THPE OF TEACHERS WE ALL SHOULD STRIVE TO EMBODY.

 

TO ALL HARD-WORKING, DEDICATED, PATIENT TEACHERS: YOU ARE OUR INSPIRATION!

The Oregon Trail (Video Game Turned Fun Math Activity)

Entry #9: (11/16/2019)

Synopsis:

Last week I started working at a new educational facility-a private school up in Bronx's Riverdale area. On that particular day of the week, I was substituting at a 3rd-grade classroom alongside the head co-teacher. As the math period started, the teacher opened the math book on the page titled "The Oregon Trail". He went ahead to explain to the kids that once upon a time, during the mid-1980s, there was this video game called The Oregon Trail, that simulated the migration of people from the East coast to the West coast along the wilderness of The Oregon Trail. As a player, you became familiar with the harsh conditions and unexpected situations that would often rise while embarking on this challenging route as you traveled in horse and carriage. The school's math book took the game's theme and turned it into mathematical exercises dealing with unit measurements (miles) incorporated in a real-world setting. One of the questions went as such (reworded): "The wagon started off at *the name of the town* and traveled 135 miles west. They stopped at *name of second town* for 1 hour then continued 158 more miles. When they stopped at this forest *name of forest*, how many miles have they traveled so far since *name of initial town*?" Since this school uses their own particular textbook (charter schools and public schools both use the same teaching material), I'm assuming this chapter reflected the below commno core standard:

CCLS - Math: 3.MD.8

Category

Measurement And Data

Sub-Category

Geometric Measurement: Recognize Perimeter As An Attribute Of Plane Figures And Distinguish Between Linear And Area Measures.

State Standard:

Solve real world and mathematical problems involving perimeters of polygons, including finding the perimeter given the side lengths, finding an unknown side length, and exhibiting rectangles with the same perimeter and different areas or with the same area and different perimeters.

 

The game itself looks quite interesting and kind of ahead of its time, if you ask me, with the visuals and theory applied to it in a realistic manner (for the 1980s). You design a game that entertains players as well as helps them understand how people embarked into unexplored territories full of danger and unexpected circumstances for a chance to attain a better life. Nowadays, the only video games that simulate reality are war games and crime-ridden ones, which I feel are too deeply incorporated into our kid's psyche. At least this one was flexible enough to be applied in the math classroom.

 

 

 

I don't know if this image is an actual image that would pop up while playing the game, or maybe someone in the internet wanted to turn the game humorous, but if it's indeed something that would pop up in the game, then this would be a bit too realistic for people playing it. Wow, what an announcement!

This is how the map was shown in the student's math book-the Oregon Trail Map on an actual US map with different points labeling different stops taken by the carriage, in miles, where you either had to find the total travel time or the difference from one town to the next. 

Making 2nd graders comfortable with Number Lines

Entry #8: (11/07/2019)

Synopsis:

Thinking back on days when I attended elementary school, I would often find myself struggling to comprehend one particular math topic-the number line system. As the teacher would demonstrate on board that 10 plus 5 equals 15 by demonstrating jumping arrows starting from 0 landing on 5 then adding 10 from 5 until it reaches 15,  I simply couldn't grasp it due to constantly seeking a number line in real life to compare it to. Where did  the number line come from? When you close your eyes, do numbers rest on a line? How long is the line? Where is the line located in the world? Why are there negative numbers to the left of 0? Where do those numbers go?  Is there a place where these numbers stop? These were some of the questions I often asked myself when dealing with this principle. How would you approach this theory to your students when you first introduce them to the number line topic?

This topic is most relevant in 3rd grade as students start to get familiar with fractions and the definition behind integers.

 1. What is the number line? 

According to Mathisfun.com, a number line is used to get a better understanding of ordering numbers from lowes to greatest and/or greatest to lowest at an easier rate. 

2. Kids become familiar with the relationship of 0 to other numbers. 

When teaching numbers, especially placing them on a number line, ZERO and the relationship it has with other numbers and to the numerical system as a whole, is essential to its foundations. We are often fond of expressing nonexistent things or matters that have no value by using ZERO as the descriptive word. Not only is zero a number that sets the start to the number line to the right and to the left, but it's a starting point where everything numerical depends on the distance and relationship with it.  Without zero, the number line is incomplete and worthless.

 

3. Use the number like to add/subtract and more.  

 

4. Everything is remembered/recalled better when turned into a song: 

5. Best way to introduce NEGATIVE integers in a number line: