Getting Inspired

As our summer comes to an end, we look forward to the start of a new school year. Wondering who will sit in my class this year? What will they be like? What will there learning challenges be?  Will I be able to reach them? What I am going to do differently to make the connection?... The are all questions we ask ourselves as the year starts. Not because we have doubt in ourselves, but rather because we start a new job every year. Yes we teach every year, but our students are different and the challenges that they bring are unlike what we have seen before. So as summer unwinds and we have our regular small jitters about this next school year I want to leave you with an inspiration. I read this poem in an email sometime back and today found this on youtube. The power of his voice can inspire a drive that reaches deep the part of you soul to CONTINUE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Making Connections

 
This week I've learned about experiential teaching & learning and how you have to submerge students into an experience and the content will come along. I really didn't believe this until I experienced. You see on Friday our environmental class took a field trip to place called Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. I experienced nature and its beautiful inhabitants in a way I had never expected to. We were submerged into the experience and learned the content along the way. It made me question how I could do this with mathematics, what experience can I give my students to help them become successful learners? Although mathematics is not as visible as the White Tail hawk we saw it's right underneath the surface in the amount of time we take to get ready in the morning, number of outfit combinations we can make, or the distance travel for a trip. It's a matter of becoming more aware of our surroundings and bringing in the tools we have to make the experience relevant. Just like I became aware of this beautiful place we are so luck to have in our own backyard:)

Matrix puzzles

These matrix puzzles were created by 3rd graders. It involves deductive reasoning and really makes you think. You could use them with your students and then extend this lesson to have students create similar problems.
puzzles

Why teachers are so IMPORTANT!

When I logged on to blackboard one day, my technology professor Linda Newell, had a cartoon with a classroom and quote that said something to the extent of whether you would like to sit in your own classroom. That really got me thinking and made me wonder how my students feel in my classroom? She used the cartoon to remind us to incorporate technology and have a better connection with our students, but it sparked something in me. It reminded me why I had started this masters program to begin with, to be a better teacher and be more self reflective about my teaching. As the semester has progressed I have asked myself this many times and wondered if any of my students will ever be in the position this young girl is in?  I completely understand that beauty contestants are under pressure when they are asked questions in front of millions of people. As I look at it again, I think to myself: please remember that as teachers we have an obligation to help our students become successful learners and guided them to avoid situations like this one. Keep her in mind the next time you feel like giving up or just having a rough day and you can't get through to your students. I know I have and it's helped me get by those rough days:)

This is Dan Mayer, he is a mathematics teacher and implements  real world problems to his mathematics lessons. Very similar to the Young Mathematicians at Work program. When I saw this video for the first time it was inspiring. You see the reason behind this blog and it corresponding wiki is that I love to learn math, but I have trouble teaching math. To me it's very easy, to the rest of the world it can be the most dreadful subject in school. When I began teaching I naively thought all my students would learn like I learned. That thought was completely foolish and I quickly learned that not everyone likes math the way I do. Over the years of my career I have learned to make this subject more relateable for my student. I take inspiration from various medium and I hope Dan can inspire you like he did me:) 

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog!

This blog is in correlation with the wiki I created with my dear friend Olivia. We both saw a need for online resources for mathematics teachers that were found in one specific place. We have worked countless hours to compile lessons, activities, and games that teachers can use with their students according to the grade level and the objective being taught. We are opening this forum to teachers who would like to share lesson, activities, games, and ideas that they use with their students. We hope you find many useful resources that will help you reach the goals you have set for your students. Below you will find the link to the wiki with all this information.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mary Salinas Garcia

www.makingithappeninelementarymath.pbworks.com