Blog Post Assignment #16 - Final Relfection

What My Future Classroom would be like

Describing The Classroom

My future classroom would be an oasis for learning. There will be a smartboard in the front of the room instead of a white board. Each student would have access to an ipad or a laptop. The walls would be decorated with math related items that are colorful and attractive. As soon as the students walk in, I want them to say, "This is going to be a fun and exciting class!" Instead of arranging the desks in rows, I would have them in a circle centered around my desk(in the middle).

The Types of Methods for Teaching

I would use several different methods for teaching my students. I will NOT stand up and lecture for 90 minutes a day, seven days a week. I will lecture when necessary, but the other times the students will be asked to teach their peers. I will use the smartboard to lecture and teach, and so will the students. I will also use online videos from different math teachers around the globe to give the students a different perspective on the lesson at hand. Also when the students do projects they will be required to teach the class on what they have learned by doing the project.

The tools that I will be Using in the Classroom

I have already mentioned a few tools that I would like to have and use in my classroom. I would love to have a smartboard to do lessons and presentations on. I think this gets the students involved because it is something different then sitting there listening to a teacher lecture through a lesson. I would also like my students to be able to use ipads and computers for research when they don't understand something from the material or if they question what I am teaching them. I would also use blogs so that the parents of my students can see what their students are doing in the classroom instead of having to rely on their children and I. I would allow calculators for some parts of the material, but not all.

The learning That Will Take Place in my Classroom

Not just the students will be learning in my classroom. I feel that if I am trying to get my students to learn, then I should be learning as well. I think that when you have a classroom that learns together then nothing is impossible. I think that if we learn as a unit then we will achieve great things. Also part of the learning will be collaborative. I would have my students apart of a "learning community", which means that every will have a part in the class's learning. In my classroom, if you don't want to learn then to bad. In my classroom, learning is a vital part of growing, and if you don't want to learn then you are telling me that you don't want to grow. Learning will be self inflicting. I mean that I want my students to want to learn for themselves and not take my word for it. I would want them to question me, and then go and research the answer.

What I would change about what I wrote at the Beginning of the Semester
First, I would change the fact about calculators. Although I was taught to hate calculators and that I should be able to do the math without them, I think that calculators can play a vital role in helping students understand why they got the answer they did. I don't think that they should be used in excessive, but as long as they are used in moderation to aide my students in their learning I will not have a problem with them. As Dr. Strange asked in class, "What do I think about calculators?" I said I hated them because I thought that they would hurt the student more than they would help. But then he asked, "Would you say the same thing about telling time?" I really didn't have an answer for that. I wear watches all the time, and I don't know how I would tell the time without pulling my cellphone out of my pocket to check. It's not like I could pull a sun dial out and check the shadow of the sun. No one uses those anymore so why should I expect my students to revert to past history if I do the same thing with telling time.
Another thing I would change is my teaching methods. I would still want my students to apply what they have learned to real world settings, but now I would want them to be able to learn on their own as well. I think that it is vital for my students to perfect this type of learning because who better to learn from then yourself. It is like the old saying goes, you will never learn unless you learn from your OWN mistakes. I believe this to be so true. You do not fully learn something unless you have tried and possibly failed for yourself. Also, I would add to this that I would want my students to be apart of the teaching process. I don't want to stand up in front of the class everyday lecturing each lesson and I know that my kids wouldn't either. I would want them to teach their peers on what they have learned from projects and presentations