A Geometry Chapter
Mathematics textbooks are imperative to students’ survival in a math class. Their importance centers on enhancing students’ learning potential, defining the curriculum for that class/grade, and establishing instructional guidelines that lead teachers and students to the content goals or standards of the subject (Lester & Cheek, 1997). Every chapter in a math textbook highlights the different concepts and strategies that students need to successfully master in order to fully understand the material, pass their exams, and thrive in the classroom. In the first chapter of the geometry textbook discussed in the previous inquiry paper, the main strategies or concepts discussed are identifying points, lines, and segments, using the midpoint and distance formulas, measuring angles and understanding their relationships, classifying polygons and finding the perimeter, circumference and area. Although the use of this textbook is important, teachers and students can benefit a great deal from incorporating additional texts that will supplement the material in a fun and interactive way. Some examples of additional literacy texts are wikis, images, video, internet inquiries, etc (Vacca, Vacca & Mraz, 2011). These examples, along with many other literacy texts act as motivational tools that act like a “spoonful of sugar to help the print go down” (Vacca et al., 2011). In this paper, we will discuss some of these supplemental literacy tools that can be used for the first chapter of the geometry book in my observation classroom.
Additional Text # 1
One important text to supplement this chapter is called Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland (2001). This book is part of a geometry series children’s books geared t...
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...20, 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Analytic_geometry
Angle and Length Measurement of a Polygon. Retrieved February 20, 2012 from http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/AngleAndLengthMeasurementOfAPolygon/
Circumference of a Circle. (2012). Retrieved February 20, 2012 from http://www.math goodies.com/lessons/vol2/circumference.html
Kelley, M. (2009). The Humongous Book of Geometry Problems: Translated for People Who Don't Speak Math. Portland, OR: Alpha Books.
Lester, J. & Cheek, E. (1997). The "Real" Experts Address Textbook Issues. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 41 (4), 282-291.
Neuschwander, C. (2001). Sir Cumference and the great knight of Angleland. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing.
Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. L., & Mraz, M. (2011). Content area reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
On October 10th, 2017 at Springhurst Elementary School, I conducted a “Reading Interest Survey” and the “Elementary Reading Attitude Survey.” These surveys were conducted on a 1st grade student, Jax, to determine what his feelings are towards reading in different settings, what genres he prefers to read, and interests. It was found that Jax doesn’t mind reading, but prefers a few different topics. This was evident through his raw score of 30 on recreational reading, and a raw score of 31 on academic reading.
While the studies at Governor’s School are noticeably more advanced and require more effort than at regular public schools, I see this rigor as the key to my academic success. For me, the classes I take that constantly introduce new thoughts that test my capability to “think outside the box”, are the ones that capture all my attention and interest. For example, while working with the Sierpinski Triangle at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth geometry camp, I was struck with a strong determination to figure out the secret to the pattern. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the Sierpinski Triangle is “a fractal based on a triangle with four equal triangles inscribed in it. The central triangle is removed and each of the other three treated as the original was, and so on, creating an infinite regression in a finite space.” By constructing a table with the number black and white triangles in each figure, I realized that it was easier to see the relations between the numbers. At Governor’s School, I expect to be provided with stimulating concepts in order to challenge my exceptional thinking.
Gomez, L. M., & Gomez, K. (2007). Reading for learning: Literacy supports for 21st-century work. Phi
The math concept of Geometry or shapes will be taught to a second-grade classroom during and after the reading of The Greedy Triangle (1994) by Marilyn Burns. We will discuss the different shapes, their attributes, how they are used and how many sides and angles each shape has.
"The Foundations of Geometry: From Thales to Euclid." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Power Search. Web. 20 Dec. 2013.
While I believe every child is a reader, I do not believe every child will be enthralled with reading all the time. All students have the capability to read and enjoy reading, but just like any other hobby, interest will vary from student to student. The students in my classroom will be encouraged in their reading, be provided with choice, taught how books can take you into another world but, my students will not be forced to read. This paper will illustrate my philosophy of reading through the theories I relate to, the way I want to implement reading and writing curriculum, and the methods I will use motivate my students to read and help them become literate.
Every child deserves a positive, safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment where they will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. My role as an educator is to provide my students with this type of environment as well as an education that will help them succeed academically and become life long learners. It is the responsibility of a literacy educator to provide students with this type of environment, but also to provide instruction that will help students become successful readers and writers. There are numerous programs and philosophies about literacy and reading. Through years of experience and research, one begins to develop their own creative approach on teaching these skills. After looking at different programs and seeing the positive and negatives of each, an integrated and balanced approach of literacy seems to be the best way to teach the differing needs of each student.
2.Fennema, Elizabeth. The Use of Spatial Visualization Mathematics by Girls and Boys. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 16(1985), 184.
In this paper, I will analyze reading strategies for the content area of language arts in a fifth grade class. Reading comprehension is one of the most critical skills a student can master. Without a firm grasp on the comprehension process, learners will struggle in every subject they encounter, whether it’s science, math, or social studies as well as everyday living skills. The content areas typically included disciplines like science, social studies/history and math, but any area outside of English literature instruction constitutes a content area. The reading associated with content area courses reflects not only the concepts and ideas important to these subjects, but also the text structures used by those practicing the field.
Using literacy strategies in the mathematics classroom leads to successful students. “The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 1989) define mathematical literacy as an “individual's ability to explore, to conjecture, and to reason logically, as well as to use a variety of mathematical methods effectively to solve problems." Exploring, making conjectures, and being able to reason logically, all stem from the early roots of literacy. Authors Matthews and Rainer (2001) discusses how teachers have questioned the system of incorporating literacy with mathematics in the last couple of years. It started from the need to develop a specific framework, which combines both literacy and mathematics together. Research was conducted through
Euclidean Geometry is the study of plane and solid figures based on the axioms and theorems outlined by the Greek mathematician Euclid (c. 300 B.C.E.). It is this type of geometry that is widely taught in secondary schools. For much of modern history the word geometry was in fact synonymous with Euclidean geometry, as it was not until the late 19th century when mathematicians were attracted to the idea of non-Euclidean geometries. Euclid’s geometry embodies the most typical expression of general mathematical thinking. Rather than simply memorizing basic algorithms to solve equations by rote, it demands true insight into the subject, cleaver ideas for applying theorems in special situations, an ability to generalize from known facts, and an
...S. and Stepelman, J. (2010). Teaching Secondary Mathematics: Techniques and Enrichment Units. 8th Ed. Merrill Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
A somewhat underused strategy for teaching mathematics is that of guided discovery. With this strategy, the student arrives at an understanding of a new mathematical concept on his or her own. An activity is given in which "students sequentially uncover layers of mathematical information one step at a time and learn new mathematics" (Gerver & Sgroi, 2003). This way, instead of simply being told the procedure for solving a problem, the student can develop the steps mainly on his own with only a little guidance from the teacher.
“The single most important activity for building knowledge for their eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children,” a report from 1985 by the commission
Throughout out this semester, I’ve had the opportunity to gain a better understanding when it comes to teaching Mathematics in the classroom. During the course of this semester, EDEL 440 has showed my classmates and myself the appropriate ways mathematics can be taught in an elementary classroom and how the students in the classroom may retrieve the information. During my years of school, mathematics has been my favorite subject. Over the years, math has challenged me on so many different levels. Having the opportunity to see the appropriate ways math should be taught in an Elementary classroom has giving me a