Teaching Elementary Math

When I enrolled into Math for Elementary Teachers I knew for sure that is was going to be an easy class, but was I wrong. Elementary math has changed a lot since I was in elementary school, which was a complete shock to me. I was taught the procedural way, or as I like to call “lazy way,” and now students are being taught the conceptual way. I never heard of the conceptual way of teaching until taking this course, but I have to say I like this way a lot better than the procedural way. In the beginning I was scared about teaching elementary math because I thought I would never understand math the way students do now. After weeks of learning the conceptual way, I have to say I am finally understanding and I more confident about teaching elementary math.

When I was in elementary school, I was taught standard algorithms and the answer just was because that was the way to do it. I always thought there was just one way to add, subtract, multiply, etc., but that is not the case at all. I did not know this going into this class because I was completely caught off guard with all the manipulatives students do now. Multiplication was not my favorite in elementary school because I would always get confused and learning the ways students do now confused me even more. I had never heard of the lattice method or used manipulatives to solve multiplication like students do now. I think it is great because if I were given these options maybe I could have done better. Learning all the conceptual ways made me nervous about teaching elementary math because I thought I was never going to understand it. I was and still do get frustrated at times with teaching elementary math, but I believe it is much better than it was a couple months ago.

The way I f...

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...one because it helps the students focus on one lesson at a time and it helps you as the teacher not feel so rushed.

In conclusion, this class was stressful for me, but I am glad I was a part of it. In the beginning I was very nervous that I would never understand the way elementary math is now taught, but after weeks of learning more about it I feel much better. I would like to voice my opinion to the president of William Penn because I believe that this class needs to be two semesters long instead of one. I am not saying that I am the smartest person, but I am an “A” student and this class has been by far the hardest I have had to take out of five college semesters. Since the common core continues to change, it important as future teachers that we know everything there is to know about the curriculum because if we cannot teach it, what good are we as teachers.