Reflection for Chapter 1 and 2

Reading chapter one and two has made me reflect back that children learn when they are given opportunities to explore. They do not learn concepts just by hearing and writing it, but they need to be given time to construct an understanding of the concepts by exploring and manipulating with the concrete objects. The process of learning is different for every child so it is important for teachers to develop the children’s learning experiences gradually from simple to complex and from concrete to symbolic.

The Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (p.2) stated the six principles are the fundamentals to high-quality of mathematics education. The principles are intertwined with one another to achieve higher standards of mathematics education. It has make me realized that mathematic education is much more that just writing or counting numbers. It involves the teachers to provide support to the children, have teachers who can understand what children know and need to learn, have a mathematic curriculum that is coherent and focused on mathematics, provide children with opportunities to actively build or learn new knowledge, have assessment that support the children and teachers and allowing the use of technology in teaching mathematics.

The teachers play an important role when providing children with Mathematics lesson in the classroom. They have to be knowledgeable in mathematics, be persistence in allowing children to investigate mathematical concepts, have a positive attitude, be ready for change and be reflective.

As a teacher in an early childhood education, I believe that every child is a unique individual and each child has different needs and interest, learn differently and develop at different rate so it is important to provide the children with equal opportunities to explore and make choices throughout their mathematics learning experiences. The environment should be interesting, rich and positive to allow children to express their ideas, thoughts and opinion confidently. The activities conducted should provide children with opportunities to explore with mathematical concepts that they are learning allowing them to learn to their fullest capacity.

I am looking forward to the week ahead as I know that I will be learning new things about Mathematics that I will be able to apply to my own class.

Reference:

Van De Walle, J. A., Karp. K. S. & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2010). Elementary & Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally (7th ed.). USA: Allyn & Bacon, Pearson International