Diving into the fall

The first week of the fall semester is close to its end. I've been through nearly every class at the University of Michigan once and, best of all, have spent two days with the my mentor teacher and our students at Romulus High School. This is the part of the MAC program that I've been most excited, yet most nervous about.

The opportunity work with students, teachers and other professionals in a school environment has been very motivating. Romulus High is a caring community, where there is a lot of support among the staff and an obvious dedication to the students. This academic year I'll be working with Karl Wukie, a veteran math teacher at the school. Karl and I will be teaching three different classes this trimester; calculus, geometry and algebra. As might be expected, within those classes there are students with a wide range of academic abilities. I am looking forward to seeing how Karl works with those different groups throughout the semester, and I'm sure I will learn plenty that will help me when I begin student teaching full time in January.

Karl has a nice rapport with the other staff members at the school, as well as the students, and has expressed a number of times that he is open to letting me work as much with the students as I'd like. I appreciate the trust he has shown in me, and look forward to taking an even more active role in the classroom in the coming weeks.

As for my classes at Michigan, the field experience class seems like it will be quite valuable since everyone in the MAC cohort will be able to discuss their experiences in their different schools. I'm also pleased the way the math methods class so far. Since I'm getting serious about math for the first time since graduating from college years ago, the more math (and math instructional methods) to which I can be exposed, the better.

Looking forward to what comes next

We received a delightful break recently from the academic grind of summer in the MAC program to actually speak and listen to REAL LIVE STUDENTS. We were afforded the opportunity, a couple of weeks ago to speak – via phone - with some high school students from New York City who were visiting Detroit to attend a conference.

The teacher, a graduate of the MAC program, led the students on their adventure to Michigan, and took time to help coordinate a question and answer session with our cohort. The exchanges were wonderful. The students told us what characteristics they liked and didn't like in teachers, for example, and we answered questions about our college majors, and how we arrived at those academic destinations. The students were thoughtful, interesting and interested and obviously talented in their use of language (several submitted poems that we watched them read on YouTube).

It was a nice reminder, for me and many others, I believe, of why we're in this program. The educational underpinnings we're receiving this summer, a foundation steeped in theory, have their place. But it's the opportunity to begin working with students, and putting some of the things we've learned in June and July to practical use, that I'm really looking forward to.

The Great Technological Debate

During the Thursday leadership presentation in our Education 649 class, we had a great discussion about how technology can and should fit into the classrooms of today and the future.

The funding for such technology is a concern in some districts. There are schools that can barely afford toilet paper, let alone computers that make video conferencing possible. And if some students have a piece of equipment, such as a laptop, and others don't, how can a teacher utilize technology in a way that's equitable to everyone? More questions were raised, as well. By emphasizing technology, do personal skills like face-to-face communication suffer? Do students forget about reading books if they are Twittering throughout the day? And how do teachers figure out what to incorporate in their classes so technology fits with their broader educational goals for the year?

To me, that is the pivotal question. Each school district is going to have a different level of financial support for technology. Students will have different levels of access to technology at home. Teachers will have different levels of ability and comfort when it comes to using technology.

I think the challenge will be finding the right ways to use technology so students are engaged and challenged in a way that also improves their content knowledge. The activities at the Walter Payton College Prep school in Chicago, which we watched during class, represented a technological wonderland, with students video conferencing with experts from around the world, as well as with students from other countries. I have to believe a school like that is unique. But I also think that there are ways we can all use technology to help our students learn. And I think the exposure we're getting in the MAC program to various types of educational technology will allow us to choose from some different options.

Learning to pick and choose

I've had a mental picture appear to me a number of times this week. I'm standing outside, and a large, yellow backhoe is dropping its contents over my head. The symbolism is pretty obvious.

Four weeks into the program, I'm feeling a bit buried, surrounded by taxonomy tables and research studies and wikis and response logs and the like. What I'm trying to do, as I wade through all this unfamiliar information, is to remember to grab a few things on my way out.

I know I won't be able to quickly absorb, or appreciate, everything we are learning this summer. But I want to latch on to as much as I can, and I feel I'm doing that to a degree. I know my fellow MAC'ers are, too. The V & V research study isn't so impenetrable. I can do some rough video editing. Even the taxonomy table is beginning to make a little sense – I think.

Making math exciting

Many students sum up their feelings about math this way: It's boring.

Even as someone who thoroughly enjoys math, I can vouch for the fact that it's not always the most exciting subject in a school day. Some of that is simply inherent to the topic. Math doesn't come with the same cool stories as, say, history. There aren't the same gadgets in a math classroom that accompany a science class. The kind of creativity students use to write poetry or short stories doesn't translate as well to geometry (which isn't to say creative thinking isn't still useful in math).

But is math boring? It definitely doesn't have to be, and one of the challenges I know I'll have as a math teacher is to create a classroom where students look forward to learning. How will I do that? I'm not exactly sure yet, but I've got some ideas.

During my first three weeks in the Secondary MAC program, the power and value of group work has really come clear to me. When my colleagues and I work on an activity together, ideas get shared quickly, different viewpoints come to the forefront and I always leave the group with a better understanding of the topic and more perspective than when I started.

I think the same kinds of techniques can be used in math. I don't want to be the teacher standing up front, trying to impart wisdom to students hour after hour. I want the students to be engaged with me, and just as important, each other. To encourage that kind of collaboration, I want to work to set up a classroom that fits with group activities. Having students sit at tables, perhaps four to a table would be a way to start. In that setting, communication between students becomes considerably easier, and makes it easier for them to rely on each other for assistance. 

Another potential way to raise the "excitement" factor of math is through the use of technology. This is an area where I know I have a lot to learn. What's out there? I'm sure there are many, many tools I'm simply not aware of yet. For instance, until I took a geometry class during the winter semester, I had no idea about the capabilities of a touch screen. Our professor would project an image from his computer onto a large screen in front of the class, then use his finger to manipulate the images. It was pretty cool, and it was a way to graphically present concepts with a lot of educational impact. 

So as I move forward with my classes and begin observing my mentor teacher in the fall at Romulus High School, I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for ways in which I can help make math interesting. Any ideas? Let me know.