My 6th reflection – Current Initiatives

My 6^th reflection -

15 October 2010

    I was glad to be back for Dr Yeap’s Math lessons for that day, knowing that I would  have a very engaging and interesting time learning about current initiatives and solving some Math sums with my other coursemates. Dr Yeap revised with us the PETAL framework which we, as teachers, should consider when planning our lessons.

I would make a point to look at my pedagogies, pupils’ experiences of learning, tone of environment in the classroom, the modes of assessment, the learning content and student-centred activities when I plan for my lessons. We were introduced to games

on addition and multiplication which I feel my pupils would enjoy playing too.

  Dr Yeap’s agenda for the night : -

1)      The salute game

2)      Card game – Magic Touch

3)      Take 1, Take 2

4)      Multiplication

We got to play the ‘salute’ game – on finding the product of 40 with our group members and I really had fun coming up with the number facts. It was like a drill and practice on multiplication and we could also use this game to teach number facts for example addition and subtraction. It was an interesting game to play and at the same time revise on the 4 operations of multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. I would definitely try out this game with my pupils when I get the chance in class.

The card game – Magic touch made everyone interested in finding how the cards were arranged and in groups, after several attempts, managed to find the way. I was thrilled and I learnt that we should use various strategies like trial and error, guess and check to find solutions to the problems. This game is suitable to teach spelling of number 1- 10 for the lower primary kids and I am sure they would be mesmerized when they see the ‘magic’. Dr Yeap emphasized that the metacognition- that is the brain’s ability to think and solve problem, the management of thinking is important and we should expose our pupils to such tasks to help them develop their thinking skills.

Playing the Take 1, Take 2 game – using the paper clips got think of strategies on how to win the game which we can use when we teach multiples of 3 or 4 and so on.

For the multiplication game, we learnt how to multiply sums in different ways and this game can be played when pupils have learnt their tables. I realized that the strategies we use to teach our pupils are important in helping them to understand and grasp the Math concepts. Dr Yeap reminded us the importance of teaching Mathematics – that it is ‘ a vehicle for the development and improvement of a person’s intellectual competence’, it is

to meet the demand of a competitive workforce  and  it is also for the enjoyment and excitement for the children where they can discover ideas and gain insights. I learnt that it is important to sharpen the thinking skills of the pupil and not to neglect the affective aspect too.