MU Experiences: Reflective Journals

1. Building on and extending real-world-based problem solving experiences to eventually enhance middle school students' algebraic-based and geometric-based thinking.

"I felt mentally challenged in class tonight. I appreciated the opportunity to work in cooperative groups. It helps to "bounce" different ideas off other teammates. When we were determining the amount of carpeting needed for the school, I found it interesting that one person chose to use a calculator while another chose to actually count the squares to find the area. This shows that working in groups can expand minds by realizing there are different approaches to every problem." KB (4th grade teacher)

"In reflecting on the experiences of our first class, I must admit the apprehension I felt about problem solving activities in an adult context. I appreciated the climate that was created immediately. I felt secure enough to explore each problem, with the knowledge that communication and understanding were valued in addition to the right answer. Even my mistakes were worthy of discussion. This is the climate I have tried to create in my classroom, although it has been difficult for students to patiently reflect on their thinking and to value this activity." TK (5th grade teacher)

2. Sharing, reflecting, and discussing with each other and with other mathematics educators their successes and their struggles in implementing authentic problem solving and mathematics education reform in their classrooms.

"When I'm teaching math I should be facilitating more lessons where kids are asked to think, reason, and make connections. I think that I am too focused on skills practice that isn't related to real world problem solving. Teaching skills is important, but there needs to be a connection with relevant application. I see the use of manipulatives as a format for helping the problem solving be more concrete and easier to understand." TL (7th & 8th grade teacher)

"I learned that I really need to teach more problem solving strategies as we continue to solve problems. Spending time discussing methods that different kids used to solve various problems (bringing the methods to other's attention) will help also. I plan to list the different methods prominently in the room and refer to them often, although I do plan to leave the choice of methods up to the students." EC (5th grade teacher)

"I am always wanting to find ways to show concepts using self-discovery but am hesitant. This has given me great ideas and has shown me that it is okay to try new things. The students come up with things you would not expect. They need these experiences to show them how to think instead of always what to think." KB (5th grade teacher)

"I enjoy working with other teachers and discussing their teaching experiences." MB (5th grade teacher)

3. Viewing and discussing video tapes developed by other projects, and reading, discussing, and linking selected readings to the teachers' experiences in the project and their own classrooms.

"The videos we observed were inspiring. The teacher in the class created a learning environment that was non threatening and challenging. . . . I liked the way the teacher gave hints but not answers. In our discussion of the videos I got a few ideas from other teachers. Allowing time to reflect, plan, and hypothesize each day is an idea I got from other teachers. Spending a few minutes before starting the problem to think about how to solve it gives those students with poor problem solving skills a good base." CP (5th grade teacher)

"In our last class meeting, we had an opportunity to view a video of an expert teacher. This was very valuable to me. I am always looking for methods of enhancing my math class, and when I can witness another teacher I can use some of their methods. I liked the idea that the teacher took a lot of time in the anticipatory set, which allowed the students to be successful in their experiences. I also appreciated all of the time the teacher took to reflect on their experiences. To provide a classroom environment like this would take a lot of work, but the end result is worth it. I would like to have my classroom be this good some day. One of the professors made a comment that was very reinforcing after the video. She said that many of us made great observations that were meaningful to us, because we probably attempt to do some of the things in our classroom. This was reinforcing because it makes me feel that I am on my way to being a high quality teacher. KW (6th grade teacher)