Each year, a math conference is held in Palm Spings. It is my third time there on a Saturday; I have never been there on a Friday. As a more experienced teacher, I am now more specific as to what I wanted to see. I planned to visit all four sessions. The first one turned out to be the most valuable to me. It was a training session on using MathType, a program for entering math equations. In the second session, the presenter showcased the use of TI-Nspire. I learned about some potential learning resources with regards to technology. During the noon break, I purchased a copy of MathType for my new Mac. The third session was by an elementary teacher who demonstrated an origami lesson. I think I will incorporate this into my routine. We folded papers into beautiful stellated octahedrons. Lastly, I attended a featured talk where the professor discussed how technology should be used to help students understand math. If I am correct, her thesis was that we are not teaching math as effectively as in other high-performing areas such as Japan, Czech, and Hong Kong. Is the "We need to teach differently" theme really anything original? We had some interesting discussions, but I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of original ideas or potential solutions.
It was a long and tiring drive home, but the time alone allowed me to reflect on my need to continue to develop as an educator.
No comments:
Post a Comment