Who is a mathematics teacher? Recently, I have been struggling with the
answer to that question. During my student teaching experience, I learned
that surviving all the trips to Boyd and the EMT papers was the easiest
part of becoming a mathematics teacher. So now I am on the brink of my new
career. People are already referring to me as a mathematics teacher and
it has stirred up new thoughts in my head. It is very frightening to think
that all someone has to do is pass the necessary courses and automatically
they have qualified to be trusted to mold our future. I have decided that
there is much more developing and preparation left for me to accomplish.
I believe that the goal for all math teachers who get the degree should
be to become a master teacher of mathematics. This surely has different
meanings to different people but, I think it is important for every new
teacher to focus on the definition of a master teacher of mathematics or
in other words their ultimate goal. The next step is to design a path to
take to fulfill that goal. So, I guess a mathematics teacher is more a person
with only the qualifications but, a master teacher of mathematics is in
short a developed and secure teacher in his or her mathematical knowledge,
techniques of teaching, and further goals for further professional growth.
There are many elements that make up my definition of a master teacher of
mathematics. One of the most necessary has to be experience. I recognize
that it is very difficult for someone to jump into teaching and become great
automatically. There is much more to it than that. It is kind of like learning
to drive a car. People can give instructions or advice on the best way to
do it and someone can memorize the driving manual forewards and backwards
but, the actual learning is done behind the wheel. And just like driving,
I believe it takes practice to become secure in one's ability and probably
a few crashes can be expected along the way. Beyond experience, my definition
becomes very detailed. There are several areas of which I wish to focus
my development some of which deal with teaching in general and others specifically
on teaching mathematics. These elements are as follows:
( 1. ) Instructional techniques
( 2. ) Assessment techniques
( 3. ) Teacher/student environment
( 4. ) Further professional development
Instructional Techniques
Throughout and since my student teaching experience, I have been constantly
considering what kind of teacher I want to be. It has been much easier to
define who I do not want to become with reference to educators I have witnessed.
I have read so much information on how teachers mostly model their teaching
after the way they were taught in high school and etc. but, I do not want
to fall into that trap. This will be extremely difficult because I am returning
to teach at my old high school with all the same teachers who still teacher
the same way. Not that traditional teaching is terrible, I just believe
there is more effective methods to teach. One thing that I do know is I
do not want to sit behind an overhead desk day after day teaching students
to solve problems by example.
My ideal vision for who I want to become is to be a teacher that greatly
models his or her style of teaching after the NCTM Standards. I want
to be the kind of teacher who coaches my students through there mathematical
learning instead of just dispensing knowledge. This will require a great
deal of preparation to keep the classes moving effectively. I think good
planning is the key to this type of instruction. It would be very helpful
to identify what possible questions might be expected from the students
or necessary to achieve the goals of each lesson. With these ideas in mind,
I see a master teacher as someone who uses several types of learning like
small group work, individualized work, whole class explorations, and student
lead presentation and instruction.
Another element that is very important in my mind to being a good teacher
is how the students view mathematics. I want my students to enjoy math class
to a realistic extent. This is directly related to what I discussed in the
last paragraph. If students view math as just manipulation of numbers into
whatever formula the teacher puts on the overhead that day then of course
they are going to hate it because it is boring. One way to correct this
is using the student lead learning as I previously discussed but, another
immeasurable tool is technology. In my experiences, if you put a computer
or "difficult looking" calculator (TI- 82, TI - 85, & etc.)
in front of a student then you automatically have sparked some type of curiosity.
Computer software should be used as much as is applicable to provide dynamic
classroom demonstrations. When used for individualized explorations, it
can give the students a feeling of superior intelligence just be being able
to use it and the power and confidence to want to solve things independently.
A master teacher realizes that these experiences are required to prepare
students for their future in dealing with technology, needing the capability
of exploration to solve problems, and to generally view mathematics as a
useful, interesting, and interconnected body of knowledge.
There are so many things that form the idea of a mathematics teacher in
reference to instruction. For instance, experimenting with a lot of the
new ideas that accompany the views of the NCTM Standards. I like
the idea of a teacher keeping track of how much the standards of problem
solving, reasoning, communication, and connections are addressed in each
week. This kind of self-assessment provides the teacher with a method to
regulate her own teaching ensuring to stay out of the rut. One way to encourage
problem solving is by using open-ended questions that provide the students
with some flexibility in methods of solution. Thsi type of question also
addresses the standard of communication. Student responses often promote
written or oral explanations which alone can provide meaningful classroom
discourse. I also believe it can be very useful to further these ideas by
using journals in mathematics to cement the students understanding of concepts
by forcing them to analyze their thoughts. A master teacher might also use
the history of mathematics to humanize the classroom and promote the connections
of math to other subjects.
Assessment Techniques
The views about instruction that I have explained place a great deal of
focus on the type of assessment a teacher should use to promote learning
that parallels the instructional techniques. It is important for a teacher
to remain aware of the effectiveness of lessons, achievement of the students,
and the long term progress they are making. If group explorations are used
for instruction then it is a good idea for groups to be used in the assessment.
The use of open-ended quesions broadens the correct answer from one solution
to various solutions that may not be anticipated. To account for this a
teacher must be prepared to develop rubrics to assess the student's responses.
To promote good performance, the teacher needs to enform the students of
the criteria they will be judged on in the rubric. I believe when rating
a student's performance that it is important to focus on the good points
as well as the bad. The students are sharing their ideas which may be difficult
in some situations. Positive comments will do more to keep interaction going.
There are some other important factors to me of how a master teacher assesses
students giving them more opportunity to prove what they know that tests
and homework. Projects and discussion could be very helpful. The teacher
could alternate focusing her attention on a small group of students at a
time to rate their participation in class discussions. A teacher should
also be very swift to give all students feedback on their performances.
By this I mean grading any assessment promptly. It would not hurt to take
a few minutes to jot down some thoughts on each student's group participation
throughout the semester to make them aware if changes need to be made. Assessing
homework is also an element that needs to be addressed in a mathematics
class. A master teacher is also one who develops a good plan individually
or through research and practice to evaluate the students' performance on
homework. I know several techniques but, I have not decided on what method
is the most effective.
Teacher / Student Environment
One of the necessary qualifications of a master teacher of mathematics
in my opinion is having a good repore with the students. Recently, I have
learned that everyone will not always be happy but, they must feel respected.
In most cases if a teacher treats the students as a important individual
then they will respond accordingly. This eill create an open environment
in the classroom making it easier for students to share their ideas. The
relationship between teacher and student is a great deal more complex that
I originally thought it was. With the new ideas of mainstreaming children
with disabilities, the teacher must be sensitive to the individual needs
of each student and make adjustments to meet those needs. Mathematics is
a very difficult subject for a lot of kids. A master teacher of mathematics
in my ideal scenario puts a lot of focus on softening the accepted view
of math and breaks it down to where all students are interested and can
understand. This again supports the ideas of using technology and real world
situations to increase the favorability of math classes and mathematics
in general.
Further Professional Growth
The final element of what it means to be a master teacher in my opinion
is teacher having a continued strive to improve. A good method to ensure
this is constant self-evaluation. A teacher can discover a lot of things
about his or her teaching through reflection. After reflection comes discovering
areas for possible modification to be more effective. A teacher must also
stay up with the latest technological advances to keep the students up to
date. Several conferences and teacher workshops are available for these
types of advancements that can be very valuable. I also think that after
a teacher becomes secure in their position that having others sit in on
their lessons and evaluating them is a good idea. I value the opinion of
the students as well. It would not hurt if evaluation sheets are given to
the students. There are several approaches to rate one's teaching. It does
not matter which ones are used just as long as a teacher remembers that
there is always room for improvement.
Basically, I have summed up what it means to be a master tacher of mathematics
in my opinion. Do not misunderstand me. All of the methods I discussed earlier
are not necessary to be a master teacher of mathematics but, the major ideas
are. By this I am referring to modeling instruction and assessment after
the NCTM Standards, maintaining good relations with the students,
and seeing room for future development. It is very hard to define what the
ideal mathematics teacher should be. Teaching is such a complex job. From
this preservice teacher's point of view, the scary thing is I probably do
not even realize how challenging it really is.
How to become a master teacher of mathematics?
Honestly, the answer to this question still eludes me after months of trying
to find the solution. I have studied the NCTM Standards, several
journals and various articles to discover no set method. One thing that
I do know is that I am closer to it now that I was last winter when I embarked
on my first classroom teaching experience. I also know that I am still very
far away from being the type of teacher I have been discussing. I believe
and I hope that experience will take a pre-service teacher a long way. After
removing that factor, what is the next step in becoming my view of the ideal
teacher.
My First Year
My plan is to take things a little bit at a time. When I start my new
job, I expect to be overwhelmed at first by the newness of teaching without
taking into account anything discussed in this paper. Because of this I
will try to not put any undo pressure on myself during the first week. I
have made preparations to discuss planning proceedures for the classes I
will be teaching, Algebra and Pre-Algebra, in regards to pacing with the
new block scheduling format. I hope from that I will get sort of a tentative
guide to monitor myself. I plan to make very detailed lesson plans that
provide all material to be introduced, possible assignments, and good questions
to promote discussion and anticipated thoughts and ideas of the students.
I have designed a chart to regulate my methods of instruction. This will
help me keep track of when I use group or individual work, technology, and
writing. I hope this will help to promote a shift away from falling back
into the more comfortable traditional methods of teaching. To begin with,
I will start off slowly and then gradually increase the amount of cooperative
learning, writing, and technology. I want to be careful not to overwhelm
my students. I also believe that it will be very helpful if I keep a notebook
full of all the lessons, assignments, and worksheets with some of my personal
comments as to how I judged the success of each task. This will provide
a solid foundation for improvement.
Future Growth
Hopefully, improvement will continue with each year of experience. To
ensure this, I plan to always try to attend some type of workshop each summer.
I also hope to return to UGA to work on my Master's degree very soon. One
very important factor in this journey to become a master teacher of mathematics
is my attitude. I think it would be a good idea to reread this paper at
least once every school year to keep the "change the world" dreams
alive in my mind as well as my ultimate goal of teaching as defined by this
paper. The world is constantly changing. A mathematics teacher should always
recognize that and try to change with it to better prepare all his or her
students. If I keep these ideas in mind then it doesn't seem that "master"
statis is unreachable. The teachers I have witnessed who in my opinion are
master teachers all have common characteristics. They love and respect kids,
have a passion for learning and teaching, and recognize that there is always
room for improvement. If it is possible to maintain these same characteristics
combined with the methods suggested earlier for professional development
then becoming a master teacher of mathematics maybe somewhere in my future.
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