Reflection and Report 2

Hello everyone!
Welcome back to my blog. I will be discussing my experiences in our Week 5 Mathematics J/I course.

This week we played a game called Jeopardy Battleship. This is a game that I will remember and use in my future classrooms. It is a great way to get students to learn how to add and subtract integers in a fun and engaging manner. Adding and subtracting integers in the form of battleship allowed me to learn better and be more motivated to answer each question than I would have if the questions would have been on a piece of paper. However, I did not enjoy the aspect that involved allowing students to aim their missile at one other student. I did not like this because I was the person in the class that everyone was aiming their missile at trying to sink my battleships. I felt very targeted and attacked by the class which was not a good feeling. In my future classroom, I would like to use this game because of the fun, engaging aspect. However, I would definitely take away the missile component of the game to avoid potential bullying and everyone targeting one student.

My favourite part of the week was doing activities that related to real- world situations. This is why I liked Matt's golf activity. It related to a real-world experience which helped me to understand the question. Small (2013) stated that it is beneficial to have "useful contexts for making work with integers meaningful" that are tailored to students' interest (p. 336). Some examples include temperatures, golf scores below or above par, being below or above sea level, etc.

Additionally, this week we learned how to incorporate manipulatives in lessons for students who need them while learning to add and subtract integers. Manipulatives can be used when introducing a new concept to help students in the discovery process or to re-teach a past concept. I connected this to my previous experiences in elementary school math classes. I remember always wanting to use manipulatives because it helped me to visualize the problems better and therefore understand better. I liked being able to physically touch and move counters and cubes myself. But, this week we learned that we should not let students depend on the use of manipulatives. Additionally, I have provided a link to a website that also explores reasons to not allow students to use manipulatives all the time. (https://www.annieandeverything.com/why-not-to-use-math-manipulatives/) Therefore, the

"Math Manipulatives" 

most challenging part for me this week was trying not to depend on manipulatives to solve the problems in class. When we did the Chef's Soup activity, I constantly used the counters to add and subtract the hot cubes to solve the problem. Also, during Matt's lesson, I again found myself using the number line to count the number of strokes each golf player had to solve the problem. Overall, I want to develop strategies that I can use for myself, and my future students, to ensure that I am not solely dependent on manipulatives to solve questions.

One question that I still have is what do I do if a student still does not understand the concept of adding negative integers, even after using manipulatives like counters, cubes, a number line, etc.?

References

Small, M. (2013). Making math meaningful to Canadian students, K-8. Nelson Education.
Teachers Pay Teachers, (April, 2019) "Math Manipulatives." Retrieved from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Manipulative-Labels-FREEBIE-2060331