Response to MAIT 402- Session One

1)      My outside-school experiences have not expanded or deepened my subject area content knowledge.  This is one problem I have with the way I was taught math in school.  Math was never presented to me in a practical way or in any way relevant to my life, so what I learned about math content was only school-based and I never looked for it or connected it to my life outside of school.  This is something I still struggle with as it is so engrained in my mathematical foundation. 

2)      My initial thoughts about the Ball article “The Subject Matter Preparation of Teachers” have not changed based on our class discussion.  For the most part, I think that many of the teachers in the class agreed that knowledge of subject matter is important, but not the only component or main component of teaching.  A teacher that does not have classroom management skills or pedagogical skills will not be an effective teacher, no matter how much content knowledge they have about a certain subject.   As it is said, “with practice comes excellence.”  Well, a teacher with a lot of practice may not be excellent, but he/she should have gathered a vast amount of tools to be an effective teacher.   

In my opinion, the point of an educator (especially in elementary school) is to give children the opportunity to learn information, develop a love for learning, and foster a sense of community and support in the classroom; any teacher with pedagogical content knowledge, hands-on practice, and a passion to teach children should be able to be an effective teacher, no matter if they had extensive college and post-baccalaureate exposure to their subject or not.  I believe that passing the CSET coupled with the preparation in a credential program gives enough content knowledge for educators to start in their field. 

If a teacher has to teach something that they do not remember or do not have strong background knowledge in, he/she can brush up on the topic with the help of colleagues, books, or the internet.  NO teacher is going to know EVERYTHING about their subject matter.  As long as they have a solid foundation, the details and extension of content knowledge can be added in later – pedagogy is what needs to be stressed in teacher preparation programs.

3)      Yesterday I met with an old professor of mine, Jenny Maguire, who was my Mathematics: Curriculum and Instruction in the credential program.  She is one of my all-time favorite teachers – one who perfectly represents Shulman’s “pedagogical content knowledge” and Saint Mary’s constructivist approach.  She is extremely intelligent and knowledgeable in the field of math, so I thought she could be a great resource for me as I narrow my focus for my research.  I told her all of the areas I wanted to look into – math phobia, math-gender stereotypes, inequity in mathematics, representation of different cultures in the field of math, strategies to be an effective math teacher, etc. – and she helped me narrow my focus so that I could become an expert in a particular area and possibly make a REAL contribution to the field of mathematics and to teaching in general.  I want to charter in untraveled waters, not just restate what has already been done.  

I decided I am going to look into how to give access (both mental and physical) to underrepresented types of learners, cultures, and women in math.  I want to look into “relatability” in math and how to promote positive math relationships, not just positive math attitudes.  I want children to engage and have a relationship with the math, so my goal is to come up with a small handful of strategies that teachers can use to accomplish this.  She also gave me a couple of ideas for experiential sources for my research that I am going to check out – namely, the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley and the Exploratorium in SF.  She said that both have fun, hands-on math activities to engage children.  I am very excited about the development of my research!


(Meg, I responded to Betsy Varellas getmovingintheclassroom.blogspot.com, Alex Iwaszewicz aiwaszewicz.blogspot.com, and Jocelyn Rohan Brodeur jocelynrohan.blogspot.com)