Reflection

__Sept 1st, 2010__

Today, we talked about a very interesting topic i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Though the idea of intrinsic motivation is worthwhile, our whole society is based on extrnisic motivation. When we do something commendable, we get rewards, awards, good grades etc.

__Sept 13, 2010__ Today, I found the questions about punishment really interesting. In my opinion punishments are a short term solution for a bigger problem. Punishments might be able to curb the behaviour momentarily but it is not the part of long term solution. I think as teachers we should look into the root cause of the problem and work our way from that point.

__Sept 20, 2010__ In today's class we worked with math manipulatives. In my opinion, the use of manipulatives have their pros and cons. Manipulatives are a concrete way of understanding Math. They give students hands on experience to work on math problems. They are a great a tool for visual/ tactile learners. As a student I have never used math manipulatives myself. So, the problem for me lies in the fact that I have to become proficient in their use first in order to teach my students. Another negative aspect would be their potential to distract students from their task. I also think some of the manipulatives are quite confusing to use, so instead of making a math problem simpler they can make them more complex e.g. for me it is easier to do algebra problems on paper than using algebra tiles.

__Nov 13, 2010__ I am just going to reflect today about why I was unable to reflect on my math wiki for a long time. I had every intention to do it but with an overwhelming number of assignments with specific due dates, I could not find time to write reflections. I think it would have been better if we had the last 5 minutes in every class to do our reflections, similar to ticket out the door. In my opinion wiki page is a great idea and it is very useful. it is a tremendous resource for us but the same thing happened, because we had other assignments with due dates and grades associated with them, we rushed to finish those first. Also due to my personal reasons, the few days I missed in the beginning of the program, I feel that I have never recovered from the missed work. I am still trailing behind in assignments with soft due dates. I think another reason for my low number of reflections is, I am not a multitasker. I have seen students working on other things while listening to the lecture in the classroom. I have to finish one task before I can begin the next one. I am hoping the next few classes I will be able do the reflections and add valuable resources to my wiki.

__Nov 21, 2010__ I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the math presentation from the fellow teacher candidates. It provided us with great resources and ideas for lesson planning. Another purpose it served was to brush up our memories about all those nearly forgotten math topics. I am looking forward to more presentations tomorrow!

__Nov 23, 2010__ So the semester has almost come to an end. Math course is finished, I learned a lot in this course and especially by the teaching presentations. I also liked the use of different technologies in math. More practice of those devices should have been better. I just felt like the lesson plans were too crammed with knowledge, I would have preferred to take in a little less knowledge but retained and absorbed what I have learned. But overall the quality of teaching and learning were both effective.