Personal Growth
Participating in an interactive mathematics unit such as Baker's Choice tremendously helped my growth as a teacher of mathematics. The shift in education brought about by common core is going to require mathematics teachers to teach in a way that facilitates student's exploration of mathematical concepts through rich activities such as the ones given in the Baker's Choice unit. Unfortunately, the way I learned math as a high school student was not in this way and that is why it is helpful to participate in these types of activities that I will be teaching. It was helpful to work on the homework problems and the POW's and then to go to class and discuss the problem and my reasoning with my peers. It was beneficial to understand how they worked on the same problem and to understand their thinking then go home and continue working on the problem but with a different perspective that encouraged me to go deeper with the problem.
Again, I enjoyed participating in the unit as a student because it gave me a good idea about how I would like to facilitate a mathematically rich tasks such as the Baker's Choice problems with my students. I like how they would have time to work on the problems alone to develop their individual thoughts and then present their findings to peers. Describing and presenting their thinking and mathematics to their classmates is an important step to develop and solidify the mathematical objectives of the unit. In my class, I would reward their mathematical thought process, not their correct answers. My goal is to create a curious mathematics classroom where they feel free to wonder and motivated to explore difficult mathematical tasks such as the ones given in Baker's Choice.
Baker's Choice Cover Page
Selected Works from Baker's Choice
Again, I enjoyed participating in the unit as a student because it gave me a good idea about how I would like to facilitate a mathematically rich tasks such as the Baker's Choice problems with my students. I like how they would have time to work on the problems alone to develop their individual thoughts and then present their findings to peers. Describing and presenting their thinking and mathematics to their classmates is an important step to develop and solidify the mathematical objectives of the unit. In my class, I would reward their mathematical thought process, not their correct answers. My goal is to create a curious mathematics classroom where they feel free to wonder and motivated to explore difficult mathematical tasks such as the ones given in Baker's Choice.
Baker's Choice Cover Page
Selected Works from Baker's Choice