Transformative Journey: Becoming a Teacher of Mathematics to Elementary Students

1. Becoming a Teacher of Mathematics to Elementary Students Wynona WalkerTeacher Education and Administration Major: Interdisciplinary Studies ESL EC-6Professor: Dr. Jeanne TunksTeacher Education and Administration

2. The Battle between Math and I • Background (elementary school, high school, and college) • Professional Development School (PDS 1) Fall 2011 and Math Methods course

3. Autoethnographic • “Autoethnography is a qualitative research method that utilizes data about self and its context to gain an understanding of the connectivity between self others within the same context.” (Ngunjiri, 2010, p.2) • Analyzation of weekly posts and projects between my professor and I shows a transformation.

4. “Murnau-Garden II” Wassily Kandinsky First Assignment in Math Methods Painting that relates to me as a Math learner and teacher Appearance and colors connect to my inability to remember terms, types of math, or ways to solve mathematical problems Importance of this painting

5. Fiesta Math Night • What is it? • The game I created: Spin It • September 24, 2011: First game night

6. Tutoring • Required to tutor six students for 8 weeks • Response to intervention model (RTI), “A problem solving process that uses curriculum based measures to identify students whose level and rate of learning are below those of their peers” (Stickney, 2005, p.1). • Representation of the RTI model • Pre Diagnostic: 1st week • Tutoring sessions: 2nd week- 7th week • Post Diagnostic: 8th week • My students • September 20, 2011: Pre- Diagnostic Testing • 10% to 70% accuracy on 100 point scale • Place value, area of struggle • Looked at Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) to find focus for tutoring sessions • First Tutoring session experience

7. Game Night #2 • October 23, 2011. • Changed game, changed attitude • Experience with students and parents

8. Ending Tutoring • Realized what I learned in Math Methods could be used in tutoring sessions. • Last day of tutoring sessions: “Preparation for Post Diagnostic” • Many many games • Post Diagnostic Testing • The chart on the next page shows the progress of the students during the entire tutoring time frame, including the pre-diagnositc test, the six tutoring sessions, and the post-diagnostic.

9. Post Diagnostic Testing • Every student progressed. • The chart on the next page shows the progress of the students during the entire tutoring time frame, including the pre-diagnositc test, the six tutoring sessions, and the post-diagnostic.

10. Tutoring Results

11. Effects of Tutoring • Using real world items and ideas is one of the most effective ways to teach math concepts. • Middleton (1995) suggests, “when children are motivated intrinsically to perform an academic activity, they spend more time engaged in the activity, learn better, and enjoy the activity more than when they are motivated extrinsically” (p. 1). • Importance of Manipulatives • Toni Battle says, “manipulatives are the way to our future and the way to new knowledge. No matter where we turn or what we do, we as a society are using some form of manipulative in our lives” (2007, p.4). • How I used it • I utilized base ten blocks and place value charts to help my students understand place value. This helped them see the physical value of the numbers they saw written on the white board in front of the classroom and their worksheets.

12. More Effects of Tutoring • Putting the students first • Weekly postings forced me to see what worked and did not work when teaching Math • Teachers need to familiarize themselves with the math concepts they are teaching and create a good relationship with those concepts. • According to research, “the mathematical knowledge of most adults is weak. We are simply failing to reach reasonable standards of mathematical proficiency with most of our students, and those students become the next generation of adults, some of them teachers” (Ball et. al, 2005, p.14). • Math Methods course as a resource during tutoring

13. Math Night #3 • November 17, 2011: Third Fiesta Math Night • More positive attitude • Experiences with students • Reflection of all three nights

14. At the end of 16 weeks “Square Sierpenski Subdivision Variation #1” by Michael A. Coleman Reflection Fiesta Math Night and 8 weeks of Tutoring Reflection posting for Math Methods Description of painting in relation to me as a learner and teacher of Mathmatics after 16 weeks.

15. Pillars of Learning James Zull Relation Fiesta Math Night and Tutoring long-term events: step out my comfort zone in order to create a better relationship with Math “To feel in control, to feel that one is making progress, is necessary for this Learning Cycle to self-perpetuate” (A. Fernandez, personal communication, October 12, 2006). Initially we learn about something and develop fear against that learning, it takes our brains a while before it will see it as anything less than frightening. Once we have a positive, real-life experience the negative experience becomes more overshadowed by that positive, real-life experience. • (2002) “The Art of Changing the Brain,: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning” describes four stages of learning. • “We have a concrete experience, we develop reflective observation and connections, we generate abstract hypotheses, we then do active testing of those hypotheses, and therefore have a new Concrete experience, and a new Learning Cycle ensues” (A. Fernandez, personal communication, October 12, 2006). • Pillars of learning are gathering, analyzing, creating, and acting.

16. Final Thoughts • Making a truce with Mathematics “Mathematics is not a careful march down a well-cleared highway, but a journey into a strange wilderness, where the explorers often get lost.” W.S. Anglin.

17. References Ball, D. L., Hill, H. C., & Bass, H. (2005). Knowing Mathematics for Teaching. American Federation of Teachers, 10. Retrieved 24 Jan. 2012, from http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:29UqhTHObFAJ:scholar.google.com/+knowing+mathematics+for+teaching&hl=en&as_sdt=0,44 Battle, T. S. (2007). Infusing Math Manipulatives: The Key to an Increase in Academic Achievement in the Mathematics Classroom. Final Research Proposal. Online SubmissionEric, Retrieved 27 Jan. 2012 from EBSCOhost. Bochner, A. P., & Ellis, C. (2002). Ethnographically speaking: autoethnography, literature, and aesthetics. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Corte, E.D., & Verschaffel, L. (1997). Teaching Realistic Mathematical Modeling in the Elementary School: A Teaching Experiment With Fifth Graders.Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2012, from http://www.jstor.org/pss/749692. Ellis, Carolyn S. (2000) Autoethnography, Personal Narrative, Reflexivity: Researcher as Subject.The Handbook of Qualitative Research. Ed. Norman Denzin and Yvonna Lincoln. Sage. 733-768. Klem, A. M., & Connell, J. P. (2004). Relationships Matter: Linking Teacher Support to Student Engagement and Achievement.Journal of School Health, 74(7). Retrieved 29 Jan. 2012, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2004.tb08283.x/abstract Fernandez, A.,  (2006, October 12). The Art of Changing the Brain:Interview with Dr. James Zull. Retrieved from http: www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2006/10/12/an-ape-can-do-this-can-we-not/ Middleton, J. A. (1995). A Study of Intrinsic Motivation in the Mathematics Classroom: A Personal Constructs Approach. Journal for Research in Mathematices Education, 26(3). Retrieved 29 Jan. 2012, from http://www.jstor.org/pss/749130 Stickney, D. (2005). Response to Intervention. Retrieved 1 Mar. 2012, from http://education.wm.edu/centers/ttac/resources/articles/assessment/responseintervent/index.php Wall, Sarah. (2006). An Autoethnography on Learning about Autoethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 5(2).

18. Contact Information: Wynona Walker Email: wynonawalker@my.unt.edu