Resource Blog #3- NSTA

This week's resource blog, although outside my content area, was really seen as beneficial to me if I were to pursue Science Education. This website provided teachers (or anyone really interested in the Science curriculum) books, articles, and activities for help with instruction. The reason I chose this website specifically was because it provided readings that are real word issues today. Such issues include: global warming, recycling, nonrenewable resources, etc.. It is important to talk about these issues in school not only because they matter but because it keeps the students engaged. Personally, I always wondered why we were learning about specific things in science if we were never going to use that knowledge in the future. This website allows for students, like me, to finally start making connections from the classroom to the real world!

This website also provides experiment outlines for teachers to use if they so choose with a specific lesson. Often times it can be hard to just come up with an experiment for students to conduct so having this resource is not only helpful but a huge time saver. This is a great tool for science teachers to utilize because conduction of experiments in the middle grades science program is a huge part of the curriculum.
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https://www.nsta.org/publications/freebies.aspx

Synthesis Blog #3- How to Use A Textbook

This week's blog post really focuses on the daunting task of using a textbook. I know for me personally, I never really liked the idea of a textbook because I knew it would require reading. So when my teacher assigned a reading from it or we had to do practice problems out of it, I was never inclined to do so.

However, this chapter in, Subjects Matter, really focuses on how a teacher can use a textbook efficiently, which is something I really appreciate. For instance, Daniels and Zemelman explain "don't leave kids alone with their textbooks...having kids work in pairs, groups, and teams at all stages of reading" in order to fully grasp the concept they are reading (2004, p. 183). This is a great way for kids to be social yet productive in our classroom. Bouncing off ideas from fellow peers and breaking down concepts in small groups can be an excellent strategy to boost not only understanding of the subject but reading comprehension as well.
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Resource Blog #2- Teaching Math Without Words

For this week's resource blog, I wanted to find a tool to help my future students that are more visual learners. While writing down numbers on a whiteboard is an effective approach sometimes while teaching math, there are many students that have learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, who struggle with words and will not understand the lesson completely. We, as teachers, need to teach to all our students, not just a handful of them.

In this Ted Talk I came across, Matthew Peterson explains how interactive math games that provide visual feedback demonstrate amazing results among students of all learning types. Through these games, Peterson describes how students can touch, feel, and see how certain mathematical problems work. More often than not, students do not completely understand a math concept; they do, however, know how to solve the problem and memorize it from then on. With these interactive games provided by, ST Math software, it clears up misconceptions about certain concepts and allows for students to truly understand the concept at hand.

This video provides math teachers yet another tool to use in the classroom that is geared toward his or her students in the classroom that have a learning disability. And who knows, they might even have fun while doing it :)!

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https://www.stmath.com/

Synthesis Blog #2- Help for Struggling Readers

This chapter in Subjects Matter, focused on strategies to help the students in the classroom in which reading and writing are not their strong suits. One of the points that particularly stood out to me in this chapter was to "create supportive relationships" between the teacher and student regarding reading in class (Daniels & Zemelman, p.281). Many students who struggle with reading "feel that adults have somehow abandoned them, or pre concluded that they are failures" which, in school, is something that can have an effect on the students in the future (Daniels & Zemelman, p.281). Therefore, we have to create an environment in our classrooms that is supportive, yet effective in order to have successful readers. 

In my entire school career, I have never been good at reading. It was always something I could do, but I never excelled in it. It never really effected me or my grades until freshman year of college. I believe if I were to have that support from my teachers in elementary school and/or middle school, I would have been a lot better off.

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Though my emphasis is in math, I want to still help my students who struggle with reading because there is so much more to math than just numbers and critical reading is a crucial life skill.

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