K-6 Math Resources

During this weeks class, my class and I were exposed to the math resources that are made available to all teachers teaching in Newfoundland and Labrador. Although I have worked with the mathematics curriculum guide in the past this is my first exposure to resources outside of the math curriculum. I found my encounter with these resources both informative and thought-provoking. 

Many of the resources were very beneficial, particularly the "Big Books" and story books that are available in the primary classroom. These colorful and fun primary math resources make abstracts mathematical concepts more concrete by relating them to real life concepts. For example, one of the primary books was on the concept of money and this book teaches students about money through something which all students will be familiar with - purchasing items. These children math book resources promote problem-based learning through teaching math concepts through finding solutions to real-life problems which promotes deep understanding. Also the "Big Books" are a size that will be fun for children with illustrations and text that is at a level that is appropriate for the students. 

I found these books to be very beneficial resources for primary, but it disappointed me to see these interesting and fun types of resources for students fade away.  It appears as though the general belief is that these students are older and "mature" and thus do not need visually stimulating and appealing resources to learn anymore, that students can just learn through lecture and examples. Learning in a way that is fun and that relates to what students already know is beneficial for students of all ages. As future teachers we must keep in mind that we are not restricted to using only the resources given to us by the Newfoundland and Labrador school board, but that there are many fun and interactive resources available for teachers at stores, online, and at public libraries. As a future teacher, I will bring my own interesting resources into my elementary classroom to make mathematics fun and appealing for my students to support their learning of the math concepts. 

Although the elementary resources did not include interesting resources for the students, the resources provided were still very beneficial for teachers. Many of the activities, in the teacher's guide and the math textbooks that I read were activities which promoted group work and problems solving techniques that require students to think critically. Although I believe the activities in the Math book were very useful and beneficial, the text books were often written in a way that I believe would be above many students reading level in each grade. The way that the problems in the book are written appeared to be confusing, even for me. As a future teacher, although I will use these resources to find ideas to use in lesson plans to teach math concepts, I will not expect my students to learn any concepts directly from the math book. The students in my class will be at various different developmental levels and not all students will be able to learn the way the lessons are taught in the text book. I will take activities out of the resources that I am provided and I will modify these activities to fit the students in my classroom.

As future teachers it is always reassuring to be exposed to the resources that we will have at our disposal when teaching different subjects. At times it feels overwhelming to think that as a future teacher we must create lesson plans for every subject, every day of the school year, from scratch. Being exposed to the math resources reminds me that I am not expected to come up with ideas to meet the objectives all on my own. I will be given resources, and I will have access to many more resources, to aid me in creating the lesson plans in my primary/elementary classrooms.