Discipline-Specific Writing and Assessment

Again, before this post, I’ll mention that my discipline is in math. Thinking of my progression through school, It is interesting to think about the types of writing that I did; especially now seeing how proof are written and the lack of that type of writing all the way up through high school. Hardly ever, in my math classes, did I ever have to use anything besides mathematical numerals or notation.  Sometimes I had to read a textbook that used English as part of the math problem, but very rarely. I will admit that some story problems require understanding and using rational to solve a problem, but this was rare, and even when it was done, it was just to use rational to transform English into a typical math problem. Writing in math was extremely limited for me until college. I can’t think of any math teacher who actually even encouraged us to more than mathematical notation in order to solve a math problem. As I understand math now, I can see how much understanding I was missing while in high school math even though I was able to still receive a A grade. I believe the way I was taught was more of a mechanistic way of solving problem, instead of an in-depth understanding way of solving problems. I will accept that can be easier to understand the depth of a solution of a problem if you can already do the mechanisms of the solution process and don’t have to think about that as well. I guess what my observation is, is that because of time, or other reasons, teachers teach the mechanisms of math but run short on going into and teaching the in-depth reasoning behind solutions. Most teachers seem to just assume that students understand the in-depth reasoning behind of a solution instead of assessing that during a test. One way, that I am excited to do, in order to asses in-depth understanding, is to require an explanations of the concepts used in solving a problem, rather than just requiring a numeric answer. The word proof comes to mind. IS it too much to require a proof for the solutions a student gives on the test, or on homework? I understand that time greatly limits you as a teacher and assessor but it is important to require proof as much as you can.  I believe that a student understanding how to solve a problem is more important than a student’s ability to quickly do the mechanisms of a solution to a problem; not that that is not important, it is very. Wouldn’t understanding the in-depth part of a solution lead to doing the mechanisms quicker in that subject , or quicker in subjects to come later anyways. Other ways to asses students in-depth understanding, besides a proof, could be through application of the math. This could be through 3dimentional representation, like if you are teaching about volume. Having a student do something that requires in-depth understanding in order to do is another way. This could be having students write a story that represents a solution to a problem works since it requires association of a element of their story to an element of their math problem. There seems to be many ways of assess in-depth understanding, so it’s interesting to think about what reasons are preventing teachers from doing this more, now.

Blog Post 3: Choose from List of Topics

Affective Dimensions of Reading:
As I grew up, I disliked reading very much; but I love stories. I didn't naturally pick up a book and read like others do. Reading put me in a weird zone that I didn't like that affected me after reading, and my focus was about being outside. Since I didn't read because of my own ambition, the only time I read was when I was forced to at school. At first I enjoyed it a little, then, as I realized that more and more I was going to be tested on what I read( and many times in absurd minute details,) reading began to feel like work. Work, in itself, isn't un-enjoyable. It was was that I was never shown the benefits that it provided, especially benefits that directly related to what i was interested in. This feeling of reading lasted until maybe somewhere in high school.  After that I became slightly more interested in reading for fun, mostly because of friends. Now, I love reading. I read for fun all the time. I am quickly devouring the classics. I think why I now enjoy reading so much is because of how much I can learn and be entertained as well. Its a wonderful feeling to have read something and feel so much more knowledgeable or inciteful when finished. I disliked reading for many reasons- the biggest was when it felt like a waist of time or when when I felt something about it was really interesting but force to focus on something boring( like if I had to do a writing assignment on a specific part.) I am not insinuating that What I read was ever a waist of time, but I felt like it was. Social networks pushed reading more than anything. Not a single social subgroup ever really pushed disliking reading for me, some just pushed other things as priorities. Reading was never insinuated as being nerdy. My life with regards to reading does make me wonder what things I could do in my classroom to better foster a good reading environment for my students. I will be a math or stats teacher. Providing an environment where reading is important will likely be where I should start. When I was in math, even in high school, I never read my math book besides skimming through it or looking up answers in the back to check myself. If I wanted to, I don't think that I could have. I was never really taught how to read a math book. It is very different from reading a novel. Maybe I never learned how to because, teachers never expected me to.  I guess that's where I would go next, I would teach them how to read a math book and expect them to do it. I obviously don't mean that I would have them just read during class from a book, but I would connect my teaching material and homework more towards the text books and interpreting it( more than just using it for its homework problems and index of formulas.) As well as the text book, I think it would be a very great thing If I could provide excitement for reading Math related material outside of the classroom. I could do this be talking about outside reading materials or texts, as well as referring students to others when they show interest or questions.  It will be interesting to figure out how to build up students self perceptions of themselves as readers. I would say the best way would to be able to allow them to see progression in themselves with reading. Get them interested and excited about reading, which will lead to experience with it and in end, change their self perceptions as readers.