Resource Reflection: Math Forum Website

As a future teacher I find that I will use any, and all resources that I can find. As a recent assignment for my Methods of Teaching Mathematics course, we were to visit three specific blogs and share our thoughts on them. I first visited, Mr. Salsich's Math Class 3rd Grade Blog. I thoroughly enjoyed this blog. I think its use of various types of media was incredibly interesting and fun. I can imagine how excited students are to create videos to publish, such as their Mathletes video comparing two of the greatest soccer players in the world. This idea is so great because it gets the students thinking about and getting excited about mathematics. I also really loved the “Our World, Our Numbers” section. It is so incredible to connect to several other classes that are all over the world. Not only are students able to discuss mathematics, but they are also learning about many other cultures. On top of that, it most likely gets them very excited for math class to come around so that they are able to see what their friends from other places have posted that week. It is hard to say what I plant to adapt for my own blog because I liked so much of what I saw. However, I like the way that the blog is written for students to read as well as teachers, parents, etc. 

The second site I visited was Fires in the Mind. The biggest difference between this blog and Mr. Salich’s class blog was that Fires in the Mind is lead only by the teacher. It is written for other adults to read, and not as much for other students to read. At least that was how I felt about the website. However, you are able to learn a lot about teaching mathematics on this website. For example, if you click on the teacher tab on the top menu, you are shared with several links to mathematics teaching ideas. Some of these include: The ticket-roll as math practice, Singing Pythagorus, Doing the math, Bait the hook for math thinking, etc.

For my third and final blog, I visited NCTM Illuminations. The purpose of the web source is to provide teachers with interactive lessons, and students with interactive activities that relate to specific national standards. I would use the Illuminations blog for the activities. I think that, although some of the graphics might be dated, it is good use for student learning. For example, I opened up a page in which you have an interactive calculator and a hundred board. On this, you are able to explore different skip counting patterns. This is something that we have currently been working on in my fourth grade class, except with a multiples packet and crayons. I think this could be used for additional practice. Because it provides so many lessons for educators, I believe it could help you answer many questions about teaching and learning math. It provides you with ideas and lesson plans for addressing specific standards. I think the most interesting aspect of the resource was the activities tab. I think this could be incredibly beneficial to students. I think having something interactive in mathematics really helps students to grasp the concept. I loved this feature. I would recommend the resource to someone else because of all the interactive activities.