Final Post!! :)

“Based on the vision you elaborated last week, what role will math instruction play in your classroom and why?  Specifically, what are the mathematical instructional techniques or methods that fit with your vision?  Be as specific as possible.  These can include assessment, planning, or interactive teaching.” 
            Based on my vision that I talked about last week, I really want math to play a role where students have a chance to explore math. I think this really means finding higher level tasks and planning in advanced specific numbers to use. Even if I have a specific curriculum that I am expected to cover, I will tweak some of the worksheets and problems, in order to give make the tasks more meaningful. This may require more time on my part, in either selecting numbers that fulfill the idea that I am trying to get across that day, or by developing tasks into higher level tasks.
             Besides choosing worthwhile numbers and making the tasks higher level for the students to explore, I want to use the CGI method with my class! I don't want to be the teacher that models on the overhead and tells the students to copy down what she did and to do it that way, and only that way. I want to create an environment where students explore what works best for them and where there isn't just one way to solve a problem or task. This might require me to give up some of my control to the students, but I am okay with that. I think in the long run, students will get more excited to try to find ways to solve the tasks that they are given. Although I know I will need to balance this method with also explicitly teaching when necessary, I think it can be done.
              I also mentioned in my vision that I want math to be enjoyable and for the teaching to be interactive. I think that this means more than coming up with fun games or being the most creative. With some of the tasks we did in 402, they weren't anything fancy, yet it was fun trying to figure out how to solve them. I really think by planning math tasks that your students can get excited about, whether you focus it on some of the interests of your students, or plan a task that gets students out of their seats and moving around, it will be much more beneficial than when they are stuck at their seats feeling bored or lost. My goal really is to make my math instruction well rounded in my class. Although worksheets are sometime avoidable, the numbers I use in these worksheets can make all the difference to the students learning. At the same time, however, I will strive to sprinkle in tasks that are more hands on for students, so that variation is there. I am really excited to continue to learn about what types of math instruction work well in the classroom, so that I can add even more to what I want math to look like in my future class!