Teaching Practice
Procedures of Teaching
Prior to teaching, I prepared a lesson plan first on the topic I will be teaching which was about word problems involving operations.
What is it like teaching in P6/7?
During the actual day of teaching, I started the day by playing a word puzzle where they needed to find all the words related to the topic. It’s a good strategy to elicit their prior knowledge and have their interest hooked into the topic. Every time they find a word, I try to ask if they know them and their definition so I can make interventions if ever there is a learning difficulty or misconceptions.
Since we were dealing with word problems that day, I had to think of something that could make problem solving easier for them. I prepared this game called “Sign Me Up” where students have to use their arms and hands to indicate the operation of the words I will be flashing on the screen. The purpose of this was mainly to familiarize them with the indicators of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Teaching Word Problems Involving Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division at Primary 6
After facilitating them with the process, I let them independently solve problems through a quiz bee. It’s important to let them work on their own to test their skills in the competency. To conclude our discussion, I asked them to cite some practical applications of the operations based on the word problems. I also explained how we could use those concepts in dealing with problems in real life contexts.
Embracing criticisms should be taken as positively as receiving compliments because growth comes from recognizing weak points.
I believe that when dealing with word problems, students often struggle in determining what operation is appropriate, so I had to think of a way to deal with it. It will be less challenging because once they recognize the term or phrases used in the problem, they can already think of the right operation the problem may be requiring them.
In solving word problems, I did not spoon feed them with the answer, instead I only facilitated the process by providing guide questions. The art of questioning is necessary when solving problems as well as making prompts because this allows them to really think and reason out. Another strategy I used was encircling numbers and underlining questions. Grade 6 students tend to get confused and overwhelmed with the information given in a problem. To ease this, I let them encircle the numbers/values and underline the question in the statement. This decreases the stress of looking for what is being asked while solving the problem.
With my Cooperating Teacher and the Mathematics Mentors from Lampang Rajabhat University
Time Management and Organizing Activities
One hour is the time allotted for every subject in the school. To budget this, I made sure that I allocate an equitable amount on each activity planned in the lesson plan. For me not to consume so much time in an activity, instead of assigning it as a seatwork, I just do it on the board where everyone can still observe and participate.
Conducting activities, independently or collaboratively, can be chaotic at times, especially when you’re unprepared. During my teaching practice, I played this game called “Sign Me Up” so I expected less noise from the class since the only thing they’re going to use are their arms. Fortunately, they weren’t as noisy as they usually do, but I was wondering why. I realized I did the wrong way previously because this time I was able to give them the instructions before they even stand and perform. One mistake a teacher can make in organizing activity is giving instructions late - a lesson I learned the hard way.
Classroom Management
When I learned that I will be teaching elementary students, not secondary, I was a bit worried because how am I going to handle their energy? It was the first challenge I anticipated. I’d say, based on this experience, lower grade levels are much easier to manage than those in the higher levels. It only took me one “Claaass?” in grade 1 to catch their attention, but in the higher years, it will take you more.
I remember telling my cooperating teacher ‘they’re so loud’ after that one class; I couldn’t hear the foreign teacher that time even with a microphone. The lesson I’ve learned from that experience was to show a tiny bit of aggressiveness and authority just to have control over their noise. Learning comes from listening so, as a teacher, I have to make the communication process clear by showing them that you have the authority.
Problem Solving
When I taught problem solving involving operations, the problem that I had was about how I was going to make the word problems contextualized. It was a struggle due to differences in contextual backgrounds, and the language barrier made it even harder. But, we were able to overcome them by taking and digesting the word problems slowly and surely.