Penelope Miller

733 eldert Lane

Brooklyn Ny 11208

pannm17@msn.com

My approach to teaching stems from the belief that learning is a shared responsibility between student and teacher. Students have different attitude towards learning and it is my belief that with great motivation and the right guidance student can develop love for any subject.
My job, as a math instructor, is to create an atmosphere that fosters learning. I am an instructor because I have a passion for guiding students through the learning process. I believe that mathematics can be easy, simple, and fun; it is my goal to instill this belief into students. I believe that students should have a solid foundation in theory; they should be encouraged to explore and to understand how this theory relates to the real world. If they truly understand that math is everywhere and that everything is a product of math, then they will see the beauty of the subject and will become fascinated with it.

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching is an imparting of knowledge in an atmosphere that fosters learning.

Educational Goal

I believe that mathematics can be easy, simple and fun. It is my goal to instill this belief into students.

Example Lession #1

Tally Charts and Data Collection

Fifth Grade Mathematics
Tally Charts and Data Collection (continuation)
Curricular goal
Objective: For students to: correctly use tally charts, organize data using a spreadsheet, analyze information through graph comparison and use terms from previous lessons such as minimum, maximum, range, mode and median .
Task
Students will conduct a survey on the number of hours their schoolmates watch TV. They will create a spreadsheet and graph showing their findings. They will then summarize their observation.
Process
1. Students will be placed in groups of six. Each group will be assigned a different grade level to survey. They will each ask 60 school mates (30 boys and 30 girls) how many hours he or she watched television over the weekend and record information onto tally charts. Reminder! Print tally charts from http://www.numberlinelane.co.uk/worksheet_files/3/table_and_tally.pdf
2. After collecting this information, each group will organize and enter their data onto a spreadsheet.
3. Create a bar graph comparing the amount of time both boys and girls spend watching TV.
Students can go to http://mistupid.com/viewlets/excel/xlgraphs.htm if help is needed in creating their graph.
4. Print your spreadsheet and bar graph.
5. Each group will present their data and compare their bar graph with the other groups.
6. Each student writes a paragraph summarizing (using terms such as minimum, maximum, range, mode and median) his or her observation of the graph.
Evaluation
Group participation 35 points
Spreadsheet and graph 30 points
Paragraph summary 35 points
Conclusion
The class will have an open discussion about the activity, followed by a game to reinforce data management skills. Game rules will be retrieved from http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/RR/database/RR.09.00/treptau1/game4.html

Example Lesson #2

Converting Measurements

9TH Grade Math

INTRODUCTION
Supposing you’re in a student exchange program and you’re going to school in France; your mom sends you this recipe for pancakes (you love pancakes and in France there’s crepe, not pancakes), in standard American measurements, how will you proceed to make these pancake using the metric measuring tools available?

TASK

To produce a cooking segment (parents have to sign a consent form allowing students to use an oven) on “Making Chocolate Chip Cookies”. This video will be shown to the class.

PROCESS
After the lesson on conversion of units, teacher will briefly explain the basis of digital video production; then students will be placed into groups of fours. Click here for recipe.

.Students will elect a director, a camera person, a chef and an editor.
.Each group member has to individually convert two units of measurements from the ingriedience list and submit to teacher, which will be corrected and returned.
.The group will develop a storyboard (dialogs must include conversion information).
Before continuing, each group meets with teacher to discuss progress and review story board.
· Before shoots begin, the class will temporally regroup into four - editors, directors, chefs and camera persons - to discuss their similar roles.
· After the final shoot, teacher will meet with individual groups to review takes and offer suggestions.
· The editor is now responsible for arranging and editing scenes to create final product.
· Final product from each group will be shown to class.


EVALUATION

Each group will be graded on the following:
Participation and Cooperation – 30%
Storyboard -30%
Incorporating measurement conversion information into segment -20%
Final product -20%

CONCLUSION/ENRICHMENT

The class will have an end of production party, where each groups’ video will be shown.

Question:

Use the comment section to answer this question.

How many grams are in one pound?

CONCLUSION

Ac230 has offered me an opportunity to learn how to incorporate multimedia into the classroom. This experience has been very beneficial to me in that I can now create lesson plans that are more in line with today’s technology.