My undergraduate major was history, particularly history of Latin America. I can't say that this has been directly useful so far, although I never really anticipated teaching much Brazilian history at the elementary level. I am excited however to start social studies (hopefully we will be doing so in the next week or so) as this is my personal interest area and one I have the most experience with.
I have been surprised by how easily the scientific content knowledge has been for me. I didn't think I really understood electromagnetism that well, but between the hands on experiments, the teaching guide and background knowledge from MAkin' and Breakin' I'm having a great time teaching science. Partially I think this is because the explorative nature of the activities leaves room to encourage students to find answers on their own, or work with me to discover answers. I am not expected to be (or at least I don't feel like I am expected to be) an absolute authority in this area.
The content area that has always been hardest for me is math. This continues to be the case. While most of the concepts at the fourth grade level are within my grasp, I have a hard time remembering all of the details necessary in performing algorithms and computations. I am admitedly a bit lazy about carrying and borrowing. To compensate I tend to be more tentative in math, which is something I'm working on. I want students to understand that mistakes are okay, but I also want to teach them how to do things the right way.
It's interesting to read your post after Julie's and to see the similarities between your appreciation of the STEM courses you've taken at St. Kate's. The contribution of those 3 courses has had a strong influence on your teaching of science; sounds like we need to develop a similar experience for math methods! Maybe I'll see you teach some science when I come to visit next week? I'm wondering if you use the same kinds of instructional planning--a similar philosophy--in mapping out your science lessons as you do your literacy lessons. You can let me know.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do get to bring some of your background in Latin American studies to your work with the 4th graders this semester. At the very least, your habits of thinking about history will affect the way you plan and talk with students about events of the past and how they connect to current events.
Finally, as I mentioned to Julie, having identified an area for improvement is the first step in accomplishing your goal--keep us posted on how your math confidence grows with continued study, practice, and reflection.