Math, what I learned

The most valuable thing that I learned from this class is that math can be fun and engaging.  I was amazed by how creative teachers can be to make their lesson fun and interactive.  I really enjoyed learning about the uses of manipulates in classrooms.  I am a visual learner and actually playing around with miras, algebra tiles, and virtual manipulates like GeoSketch helped me understand math concepts better.  When I was in school, I didn’t learn math through using a whole lot of manipulates.  It was more of the drill and practice thing.  I think I would’ve enjoyed math if I did have all of these great resources around me to understand.  I hope to incorporate what I learned about the uses of manipulates in my own classroom to make learning more enriching and FUN.   I also like the idea that math can be learned better in groups than alone.  Like real Mathematicians, students can learn so much from sharing their ideas and thinking with one another.  I hope to incorporate this idea as well into my own classroom and make the learning collaborative and enriching.