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Welcome! 

My name is Megan Reynolds and I am a teacher candidate at Brock University. I am currently completing my fifth and final year of the concurrent education program. This blog is a space for me to track my experiences of learning to teach math at the Intermediate/Senior level. I hope to connect with other math teachers, to share ideas for lessons and activities, and to reflect on my growth as a math teacher. Feel free to follow along as I post my thoughts and experiences throughout this year!

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The Japanese Bansho Method

In class we were introduced to a type of activity for problem solving called the Japanese Bansho Method. Ottawa Bansho defines Bansho as "a method of teaching developed in Japan that focuses on teaching math through problem solving. It allows students to see connections and progressions of the thinking involved when developing strategies to solve a problem" (https://ottawabansho.wordpress.com/bansho-in-the-class/). At first glance, this method seemed the same as the gallery walk activity that we had used in a previous class. However, this method takes solutions one step further by having students group and categorize solutions based on level of difficulty. We began the activity by solving a problem about a class with a certain number of boys and girls in it. This appeared to be a fairly simple problem, however we were again challenged to create multiple solutions. Each different solution was written on a separate piece of paper and posted on the board. Once all of the solut...
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Block 1

My first block was a great first experience teaching in a high school classroom. I had the opportunity to teach a Grade 10 Academic Math class and it was a true testament to my passion for teaching and a clear indicator that I was right where I have wanted to be. I got to finish up a unit on quadratics, teaching concepts such as completing the square, quadratic formula, and problem solving. This was definitely a tricky unit for my students, as each new concept in quadratics builds off of the previous one, and many students struggled to keep up with the pace. Overall the unit was well done, although it is safe to say that the students were very happy to be done with it when it was over (seeing as it was the last of 3 units on quadratics). During this unit I was able to use Desmos to make graphing and visually representing quadratic functions quick and easy for my students. I often used this technology during my lessons and I also allowed students to use it for exploration activities. Th...
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Revisiting Algebra Tiles

This past week in class we had a lesson instructed to us by two of our peers. They each chose a different activity to teach a lesson from the same grade and strand of math. This pair chose to present on Grade 9 and 10 Academic math. During their presentation, I was introduced to a website provided by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (https://www.nctm.org/classroom-resources/illuminations/interactives/algebra-tiles/) where students could use algebra tiles to model and solve equations. This technology blew me away! I was originally introduced to algebra tiles in the fall when a partner and I prepared a lesson on Polynomials to teach to our cohort class as part of an assignment. We had never heard of or used this manipulative before, but we quickly taught ourselves how they worked and were able to use them with ease. Our lesson went very well and I found that students who were unfamiliar with the mathematical concept of adding and subtracting polynomials, or who were not ...
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