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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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Creating Effective Problem Solvers (Reflection on Webinars)

As discussed in Building Thinking Classrooms , many students in math classrooms are afraid of and unable to effectively answer problem-solving questions. When provided with a problem to solve, students wait for the teacher's instruction and guidance rather than working out the solution on their own. Many students today have math anxiety and are afraid to fail. Even when a grade is not being assigned to a problem, they aren't willing to take risks and make mistakes when it comes to solving a problem that they haven't seen before. This webinar raises the question: how can we as teachers create students who aren't afraid to problem solve? How do we build thinking classrooms? One of the ways to do this is by moving away from typical lecture-style lessons where the teacher writes down formulas and solutions on the board and the students simply copy them down. This allows students to "learn" material without actually understanding it or retaining knowledge of it. ...
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