Math Institute is Finally Over!

All this week, I've been at Math Institute. It's a program the county runs where you work with a mentor teaching teaching math during a week at summer school. This week, I've spent every morning helping my mentor teach math to kids who have just finished 2nd grade. The idea is you see some of the best practices in teaching math, plus you get a chance to work with a small group helping them. While I really enjoyed working with the kids, I feel like I didn't learn a whole lot. I've got some more resources, but my mentor teacher teaches upper grade gifted kids mostly, and there were some times when I thought that she talked over the kids' heads too much. I know the big thing now is letting kids talk their way through problems even when they don't understand, but I found that it really confused some of the other kids. I had one student I was working with who was understanding the concepts, but when the teacher let the other kids give the wrong answer and try to justify it (hoping that they would see their error), she got really confused and frustrated because she knew her answer was right, and she couldn't see why the teacher was letting someone give a wrong answer. I can see how that would be frustrating to a student.

It was nice because it helped me begin to ease into a regular teaching schedule again. The kids come a month from today!