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CADRE Teachers are Reflective Scholars
Before CADRE I thought that teaching was mainly about imparting knowledge to students without much regard for how they processed and learned the material being given to them.
After CADRE, I know that students are individuals who think, process and learn differently and it is my job as an educator to do my best to help facilitate their learning process, to the best of my ability. I need to strive to meet my students where they are and not where I think they should be.
Challenges and Sucesses
I am very proud of my students for taking on a new learning challenge. The learning environment that Number Talks foster has significantly impacted my students’ confidence and disposition towards mathematics. For many of my students, math is daunting, repetitive, and cumbersome. Through this collaborative journey with my students, I have learned that many of them approach math feeling nervous because they won't know an answer right away. However, through the implementation of Number Talks, I have seen their confidence and problem solving strategies grow as a result of doing them a few times a week. In the beginning my students faced a challenge in solving computations using critical thinking strategies in their minds. During our first number talk, many of my students asked if they could use a paper and a pencil. When I told them no, many of them were confused. I reminded them that being able to do math in our head increases our number sense, the way we think, interact, and manipulate numbers. A student who has number sense knows that the number 26 is made up of 2 groups of 10, and 6 ones. It was cumbersome for many of my students to think this way. Our first Number Talk presented many hurdles, because when students shared their strategies, mostly every student said they “stacked” the numbers up in their head to add. However, through many collaborative Number Talks along the way, students started gaining Number Talk strategies that they could apply and transfer into subsequent Number Talks, tests, quizzes, and independent practice. One of my goals for this research project was for the students to be able to take on the role of teacher, and I would be able to act as a facilitator. This goal is still a work in progress. One of the main goals I had set for this research project was that students would be able to implement these strategies successfully when they worked independently, therefore, increasing their number sense. Not only were they able to do so, but also they started naming strategies after other one another. They became increasingly proud and supportive of one another when new strategies were brought to the conversation. For many students, especially the four I tracked, number sense is always going to be a concept with which they struggle. However, they walked away from this process more confident to explore, manipulate, and problem solve with numbers while using their critical thinking skills.
Number Talks in the future
At first, I was just as nervous as my students doing Number Talks. However, after becoming more comfortable with the process, the strategies, and the elements of Number Talks, I feel more confident and equipped to perform them with my future next year. One of the main elements to Number Talks is letting the students be the guides and teachers of their learning, and the teacher becomes the facilitator and scribe. In order for students’ number sense to increase while using Number Talk, I believe they need to be implemented from the beginning of the year. In order to see more growth and success, research has proven that creating a Number Talk community at the beginning of the school year will be more advantageous. This sense of community will allow students to further develop and deepen their concepts of numbers, as well as allow them to communicate, explain, and justify their thinking without any prompting.
Impact of my CADRE Experience
The CADRE Project and Capstone Research experience have been a monumental learning experience, which has shaped my approach to becoming an educator. While there have been challenges throughout the year managing teaching full time and participating in my graduate study research project, the support network of my mentors, instructors, and fellow classmates, as well as those in my district have been key to helping me successfully meet these challenges. Embarking on this project and graduate experience has shaped me in becoming a life long learner. Like any new professional experience, I was a little apprehensive on starting my first year of teaching. However, my CADRE Cohort provided me with the skills, tools, insight, and confidence to strengthen my talent as an educator. While my students are not aware of their role in my development, they provided me with countless learning experiences, and for that I am grateful. Most importantly this program has taught me to constantly reflect on my teaching methods and approaches to student learning.
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