Teaching Maths

This week has been going great so far! On Monday I taught my first maths lesson to the junior infants about circling different sets of things. On Friday, my cooperating teacher was telling me about Folens, the company that makes the maths books that Dromclough uses. Folens also has a website that includes various games that teachers can use that are based on the material included in the maths books. Over the weekend, I checked out their website and found a good game to use during my instruction. So Monday I had a game involving classifying sets of things up on the smartboard and called on students to come up and click the answers that they thought were correct. They really loved the game! It was a great way to start out maths. After playing the game for a while, I explained how they were to do the worksheet that went along with the lesson and I was really happy to see that most everyone was getting it exactly right! Before teaching the lesson, I was actually very nervous because I thought I would have a difficult time maintaining their attention long enough to get through the lesson and that my voice would be too soft. However, the students did a fantastic job of participating and raising their hand to volunteer their answers instead of shouting them out. I was really, really happy with the way that it turned out.

Today, my cooperating teacher was out sick with the flu so we had a substitute. The sub said that my teacher will also be out tomorrow and Dromclough has the day off on Thursday, so hopefully my cooperating teacher will be feeling better by Friday! My maths lesson got pushed back to after the students' first lunch (tea time break) instead of during the morning so I was a bit worried about whether I would have another good maths lesson like Monday's or if the students' would be much more lively after their first break and it would be a bit more difficult. Either way, I went into it positively and I'm glad I did because it ended up going really well. The students were being great learners today and participated really nicely like they did on Monday. I hope this means that I have earned their respect, because they have definitely earned mine.

With two maths lessons down, I'm no longer so worried about tomorrow's and Friday's lessons. I know that it won't always go as planned, but now that I have had a couple of times' practice teaching in front of the class, I feel much more comfortable. I also think I have a better grasp on how to handle a few students that have a harder time not bothering/distracting other students and keeping focused on the lesson. But hopefully the rest of the week keeps going as it has been! :)