The Vision for an Engaging Mathematical Classroom

Throughout my undergraduate career at UNCW I am very thankful for the professors that prepared me to look at math through a new lens and push me beyond my comfort zone. Teaching to the common core standards and incorporating the process standards into my daily lessons was not something that I was accustomed to in my educational journey as a student. It was something that was very new to me and took time for me to process. This became even more valuable to me when I entered into the educational field. When I began teaching the North Carolina teachers were learning about these new standards and experiencing the challenge and shift that I had already been exposed too. It was nice to feel prepared. With that being said, I view myself as a lifelong learner and know that there are always areas that I can improve on.

The common core standards are the guidelines that we are to teach and what our students should be able to do when they leave our classroom. The process standards are what we should reflect on when are planning a math lesson for our classroom. We should be asking ourselves “are we guiding our students through an understanding of the content in a way that they will experience problem solving, communication, reasoning and proof, connections, and representation?” These documents are intended to help teachers engage students in critical thinking when participating in a mathematical lesson. They are intend to help teachers engage students in lessons that will prepare students to use mathematics on a daily basis and feel comfortable doing so. The process standards are the aspects that should be included in a meaningful lesson when teaching the content of a specific or multiple common core standards. We are wanting to prepare students to have the capacity to think critically and solve mathematical problems that they are faced with in their everyday lives, as well as in their professional careers.

In order to prepare students to have lifelong critical thinking skills in mathematics educators must look at the way their classroom is being structured. We do not want our students sitting and listening to us talk throughout the whole mathematical lesson. Our students should be challenged with problems that encourage them to activate prior knowledge and participate in collaboration with other classmates. They should be given opportunities to represent the given problem with objects of their choice. Teachers are becoming more of a facilitator in the mathematics classroom. They are guiding students using questioning and support. Teachers are not the only one doing the talking and students are not just practicing mathematical skills in isolation.

This type of classroom requires careful planning and preparation. We are still giving students examples of what good problem solving looks like, but we are allowing them the time and opportunities to use the skills we have taught them in many different math lessons. We are connecting math to the real world, so that they can understand the relevance and importance of math in our daily lives. I think this can be a challenging shift for some, but it is very necessary to the future of our students. 

Can't Believe It!

Wow! Time has really flown this week and I have not even completed a blog! As our journey is quickly approaching the end, we have experienced many different events as well as emotions!

This week has been very unique and different from our past 3 weeks at Emafini! The students have dwelled away and we have only had a group of about 15 to 20 this week! Since the children have not been present we started a new project this week! To our surprise on Monday morning we were shown the library. Who knew that Emafini even had a library? Not us! It is at the back of the school and it is small but is filled with so many great books! This was exciting and depressing all at the same time! It was exciting that they actually had so many books to use, but depressing that we had been teaching for 3 weeks with no clue that this library even existed! This is heartbreaking because the school has all these great books that the kids could be reading, but they remain locked up and untouched. So, we began to organize the books and clean up the library this week! Our hope is once the books are more organized then the teachers and eventually the students will be able to take advantage of all the wonderful books that are in the library.

Since there have been a few students we have sort of taken turns hanging out and teaching them and then working in the library. On Monday and Tuesday Emily and I had the opportunity to hang out, play educational games, and read this small group of students! It was so much fun and they loved to read and for us to read stories to them! We had the opportunity to read outside as well, which I really enjoyed! It brightened my day as the little boy approached me with the Disney story The Little Mermaid in his hand and said “just one more please!” As we sat outside on this sunny day and read the other students slowly joined us! I had an audience range from grade 1 students to grade 6 students! I loved every second of that story and the joy that was on each of their faces as they sat and listened because their attention had been captured by this classic story!

Yesterday and today I worked in the library for most of the day! On Friday we will present our work to the teachers and Mr. January.

Also this week we have meet new friends at the market, South African and American; had dinner at Paul’s house (who is a professor at university, which was a barbeque but they call it a braai); and spent some quality time together as a group! We have an amazing group and I am so excited about the rest of our journey together!

Field Day and More!

We arrived as school at 8:00 as usual, but were sad to hear the quiet breezeway! There were only about 75 students in the whole school! Our sadness was quickly gone away as we discussed what we would do for the day! We went out to the field where many of the students were just playing and enjoying the beautiful sunshine! We decided that this was exactly what we would do; we would just have a field day with games and relay races! The students were instantly one board with this idea and the games began! We played red light green light, duck duck goose, follow the leader, over under, and any other childhood game that popped into our heads and any given moment! As I played and laughed and observed the smiles on each beautiful face I felt like a kid again myself and what a wonderful feeling it was! We had children coming from every direction to join in the games. I think that I played, ran, and skipped just as much as each one of them did! It is sad to say, but I could definitely feel it as well the next day as I rolled out of bed. However, I would not take back a minute of any of those games because as I sit and write about it all I can do is smile! After many hours of field games we went inside for about any hour just to cool down and rest a little! We gave the students paper and crayons to draw and color which they absolutely adore participating in!

A little cutie that attached to my hand outside! I took her 3rd grade for the day!

I Love Them!                                                 Sweet Children!

The day was amazing and the best part was it still was not over! After school we were off to Seaview Lion Park. It was about 30 minutes from school and I was very excited! It was a nice drive on the back roads to the park, on a very sunny day! I was so excited, but really did not know what to expect. As Neil drove us by down the dirt roads the suspense was growing. Soon we approached some giraffes just standing on the side of the road! I know that this was going to be an exciting adventure! We then took a slightly wrong turn while we were looking for the restaurant where we could eat and buy tickets to pet the lions. We soon notice however, that the noise was coming from what seemed to be an angry peacock on top a tractor! This was a slightly scary sight! Our new quote for the day became “we just saw a peacock, on a tractor, in Africa!” However, we did make it to the restaurant where we ate and then bought tickets to pet and play with the lions! Emily and I choose first to go and see the 11 month old lions! They were huge! It was so cool too just be close to them and actually get to pet them. They sleep 22 hours a day so they were not very active at all! There was a male and female that was brother and sister! Their names were Coby and Skyla! We thought that this would be our only interactions with the animals that day, but then we came upon the baby tigers that you could also play with! After watching them for about 10 minutes we could not resist and decided we had to play with them! We were off to buy tickets and it was well worth it! They were so cute! We also saw at the park meerkats, leporads, a croadile, and one of the ugliest animals I have ever seen a bushpig! Once Neil picked us up we had to make on last stop to see the big lions which I am so glad we did! We saw a couple of female lions and two male lions. We also came so close to a few zebras who were right behind our car! This was such an amazing day!

 

As we woke up Saturday morning we could not imagine the events of the day that were in store for us! Mrs. Tandos and her friend were taking the girls out shopping, so we thought! We did go shopping that morning at a mall very much like a mall that we have in the States. Then we were off to her place for lunch! It was a lot of fun to visit with her and see her home. After this she took us too many different homes in the township to visit friends and family. Just when we thought that we were on the way back to our place to relax little did we know this was not the case at all! We then arrived at a traditional South African wedding. We were very hesitant to go into the wedding since we were not invited, but they insisted that come in and take a quick peak! It was under a huge tent and when we arrived the bride and groom where handing out presents. It was unlike anything I had ever been to before! It was so kind of them to take us to so many places and I think that we definitely received a sense of the South African culture.  



We Thought Saturday Was Just Going to Be a Day
Of Shopping?

 


This is Ms. Tondas Niece

I am excited to see what this week holds! There is never a dull moment here and there are always surprises in store for us, even we least expect them sometimes! I can’t believe that it is our last week in P.E. though! Time has really flown by! I know that once I am home I am going to truly miss this wonderful place in the world!

An Oh So Special Thanksgiving!

 Thursday was a hard day to be away from my family on Thanksgiving, but I have really come to realize that I have so many things to be thankful for on this very special Thanksgiving! It will probably not be often in my life that I spend holidays away from my family and this Thanksgiving I was able to embrace the beautiful country of South Africa and be thankful for various things outside of my comfort zone. On Thursday we took a break from Emafini to spend the day with Vernon who works at Nelson Mandela University. He was kind enough to arrange a few different places for us to tour around Port Elizabeth!  

Mark! Telling us about his organization in the township!



We began by having coffee and tea at the University where we meet some of the staff and had a chance to talk with Vernon about the education system in South Africa. Then our tour began; we first visited an outreach organization that is located close to the university in the township. They were a Christian based organization who had so many different programs available to children living in the township. Mark, the person in charge of the organization, talked with us and gave our group a lot of background about the program and how they were reaching out to the children they were surrounded by. His compassion and love for the organization and the children were evident as he spoke. The difference that he and the other volunteers were making in the lives of these children brought tears to my eyes. He believed in the power of each child to do more with their lives and through this program they received hope, encouragement, and motivation that they might not have ever experienced in the absence of this organization. They were meeting the children’s basics needs by providing them with food, water, and clothing; while at the same time instilling values and an educational foundation that would hopefully allow them to dream big and further their lives. 



The Organizations Food Garden! They grow vegetables here to use in their soup kitchen.

Our second visit of the day was to Grey Junior School. This was an unbelievable school! The students there had a confidence and mannerisms that were impeccable and the classrooms where decorated with vibrate posters and various instructional tools. This was an all boy’s school that had many resources, spacious classrooms, and many extracurricular activities.

A picture of one of the buildings. This was a courtyard area.

Our third visit was to Kama Primary School. This was school that in many ways was very similar to Emafini, but very different as well. We toured the school and then received a surprise concert by a few of the upper grade students. They sang some very inspirational song that moved me to tears. They were confident in where they had come from, but confident of what path they desired for their life! Their voices where beautiful and I enjoyed every second of the four songs that they sang for us!

Students Singing!

Kama Primary was our last visit of the day and we were off to our “home” the bed and breakfast! As we walked through the door we were greeted by a very delicious smell! Anna (the mother of Billy Jean, who is the manager of the B&B) had really out done herself. I feel that by saying the feast is almost inappropriate because there was so so much food that it almost seems it was more than a feast! She and the staff had gone out of their way to cook us a traditional Thanksgiving meal and boy was it delicious!  As we ate this wonderful meal we laughed, talked, and shared things that we were thankful for! I will probably never share another Thanksgiving with this special group, but I can honestly say that it is a Thanksgiving that I will never forget! It is a Thanksgiving that my eyes where opened, my heart was touched, and I was thankful for exactly where I was at this time in my life!

Wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner!

All Smiles!

As I reflect back on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week I see those sweet grade 3 faces in my head and the excitement I receive each day that I walk in to see them eagerly awaiting Emily and I. We are greeted by hugs and give out numerous high fives and thumbs up during the day! As I sit here and write this I can’t help, but to smile! I cannot sit here and say that there are not challenges throughout the day, but I can say the positives out way the challenges in every circumstance that I face here.

On Monday morning just like in the States it is hard for me to get out of bed! I think that each day I sleep walk through my morning routine, eat a delicious breakfast that is always prepared, and more often than not I take a quick 15 minute nap on the way to school. However, that struggle of waking up in the morning quickly fades away as soon as I walk in to the doors of Emafini Primary School. Often my students run to greet Emily and me before we make it out of the office with huge smiles ono their face.

This week at Emafini has been a bit different from the previous weeks. Many of our learners have not come to school this week. While it is sad that all of our students have not been in the classroom, it has given us time to work with students in smaller groups and a little more individualized attention than they are use to. Our week started off wonderfully with about 30 students. We did circle time at the beginning of the day were we sang some songs and did a few activities just to get the students brain’s warmed up. Once we finished we did a read aloud with the students. We talked about various parts of the story and really tried to work with them on some comprehension strategies. Any activity that they loved was making a decorative name tag for them self. I know that you might be wondering why in the world we would have them create name tags this week! Well let me just tell you that this activity was so important because these learners name were very difficult to pronounce for me, making it nearly impossible to remember! It was so much fun! We learned so much about the students and I really can’t describe how excited they were to use the construction paper and crayons that I had brought with me! I think that they would have sat and colored right through break if we would have let them!

Tuesday we had a smaller group of about 25. However, it was such a great day just like Monday! It was wonderful to have the opportunity to do engaging lessons with these students! I know that they were learning and really enjoying every second of our time together! My favorite part is reading to them because they are so absorbed in any story that you pick up and will read to them! We had them draw pictures of their favorite setting from the story that we read that day and write a sentence! This assignment took a little longer than anticipated but that is okay. They all turned out wonderfully! We have such great artist in our classroom. It just brings me such joy to pull out the simplest things from my bookbag in the mornings, like crayons and construction, and see the excitement on their faces! This is something that will never get old and I will never forget.

A Future SA Teacher!

Story Time with Ms. Emily!

 Wednesday our numbers continued to creep down and we probably had about 20 students. This was the day that we were going to attempt to write letters back to Ms. Emily’s class in the States because they had written letter to the S.A. students. This was a challenging activity! We did a group lesson on how to write letters, topics you could write about, and the format of a letter! They seemed to be understanding and we moved on to the actual writing. Some did it with, but most students had a difficult time with this task. I think that the difficulty could have been due to the language barrier for some students. However, we helped the students work in small groups and we made sure that each and every student had the opportunity to write a letter. For a few students this meant that they had to dictate their letter to me and I wrote it for them! However, I was so proud of them and the way they always did their best and never gave up!

Beautiful Setting Pictures!

Their smiles, excitement, joy, laughter, eagerness, love, hugs, and sweet ways will continue to bring me joy and encouragement for a long time! They have each touched my heart in their own special way!

Weekend Adventures

Friday night the kick off to our weekend was a blast at Mr. January’s as I have already stated and this was just the beginning of a wonderful, fun filled weekend!

Saturday morning we woke around 8:00, a little early for a Saturday morning, but we were not even thinking about how tired we were because we were so excited about the adventure ahead. Today was the day that we were going to Addo Elephant Park! We went excitedly to breakfast where we meet our tour guide for the day. His name was Mike; he was an older gentleman, who was very kind to our group and very knowledgeable about the park. We were off after breakfast to what I like to call our safari. It was not exactly like I had imagined it, but I could not have asked for a better day! It was about a 30 minute drive to the 400,000 acres of land to we would view many animal in their natural habitat that day. As we entered into the park it felt like we were Jurassic Park! The gate opened and we were off. About 15 minutes into the drive Mary spotted two elephants in the trees and you could feel the enthusiasm in the bus. It was going to be an awesome day! As we continued our drive, about thirty minutes into the trip we came upon two lions sunbathing in the grass! This was an awesome sight and our tour guide said that we were lucky because he had not seen them in about two weeks! We saw many great animals that day including; a rhino, antelope, warthogs, a tortoise, dung beetles, zebras, buffalo, and many different birds! “The big five” is what they refer to the five animals that they always look and are the most popular in the park, which includes elephants, rhinos, buffalo, lions, and leopards. What a privilege it was to go and see 4 out of the 5!

After the race! Check out the medals!

On Sunday morning I participated in an event that I could have never imagined I would be writing about in my South Africa blog. I normally get out of bed early on Sunday to go to church, but this Sunday was very different. A few weeks prior some of the girls had seen a poster for a 5K that would be taking place on the beach! They were immediately excited and decided that this was something they must participate in! As they talked they decided that it should be a group thing! In my mind I was very hesitant; I wanted to participate in all activities, but I am not a runner and there was no way I was going to run a 5K on the beach! However, as we continued to discuss this activity some of them decided they would walk it and I decided that this was an achievable goal for me! At 7:30 Sunday morning we were off to the race! It was a beautiful Sunday morning, I was a little apprehensive, but excited at the same time to complete my first 5k in South Africa! We definitely stood out in the crowd with our matching T-shirts and hats on given to us by President Zuma’s wife. It was a little difficult walking in the sand, but with the encouragement of my partner Emily we made it across the finish line! We had many laughs along the way and I enjoyed the experience.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and preparing for what we would do on Monday with our sweet children!

A Full Friday

I am sorry that is has been so long since my last post! Technology is not my friend sometimes and last time I tried to post the whole thing was deleted! However, that is okay I will not let it overcome me!

So much has happened since my last post and time is flying by here in P.E.! I continue to learn and grow every day! I want to start by talking about last Friday. It was the last day of exams for the learners and quite a crazy day for us as well. Our normal routine of going to school was very different, but replaced with awesome opportunities. We began with a visit to the Department of Education. This was a wonderful experience where we had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Ntsiko, who is the district director of education, about the educational instruction taking place in Port Elizabeth, what the department’s role is in education, what we have seen at Emafini, and much more.

Once we left there we went to another school called Sunridge Primary School. This was a very different school from the school that we have spent many hours here in South Africa. This school had over 900 learners enrolled. The tuition monthly for students to attend Sunridge was 750R which is about $100 a month. It was very hard and difficult to see all of the resources that this school had. It was probably nicer than some of the schools in the U.S. They had two computer labs, a huge auditorium, and their classes had about 20 students in each one.  A flood of emotions washed over each person in our group as we toured this school and thought about all the students that we have come to love at Emafini, who would be ecstatic to see a school like this and use the resources that are provided in this facility.  

After this visit I returned to room 34 full of bright smiling grade 3 learners. We stayed there briefly until it was time to move on to the next thing on our agenda for the day. We were off to visit some of the “homes” where our students lived in the township. We visited two different homes. As we began our journey down the dirt road where there were many bumps and pot holes, I do not think that could ever prepare my heart for what we would see in this place. I am just at a loss for words as to how to begin to describe these visits. I am going to post a few pictures from these homes.



Class Photo!



Beautiful People!



We also went to the Red Location Museum. This is a museum deticated the apartheid in South Africa! I really enjoyed learning more about the history of South Africa. The museum was a place of knowledge and reflection on the history that has taken place.

After a few minutes of rest and a little time to process the events of the day we were off to Mr. January’s (the principal of Emafini) for dinner with him and all of the teachers. They came to pick us up from the Bed and Breakfast! We were so excited and had no idea what to expect from the night. Little did we know that we were in for an evening filled with food, music, dancing, and a lot of laughter. Here in South Africa people love to sing and dance. When we arrived they already had music playing. They had snacks for us to munch on while we waited for dinner. For dinner they had beans, potato salad, salad, and meat. The teachers entertained us with all of their wonderful dancing and we entertained them by trying to dance! Although we were in a small room with a lot of people these wonderful people still found a way to dance! It was so much fun! It was heartwarming how welcomed we were in this foreign country. These people shared their culture, food, and homes with us! I was so thankful for this night and it is a memory that I will never be able to forget about when I think about this beautiful country and the beautiful people here.

The Girls at Mr. January's! I love them!

Emily and I with Mrs. Vava our teacher!