Syllabus and Reflections on Courses Taught

MAT117 Fall 2022 Syllabus.pdf.

MAT 118 Spring 2023 Syllabus.pdf

Reflection. MAT 117 and MAT 118 emphasizes learning Mathematics through problem-solving and it is restricted to students in the Inclusive Elementary and Special Education program and the Inclusive Early Childhood Special Education program.

The experience from teaching this course helped develop deeper practical understanding of teaching via Problem-Solving approach which changed my theoretical viewpoints about teaching, and learning. I realized the need for reflection and self-examination of my teaching to better my professional competency. Teaching MAT 117/118 gave me an opportunity to be an agent of change by engaging future teachers in ambitious teaching practices (such as Problem-Solving) in a very practical and hopeful way. Studies have shown that implementing ambitious teaching has not been easy for teachers because mostly, teachers don’t get enough practical knowledge on the teaching practices that they are expected to embrace in their classrooms (Bailey, 2022; Bailey & Taylor, 2015; Masingila et al., 2018). In consistent with research, MAT 117/118 engages prospective teachers in problem-solving which is productive since the future teachers get to deepen both practical knowledge and mathematical knowledge.

As the course instructor, I facilitated the learning process by creating a community that encourages and respects everyone's reasoning and ideas (Masingila et al., 2018). I also facilitate discussions using enabling and extending prompts (Bailey, 2022; Sullivan et al., 2006). For example, in activity 1.3, if a group seems stuck or thrown off, I use enabling prompt like what could they do if they use a small number of boxes, say 15 instead of 45? In cases where a group finishes quickly, I use extending prompts such as can you solve this another way? Once the students have worked on the activity in their groups, I lead whole class discussions where different groups share ideas to generate shared understanding.

I wish to emphasize that it is not unusual that we end up with an unsatisfactory solution at the end of class time. In such cases, I ask my students to continue thinking about the problem until the next class. At the end of discussions, I ask the student if the generalization is valid and how they know. A student may be skeptical about an argument raised by another student, which I highly encourage, but they must proceed with decorum as they question others' arguments. This way, students are at the center of validating arguments during the discussions, discouraging them from simply assuming or trying to understand concepts after class. Finally, I wish to note that the problematic nature of problem-solving sometimes evokes frustrations among the students. However, this should vanish gradually after the first few weeks of the course as they get accustomed to the culture of problem-solving.

Teaching the course has constantly reminded me that mathematics is primarily about reasoning, not memorization. Learning via Problem-solving allows students to develop understanding and explain the processes they have used to arrive at solutions, rather than remembering and applying a set of procedures. In teaching through problem-solving, I realized that students develop a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts, become more engaged, and appreciate the relevance and usefulness of mathematics.

Bailey, J. (2022). Learning to Teach Mathematics Through Problem Solving. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40841-022-00249-0

Bailey, J., & Taylor, M. (2015). Experiencing a mathematical problem-solving teaching approach: Opportunities to identify ambitious teaching practices. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 17(2), 111–124. https://hdl.handle.net/10289/10979

Masingila, J. O., Olanoff, D., & Kimani, P. M. (2018). Mathematical knowledge for teaching teachers: knowledge used and developed by mathematics teacher educators in learning to teach via problem solving. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 21(5), 429–450. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-017-9389-8

Sullivan, P., Mousley, J., & Zevenbergen, R. (2006). Teacher actions to maximize mathematics learning opportunities in heterogeneous classrooms. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 4, 117-143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-005-9002-y 

MAT 121 & MAT 122: Probability and Statistics for Liberal Arts I & II

MAT122 Spring2021 Syllabus.pdf 

Reflection. My teaching assignment in this course involved meeting students from four different sections once a week for a period of 55 minutes. My responsibility in these recitations included supporting students in using data analysis software (Statdisk) to analyze and report on statistical data. Basically, this was more of a practical application to the theories they learned in the main lectures. Working with students in this class challenged me to enroll in more advanced statistics courses (Such as MAT 521: Introduction to Probability and MAT 525 on Mathematical Statistics) to improve my understanding and be able to support my students. From my experience working with students in the computer lab, I learned to be patient with my students and how to create a non-threatening learning environment where students are free to share ideas and ask questions.

SED 416/616: Assessment and Data Driven Instruction

SED416:616Spring2020Syllabus.pdf 

Reflection. During this course, I worked with my advisor, Dr. Graysay to teach a group of students in the mathematics education master program and prospective mathematic teachers during their senior year of undergrad. This was my first TA experience and honestly, it took me time to realize this new responsibility. Before each class, I met with Professor Graysay in his office to prepare our lesson plan and delegate role to guide and support students' achievement of learning goals. Other than orchestrating part of class discussion, I was also responsible for giving students feedback on their edTPA lesson plans. The experience from this teaching assignment was immeasurable and will forever impact my knowledge of teaching. I am grateful to Dr. Graysay for introducing me to the American classroom from the perspective of a teacher and helping build my confidence in sharing knowledge. 

MAT 117 & MAT 118 Foundational Mathematics via Problem Solving I

MAT117Fall2020Syllabus.pdf 

Reflection. As I've described before, MAT 117/118 is built on the philosophy of learning mathematical concepts through solving problems, and the conviction that problems are best solved in a cooperative learning situation. I did internship in two course that were taught by Mr. Emmanuel Nsadha and Ms. Brittany Wringt, two senior graduate students at the time. I learned the various aspects of teaching mathematics via problem-solving. I got to experience how students are exposed to a variety of thinking and problem-solving styles. I learned how to support students to learn collaboratively through group work by asking questions to elicit students' ideas. I also learned that designing a successful problem-solving lesson requires that the instructor is aware of the learners’ level of understanding about the topic and prior knowledge. The teacher's knowledge about students will guide the selection of tasks for the lessons, ask questions to elicit students thinking, and how students’ discussion or process of solving the problems will be monitored and guided.

MAT 121 Summer 2021 Syllabus.pdf.

Reflection. I taught this course in summer 2021 and met four days a week with each period lasting 2hours 25minutes. This was my first experience teaching my own class at the University level and I was really excited about the new experience.  Of course, this came with some anxiety attached.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this course was entirely online synchronous via zoom and because I had in the previous semester led four recitation sections for this course, I felt pretty confident about teaching the course.

I got very positive students' feedback from this course and my plan seems to have worked, of course, with some changes along the way. I recorded all my lessons on zoom so that students can later come back and review anything they wish. I also used the class recordings to reflect and improve on my teaching. 

The fact that this course met entirely virtual, and people were in different time zone, I experienced some challenges. For example, arranging some meeting time outside class time was not easy. This also disrupted class participation as students were attending classes at odd hours. For example, 10 am in Syracuse, was 7 am for my student in California, 3 am for my student in Hawaii, and midnight for my student in Japan.