Reflex Math Reflection

One of the first things I noticed was that I did not seem to have a love/hate relationship with math while teaching my students; I actually enjoyed teaching it most of the time (though the majority of our math lessons were math based). While I do not think the computer based program we used this summer, Reflex Math, was the most beneficial teaching program, I did enjoy that reflex math allowed me to track all of the students at the same time and engage students were there were at. The program allowed students to play at their own pace and learn math in a way that reflected their skill level. Similarly, Thomas, Tabor and Wright identified the different ways that Anna and William learned and conceptualized their math development (2010). I think the reason that I had a love/hate relationship with math was because we were only taught math in a very specific way. I loved math when I understood it, but when the strategies did not work for me I hated it. I think as I continue my teaching career I need to be cognizant of the difference that exist in children, like in William and Anna, and teach so all students can …show more content…
All the games my students played focused on adding and subtracting within 20, but the games were constructed in such a way that students could find engagement from a variety of different structures. For instance, many of the boys liked to challenge each other’s high scores on the Ninja Stars game, while some of the girls preferred to play the hot air balloon themed game. Ultimately, the students were practicing math fluency, but the variety in game structured helped to keep students playing when they may have otherwise stopped. Like with Anna and Willian, each student has a completely different understanding of how math works, and it is important to supply a variety of resources to our students to meet them where they are at (Thomas, Tabor & Wright,