My Reflection II

As I continued to think and reflect, think and reflect again....

I realised ...

I realised the reason why I found it hard to teach the basic concept. And that is due to the way I had been taught and also the way I had learnt to conceive my knowledge, concept and skills.

Too much strategies and too much short cuts!

The formulae, the equations, the methods that I was taught and that I had learnt have indeed helped me to score in all my Math exams but it had definitely not equipped with the appropriate knowledge to teach the children.

I could not understand why the boy could not understand simple equation such as 1+1. I could not see that he is not able to visualize and I did not kow that Math concept like this or even simple numbers can be rather abstract for the children to be able to visual it and make meaning of it.

I could not understand that inorder for children to be able to understand, they need concrete materials, they need to make meaning from this concrete materials and that they need to build concept and construct new knowledge from their prior experiences.

I definitely had not rememered to ask and attempt to find out what his prior knowledge were or even conduct discussion on Math.

and I think....

I have been indeed a rather lousy Math Teacher!