Algebra 1 Reflective Essay

The lesson that I have taught before was an application of using proportions as an application for Algebra 1 and as an introduction to the lesson of similarity of polygons for Geometry. The objective of the lesson was to use ratios to find your height. First, I give my height, and the students measure my shadow with a yard, using inches as units. Then, the students measure the shadow of their partner. Then, the students use my height, my shadow, and their shadow to find out how tall are they in inches, and convert their height from inches to feet and inches. There could be errors since the Earth is moving and every minute the length of the shadow changed. This activity is to do it with plenty of sunlight. Students taller or shorter than …show more content…
We can look for the interest of the students. Some lessons could be interest-driven, where students can say what they like to do in life, and as a teacher, look for activities and connections that help the students. McCarthy (2014) said that: “When a topic connects to what students like to do, engagement deepens as they willingly spend time thinking, dialoguing, and creating ideas in meaningful ways. Making learning contextual to real-world experiences is a key learning technique with differentiating for student interests.” Being a teacher is a challenge, and being a math teacher requires a lot of work to help students to understand math since our brain is not prepared for math at all (Sousa, 2015). Students ask me a lot of time for what they need to use math in their life. When I start teaching, I did not know how to answer the question. I do math because I love it, and I used it in college for my degree in geology and meteorology. But know, for what else I can use math? Sousa (2015) said that “If teachers cannot answer that question (Why do we need to know this?) in a way that is meaningful to students, then we need to rethink why we are teaching that item at all.” (p.