Saturday I headed uptown to Hunter for an Association of Teachers of Mathematics NYC Conference as part of my Teaching Elementary School Math class. I had a chance to reminisce about my elementary school days when I went to a workshop about Math Olympiads (a national math competition for grades 4-7 I believe that presents students with challenging math problems that get progressively more difficult throughout the year). I participated in the program when I was in 4th and 5th grade and used to love it. In the workshop we actually solved some MO problems which was really fun (super dorky I know). The presenter spoke about the importance of integrating problem solving into class every day and having the students direct their learning and construct their own knowledge--it was pretty interesting and tied in well with what we've been learning in class.
Then I went with my class to another workshop about easy-to-make manipulatives and we all got really excited about how we're going to decorate our classrooms and stuff when we're actual teachers. We were initially so overwhelmed because there were a bunch of really cool/cute/fun ideas and we didn't know where to begin because we wanted to use them all.
The closing "speaker" did a Hip-Hop Mathematics workshop which was GREAT! He used to teach up in Harlem I believe and to encourage the students to be interested in school he decided to take what they know and like--rap--and make it academic. So they wrote their own lyrics about the things they had been learning and put it to music. He performed some of the songs with us on Saturday. It was so much fun and me being the cheesy person that I am ended up at the front of the auditorium with 2 other NYU students leading all the professionals in the assigned dance move. I had such a good time at that and really enjoyed how interactive and high-energy it was.
Yet another experience to get me excited about teaching!