Jessica Parker

2/23/15
LBS 400
Math Reflection
There is a great amount of knowledge that is needed to be able to teach mathematics in an
elementary classroom. Some different types of knowledge that one needs to be able to teach
elementary math would be: place value, counting and adding, understanding standards, algebraic
thinking and much more. Also, these domains are the same in every grade level. My mathematics
classes at Cal State Dominguez Hills have prepared me for my future in teaching math in an
elementary classroom. For example, my Math 207 class, which is elementary geometry and
statistics, taught by Professor Board was very helpful. Professor Board would have us try and
teach ourselves the lesson the first time around and demonstrate in front of the class. Then after
everybody would present, she would correct our mistakes and show us more effective teaching
skills. In addition, she would also make us use our teacher voice, which is great practice for the
future. Also, my LBS 300 class required 30 hours of observation in an elementary classroom and
it just so happened that the time and day I could only observe was when it was Math time. I was
able to observe Mr. Sanchez, the fifth grade teacher, teach the class numerous amounts of math
lessons. He even let me work in groups of three or four to tutor the students on a specific math
lesson that they werent understanding. All in all, it was a great learning experience.
There are certain areas of math I feel very prepared but there are also certain areas of
math where I am not so confident. Some areas of math where I feel well prepared are adding,
subtracting, multiplication and algebra. These topics have always come easy to me. So easy in
fact that I actually enjoy working them out. On the other hand, the areas of math where I am a

little shaky are geometry, word problems and fractions. There are the areas of math that I have
always needed extra help in, still to this day. I remember when I was a child and was given word
problems for homework I would always skip them. The thought of world problems intimidate me
because it is like a different language. There are all these hidden words that are supposed to
mean something and its hard to remember them all. However, I intend to practice these subjects
even more because I will need to fully understand the topic to be able to teach my future
students. In my Math 207 class we worked on geometry pretty much the whole semester and by
the end of it I felt more confident so I know that practice really does make perfect. Some artifacts
from my Math 207 class that I plan to share in this area of my portfolio are my study guides,
homework examples, and revisions from the problems I missed on my exams. These work
samples demonstrate my knowledge of the particular area because not only do I have to work the
problem out, I also have to explain why this answer is correct using justification methods. At
first, it is extremely difficult to have to try and justify your answers to math problems, at least for
me it was. By the end of the semester I was fully confident in myself to explain why the answer
is actually the correct one. In conclusion, the Mathematics classes that I have taken at
Dominguez Hills have done more than prepare me for my future in teaching math in an
elementary classroom.