Oral Language

As think about the different experiences I have had in the classroom as a student and also the different opportunities to dicuss different topics, there is one class that comes to mind. That class was my second semester of college english. The teacher did a great job of encouraging dicussion and allowing us to give our own ideas and opinions. The class was centered on debates and speeches so I guess it was expected of us to voice what we thought about the presented topics. Often the teacher would present an idea or an article to the class. She then would ask someone to share their thoughts or understandings about the topic. She never took a stand of her own but typically played the devil's advocate, which more times than not, stimulated conversations that would become very interesting. Other times she would divide the class and tell us what our stance was on the topic and allow us to defend our assigned stance. Even then, when we were debating, she would comment and agitate the wasps nest so to speak. She always knew how to ask the questions or  bring  out key points in the discussion that would always lead to a deeper more thought provoking disscussion. Ultimately, she was helping us to think about what we were writing and how to use evidence to support our writings. She was also teaching us about what others may say or think as they read our essays. I think this compares to Van De Weghe and his methods because my teacher tried not to present yes or no questions. She was also asking open ended questions that either required thought or more than a one word response. She also knew that our class was very diverse and knew that as she presented the different questions in the classroom, that there existed an opportunity for multiple points of views. All in all, I really enjoyed the dicussions that we had in that class and feel that it not only help me to enjoy the class more but I also learned a lot about how to write a well supported essay.

Critical Literacy

I read the article about critical literacy and I have thought about it before but I didn't know that was what it was called. (if that makes sense) There are many words in math alone that get over used and can hold different meanings. As in the article about average, the teacher posed many questions about the definiton of average and what it means to the students. It was interesting to see the many different answers and interprutations of the word. I define critical literacy as having a deep understanding of a word or subject and its use in context. I am not sure if that is what the article was going for but that is what I took from it. As I mentioned before, there are words that we use to describe something and then later on we find out that the same word could be used differently in a different context. The only way to determine which use is correct is to look at the context and try to decide which definiton makes more sense. I feel that this is very important in the success of any math student. If one does not know what the problem is asking of them or if the problem is misunderstood, that likelihood of successfully answering the prompt significantly decreases. In the article, I liked how the teacher gave the students the opportunity to write down what they knew about the word. Then after presenting the actual definition or the intended definiton for the subject, the teacher linked word to a class discussion about the distribution of wealth. Even though they had pervious defintions of the word, they were able to determine which was the correct definiton for that context. It gave them an opportunity to think deeper about the word and its meaning. In my classroom I would like to give the students the opportunity to share what they already know about a subject word. Then I would give them my definiton and ask them if the two are related and how are they related. If I can connect my definion with that of which they already came into the class with, then it is more likely that they will retain that definition for future use. I have said this many times but vocabulary is a very important part of math and the successes of the students could depend on their ability to understand what is being asked  of tthem..

I really enjoyed the article about the Desmos Art Projects. I am already very familiar with the app because the studetns in our high school all have iPads and I have already recommended that they use the Desmos app. I thought the digital literacy project with app was phenomenal and I will use this in my classroom. I loved the idea of the students trying different equations to make different shapes. Not only does it allow them to be creative but it will introduce them to so many different aspects of the math world. They will see how math can be used to create fun activities instead of just "problems". I also liked how it gives the students the opportunity to express themselves using math. It may help them to enjoy the subject more or at least on aspect. I have used the app many times and it never crossed my mind that you could use it to make art. It really taught me that I need to open my mind and look at the bigger picture sometimes. I need to look at the tools that I am given and really decided what I can do with these tools that will enhance the learning process of my students. What can I do with these tools that will help them enjoy the subject and also my class more than before they walked through the door. This gave me a whole new excitement about the possibilities in the classroom and that if we let the students be creative and discover that they may develop understanding and knowledge that may not have been opened to them before. Thank you for this opportunity to learn about digital literacy. I enjoyed it very much.

https://www.desmos.com/art

I am glad that I get to talk about this as a math student and teacher because there are many that think vocabulary in mathematics is not important. As I think about the many math teachers that I have had I don't recall anyone spending a lot of time on the vocabulary. I know that a lot of my teachers used the math vocabulary and maybe told us what it meant but that is about it. I do not agree with this practice at all. The vocabulary in math is so important and we do not spend enough time learning about the meaning of each word. Often times, if the student doesn't understand a word they will just skip it and figure out the problem without it. I feel that if the students had a better grasp of the mathematical vocabulary that they would have a better understanding of the mathematical content. It is so much easier to answer a question when you know exactly what the question is prompting you to do. If the students don't have to spend time fumbling with the vocabulary, they will be able to follow discussions more effectivly and they will also complete their assignments more efficiently. The students will be more likely to understand the core content and continue to strengthen their mathematical foundations. I do not want to do what my past teachers have done with the vocabulary. I would like to pick a few of the key words out of the section and define them and ask the students to define them. Let them tell me what they understand about the meaning of the word. Hopefully this will give them an opportunity to develop a good understanding of the words and open up the doors for discussion and discovery.

The one time that I can remember a teacher using the comphresion processes in the book and also encouraging me to think deeply about the text was way back in fifth grade. Unfortunatly, I do not remember the title of the book that we read but I do remember how many different activities we did to help us really comphrehend what we were reading. I remeber we had to read the book on our own, usually during class time, and then she had us illustrate the book. We made our own books about the parts of the book that we thought were very important to the story line. We had to draw pictures and color them and make them look really nice. We spent a lot of time working on our books and trying to portray what we saw in our minds. It was very interesting to see how each student depicted each scene in their book and also to see what they thought was important. Although everyone was reading the same book, our illustrations were all very different and we had a great time with the project. This teacher did a few things that were taught in the chapter such as giving us an opportunity to visualize and portray what we were reading. It allowed us to think about the storyline and determine what makes the story good and which parts of the story are most important. As I go into my classrooms I hope that I can understand as my teacher did that every student learns differently. Some students may enjoy reading alone but other may need to visualize the story in a different way in order to comphrehend. It is important to me that I give all of my students the best opportunity possible to be successful and that means giving them various ways to learn.

My name is Austin Soper and I live in Manti, Utah. I have lived here most of my life and I don't plan on moving any time soon. I am almost finished with my Bachelors Degree in Mathematics Education with a Chemistry minor. I never thought that I would be teaching math as a career but somehow I ended up here and I am excited for the future and the opportunities that I will have to work with the youth. I am 28 years old and I have been married to my wife Laney for 6 years now. We have two kids

Sienna 4 yrs old

Deacon 2 yrs old

They are much happier than they look in these pictures. I wanted to post the most recent pictures that I had and these pictures were from a very cold day and they were not that happy about it. Anyway, I am taking this class as part of my major and I am excited that it is one of my last classes. I enjoy working the the youth and I am looking forward to helping them become successful individuals. 

I love spending time outdoors and playing sports. This is one of the reasons that I chose teaching as a career. It gives me the opportunity to coach and that is something that I have always wanted to do. I love anything that has to do with football. I am always trying to learn as much as I can about the game. I like to play all sports such golf, basketball, and softball to name a few. I also enjoy going hunting, fishing, and camping with my family as much as possible. My family is very important to me and I love spending time with them. 

When I am finished with my degree I will be a certified level four math teacher with a chemistry minor. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if I never taught chemistry and only focused on the math. But if the school would like me to teach a chemistry class here and there then I would not mind doing so. It would give me more variety in the work place which is always a good thing. 

When I think of literacy I think of reading and writing. Literacy is very important in math and most other disciplines. If the student is not able to read what is stated in the problem or assessment, the probability of success decreases significantly. Furthermore, if the student is not able to transfer their thoughts to the paper it can also hinder the progress of the student. It is important that we help our students to continually develop their literacy skills so that they can progress towards becoming successful individuals. I am looking forward to the future classes and the many things that literacy has to offer.