Project 3- Comments for Teachers # 2

For this assignment I read Ms. Jennifer Brokofsky's blog. Her post was titled "Creating a Community of Mathematicians". It was about the month of September being a month of new beginnings and community building for teachers. She talked about building a community of mathematicians and gave a technique on how to do so in her classroom. Her idea was to constructing an anchor chart with students asking the question "What does a mathematician do?" She shared a list and picture of the anchor chart.
I left a comment agreeing with her statement she made about September being a month of new beginnings for teachers. I let her know that I loved the fact that she is taking on the task of involving the community full force. I ended by saying that it is vital to start off the new school year strong with a plan to succeed.

This particular post I commented on of Ms. Brokofky's blog was entitled "Inquiry in Mathematics". She talked about 4 important stages in the inquiry/problem solving process. The first stage is to understand the problem. If a student does not first understand what is being asked then they will fail to solve the problem correctly. The second stage is to make a plan. The student must think of a plan of attack to solve the problem. Some examples were given such as: using a model, drawing a picture, looking for a pattern, and working backwards. The third stage is to carry out the plan. Ms. Brokofsky quoted Nike and said "just do it". The final stage is to look back. The student must look over how he or she solved the problem to make sure it is right and it makes sense.
My comment to her was about expressing my love/hate relationship that I had with mathematics. I told her that my problem while in school was the first stage of understanding the problem that was being asked. I told her that I believed that the first and last stage in the problem solving process was the most important because you must understand the problem to attack it and you must check your answer to be sure you got it right.