Course Success

I do not believe that the grades students make in this course is a good indicator of the success of the course.  I do see success indicated in the fact that students encourage future M.A.T. students to enroll in the course, the fact that the Education Department highly recommends incoming M.A.T. students to make this course part of their “content” course requirements, and that students come back discuss with me the usefulness of the course and the transformative nature of their experience in this course.  For many students, they address their mathematics anxiety (often through classroom experiences, but also through reading the Zaslavsky Fear of Math book).  Others begin to see mathematics as different than when they began the course – less about “right” answers and formulaic procedures and more about thinking and the mathematical process. 

As part of a LACTE course feedback form, students stated that they were more confident in their ability to teach mathematics, and in their own comfort level with mathematics.  Although it was a great deal of work, and frustrating for some students who were only part time student teachers who had little “control” of the classroom structure, most students really appreciated what they learned in conducting the action research project.