Introduction

I am currently a student in the Bemidji State University DLiTE program. I am pursuing a K-6 teaching license. I would like to also have license in Special Education or maybe something with Spanish (I'm open to both). January 2011 was the start of my first semester. It was tough but I want to get through this.
At one point mid-semester I was feeling extremely ambitious so I enrolled in two math courses for the summer because I thought, "How fun--teaching math to elementary students!" As a current paraprofessional, I had observed many teachers go through math lessons. They always seem to be having fun. It can't be hard to teach simple math to younger students, right?
Wrong! Little did I realize what goes on behind the scenes. I have to learn the whys and why nots of different math rules. Inductive and deductive reasoning are now a part of my vocabulary. If a student does not understand a certain concept, then I have to be able to demonstrate a way that explains it to them. OK, I'm ready for that challenge.
Then, I see that we have to keep a blog as well. I like to think of myself as somewhat technologically savvy but I'm not the most creative person. What could be the point of this blog? A reflection? Well, after setting up an account and starting to write, I realize the purpose. Each week, a summary of what we learned will be posted. This forces me to take what I have learned and figure out how I am going to explain it on my blog. I like to think that I will summarize math lessons each week for my students as well, so why not figure out how to do this now? I am up for this challenge and feeling ambitious again. Now, if only I was ambitious enough to get started on house cleaning...