MATHEMATICS REFLECTIVE PAPER Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MATHEMATICS REFLECTIVE - Term Paper Example Especially in the realm of mathematics, a field perceived by a lot of people as exigent and demanding, it requires a lot of innovative and creative thinking on the part of educators to provide ways and means to make this subject a more rewarding course to teach in the elementary school setting. In this regard, the essay aims to proffer a reflection that synthesizes the major concepts addressed in this course. Likewise the following concerns would be addressed, to wit: (1) a summary of the major mathematical concepts of this course; (2) an explanation of how the concepts learned in this course are relevant to the characteristics of a professional mathematics teacher; and (3) a determination of how the course concepts have influenced one’s own ideas and philosophy of teaching. ... The topics on Algebraic Thinking and Problem Solving, Number Theory and Rational Numbers, as well as their applications are crucial in improving skills in applying critical analysis and developing structured patterns that assisted in enhancing problem solving skills. The final topic on Mathematical Connections were most stimulating and thought-provoking as it provided the opportunity to navigate various Web links to heighten one’s awareness on the vast amounts of information that teachers can access and avail on the topic of mathematical concepts and applications. Through this module, one was reminded that there are qualities and characteristics that must be observed and adhered to by teachers to be classified and categorized as belonging to the professional level. Link of the Concepts to the Development of a Professional Mathematics Teacher Consistent with the Mathematics Professional Development Brief published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the c ourse modules are required to achieve four critical goals that would assist in development of traits and characteristics needed by teachers to professionalize their field of endeavor. These goals focus on developing: â€Å"(1) teachers’ mathematical knowledge and capacity to connect it to practice; (2) teachers’ capacity to notice, analyze and respond to student thinking; (3) the beliefs and dispositions that foster teachers’ continued learning; and (4) collegial relationships and learning structures that can support and sustain teachers’ learning† (NCTM, 2011, par. 19). Further, and concurrently significant, the discourse emphasized that â€Å"three

Arrival of Irishmen to Work under Philip Duffy Essay

Arrival of Irishmen to Work under Philip Duffy - Essay Example This discrimination along with a lot of other reasons, economic and social should have prevented the journey of fifty-seven Irish laborers to the United States of America to assist in the construction of a railroad by an American contractor named Philip Duffy. All of them succumbed to death by cholera; recent evidence indicates that many of them may have been murdered (O’ Carroll). Most of them were not granted proper funerals, an event which highlighted the low esteem in which people of Ireland and Catholic nations, in general, were held, in the early nineteenth century. These forms of discrimination along with the spread of Asiatic cholera, a disease which had turned into a pandemic affecting large areas of Europe and America in the 1830s and the subsequent decades, was reason enough for the laborers to not have gone to the United States of America. A lasting cure for this was found out later on (Thomas), but the condition of cheap labor in America would have been the reason for anybody to be cautious. Proper medical facilities were not provided to this man and their lives were often at the risk of being taken by cholera. The condition of the Irish laborers in America was often worse than that of the slaves in America since their wages hardly sufficed for them to afford decent lodgings and good food (Watson, 32). This, along with the threat of disease, meant that the journey to the United States of America was fraught with danger for the Irishmen who worked for Duffy and they undertook it with great peril to their health and eventually, their lives. This alone should have deterred them from their journey to America. The journey that was undertaken by these people should not have materialized, if they had considered the immense risks that it involved, to their lives. The socio-political concerns of the American state were not humanitarian enough to provide safety to these laborers. During this phase, the United States of America, along with other states in Europe, were engaged in improving the state of infrastructure in their countries. Therefore, the safety and well-being of their workers, poor Catholic immigrants at that, was not of primary importance to the American state. It is probably because of this reason that enough payments were not made to Duffy for the building of the railroad that was assigned to him, a part of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. In a situation where he did not have sufficient resources, it is believed that he chose to let the laborers bear the brunt of the lack of money, that is, to place them in circumstances that were more likely to push them into being victims of cholera, which they eventually did (ibid, 65). The 1830s was also the decade which saw a raging debate in England regarding the reform bills that were to give more rights to the Catholics of Ireland. This created a polarizing effect in other parts of the world, especially in America, which still was close, politically to England (Robe rts, 689-90). This led to the prejudices against the Catholics to deepen and take a more aggressive turn.