Errors Reflection

I think that analyzing common math errors that students make is an important component of a high quality teacher education program. Too many math teachers either were never taught how to carefully analyze student work to find the origin of their student's errors, or they do not take the time to do so. Too many teachers use the very ineffective teaching methods of "Louder and Slower" and "More of the Same", without spending the time and energy to understand where the student's misconception is. Though collecting adequate samples of a each student's work and carefully searching for common errors is very time consuming, I believe it will save in time spent teaching the student to understand the concept and achieve the correct answer. Once a teacher has identified a mistake that a student continually makes, he or she can hone in on correcting that particular piece of the puzzle.

Studying common student errors in math methods class helped make me a better future math teacher in two ways. First, it helped make me aware of particular mistakes that students commonly make. Second and more importantly, it taught me the skill of analyzing students work in order to identify a common error. I now know the types of errors students often make. Similarly, I know ways to prevent and correct these errors, such as teaching estimation and using manipulatives.