DVD reflection

In the video, Dave Hewitt illustrates a very creative way of teaching mathematics. Oftentimes, mathematics teachers tend to tell the students the new topic in the beginning of the class and present the materials. However, Dave Hewitt attempts to approach mathematics in different ways. He first starts out his class by helping students to visualize the new topic. For example, he uses a stick to point sequence of spots around the wall to visualize the number sequence. By counting back and forth, he allows the students to build up the pattern and helps them understand the relationships between subtraction and addition. He started out with the simple counting and then built up to the more complex system. What I really liked about his lesson was that he had the full attention from his students through the whole class. By not giving away the topic too easily and allowing them to work toward the topic, he made the lesson interesting and made the students eager to find out what he would do next. Also, the second part of the video showed how he approached algebra as if he was playing a guessing game with the students. This is much more interesting than just having the students work on a bunch of problems on paper. Again, he grabbed the students’ attention right from the beginning and kept them engaged in developing their problem skills.