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A Full Year Program

In the Math Matters Program, practicum students worked with the same partner, same cooperating teacher and same students for 1 full academic year. They were in my classroom every Monday and Wednesday for 4 hours first semester and all day Monday and Wednesday second semester. During this time the preservice teachers were also receiving instruction and classroom at UNL from Dr. Heaton and Dr. Lewis. This full year of instruction and classroom application had a distinct advantage for the preservice teachers as learners and the children as learners. One advantage for the children was that the practicum students were in my room both semesters. Therefore that was no “lag time” between first and second semesters. In other practicum experiences in which I’ve been involved, I worked with different preservice teachers each semester. This meant a period of orientation for all of us at the beginning of the second semester. With Math Matters when second semester arrived, we were up and running. The continuity of the curriculum and children’s learning flowed smoothly from one semester to the next.
The full year program gave the preservice teachers time to develop a better understanding of the math content for second grade and more importantly, the mathematical concept level of our students. With the combination of increased understanding of content and the developmental levels of the pupils, the practicum students were better able to focus on the students as individuals and to provide teaching strategies to complement the children’s learning styles.