Discipline-Specific Writing and Assessment

As I have thought about my experiences in mathematics, I have realized that my experiences with writing have been somewhat limited. I say limited due to the fact that writing in mathematics may be considered different when compared to writing in other disciplines. The main type of writing that I have done in mathematics has been mostly numerical when computing and completing assigned textbook problems, tests, and quizzes. The only assignments that I remember having to write in a "standard English" sense (i.e. a paper or report) are a few reports on a mathematician from history and a project on fractals. So, overall, my math teachers in grade school typically encouraged me to express my understanding through numeric problems.

I feel that my experiences with writing in mathematics changed drastically when I entered college and began to complete upper-level course work. Much of the assignments in my classes required written proof, which was something new to me. However, I have come to appreciate the precision that comes from explaining and comprehending the driving forces behind mathematics because of this shift. I think that my professors have encouraged me to express my understanding by thorough investigation and detailed analysis of my work.

I honestly cannot think of any types of expression that I feel would be considered alternative or creative in presentation. However, this aside, I have been learning a lot this semester about how to incorporate technology related activites into the mathematics classroom. I feel that I have learned a lot of different ways that would display student understanding of mathematics in creative and alternative ways. Some of these technologies include math applets, blogs, and screen-cast videos. I have found that most research supports the use of these technologies in the math classroom, as they help to engage students in higher-level thinking, as well as encourage students to become doers of mathematics and make the discipline their own.

As a whole, I feel that most of the assessments that I took at the grade school level were limiting because they usually did not include questions that explored student understanding and comprehension in writing. Most tests were merely computational. I think that the tests that I have taken in college have been a little bit more diverse in this area, but only for certain classes. I feel that it will be important for me to include assessment prompts that ask students to explain how they would go about completing a problem, rather than always asking students to perform a computation. I think that knowing students' thought processes will help me to adapt my teaching to enhance their learning. I also think that I want students to create either a video or an applet of a proof as another type of assessment. I think that these types of assessments will help to educate students in mathematics rather than just train them in the discipline.