Professor Dumbledora

The artifact above is a picture of me being “Professor Dumbledora” while teaching math to second graders at Adams Elementary. During my math unit on addition and subtraction strategies, I told my students that Professor Dumbledora was going to visit from Hogwarts and teach “math magic” that would help them when they added and subtracted numbers. Each lesson, we learned a new “magic trick” or strategy. I used my “wand” (pointer) to encourage students to participate by saying “Abracadabra eyes on me!” or “Abracadabra voices off!” I also had a brown circle on the board that was a “spider body” and I would give spider legs to encourage positive behavior. When they got a full spider with eight legs, they got a star that went towards their “five star day”, which was a class party.

Because I believe that creating engaging lessons that relate to my students will encourage self-motivation and positive behavior, I will use the “Professor Dumbledora” idea in my class in the future.

My unit on addition and subtraction strategies was very successful, thanks to the “Professor Dumbledora” idea. The students were very engaged during math and enjoyed using their imagination. They were motivated to do what I told them because they wanted to earn spider legs and because they wanted to be under a spell with my “wand”. I had the students’ constant attention because they were having fun, and because of this, they were ready and willing to participate and learn. While teaching this unit, I learned how important it is to let students use their imaginations while learning. I will definitely bring “Professor Dumbledora” to my class in the future. It works like magic!