The students were anxious for a long weekend this entire week. I used this week as a week of review. With the regular math class the students took a few days to review their geometric formulas, like: area, perimeter, and angle measure. They created a geometric flower with a guided sheet. They spent the last day doing some fun easter math worksheets reinforcing mathematical thinking. With honors they spent the week on a factoring packet. Factoring seems to be a difficult topic with many of the students. They did a whole chapter on factoring earlier in the year, but many of the skills they forgot or needed to be refreshed. They took a "factoring again" quiz on Thursday, which most of the students did really well on.
Last week I set two goals. The first was to go visit some other math classrooms. Due to the project I had my students doing, I did not get that chance. But I did set up a time to go visit another math classroom at a different school after my graduation. One of my childhood friends is a teacher in Crest Hill and I will be going to visit her on Tuesday, May 17th to watch how she runs her math and science classrooms at the 5th grade level. My second goal was to work on my action research. I did make some good headway this week on my action research project. I finished putting together my data and started writing my paper. I will continue to work on it this week.
This week I would like to set another goal for myself regarding the rest of my student teaching placement. I would like to be able to transition smoothly back to my cooperating teacher regaining full control of the classroom again. This week she will be taking the honor's class back while I work just with the regular class.
A great teacher is a reflective teacher. I've noticed how important it is during this placement for teachers to be reflective on each lesson they present to each class. During this placement I teach three of one class and two of another. It was nice to be able to tweak my lesson plans and reflect on how they went to improve them or change activities that would better fit with different classroom make-ups. Some days do not go as planned and it integral to be able to reflect and figure out why they didn't go as planned and if it was okay that they didn't go as planned. A teacher that is reflective shows and proves that they are a good teacher and able to fix lessons so that they are as most effective as possible. Sometimes after doing activity and can mentally note that it was excellent or that it was not effective.
As an example of a reflective moment in my placement, I think back to my lesson on surface area with the regular math students. I taught the lesson just as I had planned it and thought it would work well and that the students would have no problem. After the first class period I knew I was having troubles, when I had the students start working on some problems on their own. No one seemed to understand how surface area changed with each shape and were very confused when there were multiple steps, especially using the Pythagorean Theorem as one of those steps. I immediately knew the lesson had to go out the window and that something else had to be done. So I found as many visual aides as I possibly could around the classroom and decided to ask the paraprofessional and my cooperating teacher for help. This way we could split up the students into small groups and work with a ten or so students at a time and really try to work one-on-one with them in a small group setting. This was much more effective and the students were able to grasp the concept and learn more from that experience.
I must admit working with students with severe special needs is not a strong point for me. I have never been in a classroom yet with full inclusion. I have always been at schools where the severe students with special needs are in their own classrooms. I have been able to work with students with minor LD and BD issues and have no problems finding ways to let them move, or work with partners, or make sure they are included in class participation. I have been able to work closely with the paraprofessional on my team and she has been wonderful in showing/telling/explaining to me the special things that I can do to make learning most effective for these students. I also have the luxury of her having them one period of the day to reinforce the mathematical topics they need extra help with. I have helped create adapted tests for some LD students and understand the basics behind teaching students with minor LD and BD issues.
I have been able to share some fun new classroom group activities to check for understanding in my student teaching placement. Things like inside/outside circle, rally coach, and 4 Down. All activities that student work is small groups or with partners to practice the skills taught to them. It is also a good way for the teacher to be able to move around and see first hand the understanding the students have of the topic. I also have been able to share my knowledge with the new common core standards. The school still used the old standards and have not switched yet. I have been able to show how to use the standards and where to gain all its information.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
My thoughts for the week of 4/11-4/15...
A week of review is how I felt about this past week. On Monday and Tuesday both the honors and the regular classes took their MAP tests on the computers down in the computer lab in the library. It was interesting to see how a majority of the students went up in their score. In fact, many went up by 7-16 points in their score, which is amazing! On Wednesday in both the Honors and the regular the students did a review, the Honor's in 10.5-10.8 and the regular in chapter 8. On Thursday, the Honors took their 10.5-10.8 Quiz. While with the regulars, I went over their chapter 8 study guide. On Friday, Honors charted and went over their quiz as the regular classes took their chapter 8 test. I didn't get to teach anything new this week, but it was a week of finishing up both of their chapters and testing.
Last week I set two goals. One goal was to vary my lessons with different technology. I didn't have much chance to teach anything new this week, but I felt as if the kids got a chance to use multiple facets of technology. The students used computers on their own to take the MAP test. On Wednesday with Honors we simply went over the study guide, cut-and-dry on the white board. On Friday, I used the ELMO. With the regulars on Wednesday we played a review activity. I created an activity via the Smart Board, where the students threw a Koosh ball at the Smart Board to try to open up a review question. Once the question was opened the class worked individually to solve the problem. I would randomly draw a numbered stick to see which student would give their answer and description of how they solved the problem. On Thursday we went over the study guide by simply answering each question on the white board. Hopefully, I will continue to use different types of technology as my placement continues. My second goal was to start on my electronic portfolio. Due to problems with my video, I never got a chance to start on my portfolio, but I plan to start this week.
My first goal for this week is to be able to set up some times to be able to go visit some of the other math teachers at my school and watch how they run their classrooms. I hopefully will be able to set up some times to go observe a couple other teachers during the last week or two of my placement. I am interesting how some of them run their classrooms and how they integrate technology in their classrooms. My second goal is to finish up by action research project this week/weekend.
Teachers understand the role of the community in education. Teachers should develop and maintain collaborative relationships with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the community to support student learning and well-being. Just this week I got to talk on the phone with one of my student's mother. It was interesting to get her take on some of the assignment and what we've been doing in class. I also have been in contact with some parents on and off throughout my placement via e-mail. I have remained in contact with the teachers on the team I am working on. Everyday the team meets and collaborates on what we are doing in the classroom, students that are struggling, school/community news, etc. The school makes it a point to keep the community involved and to reach out to them for help. In fact, currently they are busy setting up people in the community to come in and talk about their careers. I've learned the importance of staying involved with as many resources and people as possible throughout this placement. It is necessary to share ideas and thoughts. It will make the classroom more interesting and the learning increase.
Just a couple of weeks ago we had a team meeting with one of my students parents to try to get their student to be tested for disabilities. We met for nearly an hour and each teacher got to talk about how this student acted in general in their classroom. It just showed how important it is for the teachers to communicate and be aware of how certain students need help. I've been lucky to have a paraprofessional in my classroom when their are students with disabilities. She is in contact with their parents weekly and so what she and I observes gets noted and she relays onto them.
When I have my own classroom I will need to communicate with parents on my own. I know first of all, I would like to have a webpage open for parents and students to read classroom updates and homework assignments. E-mail and phone calls seem to be the majority of contact with the occasional parent-teacher conferences or meetings. I hope to be able to keep a good relationship with all my student's parents and keep them updated with what is happening in our classroom, both good and bad.
As far as Schmidt chapter 7, I loved "great teachers like the ones at the heart of the Ochoa project recognize the unlimited potential of their communities as textbook and laboratory. Uptown, downtown, huddled with the city officials, or distributing food at a local shelter, students have the opportunity to confront complex issues int he flesh. Even the simplest community outing can provide a treasure-trove of shared experiences to dissect and discuss back in the classroom." Looking back at my high school biology class. Days we spent planting in our community or days we went out and cleaned up our community are days that I remember vividly and are a lasting memory. I don't remember what chapter 8 in my biology book was about, but I remember learning about how a flower grows and then putting it into action! Hopefully, I can create some community projects to leave lasting memories in my student's minds.
Last week I set two goals. One goal was to vary my lessons with different technology. I didn't have much chance to teach anything new this week, but I felt as if the kids got a chance to use multiple facets of technology. The students used computers on their own to take the MAP test. On Wednesday with Honors we simply went over the study guide, cut-and-dry on the white board. On Friday, I used the ELMO. With the regulars on Wednesday we played a review activity. I created an activity via the Smart Board, where the students threw a Koosh ball at the Smart Board to try to open up a review question. Once the question was opened the class worked individually to solve the problem. I would randomly draw a numbered stick to see which student would give their answer and description of how they solved the problem. On Thursday we went over the study guide by simply answering each question on the white board. Hopefully, I will continue to use different types of technology as my placement continues. My second goal was to start on my electronic portfolio. Due to problems with my video, I never got a chance to start on my portfolio, but I plan to start this week.
My first goal for this week is to be able to set up some times to be able to go visit some of the other math teachers at my school and watch how they run their classrooms. I hopefully will be able to set up some times to go observe a couple other teachers during the last week or two of my placement. I am interesting how some of them run their classrooms and how they integrate technology in their classrooms. My second goal is to finish up by action research project this week/weekend.
Teachers understand the role of the community in education. Teachers should develop and maintain collaborative relationships with colleagues, parents/guardians, and the community to support student learning and well-being. Just this week I got to talk on the phone with one of my student's mother. It was interesting to get her take on some of the assignment and what we've been doing in class. I also have been in contact with some parents on and off throughout my placement via e-mail. I have remained in contact with the teachers on the team I am working on. Everyday the team meets and collaborates on what we are doing in the classroom, students that are struggling, school/community news, etc. The school makes it a point to keep the community involved and to reach out to them for help. In fact, currently they are busy setting up people in the community to come in and talk about their careers. I've learned the importance of staying involved with as many resources and people as possible throughout this placement. It is necessary to share ideas and thoughts. It will make the classroom more interesting and the learning increase.
Just a couple of weeks ago we had a team meeting with one of my students parents to try to get their student to be tested for disabilities. We met for nearly an hour and each teacher got to talk about how this student acted in general in their classroom. It just showed how important it is for the teachers to communicate and be aware of how certain students need help. I've been lucky to have a paraprofessional in my classroom when their are students with disabilities. She is in contact with their parents weekly and so what she and I observes gets noted and she relays onto them.
When I have my own classroom I will need to communicate with parents on my own. I know first of all, I would like to have a webpage open for parents and students to read classroom updates and homework assignments. E-mail and phone calls seem to be the majority of contact with the occasional parent-teacher conferences or meetings. I hope to be able to keep a good relationship with all my student's parents and keep them updated with what is happening in our classroom, both good and bad.
As far as Schmidt chapter 7, I loved "great teachers like the ones at the heart of the Ochoa project recognize the unlimited potential of their communities as textbook and laboratory. Uptown, downtown, huddled with the city officials, or distributing food at a local shelter, students have the opportunity to confront complex issues int he flesh. Even the simplest community outing can provide a treasure-trove of shared experiences to dissect and discuss back in the classroom." Looking back at my high school biology class. Days we spent planting in our community or days we went out and cleaned up our community are days that I remember vividly and are a lasting memory. I don't remember what chapter 8 in my biology book was about, but I remember learning about how a flower grows and then putting it into action! Hopefully, I can create some community projects to leave lasting memories in my student's minds.
Monday, April 11, 2011
My thoughts for the week of 4/4 - 4/8...
This week was exciting for me. I really got to see growth in the students of both the regular and honor's math classes. The student's here at my placement surprise me every day with their knowledge and spontaneity. This week in the regular math classes we got to do some fun interactive activities to apply what we've been doing with percents. On Monday, the students enjoyed playing a "sink the sub" Smart Board game where they applied what they learned with percents in 8.1-8.3. They seemed to enjoy the game and they proved to me that they were really grasping the content. On Tuesday they took notes as we went over 8.4 (Percent Increase/Decrease). They worked well with the examples and seemed to understand increase/decrease with no difficulties. On Wednesday they did an activity with 8.2-8.4 where they applied what they knew with percents to find percent increases/decreases, sale prices, and original prices of items from sales flyer's that were posted around the room. At first, they seemed confused, but guiding them one-by-one through the stations triggered their knowledge and most seemed to pick it up rather quickly. It was a matter of making them think, "does my answer make sense"? On Thursday, we did a lesson on 8.6, which was about applying discounts, commissions, tips, etc. with percents to everyday life. The students seemed to get this with ease. On Friday, they continued applying by doing partner activities where they ordered off menus from Famous Dave's, Chilli's, and Buffalo Wild Wings. Then had to add sales tax and tip. It was nice to see that most of the students got the concept fairly quickly. With Honor's we started off the week on Monday, by continuing to work with Completing the Square. Tuesday we went over loose ends with completing the square as well. Wednesday we moved onto the Quadratic Formula, we used a song from YouTube and the students had the formula memorized by the end of class and they did an excellent job applying it. On Thursday they played math baseball using quadratic formula questions, which they proved to me they understood well. Any errors they made were minor mathematical errors not formula errors. On Friday, we talked about discriminants and how b (squared) - 4ac would tell them how many solutions each equation would have! They got this with ease and many finished their homework right in class with the time given at the end of class.
Last week I made two goals. One was to come up with ways of using multiple assessment. In my regular class the students got formal grades on a concept poster (graphic organizer), daily problems, workbook and worksheet pages, and two different activities we did in class. Informally, I was able to assess them by looking at how well they grasped the concept in class discussion and a class game. These multiple assessment were able to reach learners of all types and hopefully let the students grasp and grow from what we learned. The second goal I made was to research and plan some fun ways to teach Honor's the quadratic formula. I think they enjoyed it and understood the concept well. I used a song to teach them the actual formula and multiple examples on day 1. On day 2 we reinforced the topic by playing math baseball, which most of the students seemed to enjoy and stay involved with. They got to through a soft ball at the Smart Board while they were up at bat. Then as a group solved math problems and I drew sticks to see who would answer the questions. If a team got it wrong the opposing team got a chance to answer for a point.
This week my goal is to try to make sure I am varying my lessons enough with technology. Using the Smart Board for interactive lessons everyday will get old to the students. That's why it's important to change up what goes on in the everyday classroom. My second goal is to start finishing up my online portfolio. I feel like I'm behind on what needs to be done by the end of the semester.
The competent teacher will have, and continually develop, the knowledge and skills in learning technologies to be able to appropriately and responsibly use tools, resources, processes, and systems to retrieve, assess and evaluate information from various media. Coming into this placement I was familiar with some exposure to Smart Boards and I was very versed in using the computer and it's programs, specifically PowerPoint. While at my placement I have applied my knowledge with PowerPoint often for the students. I have also become a lot more comfortable with the Smart Board and what it offers. I would love to take a class on it at some point and become even more well versed with this incredible technology. I was also able to use and become comfortable with the ELMO. This technology allowed me to teach facing the students writing down on a piece of paper that is displayed on the whiteboard. Students really enjoy technology and really relate to it well. They are always interested when technology is used. I can see how important it is to switch up the technology use often. If a PowerPoint is used everyday it is boring, but once a week is fun and new for the students.
PowerPoint, the ELMO, the Smart Board both for notes and games, math stations, geometric solids, menus, sales adds, literature, etc. these are all things I have used to hopefully teach and keep the attention of the students at my placement. I hope that by me using these tools they have learned from these experiences as much, if not more, than I have.
I hope to continually use technology and grow with my capabilities as the years go on. Everyday technology gets better and better and to be effective, I believe I need to continue to learn more and more about what is capable with technology to be able to be used in my classroom.
Last week I made two goals. One was to come up with ways of using multiple assessment. In my regular class the students got formal grades on a concept poster (graphic organizer), daily problems, workbook and worksheet pages, and two different activities we did in class. Informally, I was able to assess them by looking at how well they grasped the concept in class discussion and a class game. These multiple assessment were able to reach learners of all types and hopefully let the students grasp and grow from what we learned. The second goal I made was to research and plan some fun ways to teach Honor's the quadratic formula. I think they enjoyed it and understood the concept well. I used a song to teach them the actual formula and multiple examples on day 1. On day 2 we reinforced the topic by playing math baseball, which most of the students seemed to enjoy and stay involved with. They got to through a soft ball at the Smart Board while they were up at bat. Then as a group solved math problems and I drew sticks to see who would answer the questions. If a team got it wrong the opposing team got a chance to answer for a point.
This week my goal is to try to make sure I am varying my lessons enough with technology. Using the Smart Board for interactive lessons everyday will get old to the students. That's why it's important to change up what goes on in the everyday classroom. My second goal is to start finishing up my online portfolio. I feel like I'm behind on what needs to be done by the end of the semester.
The competent teacher will have, and continually develop, the knowledge and skills in learning technologies to be able to appropriately and responsibly use tools, resources, processes, and systems to retrieve, assess and evaluate information from various media. Coming into this placement I was familiar with some exposure to Smart Boards and I was very versed in using the computer and it's programs, specifically PowerPoint. While at my placement I have applied my knowledge with PowerPoint often for the students. I have also become a lot more comfortable with the Smart Board and what it offers. I would love to take a class on it at some point and become even more well versed with this incredible technology. I was also able to use and become comfortable with the ELMO. This technology allowed me to teach facing the students writing down on a piece of paper that is displayed on the whiteboard. Students really enjoy technology and really relate to it well. They are always interested when technology is used. I can see how important it is to switch up the technology use often. If a PowerPoint is used everyday it is boring, but once a week is fun and new for the students.
PowerPoint, the ELMO, the Smart Board both for notes and games, math stations, geometric solids, menus, sales adds, literature, etc. these are all things I have used to hopefully teach and keep the attention of the students at my placement. I hope that by me using these tools they have learned from these experiences as much, if not more, than I have.
I hope to continually use technology and grow with my capabilities as the years go on. Everyday technology gets better and better and to be effective, I believe I need to continue to learn more and more about what is capable with technology to be able to be used in my classroom.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
My thoughts for the week of 3/28 - 4/1...
This week was very challenging for many of the students, specifically the Honor's students. They already spent a chapter learning factoring, but their factoring skills are rather week. This week we learned how to solve quadratics by factoring. We also began learning how to solve quadratics by completing the square. the first day we looked at this the students walked out of class confused and stressed. Although they only had four problems assigned just figuring out how to solve c. I am so glad that for my action research I have the online homework blog set-up. This allowed me to post our class' SmartBoard notes and encourage them through this difficult topic for them. One of the classes got through multiple example the second day and they they seemed much more comfortable with solving by completing the square. As for the regular classes, they were working on percents. The topic isn't to difficult for them, because they have spent time in both sixth and seventh grade with percents. It's just a matter of figuring out their equation to use for solving. They use a method I never used, but I found intriguing and they seem to understand it well, is over of equals percent over 100.
Last week I set two goals for myself. One, was to try to put an emphasis on the students being well-rounded. I believe I accomplished this by including lots of real life situations into my lessons. Not only were the examples relatable to the student's present lives, but more importantly their future. I also made sure I included a couple days of partner and group work to reinforce what they have been learning in class, regarding percents. People were put in partners/groups of people they wouldn't typically hand-pick. I made it clear that sometimes in life we will have to work with people we don't necessarily agree with, but we need to make sure we can work appropriately together. The students did a very nice job with this. The second goal I made was to plan plenty of activities for chapter 8. First of all, I am ahead of schedule. But more importantly, the students need to have a firm grasp on the concept of percents. I planned two days last week where the students worked in partners and groups on worksheets. Once they simply did the all the worksheet assigned. Another time, partners solved one problem then wrote their solution and how they got it on mini white boards and explained them to the class. Another time, they had a competition of who could solve a group of problems in a group the fastest while being correct. If even one was wrong they had to go back and figure which one(s) were wrong as a group and fix it.
Having to set a couple goals for this coming week I choose to make a goal of using multiple types of assessment for the students. I am going to look at my regular math classes and hope to do several forms of assessment with them. They will still have their daily problems, which will be scored for the week, they have a couple nights of regular worksheet homework. I also plan to have them make a concept poster as an assignment. Finally, they will have an assignment of using percents by ordering off menus then figuring out coupons, tax, and tip. This is something people use everyday, which hopefully they will enjoy. A second goal for myself this week is to get through the Honor's class with finishing up learning about solving by completing the square and then learning how to solve by the quadratic formula. I am researching some techniques to teaching this currently so I want to make sure I come up with some fun things that will let them remember how to do solve with these two methods.
Competent teachers should understand various formal and informal assessment strategies and be able to use them to support the continuous development of their students. I personally hate the stigmatism that some people believe that "they are just not good at math". I believe that all students can do math. One reason I think many students check out of math after elementary school is because they get bored with how math is taught. No one wants to sit in class all day take notes then go home and do math homework for an hour or so. By using different methods of assessment and coming up with fun and exciting ways to use math is a critical part, for me, of becoming a math teacher. Hopefully, I can break some students of this stigmatism and let them really enjoy math. Activities and projects are just some of the fun informal and formal ways of making math fun. If teachers would let students use their creative talents more, I think math would be more fun for many students. That's where the idea of the concept poster came for this coming week. Last week the honors worked in groups with "math eggs". I simply had an easter basket full of easter eggs with math problems in them. They seemed to enjoy this review activity. With the SmartBoard I was able to include a simple memory game at the end to check for understanding informally with the regular math classes. These are just a few of my recent ideas.
My cooperating teacher has been more than willing to let me try any activities that I want with the students, plus she has been a plethora of information and activities to me. The menu activity for this coming week is from another of her past student teachers, it just has been updated now recently. My placement has been a great way to show me the opportunities I have now and in the future to work with the kids in all sorts of different ways. In my placement, I have been lucky to have a paraprofessional in the room with me when I have students that are on IEP's. She has been wonderful. I have not been lenient on them in any way. I call on them all the time to help me solve in class problems and examples. I can pick-up easily on how well they are understanding things and I am blessed to have a paraprofessional who is competent and goes back the next morning and confirms and reemphasizes what we did in class with the students.
Some times time affects student learning. For instance, this week with completing the square. In my honor's classes the first day of this topic I couldn't even get through one full example because of all the questions. Then we ended up running out of time and I felt bad that the students had to leave class confused. The next day we worked more and it ended up being successful, but it was frustrating to me that the students were frustrated because of lack of time to finish what we started. I was at a loss, I didn't not want to answer questions, but at the same time needed to get through examples. It was a hard call on my part, but it ended up working out!
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