Well....Carole loves throwing me to the wolves.....thank goddness!! She now knows me well enough to know that I may not volunteer but I will say 'yes' or 'sure' most every time if she asks me to do something! I was so nervous to lead a conference but when it was all said and done, I felt great about it. Yes, I faltered over my words a few times, forgot some details and blanked on what I should say but all in all, I survived. It was a good way to end the day.
My TWS lessons have been taught. I give my post-assessment on thursday and I am excited to see what the results are. I look forward to seeing if there has been improvement. I would do it differently again next time but that is the way it goes with teaching...or so it seems. I have been really thankful to have gotten to teach so much latley. It makes such a huge difference when you see the lessons in sequence and you refer back to activities you have done with the students. It makes it a much more meaningful teaching experience for me.
Well, this blog is more of a general reflection than a lesson reflection. I will not be back in my classroom until thursday so it will be interesting to have been gone for two days!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
from place value to subtraction strategies
I felt the rollercoaster of emotions last Thursday and Friday that comes with being a ‘beginning’ (student) teacher…maybe just being a teacher in general?? I was pretty disappointed about the way a lesson went on Thursday and felt confused about my teaching goal, my TWS and myself. Then on Friday, I got to Sumas, spent the morning there and left feeling exactly the opposite of how I felt on Thursday.
On Friday morning, Carole (my CT) helped me to determine if the students had understood, for the most part, my teaching goal of place value. She came up with a quick and efficient formative (almost post) assessment and generally the students did great. After we determined that I felt a huge sigh of relief and was able to approach that days lesson with a new attitude. The lesson went well and I felt good about the way I stayed true to my teaching goal the whole lesson, exploring subtraction strategies. I left feeling renewed, motivated and excited to be moving from one teaching goal to the next with some success…hopefully that will stick for both the students and myself!
Things that went well: My select and sequence of student examples was the most purposeful yet during this lesson. I noticed that I picked student examples and the order that I wanted them to share with more purpose then I have previously. I definitely need a lot more practice with this but felt confident in what I did do on Friday. The students were really great also. I have been stressing silently and quickly when transitions need to happen and been mentioning both how much time they have to do it and even linked it to the school rule of ‘getting business done’. I felt this worked and they were really quick and efficient when getting to the carpet. They seem to be really engaged during this lesson (for the most part) and felt solid about the way the subtraction strategies were introduced. I will be excited to work with them again on Monday.
Things I would change for next time: Although I felt I did my best yet with sequencing and selecting I still feel as though I could have highlighted all of the subtraction strategies if I had been better at deciphering student work. I have a feeling every strategy was out there. Next time, I hope to talk with students more and have them explain their work to me explicitly so that I can get each strategy. When we make our posters with student work on them to put on the walls as a resource I will try to make this happen. Also, as much as I enjoyed the discussion and felt it was worthwhile, I wish I could have been more succinct with it so they had more time to practice and put the strategies to work. Lastly, I mentioned and few times that they needed to be clear and concise when writing down their work and communicating their thoughts but did not visually model this, which would have been helpful and more meaningful.
Questions and thoughts: TIME!!! I felt as though I went longer with the discussion then I was ‘supposed’ to according to the curriculum but I felt the discussion was solid and that students were engaged. This is a constant battle. I wonder what it is like when you don’t need to physically move to another…. Is it easier or harder when you have the ability to lengthen your lesson depending on what is happening. I find I get so wrapped up that I lose track of time easily. This will be something I need to work on because it is my responsibility to keep track of time. That continues to be a challenge for me. I tend to lose the closing discussion time because of this too often.
On Friday morning, Carole (my CT) helped me to determine if the students had understood, for the most part, my teaching goal of place value. She came up with a quick and efficient formative (almost post) assessment and generally the students did great. After we determined that I felt a huge sigh of relief and was able to approach that days lesson with a new attitude. The lesson went well and I felt good about the way I stayed true to my teaching goal the whole lesson, exploring subtraction strategies. I left feeling renewed, motivated and excited to be moving from one teaching goal to the next with some success…hopefully that will stick for both the students and myself!
Things that went well: My select and sequence of student examples was the most purposeful yet during this lesson. I noticed that I picked student examples and the order that I wanted them to share with more purpose then I have previously. I definitely need a lot more practice with this but felt confident in what I did do on Friday. The students were really great also. I have been stressing silently and quickly when transitions need to happen and been mentioning both how much time they have to do it and even linked it to the school rule of ‘getting business done’. I felt this worked and they were really quick and efficient when getting to the carpet. They seem to be really engaged during this lesson (for the most part) and felt solid about the way the subtraction strategies were introduced. I will be excited to work with them again on Monday.
Things I would change for next time: Although I felt I did my best yet with sequencing and selecting I still feel as though I could have highlighted all of the subtraction strategies if I had been better at deciphering student work. I have a feeling every strategy was out there. Next time, I hope to talk with students more and have them explain their work to me explicitly so that I can get each strategy. When we make our posters with student work on them to put on the walls as a resource I will try to make this happen. Also, as much as I enjoyed the discussion and felt it was worthwhile, I wish I could have been more succinct with it so they had more time to practice and put the strategies to work. Lastly, I mentioned and few times that they needed to be clear and concise when writing down their work and communicating their thoughts but did not visually model this, which would have been helpful and more meaningful.
Questions and thoughts: TIME!!! I felt as though I went longer with the discussion then I was ‘supposed’ to according to the curriculum but I felt the discussion was solid and that students were engaged. This is a constant battle. I wonder what it is like when you don’t need to physically move to another…. Is it easier or harder when you have the ability to lengthen your lesson depending on what is happening. I find I get so wrapped up that I lose track of time easily. This will be something I need to work on because it is my responsibility to keep track of time. That continues to be a challenge for me. I tend to lose the closing discussion time because of this too often.
Monday, October 6, 2008
accommodations to the curriculum
Today I learned a valuable lesson regarding curriculum. Sometimes it is better to accommodate the curriculums way of doing something and try a different approach when your students are struggling. This is not to say that anytime a student is struggling you should just give up on that approach. It is important to realize why the students are struggling and then evaluate if there is a better way since the tool/manipulative/activity is wrong for the desired goal. For today’s math lesson, we realized that the 10,000 chart was confusing the students more than helping them. We also realized that using manipulatives to explore place value visually might be a better alternative and that this was a better way to get at our learning goals.
It seems to me that students will have a better understanding of place value after using the place value blocks because they can easily see how ten 10’s make a hundred and how ten 100’s equal a thousand…and so on. Also, if they can understand how to use the place value blocks, when it is WASL time they can use them during the test and already be comfortable with them. I am excited to see how they do when we give them another assessment on place value after using the blocks. Especially since they did not do so well on the assessment on place value Friday.
What went well today? The kids were really well behaved today. The jumped right into the activity and stayed involved the most of the time. They seemed excited to use a manipulative and many students were solid on the idea that ‘10 of these makes 1 of these’. Next, it will be important for them to see that 100 of these can make 1 of these and so forth. I was also really focused on getting students to ask each other instead of asking me. I tried to focus on partnership responsibilities so I realized today that some of my conferring was more environment than content or behavior. I made sure to state my teaching point (place value) more than once and referred back to it numerous times. Overall, I think most of the students that I conferred with were still a little shaky but on the verge of having the light bulb click on.
What would I do different next time: During the intro I would have done the whole idea/relationship between 100 of these makes 1 of these and so forth in order to expand their thinking. A quick wrap up would have been nice so that students could share the way they used the manipulative and how it helped them solve the worksheet.
Questions/ponderings: I am really glad that we switched out the 10,000 charts for the place value blocks. It will be interesting to see if their understanding improves. Some questions I have are: How will we assess them in regards to what they were doing wrong on the charts though? The idea that the first row in each section does not have a hundred in it? Or do we even need to assess that specifically. Maybe the tool was confusing and we will see their understanding by using a different approach. I am thinking it will be the latter. I am really excited to see how the accommodations work out.
It seems to me that students will have a better understanding of place value after using the place value blocks because they can easily see how ten 10’s make a hundred and how ten 100’s equal a thousand…and so on. Also, if they can understand how to use the place value blocks, when it is WASL time they can use them during the test and already be comfortable with them. I am excited to see how they do when we give them another assessment on place value after using the blocks. Especially since they did not do so well on the assessment on place value Friday.
What went well today? The kids were really well behaved today. The jumped right into the activity and stayed involved the most of the time. They seemed excited to use a manipulative and many students were solid on the idea that ‘10 of these makes 1 of these’. Next, it will be important for them to see that 100 of these can make 1 of these and so forth. I was also really focused on getting students to ask each other instead of asking me. I tried to focus on partnership responsibilities so I realized today that some of my conferring was more environment than content or behavior. I made sure to state my teaching point (place value) more than once and referred back to it numerous times. Overall, I think most of the students that I conferred with were still a little shaky but on the verge of having the light bulb click on.
What would I do different next time: During the intro I would have done the whole idea/relationship between 100 of these makes 1 of these and so forth in order to expand their thinking. A quick wrap up would have been nice so that students could share the way they used the manipulative and how it helped them solve the worksheet.
Questions/ponderings: I am really glad that we switched out the 10,000 charts for the place value blocks. It will be interesting to see if their understanding improves. Some questions I have are: How will we assess them in regards to what they were doing wrong on the charts though? The idea that the first row in each section does not have a hundred in it? Or do we even need to assess that specifically. Maybe the tool was confusing and we will see their understanding by using a different approach. I am thinking it will be the latter. I am really excited to see how the accommodations work out.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Started a new unit today!
Today my class started a new Unit in Investigations called "Thousands of miles, thousands of seats". This was the first time that I got to introduce and facilitate a new unit and it went pretty well....except some big misunderstandings but those misunderstandings will be focused on and, hopefully, conquered tomorrow!
Lesson overview: Students were introduced to a 10,000 chart. The chart is very large and multiple students (2 partner pairs) work together on the 10,000 chart during the activity. We began with a discussion about finding landmark numbers on the 10,000 chart and how to do this as a team. The procedure was that 1 person would find three landmark numbers and the other people on the team would make sure that they agreed where the first person put the landmark numbers. Then the next person would get to pick three landmark numbers and so on. The lesson continued with this procedure and with most the students participating. At the end of the lesson, the students shared their strategies for finding landmark numbers and showed the rest of the class their 10,000 chart.
What went well:
* The students were better about listening to me this time and were not quite as talkative as when I have taught previously. I especially noticed this because usually when Mrs. Donaldson is out of the room, they test me a little more.
* Timing throughout the lesson was where I wanted it for the most part (the wrap up was where we realized there were some big misunderstandings/misconceptions so the wrap-up ended up having a different focus than originally planned).
* Clear directions (or so I thought!)
* Active participation
* I stated my teaching point more than once. My teaching point was that if you put landmark numbers correctly on your 10,000 chart it will be easier to then find large numbers on your chart more quickly. for example: you put down the landmark number 1,000 on your chart and now it will be much easier to find 1,015 on the chart.
What I would do differently next time:
* Compare and contrast the 100 chart with the 10,000 chart so that students could visually see that we were not counting by 10’s from row to row. (For example: 10 skip down a row to 20, skip down a row to 30 and so on….) but that now we were going to be skipping down by 100’s. This was an area that if discussed would have saved the students a lot of confusion.
* Figure out a way for student to be held individually responsible so that all students equally participated. It was too much of a free for all. On the other hand, they are in 5th grade and know how to work in partnerships, so it is their responsibility to contribute. This could be an area where a quick 2 minute discussion on partnerships/team work is brought up and reviewed and put to rest quickly.
* Although I stated my teaching point explicitly, I am not sure if students really grasped the idea. Next time, I would like to have a clear phrase or sentence regarding how the 10,000 chart will help in a similar way that the hundreds chart has been a tool to help them find numbers on the chart quickly, to see patterns and to visually see what is happening when large numbers change. Thinking of clear and concise way of saying that will be my goal tonight.
* Students will repeat this activity for the first part of the lesson tomorrow and there will be more of a direct goal and expectation that students will share with their peers. The direct expectation will be to come up with a strategy for finding landmark numbers and tell why this works. Students need to be able to prove their numbers are in the right place.
Questions and Ponderings:
* After these initial lessons with the 10,000 chart, how will the students use this knowledge to help them throughout the investigation? It is helpful to use a 100 chart because you can keep it handy and it is easy to use. The 10,000 chart is huge and not conducive when trying to quickly solve a large addition or subtraction problem. I think in order for me to really use this tool well I need to believe in it as a helpful and productive chart. I would love to talk about this so as to understand the purpose more clearly.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
First Post
Welcome to my blog. The focus of this blog will be on the final quarters of my student internship. Can't wait to share my insights and get feedback from everyone.
Thanks, Christine
Thanks, Christine
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