Mira! Mira!

Look!  What a fascinating tool!  After discovering that this math tool has been around for decades, I've wondered if I would have looked at math differently when i was in elementary and junior high school.  I'm pretty sure I would have loved it!  Math was always so boring and mundane.  It wasn't until geometry that I (somewhat) enjoyed math.  Before learning rules and theories, we found evidence with our rulers and protractors.  All other math classes, math was just about memorizing formulas and plugging in numbers.  School is all about experiencing, discovering, and learning.  Tools like the mira make learning fun and interesting.  It's a little sad that there are so many math tools and manipulatives for students, but they are seldom used or seen.

It is difficult, though, when you are a realistic teacher, with a realistic budget, with a realistic time line, and with an instructor's math guide with play-by-play steps.  As a first year teacher, I am almost positive that I will do everything by the book.  I just hope that I don't get used to or comfortable with that routine.

To group or not to group

After observing my classroom in math, I notice that the teacher never groups the kids together.  I believe the reason for not putting the kids into groups is because the kids are chatty and get distracted easily.  The para educator agreed with me in this observation.  This worries me because after all our discussions and practices in our math course, I may not be able to implement it in my practicum.

Having the kids work in groups is something I really want to try, though, even if their teacher doesn't believe it will work out, at least for this group of kids that do not support each other (constantly tattletales on each other) and do not play with each other during recess.  They do not work as a team in anything they do.  I feel as if they start working together, and the teacher has made it clear that they are partners (as in sports, where teammates work together to win), they can teach each other about math strategies.  Instead of me doing all the teaching, and risking some kids tuning out, the kids could enforce what I've taught by teaching themselves and discussing their strategies.

Questioning Strategies

As I am counting the days to my first observed lesson (a math lesson), I am aware that I need to ask the right questions to engage my students, keep them interested, and help them to successfully organize their thoughts.  I never realized how much energy and thought goes into asking the right kind of questions.  The article, Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say! gives a plan to use specific questioning techniques when teaching math.

Of course, one of the techniques that I like is "Never say anything a kid can say."  I see that this goal sounds simple, but my master teacher hardly ever does this in her class.  It is very hard to find patience and time to let the students do all the thinking and questioning.  Especially when you are a few lessons behind or trying to finish up the lesson before transitioning to another subject.

I have tried this technique as I'm walking around the room while observing, though.  I really see how taking ownership in their own thought process, rather than listening to the teacher explain how to fix this and that, is more beneficial and rewarding for both teacher and students.

Analysis and Lesson Plan

My buddy’s story is about a cat that has a unique trait: it talks to her!  Within her story, she speaks to the reader about how this talking cat shocks her, but also about how the cat is feeling in a human world.  The author presents a pretty complex world of emotions and instances of empathy.  She has a knack for words and writing funny scenarios.

6 Traits of Assessment:

IDEAS – She gives a great amount of detail to hold the reader’s attention.  Her ideas are fresh and original.  On her third page, she writes, “I leaned back and I heard, “Ouch!  That Hurt!”  Shocked, I looked up to see if anybody got hurt...”  In this example, she uses onomatopoeia and anticipates and answers the reader’s questions.

ORGANIZATION - She is pacing her story fairly well, but her story details (page 5), though a funny detail, detracts from the main story line and what she’s trying to get across to the reader.  In short, the details take too long to explain.  For most of the page, her main goal is to express the cat’s sadness because he cannot play with the kids.  She goes into detail about how the kids are playing ball and how the cat is physically unable to play such a game.  She feels sorry for the cat because of his opposable thumbs, and decides it would be best to call for her mom to take the cat home from school.  Though it is a funny story, it is very lengthy.

VOICE - .  Her ideas and content is evident (how sad the cat was at recess because he could not play kids’ game, no opposable thumbs).  She also uses engaging language:  (page 7) She uses expressions such as full speed ahead and in a blink of an eye.

WORD CHOICE – She consistently uses lively verbs throughout her story.  On page 6 she uses the word “grabbed” to describe how she was picking up a stick to defend the cat.  On page 1, she used the word “fainted” after the cat started talking to her.  On Page 3 the word “rushed” was used to express a sense of urgency, running down the stairs.

SENTENCE FLUENCY – Her sentence beginnings are not all alike; there is variance.  In one instance, she uses “But” to emphasize something different as a beginning sentence word (page 2:  The cat jumped at me and said,“Feed me now, stupid head!”  But didn’t listen).  She also uses descriptive words of time elapsed, such as for ten minutes after an hour, when I was sleeping in my bed.

However, sentences are awkward because they are very long. “I thote that was to rud to say so I did nothing but do my hair then the cat asked nicely then I rushed down stairs and expluned, you will get your way when you are nice to the person your talking to.”

CONVENTIONS - Spelling errors are frequent, even on common words (sight words, such as said).  Punctuation is often missing (no periods) and paragraphing is missing, as well.  Only one paragraph was made:  the beginning paragraph.

OWNERSHIP:

My buddy is a writer, and she says that she enjoys writing more than reading.  I have only seen one example of her writing, and it is evident that her ideas are full of detail and imagery.  She accepts compliments about her good writing and recognizes that she has a skill for writing.  She likes to read recipes when she is cooking with her grandmother (a response to my question:  what other types of writing do you like to read?).  If she does get to choose what she gets to read, she likes  to read non-fiction just as much as fiction and fantasy books.

SPELLING TEST AND DEVELOPMENT FINDINGS:

As I had only one meeting with Julia, and it was a full one with many activities and introductions to each other, I was only able to get halfway through her spelling test.  Based on my limited findings, she could be found on the middle Within-word Patterns (misspelling words such as flote, brite, and chooed) on the developmental continuum.  More analysis and observation is necessary to make a more informed placement.

I also had her read to me, and she frequently made mistakes.  She saw the first letter of the word and said a random word that started with the same letter.  When I asked her to read the sentence again, or asked if she knew the meaning of that word, she either stopped at the word or asked me what it meant.  Besides the words she does not know (and creates), she infers their meaning because at the end of each page, she is able to tell me what she just read.  She has a good sense of comprehension.

LESSON PLAN:

Objectives: 

Students will understand writing conventions and enhance word definitions by completing a spelling journal.

Standards: 

3.3.4. Applies punctuation rules.

3.3.6. Uses complete sentences in writing.

Materials:

Journal notebook

Pencil

Sticky notes

Vocabulary from current literacy textbook

Instructional Strategies:

Student will listen to 3 vocabulary words per week, supplied by the teacher.  As a class, the student will write in his/her notebook the vocabulary word and its definition.  Together they will discuss the meaning of each word. 

Independently, the student will draw the meaning or an example of the vocabulary word and use the word in a sentence, using his/her own words.

The teacher will monitor independent student work to check for correct definition, representation, and usage (capital and period).

Throughout the week, the student will be aware of these vocabulary words, inside and outside of class.  When these words are used, the student will journal how the word was used or quickly jot down the example of its usage on a sticky note to transfer/stick on the page at a later time.  Because these are vocabulary words taken from the literacy textbook, there will be at least one opportunity to journal about the word’s usage.

Assessment:

When notebooks are handed in at the end of the week, I will assess the student’s written work:  spelling vocabulary terms correctly, punctuation, and sentence structure.

At the end of the week, a spelling test (including definition) will be administered.  I will assess the student’s test for correct spelling, punctuation, and definition.

Keeping an Open Mind

I did have strong feelings about how that math session went -- the anxiety of being called upon, not having enough time to think a problem through, pretending to understand a problem for the sake of time or to save face.  But after observing my main placement's math sessions, I wish they did math differently (like the kind of sessions that I had once disapproved of).  This is what I witness every day:  a direct instruction from the teacher, the students working on their own white boards, the students instructed to work on practice sheets on their own.  I am pretty excited to try out this method that I've felt so uneasy about!  I want to put these kids into small groups so that they can talk to each other and support each other!  For the past few months, the kids have not been good friends to each other.  They hardly ever get a chance to be in groups in anything together during class.  I am interested to see if this beginning of splitting them into groups will help their relationships with each other.  If they can be put into groups for math, they can make sure each member understands the math problem (if they are unexpectedly called upon).  They are also responsible for supporting each team member if/when a member is called upon.  I am very glad I am opening up my mind to this method of teaching.  For this class, I think they would really benefit from working together.

iTouch Uses

In my main placement classroom, I have found a few instances in which the iTouch might really help out the kids.  Something that always has the kids hung up is story ideas.  I constantly hear kids saying things, such as, "I don't know what I wanna write about."  Or, "Nothing interesting has ever happened to me that I'd want to write about."

I understand their frustration because, for me, getting the first few sentences down on paper is the hardest thing to do.  I feel that every word has to be well chosen and used for a specific reason.  It all has to be perfect!  Then I end up staring at my blank page because nothing will do, nothing is perfect enough.  What I have learned to do is just free write and just write something!  I found an app called StoryBuilder, and the kids would use the exercises to start getting words out.  There are cartoons (comic book storyboards) and the first part of the sentence starts, then the students fill in the last missing part of the sentence.  They can record their voice narrative and replay.  Everything is recorded until the story is complete.  I think this app helps kids get over their frustrations of starting a story out perfectly.

Another app that I like is google translate.  With ELL students, I can use this with and communicate with them if there is anything that is unclear in conversations.  It is also an excellent tool to use in conferences with parents of ELL students.  One of my favorite apps!

I also saw an app called Fractions, and yes, it is all about fractions.  As the kids start to get into the idea of fractions, this app has so many images and exercises that explain how fractions are used and why fractions are used.  It can also be used as a game, as you can master simple fractions and answer questions about fractions.  You can take quizzes and test yourself, too.  It's not all about pizza slices and pie slices anymore!