My Day With Mrs. G

Today I was able to complete my field experience hours by observing a sixth grade teacher at the Sullivan Middle School in Lowell, Massachusetts. Mrs. G is an English Language Arts and Social Studies teacher to two different classes. When I observed her using technology, she was teaching English Language Arts to her morning class. Her technology lesson involved using a projector to project different images on the board. These images were used to create different arguments in which they will write argument papers following school vacation next week. Some were controversial arguments, such as their was a picture of a person texting while driving with people on the road. Some were also positive arguments, one involving a child smiling and eating a carrot. Below I added another picture she showed to the class, showing that no matter what color crayon it was it still the same flesh.


After her ELA lesson the class then read until the enrichment teacher came in and began to teach class.  That's when Mrs. G and I went to the hall and started the interview.

My first question I asked Mrs. G asked her about her favorite technology piece. She said her projector was, because it was connected to her MacBook and it connects the class more to what they're learning in the book. It also allows her to type up the notes that the class has came up with that day and all she has to do is click print and the students who are absent will have the notes when they return. In her opinion, the most positive benefit of technology is that she realizes that the class pays more attention. She believes this especially in social studies, they get to see things and connect to what they're learning about. The book may show one picture of an ancient ruin while the internet shows many. 

I then asked her how she connects to her students outside the classroom. She said she had a blog. I thought this was really cool because I'm currently blogging about my experiences in education on this blog so we connected on that level. She said that the class is divided into different reading groups. Once a week, she posts a question to the blog about a broad event or happening in the book. This has to be general with having different reading groups. Then each student must go on and answer the question. They not only do this, but they respond to each other allowing the students to discuss what they are reading as a group. This provides different insights to the story from fellow peers.

Another response I found interesting was when I asked her about the district and if it was up to date with technology. She said that the district does seem be pretty up to date with technology, and the district does seem to pilot in some classes in the districts. However, she said that not all classrooms and teachers are up to date with technology. They do offer workshops for teachers to keep up to date and she says that she's been to some and actually taught her things she's never even heard of before! The one downfall to these workshops are that they aren't mandatory, so teachers aren't required to go so some don't even though most all teachers could use these workshops at some point in their career. She also said that the school does have one iPad cart as well as one laptop cart however it's school wide so it can be hard to obtain either one of them.

I really enjoyed my experience with Mrs. G at the Sullivan Middle School. The students seemed to be focused while learning the technology. I also learned a lot thru the interview. I liked how she uses a blog to create discussion amongst reading groups. I feel as though it's a great tool to use to help the students see different meanings of the books they wouldn't have realized otherwise! I learned a lot from Mrs. G that I can use in the future and am extremely grateful I was able to observe and interview her.



Round Table Education Panel

Last Wednesday, April 2nd from 3:15 to 4:15 I attended an education panel on math education. In this panel, there were four presenters. Each presenter had ten minutes to discuss their subject, and then in the end they opened it up the floor for questions and answers. There were four different topics being presented, since there were four different presenters.

The first topic was on Ability Grouping. This is the process in which students in the same grade are grouped based on the students ability. What presenter 1 did was she interviewed two teachers, that taught in grades 7 and 8. She then observed 64 students. She had students answer 21 questionnaires and interviewed 2 students. Her findings were that generally teachers and students are satisfied with ability grouping. The students are allowed to learn at their own pace. The next topic was "How do students utilize a lesson on discourse in their student to student interactions in a mathematics classroom?" The presenter did research in an 8th grade mathematics classroom. I was a bit confused at first, because I had never really heard and/or looked into discourse, but she found that students are learning with the help of their peers as well as thru lessons.

The next presenter's presentation was on "How does the implementation affect the way teachers make decisions in their teaching methods?"  The presenter did her research thru 4 teachers, who had been teaching 5, 5.5, 37 and 9 years. She looked into how Math in Focus changed the way those teachers had taught, and found the positive and negative outcomes to Math in Focus. The fourth presenter's presentation was on "How co-teaching affects the teaching practices of college faculty?" This presenter had a qualitative active research study with 6 teachers who partnered up to develop a successful course. I found this interesting. She found that although it is a ton of work, the professors had made it clear that no one had pushed them into co-teaching, and they did it because they wanted too. Some people gave this presenter backlash that she was only focusing on the positives, however, she replied that they did find some negatives in the research however the positives outweighed the negatives by a long shot.

I found the Ability Grouping very interesting. Being competitive by nature, I always wanted to be in the highest leveled class possible. One year, I was placed in the second highest class and I was down on myself. I knew I could learn as fast as the highest class, so I pushed myself. I got to shine in that math class that year and by the next year was in the highest math class! I was shocked that many students agreed with Ability Grouping. I think for people like myself, ability grouping can be both a blessing and a curse. I attached an article that explains more into detail what ability grouping is, that can be here.

Lesson Plan

 

Title: Lets Learn About One Variable Equations and Inequalities

Standards: Common Core State Standards Initiative Mathematics Grade 6 EE 5,6,7,8. Reasoning about and solving one variable equations and inequalities.

Objectives:   

·         Students must be able to use variables, such as “n” to represent an unknown number in an equation.

•        Students must be able to understand one variable equations and inequalities with the process of answering a question.

•       Solve real world problems by writing and solving equations of the form n+x=r where n,x,and r are all non-negative rational numbers.

•       They must be able to write an equation as x>n or x<n to represent a constraint or condition in either mathematical or real world problems.

Materials: Computers, Internet Connection

Anticipatory Set: After ensuring all my students have Google accounts, I’m going to create a shared Google account. There, I will post a link to the video on the shared Google account. The video explains how to solve one variable equations with a story. After a discussion about solving one variable equations and allowing students to ask questions, I will post math game links to the shared Google document. Following time to play on games, I will have them write follow up essay.

Procedures:

1.       First I will announce to the class that we are learning a new subject in math today.

2.       I will give them a brief introduction to reasoning and solving one variable equations and inequalities.

3.       I will bring them to the computer lab, and tell them to plug in their headphones.

4.       Then, I’ll have them log onto their Google accounts and click the link that brings them to the video.

5.       I will have them watch the video, Solving One Step Equations with a Story, an introduction story that explains how to solve one step equations by labeling the unknown x and working backwards.

6.       After the video, I will have them put down their headphones and turn around in their chairs so I know they’re done.

7.       We will have a brief discussion on what we learned, and then I will give the time for students to ask questions on what they don’t understand.

8.       I will then post the two math games on the shared Google account math game one on building blocks, and math game two on swimming otters. I will then allow the students ten minutes to play.

Closure: After the students play the games, I will have them send their highest score to me. I will look to see who is understanding these math problems, and who is not. Then, I will have the ones at the lower of the list partner up with the ones on the higher end of the list, allowing discourse amongst peers to happen. However, I will not make it obvious that the higher and lower ones are paired together, I will make it seem like I’m choosing randomly.

Assessment: When returning to the classroom, I will have the students write an essay explaining how to solve one step equations, like they were teaching someone who’s never heard of it. I will have them show an example problem, and state how step by step. I will assess these to see if they fully understand the concept of one variable equations, and if they don’t, I will allow extra instruction and practice when students are doing independent work in math.

Modifications: Some modifications may have to be made in the future:

1.       Timing is impeccable: I only have a certain amount of time to teach a specific subject each day, and therefore I need to make sure the lesson is timed right, or else some changes need to be made.

2.       Students’ focus: With this video, math games and partner practice, it may be very easy for students to get off track. I need to make sure the students stay focused, while still allowing students to stay interested.

3.       The discussion section: I have to make sure I can keep the discussion alive for the set time I have on the discussion. I don’t want the discussion to drain out, making the classroom awkward. I also don’t want to be pulling teeth.