So, week 8 contained the conclusion of MEAP testing (huzzahs all around!) and a few lessons from 7th grade. I finally got to see how my cooperating teacher uses the Connected Math workbooks in the classroom, so I at least have a basis for my own planning. And, speaking of planning...
I finally planned out my first week, which is really only three days (Wed - Fri), and I think it went mostly well. It took a while to get myself focused enough to actually sit down and plan, but once I got going, it wasn't so bad. I essentially planned all three days in one sitting (with a few internet breaks here and there...ha!). I have found the Teacher's Guide quite helpful in identifying objectives and suggested homework, but I find myself consistently diverging from their suggesting approach to accommodate the needs of my own students. This has been a tough balance thus far, as I am trying to differentiate to my students without selling short their abilities. There were a few problems that I nixed from the suggested plan because I thought they would be too intensive for my students.
In a perfect world, I'd have assigned them anyways, in hopes of the students struggling with them and actually getting something out of it. Thinking about my students' past actions, however, I decided that too many of them would give in at the first sign of a struggle - especially considering they were homework problems, and my students have a poor history of homework completion. I am consciously thinking about how I could differentiate to students within the same class, given their level of 'readiness,' but I'm not yet comfortable enough with exactly how to do that without singling out students (as in my case, it would be singling out the under-performers). That, and I don't want to kill myself over this as I'm just getting started.
Now, the biggest issue I have with starting this week is also the source of the first major disagreement with my cooperating teacher. He wants to take 10-15 (and sometimes 20!) minutes at the start of each day going over CPS remote questions which are ultimately unrelated to the lesson at hand. This means that I have less time for lessons, planning for warm-up activities is now complicated, and students are experiencing disjointed "lessons," which will only serve to dilute potential learning. It's downright frustrating, but it's his class, so it's what I am going to do.
So, yeah... I take over in three days, and I'm being observed in four days. I'm a bit nervous, but am confident that even if it goes poorly, I can learn something from it all.
:)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
MEAP Testing...
...has taken over our class.
It's really too bad. We have spent so much time preparing for the MEAP, whose math component starts tomorrow, that we covered almost no new content in either sixth or seventh grade. It's really quite disheartening. On top of that, I started reading the Teaching Gap in class, and the issues that are addressed in the text are picturesque of my classroom. We are consistently drilling-and-killing, focusing more on procedures and memorization than any notion of mathematical thinking. Nowhere are students asked to partake in any active, problem-solving tasks... they just sit there; mostly not listening.
I really need to do something to get them excited about doing mathematics and solving problems, but... what is that something? I have students who outright just occupy space in class, offering nothing in return. I can think of one student in particular... she is clueless; lost; spaced-out. She doesn't want anything to do with math, and refuses to let me help her. One can only lead a horse to water, right? We had a conversation today that went like this:
Me: Okay, is there a number that divides into both 5 and 15?
Her: Seven.
Me: Why do you think seven?
Her: I dunno.
Me: Okay, so tell me how 7 divides into 5...
Her: I dunno.
Me: Does it divide into 5? Can you divide 5, 7 ways?
Her: No.
Me: Okay, then can 7 divide into both 5 and 15?
Her: I dunno.
Me:...
Meanwhile, she would lose interest and look away, spacing out. I had to refocus her back to me every so often, but she just didn't want anything to do with the help. When we are going over problems, she is never tuned in, always looking somewhere else. It's to the point where I don't want to help her anymore, as she clearly doesn't want the help.
Hm...
---
On a lighter note, I had my first College of Ed observation today. I think things went pretty well. I didn't ever feel nervous, and thought that my interacting with the students was appropriate and meaningful. Let's see if the review comes back with the same sentiments.
Compher, out.
It's really too bad. We have spent so much time preparing for the MEAP, whose math component starts tomorrow, that we covered almost no new content in either sixth or seventh grade. It's really quite disheartening. On top of that, I started reading the Teaching Gap in class, and the issues that are addressed in the text are picturesque of my classroom. We are consistently drilling-and-killing, focusing more on procedures and memorization than any notion of mathematical thinking. Nowhere are students asked to partake in any active, problem-solving tasks... they just sit there; mostly not listening.
I really need to do something to get them excited about doing mathematics and solving problems, but... what is that something? I have students who outright just occupy space in class, offering nothing in return. I can think of one student in particular... she is clueless; lost; spaced-out. She doesn't want anything to do with math, and refuses to let me help her. One can only lead a horse to water, right? We had a conversation today that went like this:
Me: Okay, is there a number that divides into both 5 and 15?
Her: Seven.
Me: Why do you think seven?
Her: I dunno.
Me: Okay, so tell me how 7 divides into 5...
Her: I dunno.
Me: Does it divide into 5? Can you divide 5, 7 ways?
Her: No.
Me: Okay, then can 7 divide into both 5 and 15?
Her: I dunno.
Me:...
Meanwhile, she would lose interest and look away, spacing out. I had to refocus her back to me every so often, but she just didn't want anything to do with the help. When we are going over problems, she is never tuned in, always looking somewhere else. It's to the point where I don't want to help her anymore, as she clearly doesn't want the help.
Hm...
---
On a lighter note, I had my first College of Ed observation today. I think things went pretty well. I didn't ever feel nervous, and thought that my interacting with the students was appropriate and meaningful. Let's see if the review comes back with the same sentiments.
Compher, out.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Week 6 Workshop - Classroom Observation: Questioning
This blog post is terribly unexciting, I'm sure. Apologies for that... carry on. :)
My task for the day was to observe the questioning that occurs when my cooperating teacher cycles the room, assisting students. The focus for today was reducing fractions to their simplest form. Thus, the questions observed were along the lines of:
We sort of shifted gears from there to talk about the sum of the measures of the angles of quadrilaterals. There wasn't much exploratory learning here, and it should have been review. The questions asked were of the form:
As for the type of questions that I would like to ask in my classroom, I don't think they would be far removed from the first set of questions. There would be a few questions that check for understanding, some leading questions where necessary, and a mixture of open-ended questions. I do like asking students to explain their reasoning in an effort to get them practicing the use of mathematical language.
My task for the day was to observe the questioning that occurs when my cooperating teacher cycles the room, assisting students. The focus for today was reducing fractions to their simplest form. Thus, the questions observed were along the lines of:
- Can someone tell us a number that goes into 20 and 100?
- What did you do here, [Student X]?
- What happened down here to make the denominator go from 3 to 9?
- Is the fraction in simplest form?
- Can you tell me why you chose B?
We sort of shifted gears from there to talk about the sum of the measures of the angles of quadrilaterals. There wasn't much exploratory learning here, and it should have been review. The questions asked were of the form:
- How many degrees are there inside a triangle [sic]? Okay, then how many are inside a rectangle?
- But, didn't you just tell me that the sum of the measures of the angles in a quadrilateral is 360 degrees?
- Did you do this another way, [Student Y]?
As for the type of questions that I would like to ask in my classroom, I don't think they would be far removed from the first set of questions. There would be a few questions that check for understanding, some leading questions where necessary, and a mixture of open-ended questions. I do like asking students to explain their reasoning in an effort to get them practicing the use of mathematical language.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Week 6 Begins (along with the MEAP)
Ah, where to begin.
Last week ended with a bit of a bang. Our cooperating teacher was absent from school, so we had a substitute teacher. What this ultimately meant is that we got to take over the class for the day. I took seventh grade, which means I only got one class. Since it was also a half day, the whole of the class was spent doing their Friday remote quiz. I thought the day went mostly well. The only niggle was the fact that students tried to leave when class ended, not when I dismissed them. The following went down:
Students start to stand and gather their things
[Me] Hey, everyone, we know that nobody leaves class until dismissed by the teacher.
Students are still standing, one tried to leave.
[Me] Have a seat.
[Me] ...
[Me] Have a seat.
[Me] ...
[Me] Have a seat.
[Student] I'm sitting down.
[Me] Is that your seat?
[Student] No, but I'm sitting.
[Me] I said "Have a seat," and I think you know which seat I meant.
[Student] *groan*
Student moves to proper seat
[Me] Have a nice weekend...
A bit of a power struggle? Maybe, but I never raised my voice.
Looking ahead, this week should be another eventful one. MEAP testing is starting Tuesday, and there are rumors that we will be watching over a PE class. That sounds like a nice use of my time! My unit still looms on the horizon, but still no word on when I am taking over the class. Regardless, though, I have an observation time set up for a week from tomorrow. Hopefully we do something useful that day.
As an aside to all of this teaching stuff (sorta) my Math and Physics Certification tests are on Saturday. I'm a bit nervous about the Physics one, and I think some studying exists in my future. Math, I think I'll be alright with.
---
Lastly, this is a repost from a Discussion Board response for a class. The topic is the first chapter of The Teaching Gap. Normally I wouldn't do this, but I had some interesting thoughts that all [small number] of my readers might be interested in:
Now, the major points of the text followed along the lines of: The United States consistently under-performs in the area of mathematics on the global scale, the problem with math education lies on the teaching of math (not necessarily the teachers, but at least the process), and we seem to lack any sort of plan designed to systematically improve the state of math education (Circa 1999, of course).
One of the attributing factors here is the method in which teachers are left to their own devices, on an island of isolation. This actually got me thinking about how much different my teaching experience will be when I have my own classroom, compared to what I experience now (read: with two professional teachers and a second student assistant). It's actually quite daunting. Left alone on this island, teachers are given very little opportunity to observe and reflect on their own teaching habits and methods. There is nobody checking in on the teacher's teaching (aside from a few arbitrary observations per year), so any professional development and growth becomes the responsibility of the teacher [alone]. We haven't gotten into it yet, but I'm am fully expecting to read about collaborative efforts among content area teachers in other countries, particularly Japan. Sure, there are likely to be departmental meetings from time to time, but nothing on the scale that really alters the way that we teach things.
Anyways, we were supposed to focus on assessment, so I should probably get around to doing that...
The big role that assessment plays with regard to this whole dilemma, the teaching gap, is that the purpose of assessment is to assess student learning. If students are learning, this should show up in assessment (both formative and otherwise), and teaching should be modified accordingly. If this is not happening (which is likely the case) one of two things is happening: either the results of the assessment are not being used in any productive manner, or, even worse, our assessment methods are not functioning as their intended purpose. This would mean that assessments are not properly assessing student learning.
This was hinted at briefly in the text when it was mentioned that teaching in the United States tends to focus on processes of computation, rather than mathematical learning. Thus, students are only "learning" to memorize formulas and when they should be used. Instead, students should be actively solving problems. Not problems as in "problem number four," but problems as in a questions needing an answer. Students get so caught up in the processes of doing computation that they fail to remember, or even realize, conceptually what it is that they are doing. This is very disheartening. The panda is thusly sad:
Ultimately, what this chapter did was sort of shake me up a little; both in terms of pointing out the elephant in the room, and actually frightening me a bit with the task that has been placed on mathematics teachers of the future. That's me! Halp!
Well, that's enough of a rant from me. My biggest concern with all of this is that the system cannot be fixed at one level by one teacher. It must be something that is addressed at every stage of a students' education. I can try my damndest and do everything possible, but if the damage is already done, what good would it do?
:) <--- the smiley face is to lighten the mood.
Last week ended with a bit of a bang. Our cooperating teacher was absent from school, so we had a substitute teacher. What this ultimately meant is that we got to take over the class for the day. I took seventh grade, which means I only got one class. Since it was also a half day, the whole of the class was spent doing their Friday remote quiz. I thought the day went mostly well. The only niggle was the fact that students tried to leave when class ended, not when I dismissed them. The following went down:
Students start to stand and gather their things
[Me] Hey, everyone, we know that nobody leaves class until dismissed by the teacher.
Students are still standing, one tried to leave.
[Me] Have a seat.
[Me] ...
[Me] Have a seat.
[Me] ...
[Me] Have a seat.
[Student] I'm sitting down.
[Me] Is that your seat?
[Student] No, but I'm sitting.
[Me] I said "Have a seat," and I think you know which seat I meant.
[Student] *groan*
Student moves to proper seat
[Me] Have a nice weekend...
A bit of a power struggle? Maybe, but I never raised my voice.
Looking ahead, this week should be another eventful one. MEAP testing is starting Tuesday, and there are rumors that we will be watching over a PE class. That sounds like a nice use of my time! My unit still looms on the horizon, but still no word on when I am taking over the class. Regardless, though, I have an observation time set up for a week from tomorrow. Hopefully we do something useful that day.
As an aside to all of this teaching stuff (sorta) my Math and Physics Certification tests are on Saturday. I'm a bit nervous about the Physics one, and I think some studying exists in my future. Math, I think I'll be alright with.
---
Lastly, this is a repost from a Discussion Board response for a class. The topic is the first chapter of The Teaching Gap. Normally I wouldn't do this, but I had some interesting thoughts that all [small number] of my readers might be interested in:
Now, the major points of the text followed along the lines of: The United States consistently under-performs in the area of mathematics on the global scale, the problem with math education lies on the teaching of math (not necessarily the teachers, but at least the process), and we seem to lack any sort of plan designed to systematically improve the state of math education (Circa 1999, of course).
One of the attributing factors here is the method in which teachers are left to their own devices, on an island of isolation. This actually got me thinking about how much different my teaching experience will be when I have my own classroom, compared to what I experience now (read: with two professional teachers and a second student assistant). It's actually quite daunting. Left alone on this island, teachers are given very little opportunity to observe and reflect on their own teaching habits and methods. There is nobody checking in on the teacher's teaching (aside from a few arbitrary observations per year), so any professional development and growth becomes the responsibility of the teacher [alone]. We haven't gotten into it yet, but I'm am fully expecting to read about collaborative efforts among content area teachers in other countries, particularly Japan. Sure, there are likely to be departmental meetings from time to time, but nothing on the scale that really alters the way that we teach things.
Anyways, we were supposed to focus on assessment, so I should probably get around to doing that...
The big role that assessment plays with regard to this whole dilemma, the teaching gap, is that the purpose of assessment is to assess student learning. If students are learning, this should show up in assessment (both formative and otherwise), and teaching should be modified accordingly. If this is not happening (which is likely the case) one of two things is happening: either the results of the assessment are not being used in any productive manner, or, even worse, our assessment methods are not functioning as their intended purpose. This would mean that assessments are not properly assessing student learning.
This was hinted at briefly in the text when it was mentioned that teaching in the United States tends to focus on processes of computation, rather than mathematical learning. Thus, students are only "learning" to memorize formulas and when they should be used. Instead, students should be actively solving problems. Not problems as in "problem number four," but problems as in a questions needing an answer. Students get so caught up in the processes of doing computation that they fail to remember, or even realize, conceptually what it is that they are doing. This is very disheartening. The panda is thusly sad:
Ultimately, what this chapter did was sort of shake me up a little; both in terms of pointing out the elephant in the room, and actually frightening me a bit with the task that has been placed on mathematics teachers of the future. That's me! Halp!
Well, that's enough of a rant from me. My biggest concern with all of this is that the system cannot be fixed at one level by one teacher. It must be something that is addressed at every stage of a students' education. I can try my damndest and do everything possible, but if the damage is already done, what good would it do?
:) <--- the smiley face is to lighten the mood.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Workshop - Observing Instruction
For one of our seminar workshops, I was tasked with observing instruction. Since I was observing another teacher already for another course, I pulled double-duty and made notes for this class as well. This was in an Eighth Grade Algebra classroom, and they were working with Order of Operations.
Long story short, I will now reflect on a few questions I've been considering about teaching, and how I believe that I am working on them (and who I might be discussing them with):
1. How can we include all the benefits of using a remote/clicker system without the hassle that comes with it?
Jacob and I have been talking about this quite a bit. He has proposed a few things already, given that his unit is quickly approaching, but I'm still in the thinking stage. The immediate feedback on student performance is the biggest benefit of using the remotes, but many students get frustrated whilst using them. Technology should never hinder learning, and thus I have a problem with the CPS system.
2. Is being well-liked by my students something I should consider, or should I focus more on respect?
For the longest time, I had it in my mind that I should aim to be well-liked by my students, but whenever the subject is brought up, it's been emphasized that this is a slippery slope. Rather, students should respect you (me) as the leader of classroom. I'm torn. I need to find someone whom I can discuss this more openly with.
3. How much lesson planning goes into a unit?
I've posted this as a concern before, I think but I'm still not sure. I now have my unit material nailed down, so I need to start thinking about planning, but I really don't know how to allocate time. In all of my classes, we've been talking about lesson planning, so that's good news.
---
Otherwise, not much went on last week. We had a crazy few days, given the schedule changes, us missing school for a PD day, me observing two other classes on Thursday, and having a half day on Friday.
Unit plan = impending.
Long story short, I will now reflect on a few questions I've been considering about teaching, and how I believe that I am working on them (and who I might be discussing them with):
1. How can we include all the benefits of using a remote/clicker system without the hassle that comes with it?
Jacob and I have been talking about this quite a bit. He has proposed a few things already, given that his unit is quickly approaching, but I'm still in the thinking stage. The immediate feedback on student performance is the biggest benefit of using the remotes, but many students get frustrated whilst using them. Technology should never hinder learning, and thus I have a problem with the CPS system.
2. Is being well-liked by my students something I should consider, or should I focus more on respect?
For the longest time, I had it in my mind that I should aim to be well-liked by my students, but whenever the subject is brought up, it's been emphasized that this is a slippery slope. Rather, students should respect you (me) as the leader of classroom. I'm torn. I need to find someone whom I can discuss this more openly with.
3. How much lesson planning goes into a unit?
I've posted this as a concern before, I think but I'm still not sure. I now have my unit material nailed down, so I need to start thinking about planning, but I really don't know how to allocate time. In all of my classes, we've been talking about lesson planning, so that's good news.
---
Otherwise, not much went on last week. We had a crazy few days, given the schedule changes, us missing school for a PD day, me observing two other classes on Thursday, and having a half day on Friday.
Unit plan = impending.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Week 3/4 - Changes afoot!
Already this week, we have had quite a few drastic changes to our three classes. It's Monday.
Essentially, a long term substitute teacher was relieved of her Math post, and so all of her students were dispersed to the remaining Math teachers. What this meant for us is a slew of schedule changes, which amounted to about 10 new students per class. Just when I was starting to get names down, they throw this wrench at me!? To be honest, not much good has come from this whole scenario... I'm trying to look for positives, but I can't find any:
----
Last week, there was a young man who was brought to tears on consecutive days. This is sad, yes, it was brought on by his own lack of effort up to that point. I personally worked with him as he struggled through learning the basics of solving for single-variable, linear equations. I offered to him on Friday for us to come in early to work with him before school on his homework (at least I told him to think about it over the weekend). Much to my delight, he was sitting in our classroom when we arrived. I worked with him on a few problems, and he got most of it done before his class met in 3rd hour. I wish we'd have had more warning so we could've gotten there earlier. I'm proud of the little guy for showing some initiative.
----
As for everything else classroom related, things just keep on moving forward. Teaching my unit looms on the horizon, and I'm just worried about how I'm going to have time for it all. I have confidence with being in front of the class, and don't seem to have any issues handling disciplinary issues as they come up, but I'm not sure I'm yet comfortable with planning to teach a unit. I guess we'll find out soon enough!
Also, I'm sort of confused by my boundaries as a Teacher Assistant. I often see kids misbehaving in the hallways, but I'm not sure how much intervention is within my right, nor the best way to handle it. Mostly it's just kids playfully pushing and shoving, but it's clear that they are not being respectful. Today we had to move as a class through the hallway, and I watched as one of our students struck another student in the back with his folder. I pulled him aside and sent him to the back of the line, but nothing came of it. I feel like I should have been more strict, but I'm not sure. Ah!
Well, I've begun to ramble. It's spirit week, so I'm excited to wear red and white on Wednesday!
Cheers. :)
Essentially, a long term substitute teacher was relieved of her Math post, and so all of her students were dispersed to the remaining Math teachers. What this meant for us is a slew of schedule changes, which amounted to about 10 new students per class. Just when I was starting to get names down, they throw this wrench at me!? To be honest, not much good has come from this whole scenario... I'm trying to look for positives, but I can't find any:
- We have just enough clickers for each student to have one, but many of them are unreliable, or downright non-functional.
- The rooms are now at complete capacity. It feels very crowded, especially with 4 adults in the room.
- We lost a few of our most pleasant students.
- We gained a few problem children.
- We have to essentially start over introducing the procedures in class.
- Grades are now a mess.
----
Last week, there was a young man who was brought to tears on consecutive days. This is sad, yes, it was brought on by his own lack of effort up to that point. I personally worked with him as he struggled through learning the basics of solving for single-variable, linear equations. I offered to him on Friday for us to come in early to work with him before school on his homework (at least I told him to think about it over the weekend). Much to my delight, he was sitting in our classroom when we arrived. I worked with him on a few problems, and he got most of it done before his class met in 3rd hour. I wish we'd have had more warning so we could've gotten there earlier. I'm proud of the little guy for showing some initiative.
----
As for everything else classroom related, things just keep on moving forward. Teaching my unit looms on the horizon, and I'm just worried about how I'm going to have time for it all. I have confidence with being in front of the class, and don't seem to have any issues handling disciplinary issues as they come up, but I'm not sure I'm yet comfortable with planning to teach a unit. I guess we'll find out soon enough!
Also, I'm sort of confused by my boundaries as a Teacher Assistant. I often see kids misbehaving in the hallways, but I'm not sure how much intervention is within my right, nor the best way to handle it. Mostly it's just kids playfully pushing and shoving, but it's clear that they are not being respectful. Today we had to move as a class through the hallway, and I watched as one of our students struck another student in the back with his folder. I pulled him aside and sent him to the back of the line, but nothing came of it. I feel like I should have been more strict, but I'm not sure. Ah!
Well, I've begun to ramble. It's spirit week, so I'm excited to wear red and white on Wednesday!
Cheers. :)
Monday, September 20, 2010
Week Two - In the Books
Now that Week 3 is officially underway, I thought it'd be a good idea to reflect back on Week 2. Be wary, I'm long winded.
Getting down student names is still a struggle. This has always been a huge barrier for me with personal and professional relationships. As soon as someone says, "My name is...", my brain melts. I've had someone introduce themself to me, and upon mentally telling myself that I need to remember the name given, I've forgotten it. It's not pretty.
This mostly only happens when the anxiety of forgetting a name causes me to forget. Ironic.
I think that at its core, I have trouble with facial recognition. I seem to be able to remember spatial distribution and physical appearance (where the students sit and what they wear), but the faces are the issue. I can remember names, I just can't match them to their owners. That said, I'm not completely hopeless... I think I have most of 1st and 3rd hours down, but 2nd hour is elusive, damnit!
Those obvious deficiencies out of the way...
Class if going well. We have done more to get involved in running certain components of each day. We alternate between doing clicker questions, which ultimately take half of the class period. These clickers are used both to give students practice with concepts they already know, as well as to introduce them to new concepts. It's being used formatively to gain instant feedback on student strengths and weaknesses. If a certain concept or question is observed to be misunderstood by a large portion of the class, we cover it in more depth. Sadly, we tend to get bogged down with these, and we wish that we had more time to give students to explore nuances and make connections on their own.
Realistically, though, we just don't have the time. I get caught asking students, "Why did you X?" or "What did you notice about the problem that suggested Y?" These are nice techniques to check for student understanding, but they take soooo much time. Thus, we are only allowed to use these questions sparingly, and must race through other things.
----
Homework is fun, too. Many of them don't do it. One student got a less than stellar grade on his homework because he joined class late, missing out on some notes and a lesson. He left most of it blank. I gave him the opportunity to finish the problems he left blank so he could earn some extra points. He declined.
Really, how little do these kids have invested in their learning. You can lead a horse to water...
It's frustrating sometimes.
Thankfully another student took me up on the offer. Her grade improved quite significantly, and I was relieved to see that they hadn't all given up. It's quite the roller-coaster ride.
---
Lastly, I really don't know how to teach students how to do story problems. They simply don't get them. I've read that teaching them to look for keywords is bad practice, but I just can't think of any other way. They read a question (most of the time), and just pick out the numbers. They haphazardly choose a strategy, which is often based on no specific reasoning, and is often wrong. Most of them have figured out how to use a guess-and-check method when doing the clicker questions. This is a fine test taking strategy, but it really fails to show any learning, nor does it do them any good moving forward.
There are talks of us covering the answers for all but the last 30 seconds of their time. Let's see how well this goes...
It's now 9:00. Bedtime!
Getting down student names is still a struggle. This has always been a huge barrier for me with personal and professional relationships. As soon as someone says, "My name is...", my brain melts. I've had someone introduce themself to me, and upon mentally telling myself that I need to remember the name given, I've forgotten it. It's not pretty.
This mostly only happens when the anxiety of forgetting a name causes me to forget. Ironic.
I think that at its core, I have trouble with facial recognition. I seem to be able to remember spatial distribution and physical appearance (where the students sit and what they wear), but the faces are the issue. I can remember names, I just can't match them to their owners. That said, I'm not completely hopeless... I think I have most of 1st and 3rd hours down, but 2nd hour is elusive, damnit!
Those obvious deficiencies out of the way...
Class if going well. We have done more to get involved in running certain components of each day. We alternate between doing clicker questions, which ultimately take half of the class period. These clickers are used both to give students practice with concepts they already know, as well as to introduce them to new concepts. It's being used formatively to gain instant feedback on student strengths and weaknesses. If a certain concept or question is observed to be misunderstood by a large portion of the class, we cover it in more depth. Sadly, we tend to get bogged down with these, and we wish that we had more time to give students to explore nuances and make connections on their own.
Realistically, though, we just don't have the time. I get caught asking students, "Why did you X?" or "What did you notice about the problem that suggested Y?" These are nice techniques to check for student understanding, but they take soooo much time. Thus, we are only allowed to use these questions sparingly, and must race through other things.
----
Homework is fun, too. Many of them don't do it. One student got a less than stellar grade on his homework because he joined class late, missing out on some notes and a lesson. He left most of it blank. I gave him the opportunity to finish the problems he left blank so he could earn some extra points. He declined.
Really, how little do these kids have invested in their learning. You can lead a horse to water...
It's frustrating sometimes.
Thankfully another student took me up on the offer. Her grade improved quite significantly, and I was relieved to see that they hadn't all given up. It's quite the roller-coaster ride.
---
Lastly, I really don't know how to teach students how to do story problems. They simply don't get them. I've read that teaching them to look for keywords is bad practice, but I just can't think of any other way. They read a question (most of the time), and just pick out the numbers. They haphazardly choose a strategy, which is often based on no specific reasoning, and is often wrong. Most of them have figured out how to use a guess-and-check method when doing the clicker questions. This is a fine test taking strategy, but it really fails to show any learning, nor does it do them any good moving forward.
There are talks of us covering the answers for all but the last 30 seconds of their time. Let's see how well this goes...
It's now 9:00. Bedtime!
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