It is my hope that this blog will help me focus and generate better reflections about my practice, my school, and my career path as an educator. I often sit in class and listen to all the great ideas people use in their classrooms and become frustrated because there doesn't seem to be a way to make it work in a math classroom. This frustration is probably what my students feel when they don't "get it" or say they hate math.
Identifying with my students is the first step to becoming a better teacher because I will have an understanding of what goes through their minds as they sit in my classroom. Using this concept will not only help me differentiate lessons better, but it will also alleviate any boredom or frustration felt by students.
Personally I need to become a better reflective practitioner, long term. Right now it is easy to tweak a lesson from class to class through the day, but fixing a whole unit sometimes seems impossible. Our first FACTS unit has not gone well. We had grand ideas and a great project for the SOL, but when it came time the students had no idea how to do the basics. Instead of spending 30 minutes or less teaching the skills needed for the unit, we spent at least an hour working in groups and practicing each days. The unit project has now gone from a week long station based plan, to a 1 day plan for students that passed the test with flying colors so they don't have to be bored while the students who failed retake in class.
A change-
Frustrated by the lack of effort from our students at home, we created online review packs for each test. The review pack is posted at least a week before the test. We encourage students to start working on it ASAP and retake it until they receive a 100% so they are fully prepared for the test. This was also created so that students could become interested in what we are going to be learning, in hopes that they would research different math things at home to help them do well.
Results-
Some students took advantage of this opportunity and many did not. It is easy to tell the difference in test scores, by how hard the students worked at home in addition to working in class. We are going to continue to use this method because it works over all. We are going to add to it by creating short videos with examples of how to solve problems and then short worksheets for students to do at home with videos to check their answers.
I'm digging the idea and might have to try this. I'm sure my results will be the same. Those that try, will do well on the assessments and understanding of the material.
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about using this method to try a "flip"? Maybe if the parents were on board, they will hold their child accountable to learn it at home and you could spend more time in class with playing with the subject vs. what happens now.
I have thought about it, but wanted to wait and see how the online review packets went. I am going to being it up in our planning this week. We can assign a vision lesson as homework, the next class warm up will assess who understood or did the lesson at home. The kids that did it at home and understand can do a project or fun activity and the kids that don't get it or didn't do it will get a small group lesson. This may be just what we need for our low level and high level learners.
ReplyDeleteVery cool idea. I guess in a wiki a page of questions and page of answers could be incorporated to have students practice / review the information. Unfortunately our kids take advantage of the retest policy so they don't "need" to study the first time around. Lets see if I can pass without studying and if not "oh well" I can take it again. Take the test see what's on it and either finish it later or retake.
ReplyDelete