Lesson Planning Rules to Live By

Today in math I learned about TinkerPlot, an elementary level program similar to Fathom.  The short intro video we watched got me quite interested in thinking about how powerful manipulating data could be for students.  Still, the big takeaway for me today was the reiteration of the importance of the 4 main areas of lesson planning: 1) What do your students know? 2)What do you want them to know? 3) How will you get them there? 4) Did you get them there?  If not, how can you rework your lesson and try again?

As I move forward with my student teaching quarter and beyond, it will be important for me to remember that these 4 questions drive every lesson I plan, regardless of the format.  Also, our discussion about knowing our students today made me think back to Ayers and his argument that curriculum must be relevant to the students for it to be meaningful to them.  Another area of my teaching that I will pay particular attention to is making sure that my students see themselves reflected in the curriculum.

GeoSketch & Fathom

I enjoyed using the math software today.  I particularly liked the exercise where we had to use the shapes to cover the other shapes in the face.  It was also interesting to analyze teacher pay back in 1985.  I learned that Alaska is the highest paying state - who knew?

Still questioning the relevance to us.  I know we are getting a K-8 certificate, but this software seems quite advanced for elementary school.  I love learning about the software and knowing it's out there.  I just hope that I have the chance to use it again someday.

Implications - as digital manipulatives are just as helpful to students as tangible manipulatives, I need to think of ways to integrate more digital math technology into my teaching. Speaking of, I recently learned how to access math flip charts for the ActivBoard and hope to try it out during my lesson this week!

As we talked about the defining characteristics of teachers who make a difference, I was reminded of a favorite quote of mine: "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou

Jumping Frogs, Tangrams, & Math - Oh my!

I appreciate all the time in our math class that is dedicated to us exploring manipulatives that we could potentially introduce into our future classrooms.  I learned that I am not so good with tangrams, but I already knew that my spatial reasoning ability wasn't the strongest.  However, it was nice to double the giraffe as a group because I felt more confident trying to solve the puzzle, knowing that my group members were supporting me.

I am still wondering about applying all this stuff to elementary grades.  I understand that this is a middle level math class, but the majority of the people taking it won't be teaching middle school math - we'll be teaching elementary school.  How applicable are some of these manipulatives to younger students?

I plan on thinking about grouping students more carefully after our discussion on the math/lit article.  I liked hearing different takes on the article, particularly the idea about grouping students together that allows each of them to shine by showcasing their ability within the group.

Moving from Assessment to Instruction

My buddy, E, is a gregarious 4th grader.  He enjoys reading and writing fantasy stories.  In particular, he seems to be quite interested in futuristic fantasy stories.  He is a strong reader - both fluent and accurate.  On both of the 4th grade level reading passages he scored in the 75th percentile, while only making 1 or 2 miscues per passage.  He did well with comprehension questions using explicit recall.  However, he struggled a bit with implicit questions.  He was able to find clues in the text with a look-back, but he had trouble self-generating his replies to the implicit questions when first asked.

Based on E's results from his assessments and his interest in futuristic stories, I am thinking about creating a lesson designed to help his comprehension around implicit recall questions using a text he would find interesting.  I'd like to work with him on using strategies to identify important information in the text, while activating his background knowledge to help make inferences.  The lesson would satisfy GLE 2.1.5 -Apply comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading: predict and infer from grade level informational/expository text and/or literary/narrative text.

iTouch Update

I decided today to pump up my efforts with technology in the classroom.  While I recognize the potential benefits of using an iPod Touch to differentiate instruction through the use of various apps, I am not quite ready to bring it into my main placement. Having a hard time seeing how it would work with our group of kiddos.

I am, however, thinking a lot about use of the ActivBoard.  I am willing to take on some new learning and try it on with our first graders.  Some of my time this weekend will be spent brushing up on use of the IWB and prepping for student use.  Will post again when I have some juicy details on how it's going!

P.S.  To those of you who have used an IWB in your placement, I would love to hear your thoughts - positive and negative!