Logical Poetry

The week kicked off talking about misconceptions about the equal sign. I can tell you for certain, my 6th graders have answered this kind of question with d. They see that equal sign as "oh, that's where the answer goes!" and don't seem to give it a second thought. Usually when that happens I don't know how to make them see   and understand why that's not the right answer, but we watched a video where the teacher didn't correct the misconception right away, instead she wrote the incorrect answer on the board and then showed the students other equations such as 7 = 3+4, and 6 = 6+0, then 5 = 4+1, and revisited the original problem. It was very well done and made me really rethink how I handle misconceptions in the classroom. My instinct is to try to correct it, but the definite theme in TEEM this year is, it's okay to let a problem "marinate." We did work with the hundreds chart, too, which to be honest, I didn...

First day of TEEM! Off to a great start learning about how students need agency to be fully invested in mathematics, and many students lose agency when they have a negative mathematics identity. I know I see this a lot in my classes, so my goal this year is going to be to make sure that they have agency. One way we learned we can give them agency is with storytelling, thanks to teachers from the UCLA Lab School . Give the students a picture and have them discuss what they notice and what they can count in the picture. Pictures can come from anywhere, as long as they can provoke discussion and mathematics. The best part, I think, is that the students create the story, and create the math question. The math is left blank so students can choose "just right" numbers, allowing them to differentiate on their own. The presenters said if you know your students are choosing numbers that are too low for them  you can ask them if those are really their ...

This is my last summer with TEEM  so I figure it's a good time to go over what I've learned with INBs (Interactive Notebooks) in the middle school math classroom. Top thing: It's a struggle to get the feedback done. Research shows that feedback, not grades are best for student learning, but it's hard to fit feedback on notebooks in every day in the middle school. I know the elementary teachers have said it's a challenge as well. Even just stamping each notebook takes up a lot of time, sometimes I accidentally stamp when I don't mean to, etc. I do not  like to collect them. I tried collecting them this past year and felt exhausted just looking at the stack of notebooks. I also don't like taking them during quizzes/tests because the point is to give them feedback before they're tested. Basically, I still haven't found the perfect solution for giving feedback in notebooks. One thing I am going to try this year is having them complete anything we...

I've been reading a lot of good ideas on #MTBoS this summer, which I think will really help my organizational issues. It costs a bit of money, but I think if it helps it'll be worth it. First up is table folders . I always have issues remembering to pass back students work, and getting stuff back quickly. In my ideal world, I'd have enough time to pass stuff out to tables in between classes, but we only have 3 minute passing periods and I can never pass out work and get to the door in time. I went back and forth trying to decide if I should get paper (cheaper) or plastic (more durable but more expensive). I ultimately went with cheaper, because the Dollar Tree had a pack of 6 for $1, in 6 different colors. I'm going to use 1 color per period so it'll be easier to keep track of. I'm currently trying to decide how to organize the folders. Should I get a magazine file holder and leave them on the table groups, or put them elsewhere and have the resource manager o...

I went to the CSDiscoveries conference in Riverside, and I really enjoyed it. The people were all friendly and the activities were fun and informative. However, on the drive home I got to thinking about how much I really learned, and what the schedule would be for the week. The majority of it is set up for people who have never taught CSD before, and I taught it last year. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go to the PD last summer because I was told I was teaching the class after the deadline for it, and I wasn't able to get a response from code.org about applying late. I talked with my husband and decided that I would email the coordinator and ask if I can still participate in the school year PD on Saturdays even if I don't finish out the summer and he said yes! I'm very excited about that because I think I will learn a lot from talking to other teachers who have already taught the lessons and we can learn and grow together. This gives me more room to dive deep into les...

I realized I was very vague with my goal to blog before. Once or twice a week isn't specific enough, and I fell behind. Then I feel the annoyance with myself for not being perfect  and dread blogging again. It's not as though I have anyone dependent on me to blog, but I do feel like writing and reflecting is good for my own growth as a teacher and as an individual. So, starting this week, my goal is to blog every Friday as a reflection for the week. Good or bad, it's going to go on this blog.  This upcoming week I will be going to professional development for Computer Science: Discoveries , and then the two weeks following I'll be going to the TEEM Summer Institute . I'm also working on my master's degree so I'll definitely have plenty to blog about in the next month before school starts.