Boy do I ever have this! I can't call it writers block because I feel like that is when you can't think of anything to write about. I have too much stuff going through my mind and I think that is where I get stuck. Ironically that is why I started this blog in the first place. To get these things out of my head and be able to make sense of it all in a useful way. I get stuck because I know that some people actually read my blog and I feel self-conscious about putting it out here.
What I have been doing is reading a lot of blogs and I find that the blogs I admire the most are the ones that really focus on the math itself and math teaching, not just general ed stuff or behavior or the newest tech (for the sake of the tech, not how it improves or assists in learning.)
When looking at my blog, it is mostly that. So I would like to shift that.
This past Friday I made a huge mistake that turned out pretty cool. I registered for a conference which I thought was held by the AMTNJ, Association of Mathematics Teachers of NJ. The focus was on formative assessment and the keynote speaker was David Wees, who I follow on Twitter and really respect. Now, I've been to these conferences before and they are really big. So when I got to TCNJ and found the room it was being held in I found it odd that there were only about 20-25 people there. It then jumped out at me from the registration form, I was at a NJAMTE conference, NJ Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators. I was pretty embarrassed and intimidated being a little 5/6 math teacher in a room full of professors and supervisors, but I stayed anyway and learned so much.
What really stood out to me is that I am interested in more than just being a classroom teacher . Starting so late in the game to this profession I really thought I would just want to stay in the classroom and keep improving my craft (which I still do) but the thought of helping other teachers improve and grow and having an impact on even more students is really exciting. I think it is because I have such a passion for it that most people that I talk to immediately recognize. I don't know if all teachers are like this or not, but most of the teachers I work with are not so much.
Another part of the day that really stands out to me was the conversations that took place at lunch. The group I was sitting with were totally accepting of me and made me feel welcome. I learned that teachers have the same issues and concerns at every level. I also learned that these educators shared the same passion I do. Also one of them even shared that was why he decided to teach at the college level instead of high school, he wanted to talk about math and math ed and the colleagues he was working with in the high school did not.
In the classroom, I've been teaching Hands on Equations to both my 5th and 6th graders. This is the first time I've run through the program with kids who can really benefit from it (as opposed to 7th graders who already had a lot of experience solving equations) and I am so excited by all of the great learning we are doing. Especially with integers, inverse operations, substitution etc. I can't wait to see how these students do next year with more formal studies of these topics!
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
#AprilBlogADay Number Talks
I've been reading about these for so long and finally took the time to fit it in. What fun! The coolest thing is that my students really seemed to enjoy it and bought into it 100%! I started off easy and kept it short the past two days. Yesterday I gave them 56 + 7
Here are some of the responses I got.
63 because I know that 56 + 4 is 60 and 7-4 is 3 so 60+3 is 63
63 because I counted up from 56
63 because I added 6+7 is 13 then 10 plus 50 is 60 and add the 3 is 63
and one of my favorites: Well, I know that 7x8 is 56 and 7x9 is 63 so the answer is 63 since I know the 7 times tables.
Today I gave them 16 x 25. I thought I would get eye rolls and pencils (I told them to solve it with mental math.) Again they all bought into it and I could see their brains all working on the problem (I think that is my favorite thing of all time.)
Here is what I got:
400 because 25 x 10 is 250 and 25 x 6 is 150 so 250 + 150 is 400
400 because 25 x 10 is 250, 250 divided by 2 is 125 and then add 25 to get 150. 150 + 250 is 400.
Then 16=4x4 and 25=5x5 so 4x5=20 and 4x5=20 and 20x20 =400
I really like the discussions that are starting to come from this. Most students didn't really understand why the kid who divided 250 by 2 did that and I had him explain it further, then had other students summarize or restate what he said. It was cool to see their light bulbs going off!
Here are some of the responses I got.
63 because I know that 56 + 4 is 60 and 7-4 is 3 so 60+3 is 63
63 because I counted up from 56
63 because I added 6+7 is 13 then 10 plus 50 is 60 and add the 3 is 63
and one of my favorites: Well, I know that 7x8 is 56 and 7x9 is 63 so the answer is 63 since I know the 7 times tables.
Today I gave them 16 x 25. I thought I would get eye rolls and pencils (I told them to solve it with mental math.) Again they all bought into it and I could see their brains all working on the problem (I think that is my favorite thing of all time.)
Here is what I got:
400 because 25 x 10 is 250 and 25 x 6 is 150 so 250 + 150 is 400
400 because 25 x 10 is 250, 250 divided by 2 is 125 and then add 25 to get 150. 150 + 250 is 400.
Then 16=4x4 and 25=5x5 so 4x5=20 and 4x5=20 and 20x20 =400
I really like the discussions that are starting to come from this. Most students didn't really understand why the kid who divided 250 by 2 did that and I had him explain it further, then had other students summarize or restate what he said. It was cool to see their light bulbs going off!
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
#aprilblogaday Spring Break Nothingness
Today was one of those days that I did nothing but play silly facebook games and was proud of it! Its spring break and I am enjoying this down time! Tomorrow I plan to go into school, organize some paperwork and make copies and videos for the week we come back.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
#aprilblogaday 6th Grade Measures of Center and Variablilty
Before break we touched a little on these topics with the intent to dive in a little deeper once we come back. I feel like students got the basics down and could calculate mean, median, mode, range, and make a box plot etc. But I don't think they really get the why part. There are two lessons I know that I am going to try with them next week that I'm really looking forward to.
The first is from the Mathematics Assessment Project http://map.mathshell.org/materials/lessons.php?taskid=486&subpage=concept
I have done these types of lessons before and the students really enjoy them. I really like the activity where they match their cards and then send out a group member to check other groups work. I have to decide if I will try to fit this in one class period (50 min) or two.
The second is from Mathalicious which is one of the best web resources I ever found. The tasks are so good and interesting and it is just set up so well. Here is the task I'm going to use: Wealth of Nations This is based off a video I've seen before and it is mind blowing. I really hope that my students see what a big deal this is and also make the connections between the spread of data and what that means in real life.
The first is from the Mathematics Assessment Project http://map.mathshell.org/materials/lessons.php?taskid=486&subpage=concept
I have done these types of lessons before and the students really enjoy them. I really like the activity where they match their cards and then send out a group member to check other groups work. I have to decide if I will try to fit this in one class period (50 min) or two.
The second is from Mathalicious which is one of the best web resources I ever found. The tasks are so good and interesting and it is just set up so well. Here is the task I'm going to use: Wealth of Nations This is based off a video I've seen before and it is mind blowing. I really hope that my students see what a big deal this is and also make the connections between the spread of data and what that means in real life.
Monday, April 6, 2015
#aprilblogaday Spring Planning
Spring Break 2015! Woo hooo! After a lovely holiday with my family and getting to really know and love our new puppy, I have only two thoughts on my mind... Spring cleaning and spring planning for the rest of the school year. The nice thing is both are great distractions from each other. When I don't feel like cleaning I sit down and plan, when I'm burned out from sitting at the computer I go back to cleaning.
I'm amazed at how fast this year is going and I know that once we go back it is going to FLY. We have our 4th benchmarks on the 20th and then EOY Parcc the second week of May. After that it's going to be crazy trying to keep the kids engaged. I am hoping to use games and projects to end the year. So for the rest of this week I will blog about resources or ideas I have for accomplishing this!
I'll start off with my plan for 5th...a few years ago I won a classroom set of Hands On Equations. I am excited to use this whole program from start to finish. When I tried to use it with 7th grade it was already too late. I really feel that this system works best with students who have not had a lot of formal practice solving equations.
I am really excited to introduce this to my students and follow it trough the program as written. I am also going to look into purchasing the second set of books, solving word problems with the set. I'm already thinking about how the next year when students are 6th graders it will be easy to refer back to the sets so they can make connections.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Unionized
Something I have not blogged about but I am very involved in is the fact that our charter school just voted to unionize.
I have had very mixed feeling about this, but I am someone who voted yes. It seems that at my school there are teachers who are perceived as the negative Nelly's and are only looking out for themselves. These are the teachers who organized and got this going. I am someone who didn't have an opinion at first about it. I would consider myself someone who is in the select group of "favorites" in my school, I'm not sure if that's just because there is no doubt that my goal is 100% student advancement and success or what. Even as I type this it sounds weird. I know the teachers that got this started and I know that they want our student to excel and succeed too. They also want to be treated as professionals. However, I decided to find out all the facts and not just say NO because I didn't want to be kicked out of the "in crowd."
I know that my salary is about 5,000 less than I would be making in a public school, but that is not why I teach anyway. Its not just about the money and benefits. I like the idea that I would be protected if something horrible happened. I teach middle school, I know what could happen.
After getting more information from the union, I am also excited about the benefits for our school. Its no secret that the NJEA or teachers unions in general don't really like charter schools. I think that they have finally seen that we are not going anywhere. They are now fighting against the corporate for-profit charter schools, which we are not, we are public. There is one of those opening in our town next year and our school is a little worried about losing students to it. I think having the union on our side (along with their money and resources) can only help us.
There are tons of PD we will be able to take advantage of, plus there are pride grants which will help us with our mission of community building.
One of the biggest concerns I had about this was the long drawn out contract negotiations. I've heard horror stories of teachers working without a contract for 4 or more years. That would stink especially since our admin has presented us with a new salary guide which would give me a 5-10 thousand dollar raise. But I'm thinking since we are such a small school these negotiations won't be as dramatic as those in large districts. Admin has already come up with the salaries, I think a little tweaking will make everyone happy.
Is it going to be a perfect transition? Probably not, but I am optimistic that there are going to be more pros than cons for our whole school as we take this journey.
I have had very mixed feeling about this, but I am someone who voted yes. It seems that at my school there are teachers who are perceived as the negative Nelly's and are only looking out for themselves. These are the teachers who organized and got this going. I am someone who didn't have an opinion at first about it. I would consider myself someone who is in the select group of "favorites" in my school, I'm not sure if that's just because there is no doubt that my goal is 100% student advancement and success or what. Even as I type this it sounds weird. I know the teachers that got this started and I know that they want our student to excel and succeed too. They also want to be treated as professionals. However, I decided to find out all the facts and not just say NO because I didn't want to be kicked out of the "in crowd."
I know that my salary is about 5,000 less than I would be making in a public school, but that is not why I teach anyway. Its not just about the money and benefits. I like the idea that I would be protected if something horrible happened. I teach middle school, I know what could happen.
After getting more information from the union, I am also excited about the benefits for our school. Its no secret that the NJEA or teachers unions in general don't really like charter schools. I think that they have finally seen that we are not going anywhere. They are now fighting against the corporate for-profit charter schools, which we are not, we are public. There is one of those opening in our town next year and our school is a little worried about losing students to it. I think having the union on our side (along with their money and resources) can only help us.
There are tons of PD we will be able to take advantage of, plus there are pride grants which will help us with our mission of community building.
One of the biggest concerns I had about this was the long drawn out contract negotiations. I've heard horror stories of teachers working without a contract for 4 or more years. That would stink especially since our admin has presented us with a new salary guide which would give me a 5-10 thousand dollar raise. But I'm thinking since we are such a small school these negotiations won't be as dramatic as those in large districts. Admin has already come up with the salaries, I think a little tweaking will make everyone happy.
Is it going to be a perfect transition? Probably not, but I am optimistic that there are going to be more pros than cons for our whole school as we take this journey.
Blog a Day April Challenge!
Yes! I am happy to have found a blog a day challenge! I am going to play catch up here and post two more blog posts so I feel complete for April.
I always do best when "playing along" with these blogging challenges, plus its always great when there are suggested topics to write about.
I always do best when "playing along" with these blogging challenges, plus its always great when there are suggested topics to write about.
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