Last year, I decided that I wanted to teach an in-house workshop to teachers. I created a presentation on number sense routines that included a hands-on session where teachers created a number-of-the-day question-stick set. Just last week, one of the attendees told me she is using the question set in her class and the students love it! Even though everyone in my building knows I did that last year, they don't know that is is the first step in my goal of creating curriculum material to present at a national math conference. Baby steps.
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Besides the typical school supplies? Excedrin Migraine, a screwdriver, and a nail file...and lots of little erasers that my students have given me over the last few years. I give funky erasers as incentives in math intervention, so they think I must like them, too.
My first thought about today's prompt was that it was like asking me to choose my one favorite book, but here goes...
After 2 years of teaching 7th grade math, I was reassigned to teach 5th grade. I had no prior notice, nor did I have a choice. I left that meeting with my principal thinking that everything I once thought was true, wasn't anymore. I had spent hundreds of hours that spring writing my own curriculum that used projects and portfolios and writing and actual time DOING math. I had spent hundreds of dollars purchasing resources, thinking that I would be using them for years to come. I felt like my district had just pulled the rug from under my feet. I wondered how I would ever figure out what I was doing in a new grade, a new building, and teaching every subject. The answer came in the form of my co-teacher, Jill Manley. Jill was a special ed teacher assigned to my room. She had taught in the building before, but not 5th grade. Jill showed me where things were in the building, procedures for students coming and going at start and dismissal, how to set up a schedule that accounted for students with resource times and intervention times, how to organize my classroom, how to set up procedures for absolutely everything in an elementary classroom, and so much more. Jill taught me, by example, how to work successfully with special needs children, how to diffuse problematic situations, and how to differentiate to accommodate a classroom of students with so many needs. Although Jill was 2 years from retiring, she came in early and stayed late to see me through that first year in 5th grade. Jill Manley is the reason I made it through that year. Period. My district assigns a trained teacher mentor to each new teacher in the district. It is a 2-year program. I was a brand new 7th grade math teacher and my mentor was my "next door teaching neighbor." Raquel taught 7th grade Language Arts.
Raquel was a sounding board for the millions of questions I thought of everyday. She would never tell me what to do. Instead, she asked what I thought I should do and gave me other possible answers. She helped guide me through the first 2 years of feeling like I needed to be at school 24/7 just to get everything done. She helped me try to figure out how to prioritize so I could go home to my family. (Still working on that one, Raquel!) Raquel gave me feedback on my lessons and interactions with students that was helpful. I am still working on building the relationships first and worry about math second. After 2 years in the mentor program and teaching 7th grade math, I moved to upper elementary. I don't see Raquel very often, but she is still very encouraging when we see each other at district-wide meetings. DAY 5: Post a photo of your classroom. What do you see and what don’t you see that you would like?
My room is small, but has space for everything we need. I added the phrase prompts for our math talks this year. I am aiming for students to be able to discuss math with their peers, to explain their thinking, and to work with each other to gain the perseverance needed for problem solving. In intervention, we use math tools, manipulatives, and games almost every day in our learning. I see a lot of these in my little room! There are always things I could use for my students, but I am content with what I have and feel my room just needs students and math discussions now. Dear, mrs.brown thank-you so much for helping me math, at the beginning of the school year I was really struggle-ing with math and how to do it. I couldn’t consontrate on what was going on but When I go to math inervention I learned that math is really every-were you go and if you want to be succesfull in life you have to have math. thank you for helping me I was doing really poor in math and when I came to you I got better every inervention, and at the end of the year I’m getting an A in Math all thanks to you! thank you for helping me with my math skills I will keep this forever. No pay raise or promotion or professional accolade could top this. In the August, 2014 Reader’s Digest, Dan Lewis wrote an article, “Where’d That Number Come From?” One part of the article says:
“Why not oneteen and twoteen? The reason behind the shift in number naming is that eleven comes from the Germanic term ainlif, which translates to “one left,“ or in this case, “one left over” after you count out ten of something. Twelve follows the same rule. It comes from twalif --- “two left.” Why we switched from lif to teen (which itself means “ten more than”) for 13 through 19 is something that is sadly lost to antiquity.” This information can be used as a great introduction to talking about number sense. Show these numbers on a number line and discuss what something left over or ten more than something looks like. I made a class set of rekenreks for my math intervention students this year. We will talk about the numbers 0-20, show them on our rekenreks, and talk about the meaning of the number names. Day 3: Discuss one observation area you would like to improve on for your teacher evaluation.
Just one? Not this year. My district switched to the Danielson Framework for teach evaluation. Looking at the rubric and trying to figure out how to document evidence for my evaluation is overwhelming, to say the least. There are 4 domains to the framework. Here is what I am focusing on in each. Domain 1 – Planning and Preparation I teach math intervention to grades 3, 4, and 5. I have mapped out the year, with an overview of content to be covered each week. I am creating a detailed weekly pacing guide that lists essential questions (to try to remind me to use high quality questions). I designed my own fluency program that eliminates timed math fact tests. I blogged about this yesterday and will share my charts and assessments with anyone who wants them. Not because I think they are perfect! I am trying something new because I believe timed fact tests are more harmful than helpful. I will probably find things that need improved with what I designed, but I will get there. And feedback from other teachers can only help me become better. Domain 2 – The Classroom Environment One the goals I listed for this year was to learn to know my students beyond their math abilities. I want to teach students. That is different from teaching math to students. That goal was put to the test yesterday. I was scribing a test for a student who shut down. Instead of becoming upset, or bribing the student, or punishing the student, I just gave him time. Then we put the test aside and just talked. I listened to him tell me his problems. Then he said, “Teachers don’t care about me. They only care if I get my work done or not.” I told him that I wasn’t like other teachers. That I cared more about him than his work. He said I was making it up. So I had him look me in the eyes and I said it again. You could FEEL the change in the room. He eventually finished his test. Did the rest of it go smoothly? No. But when he needed to put his head down and shut down, I let him. And the boy taught me a lot about being a better teacher and a better human being. Domain 3 – Instruction This is where my district’s evaluation piece will focus, specifically on the area of “engaging students in learning.” They want to see student-led instruction. I am struggling with this because of my role as in interventionist. I feel students come to me to get specific help with math skills. I only have 30 minutes a day with each small group. How much discussion time can there be and still have enough time for me to help them learn how to multiply a 2-digit number by another 2-digit number? But, complaining and worrying gets me nowhere. If we do not get an excellent rating in the “engaging students in learning” area, we cannot get an overall excellent. Period. This has caused me to redesign my intervention classes. We will spend 5-10 minutes on a number sense routine, then 10-15 on a specific skill, then 5 on their daily exit slip. The exit slip asked them to restate the “I Can” goal for the day ad summarize what we did, then gives them a Panther Power Problem to assess the skill we worked on that day. Some days there will only be 10 minutes to work on a math skill, and part of me is a little worried that my students will not be getting the help they need. But, in the end, I have to adapt to this new evaluation instrument. There is no choice. I hope that the number sense routines will help their overall number sense, which will help them in their regular math class. Domain 4 – Professional Responsibilities I am doing a lot with this domain this year. I am trying to keep a daily reflection. I changed the way I track rti data on my students. I became a Trainer for the IL Education Association Learning Standards Initiative and hope to present workshops to teachers. I have other workshops planned and have set a goal to give at least 4 workshops to teachers in my building. I was recently asked to be on the IL State Board of Education Cadre for PARCC testing. I help plan Family Nights at my school. And I am working on creating an electronic portfolio for my teaching to try to document evidence for the new evaluation piece. Overwhelmed? Sometimes. But I have to view this as something that will help me become a better teacher. I blogged last week about my desire to change the way I assess fluency in my math intervention room. Here is my plan for the year!
Last year saw the wonderful addition of an ActivBoard to my intervention room. I use it every day. Even so, I know I am not using it to its potential. I am working on learning new features to implement in my lessons and activities. It came with an ActivSlate, which was rarely used last year.
So, for 2014-2015, my tech goal is to incorporate the ActivSlate into my daily activities AND to keep learning new ways to use my ActivBoard. |