Lesson Plan

Blog Prompt: For the unit that your Lesson Study lesson plan is situated in, what are your student outcomes (unit topic, understandings, knowledge, skills) and your end of unit assessment? How does your planned instruction & formative assessment for the lesson plan move your students toward that goal?

Student Outcomes: Students will be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide real numbers. They'll learn how to simplify expressions with variables (real numbers). Which means they'll need to know how to work with fractions (reduce, reciprocate, etc..). I'm hoping at the end of this they won't be afraid to tackle problems with variables. Most of my students know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide integers, and I'm hoping they see that it works the same for real numbers as well (and see that math builds on prior knowledge).
Day by day I'm teaching my students strategies on how to simplify these types of problems, but I have not focused on formative assessments yet. I feel terrible because the readings for this assignment reminded me of the importance of assessing DURING the unit not just after. Thus after teaching tomorrow's lesson I will set a day aside to give students plenty time to practice and reflect on their skills, etc.

Self-Assessment

Discuss your current level of understanding, knowledge and skills. What evidence from previous Reach seminars, work with your coach, and or feedback from peers/supervisors at your school do you use to draw these conclusions?

After reading reading the overview chapters, I have a better idea of what differentiated instruction is, but I definitely need more help on this topic. I used to think that it had to do with reaching students whose first language was not English, and though we had a few discussions on D.I., I still couldn't grasp that it has to do with a wide range of students.
I'm definitely not close to fully understanding how to teach a WIDE range of students, but at least I'm aware of it right? As far as skills are concerned, I've tried bringing in props along with my lessons. Before entering Reach, I used to teach fractions with hardly any visuals. Now I draw pictures, bring in Playdoh (for hands on). Also I used to "teach" students how to add and subtract fractions without any deep understanding (just skills).
I've shared stories like this with my coach and we both agree that I've made major improvements, but I also have a lot more to learn.

How People Learn

Okay so I have a few comments and questions on parts of the readings. It's all over the place, but here I go!

Pg. 4 I read that, "...all learning takes place in settings that have particular sets of cultural and social norms..." A few years ago, my boss told me that studies have shown that having females and males separated helps them concentrate better in class. What is interesting is that this trimester, my B block has mostly all boys and they definitely do concentrate better. I have had no issues with this class, and they participate all the time. What do you guys think?

On page 8, the article mentions how students have limited opportunity to understand because many curricula emphasizes on memory rather than understanding. I definitely agree with this because I have taught like this for many years..boo. I taught this way because in high school and my early years of college this is the way I "learned" the material. Memorizing was the way to go!!! I didn't care about understanding all I cared about was my grade. So of course, I transferred this way of thinking to my students during my early years of teaching. Now it's definitely different though (thanks Victoria), I try to teach for understanding and fall back on memorizing if nothing else works (I'm just being honest).

I also think it's cool to teach using pre-exisiting knowledge (pg. 10), but we definitely do need to be aware of any misconceptions our students have. I've had many instances where my students swore they knew the material and they really didn't. And if Chris L. is correct it takes six weeks to undo this...correct?

Pre-assessment, "How People Learn"

Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives...most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the results of creativity...[and] when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life. (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention)This quote came from a Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychologist who coined the term "flow," which he described as the optimal learning state: “… flow – the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” (Csikzentmihalyi, 1991) When and where in your life have you experienced learning experiences or activities like this, where you were so absorbed in what you were doing, you needed no extrinsic motivation to continue? When do you feel the most alive and interested in what you are doing?

This quote brings back memories from the age of four. I loved building play houses out of blankets (kind of like tents but better). Since I was so small and didn't have all my motor skills in place, so my brother would do most of the labor and I would tell him where and how I wanted my bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, etc.. As I got older I created 2-dimensional houses/layouts using my Jenga blocks, and then my miniature Muppet Babies would move in. In elementary school, I used to get excited when we had projects that had to do with building models. I remember having to build a model of the Gold Rush, so my mom and I collected a lot of dirt, rocks, etc.. and it came out amazing. Another project I remember was creating my ideal room using a shoebox. It had a bean bag, a bed, and a jacuzzi tub. Around this time my brother was learning about the California Missions and built a clay replica of one of them. When he brought it home I couldn't stop admiring it's beauty. The architecture was spectacular and I loved seeing the details of the plants, dirt, walkways, etc.. Of course I couldn't touch it or he'd kill me, but he would let me stare as long as I wanted. It was part of my daily routine, waking up in the morning and running to his room to see the Mission. It stayed with us through many moves, but it eventually fell apart and I had to part ways with it...boo!

In college, I took a speech communications class, and this too was exciting for me. Every Monday and Wednesday, I would count down the minutes till it was time for class. I was always the first one there, and I ALWAYS sat in the front. We learned many things like verbal , non-verbal , one-way, and two-way communication. I definitely attended this class for fun even though it was a requirement. Staying with the subject of communication, I also got into learning sign language. I took many classes in college, and again I couldn't wait for class to start. Every homework assignment was not work, it was FUN!!!

Writing to Learn

Q1)Read the two chapters from Cris Tovani's "Do I really have to teach reading?", post a QQC on your blog for each chapter.
Q2) Respond to the following questions on your blog: In what ways do you currently use writing-to-learn strategies in your class? In what ways could you expand your use of these strategies? How can writing strategies help students "hold their thinking?"

A1)The readings were a little hard to read because some sentences were cut off, but one of the main ideas that stood was how to help students "link reading and purpose. I couldn't help but wonder if I could somehow get my students excited towards finding a purpose when reading a math textbook. I understand that having a purpose will help retain more of what is read, but I'm not quite sure on how to go about it. In Chapter 5 page 57 there was a worksheet used for math but I'm still a little confused on what information to include.....what's important and what can be put on hold.

A2) A few times I have asked students to write self-reflections on what they've learned, and what they need to work on, but that's about it. I want to get my students used to explain why they take the steps they do when working out a problem....to explain their thinking.

Older Readers, Vocabulary

Q: What specific words in the next unit do you foresee students having difficulty with? How did you go about choosing these words?



A: The next unit I teach will have words such as difference, quotient, dividend, double, sum, product, expression, equation, inequality, etc...These vocabulary words need to be taught or else students will have a difficult time solving the problems. Therefore, I don't really chose what words I teach, the only decision I make is how I teach them and in what order I introduce them.

Older Readers, Vocabulary

All in all, I really liked this reading because it gave various examples/worksheets on how to introduce new vocabulary to our students. My friend, who teaches ESL has been asking of ways to incorporate other school subjects into her curriculum, and the worksheet on page 51 would work great!!! In one class, not only can English be covered but also PE, Math, Science, etc. How exciting! Also the chart on page 49 is something I'd like to use in my class. It could help me and my students keep track of their progress. It can be used as a before and after...what a great confidence booster.
As far as using a dictionary is concerned, I for the most part didn't learn from them. This reading brought back memories to when I didn't know how to spell a word, and my teacher would tell me to look it up in the dictionary. It didn't make sense to me. How was I supposed to look up a word if I didn't know how to spell it???

Older Readers, Vocabulary

I can't help but wonder how students make it to Jr. High without knowing how to read. I would say my reading basic reading skills were built from 1st grade to the third grade, and from there I was able to survive. Yes it was a little late than most people, but my elementary teachers made sure I had the basics down.
So my question is how can I help? Out of the nine instructional elements, I feel that I can easily implement #3 (if I had more guidance in how to approach it). I know there is more to it than just breaking students into groups. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Strategies that Work/ Possible Unit Texts

Well...so much for highlighting! I had to go back and make side notes in order to make sure I understood everything! Lol... Seriously though, these chapters had A LOT of good information, and I'll probably have to read it again in order to soak it all in. The one topic I didn't quite understand was using anchors. How would I use this when teaching math?

Questions:

Q: What are the possible texts you will be using in your literacy unit?
A: The only text I can think of using is the Algebra 1 textbook. I'm also thinking of asking Javier for economic topics and seeing if I can create a lesson on translating economic issues into math equations.

Q: What challenges do you see these texts posing to your students in terms of comprehension?
A: The first thing that comes to my mind is students not understanding the meaning of the words they read. If I don't teach them such words as dividend, quotient, product, sum, etc..then we won't be able to move forward. Also, my Precalculus students of three years ago couldn't figure out how to draw or solve a given word problem because they didn't know what a buoy was.
Q: Looking at the lists of strategies that good readers use, which strategies do you think would prove most useful to your students in their comprehension of the text you give them?
A: Drawing pictures, making a list of what they do understand and what confuses them, pair share,...there's so many

Literacy Pre-Assessment

Q: What was your own early experience as a reader? When did you learn to read? What do you remember about it?
A: When it was time for me to attend Kindergarten, I was still vacationing in Mexico, so when I entered school, I was far behind. I still remember my teacher asking me to find my name on one of the desks, and when I told her that I didn't know how to spell my name she was shocked.
It wasn't until the first grade that I remember learning how to read. Since I was an English Language Learner, my teacher used to teach me how to read words such as: because, together, and black.

Q: As you grew older, what was your experience with reading in school? What (if anything) did you like to read? Pay particular attention to your reading experience at the age of the students you teach now. What was reading like for you at that age?
A: During class, I loved being called on to read aloud. I had no fears of reading, but definitely loved being read to. My favorite books to read were the mystery books that gave you an opportunity to chose your own destiny/journey.

Q: Answer the same question with regards to writing.
A: In high school I didn't have a fear of writing and I think this is because my English teacher was not demanding at all. She gave us credit for effort and never made us write essays.

Q: Thinking about your own classroom right now, what role does literacy play in your class? What do you want to learn how to do better in your classroom to support your students in subject-specific literacy?
A: Though I'm teaching math, literacy plays a big role in my class. If my students don't know how to read, then they may not be able to understand the directions of the given problems. Also, many students fear word problems because they don't understand the directions. Thus I would like to learn how to teach my students how to break down sentences/ideas of sentences.

Understanding Math

Q:How do you know students understand key points of your content?
A:Instead of only asking them skill based questions, I ask them to explain the meaning of what we are doing? Why do we do what we do? How were these rules invented?

Q: What skills/understandings do students need to know about learning your specific subject?
A: I want students to know that math didn't come out of thin air. It is a language that was created for explaining things that happen all around us. Therefore, if they can really learn the basics of this language then they can build off of that.

Q: How are you teaching this in your class right now?
A: Well I verbalize a lot of what I wrote, and when I teach new ideas/concepts I try to explain where it comes from (relating it to prior knowledge).

Content Standards for UbD unit

I'm going to focus on the standards that have to do with graphing linear equations. My initial thoughts were to drop this topic and first focus on solving linear equations with one variable. I thought, if my students can't solve linear equations with one variable, then how could they be taught to solve an equation with many variables (which is what is needed to graph linear equations).
So now I'm thinking of maybe combining the two if possible.

Planning: The Real Story

Question: How are you really doing your planning right now?
Answer: Well thanks to the summer retreat, I had the main ideas of my first topic ready to go. As far as planning what I'm going to teach...hmm well...it's definitely on a day to day basis. As soon as I get home from work, I start planning for the next day. This usually takes me two to six hours. I don't know what I'm going to do now because it feels like I have no time to plan for future topics and I'm afraid that I'll go back to my old ways...

Question: How do you determine what to include in your lessons/unit plans?
Answer: I think about what is important to learn and what flows. I think about what my students already know (or should know) and how I can use their current knowledge to learn new material.

Question: How do you figure out how you're going to teach the lesson?
Answer: For the most part I teach the same (which may not be a good thing). On occasion I'll throw in some play-doh/hands-on activities. I do try to switch up the last minutes of class. After the lesson, I either have the students work on the white boards, work in their seats, work in groups, teach each other, etc...
Oh and sometimes we practice math skills in the park.

Assignment 2, 106

The two articles I read were, "The Power of Our Words" by Paula Denton, and "If They'd Only do Their Work" by Linda Darling-Hammond and Olivia Ifill-Lynch. I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed when I read these articles because I'm trying my best to be a great teacher and there's just so much to do/fix. For example, in the article "The Power of Our Words", I read that my sarcasm can be harmful at times, but I can't restrain myself from using it. Also, I'm aware of the "knowing when to be silent" strategy but it's so hard to break my habit of asking a question and letting anyone answer it. I don't even have a firm policy on hand-raising because...well...I don't know why.
The article, "If They'd Only Do Their Work" talked about making homework "doable". Most of the suggestions they gave, I've somewhat incorporated in my class. Most of the time I give students a chance to work on problems similar to their homework while I walk around the class giving immediate feedback. The following day, I ask if anyone has hw questions, but nobody asks (maybe their too embarrassed). This topic also made me think about students that do understand the hw, but try finishing the assignment 5 minutes before it's to be turned in?

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

The article "Shouting Won't Grow Dendrites" listed many great ideas and below are the ideas I thought would be useful.
For attention getting behavior: 1. "Use humor when talking to them about their misbehavior. (p.17) 2. "...give them the attention when they are doing what is expected of them."(p.18) 3. Compliment them in front of their peers..."(p. 18)
For students who seek control: 1. "Put these students into positions of responsibility" (p. 18) Usually if I have papers to hand out, I ask students to help so they can get up and walk around.
For students who are bored: 1. I will create more activities that allows students to "move and meet with a discussion partner. 2. Once I have taught more vocabulary words, I would like to play "math hangman".
For students who feel inadequate: 1. I'm thinking of pointing out how far they have come along and point out the math they do know.


After reading "The Warm Demander" I found that it listed a few things I am attempting in my class. I am at the stage where I am trying to build relationships with my students. I make it a point to "high five them" as often as I remember, I smile, and I try to greet them by also saying their names, but I'm not sure where I stand as far as becoming a warm demander. I'm not sure if I'm clear and consistent with my expectations because I'm not even sure what they are. The paragraph that talks about providing learning supports mentioned that, "Students preferred teacher who explained material thoroughly and in multiple ways..." and I find that my class is split in half when it comes to this. Last week I introduced the class to the "plus delta" table and found that some students loved how thorough I am with the material and others wanted me to speed up. This is a huge dilemma because if I keep teaching "slowly" a few students will be bored, and if I speed up I'll lose other students thus leading them to feel inadequate.

First Few Weeks

Hello everyone, well my first few weeks felt like a roller coaster ride. I had some highs and lows. The very first day of class I had the class try the "Who am I?" name tag ice-breaker we did during the summer retreat, and whoa did it go bad. I can laugh about it now, but I freaked out then because almost all the students looked at me as if I was crazy. About four out of twenty students gave it a try which was awkward (hahaha never doing that again). Soon after that I introduced myself, told them my life story of how I struggled in math and that's why I became a math teacher. I think this is what put them at ease and since then we have been growing closer as a family, sharing our views on math, etc...
One of the things I think is going well is that I can get the class to settle down if it gets too loud. If I'm speaking and students talk over me, I can give them a certain look and they'll know to stop. On occasion I have to verbalize it, and that works just fine too. Also, if students are using their cell phones during class, I ask them to hand over their phones and I haven't yet had a problem receiving them. At the end of class, I have them sign a contract which states that next time I'll keep their cell phone for the entire school day, and so far students have not refused to sign.
I have many concerns for areas of growth in classroom management, but the one thing that sticks out in my mind right now is how to get my students to WAKEUP. If my students fall asleep during class, I think right away that I'm doing something wrong...I'm boring! I hate being boring and I don't know how to get my students excited and enthused. Sometimes my personality alone can get them going, but that can only take me so far. I've taken the class to the park a few times for a change of scenery, and I've already had people suggest hands-on activities(which is a great idea), but besides that what else can I do?

This article mentions that this teacher, "...thought deeply about how to stretch her students, whose ceilings of possibility often go unexplored in heterogeneous classrooms. She was a good teacher in that setting."(p. 1) I was extremely impressed by her strengths and accomplishments, but it also made me wonder what her weaknesses were.
This article made me self-reflect and think about my strengths and weaknesses. I also realized that I don't differentiate much in my classrooms because I don't know how. I'd have to sit in someone's classroom to learn this, because reading a book about differentiation will not compare.

This stage was the easiest for me to understand. Though I have many things to learn about teaching, the ideas covered in this stage were simple to understand (compared to the other stage of course). I can't wait to take this knowledge and see how it works in a real classroom setting!

Lectures, Lectures, Lectures

"An understanding can never be 'covered' if it is to be understood" (pg. 229). This statement caught my attention because I've heard many teachers complain (including myself) about how the class is "not getting it" even though they have covered the material for over a week. This chapter goes on and talks about how teachers sometimes need to stop lecturing and let students unravel some important concepts and that "timing is everything".
On page 246 the question, "When should I state the purpose of the lecture and when should I let it be inferred?" gave me a few ideas as to how I will present fractions to my class. Instead of explaining the importance of knowing fractions, I will give them an assignment that will hopefully help them see it for themselves.

WHERETO

I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with the many high demands of being a teacher. There are thousands of issues teachers have to deal/think about on a daily basis; it's never ending. I want to be a perfect teacher (though I don't think it's possible for anyone to ever accomplish this), and after reading this chapter I realized that I have a LONG way of getting there. For example, if my lessons were tested using the "WHERETO elements in instructional planning", I would probably do poorly because I have yet to learn engaging activities for my students. I know I'm here to learn and grow, but I can't help but feel frustrated that some of my lessons may not "hook" my students.