We had an assembly on Friday. Our first of the year. I am the chair of our school culture committee. We did 4 lessons during the beginning of this year on
Respect your self
Respect for others
Respect for your space
Realizing your Potential
From these lessons we are creating a code of conduct for the students. So we had an assembly to present the information to the entire school of what they had done separately. There was a group of girls that did Step Dancing. They were great. There were videos and pictures and skits. It was a great assembly.
I started the assembly with expectations for the behavior of the students. I helped the students understand how to applaud the correct and polite way. We practiced the applause and one student decided to continue to clap after the speaker started to speak, and he received a detention. That was different.
So, bottom line, the assembly was great. The student participation was outstanding, and the work that my committee has been doing since July has something tangible to show for all of our work.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about how students struggle with transitivity in math. The idea that if a+b=c then c = a + b and that c - a = b and c - b = a. They have a hard time knowing that they can change things around.
I had to convince them that if m = a + b = c + d then m = c + d. They don't substitute well into equations. I am beginning to think that the basics of math thinking are being learned too quickly and that we are rushing into algebra and abstract thinking before they can handle the ideas. I am thinking a great deal about this idea and looking for some research to read that affirms that 11 and 12 year olds are ready to handle abstract math concepts.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Two stories
1) I at times, have an agenda on the board for what we are going to do for the day. (I'm supposed to have it on the board everyday, but I mess this one up). So I had written, -Pass back to imply I was going to pass back work to the students. If I don't write it down, I forget to do it.
So I had erased part of the board and had erased a part of the P on -pass back. It left ass back on my board. The class tried to tell me in a very nice way that there was a bad word on the board. I thought they were showing me the projector was left on, so I turned the projector off and went on teaching. Later, one young man said, "Ms. Dyer, you erased some of the agenda." I told him No Problem, I had only erased what we had already done. He told me that there was a bad word on the board. I looked and said, "Thanks Rog. You handled that really well." The class didn't giggle or go out of control. Thank you to Rog. He is a wise kind young man whose feet don't yet touch the floor.
Story 2)
Ralph is a student in my 7th grade class. He is quite an enigma. He's pretty good in math, but is just weird. He's a class clown and he sometimes falls asleep in class. So yesterday, he fell asleep. I somehow got enough attention of the other student by panomiming. I indicated (ALL WITHOUT WORDS) that on my count of three, via my fingers, we would all say, "Ralph!" The class all understood what I wanted. I raised my fingers, one, two,... Three. And the class, having rehearsed unison answering in every class, shouts clearly and quickly, "RALPH!"
The look of fear and shock on Ralph's round face was priceless. He pounded his fists on his desk and did one of those silent screams. It was so funny. Funny .... I then lost the class.
It took 5 minutes to bring them back. I tried to write notes on the board, but that didn't work. I then had to have the class journal about what had happened. Many wrote the goings on in the back of their planner that has a place for "most memorable moments." I had another teacher in the room. He said that it was the best moment of his teaching career to be there. I'm sure I can't write the story as funny as it was, but the kids were talking about it still today.
another day in the life...
So I had erased part of the board and had erased a part of the P on -pass back. It left ass back on my board. The class tried to tell me in a very nice way that there was a bad word on the board. I thought they were showing me the projector was left on, so I turned the projector off and went on teaching. Later, one young man said, "Ms. Dyer, you erased some of the agenda." I told him No Problem, I had only erased what we had already done. He told me that there was a bad word on the board. I looked and said, "Thanks Rog. You handled that really well." The class didn't giggle or go out of control. Thank you to Rog. He is a wise kind young man whose feet don't yet touch the floor.
Story 2)
Ralph is a student in my 7th grade class. He is quite an enigma. He's pretty good in math, but is just weird. He's a class clown and he sometimes falls asleep in class. So yesterday, he fell asleep. I somehow got enough attention of the other student by panomiming. I indicated (ALL WITHOUT WORDS) that on my count of three, via my fingers, we would all say, "Ralph!" The class all understood what I wanted. I raised my fingers, one, two,... Three. And the class, having rehearsed unison answering in every class, shouts clearly and quickly, "RALPH!"
The look of fear and shock on Ralph's round face was priceless. He pounded his fists on his desk and did one of those silent screams. It was so funny. Funny .... I then lost the class.
It took 5 minutes to bring them back. I tried to write notes on the board, but that didn't work. I then had to have the class journal about what had happened. Many wrote the goings on in the back of their planner that has a place for "most memorable moments." I had another teacher in the room. He said that it was the best moment of his teaching career to be there. I'm sure I can't write the story as funny as it was, but the kids were talking about it still today.
another day in the life...
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Best Note EVER passed in class
So one day this last week, I confiscated a note being passed across the isle from one student to another. I put the note in my pocket to read later so that we didn't disrupt the flow of the lesson.
Later I read the note and it basically was a note to everyone in the class from one of the students. It was a note that said "7C, Do your science homework. Ms. Nagin said she would give us crackers if we all did our homework." So it was a note about students working together as a team to receive a reward. Notice the reward was crackers. As a matter of fact it was Saltine Crackers. These students need very little incentive at times.
I gave the note back to the class via their homeroom teacher so that it could finish making its rounds through the class. Sure enough they all did their science HW and Ms. Nagin got them Oreo cookies instead of Saltine Crackers. I shared the note with her before I returned it to the class, so that she was aware of the amazingness of her class.
Love it!
Later I read the note and it basically was a note to everyone in the class from one of the students. It was a note that said "7C, Do your science homework. Ms. Nagin said she would give us crackers if we all did our homework." So it was a note about students working together as a team to receive a reward. Notice the reward was crackers. As a matter of fact it was Saltine Crackers. These students need very little incentive at times.
I gave the note back to the class via their homeroom teacher so that it could finish making its rounds through the class. Sure enough they all did their science HW and Ms. Nagin got them Oreo cookies instead of Saltine Crackers. I shared the note with her before I returned it to the class, so that she was aware of the amazingness of her class.
Love it!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
When do the rules apply in math?
Today, I gave the student an expression to evaluate. I was working on doing math with the appropriate order of operations. So while the students were working on the expression
28-30+6
I had a student ask if this was integer work or order of operation work. I told him I didn't understand his question. I replied that yes, these are integers and that we always use the rules of order of operations. He said, "No, I mean do I still follow the integer rules?" I probably dropped my jaw to the ground.
I guess I hadn't made it clear that once we learn something we use it everytime. Interesting. He had compartmentalized and thought when we are learning a topic, that's the only time we use those rules. Could not believe it. It was truly a moment of understanding that I needed to have.
28-30+6
I had a student ask if this was integer work or order of operation work. I told him I didn't understand his question. I replied that yes, these are integers and that we always use the rules of order of operations. He said, "No, I mean do I still follow the integer rules?" I probably dropped my jaw to the ground.
I guess I hadn't made it clear that once we learn something we use it everytime. Interesting. He had compartmentalized and thought when we are learning a topic, that's the only time we use those rules. Could not believe it. It was truly a moment of understanding that I needed to have.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
My students are honest with me
I have a group of about 15 7th grade students who are my advisees. Once a week we get together and talk. This week's talk was about respecting one's self. While we talked and the direction of the conversation led us to talking about smoking and the dangers of smoking or drinking, some of my students talked about family members that smoke pot. Some brothers, cousins, and even some parents were outed by the students.
I asked if any of them had seen someone smoke pot and every hand went up. OMG, I thought. First of all that the culture in our society is such that talking about this is very okay and that these students don't keep information to themselves. I will never breach the confidence that they have in me unless I am obligated by law. What I will do is to help them learn.
Last week they all told me how they have been hit for punishment (spankings, cords, belts). So drugs and fear of physical punishment, guess I'm getting to know these kids more and more. I have amazing students that are insightful, resilient, happy, and a joy to be with most of the time.
I retaught how to multiply 2 or 3 digit numbers this week. I also tested the 7th grade students on 5 different NYS standards. Hopefully they understand the different classifications of numbers and can tell the difference of a rational and an irrational number now. They also were tested on their understanding of adding and subtracting integers. Most of them can handle the integer laws. This week we finished multiply and divide integers. Next week the 7th grade students will delve into remembering the Order of Operations. This is one of the skills that they need to practice A LOT! My principal is going to observe me on Tuesday. It's my first formal observation. I video recorded myself this week to see what he will see. I am making some immediate changes. First of all, students fill any time you give them. So if I give them 5 minutes to do something that should take 2 minutes, they'll fill the entire 5 minutes. So... I have shortened the amount of time I give them to do tasks. Especially the time to get into the room and to get started. We practiced this on Friday. We reset the room and went back into the hallway and came back into the room and reduced the amount of time needed by 50%. That's a huge amount of time that I can use for instruction.
Enjoyed a night out with many of the staff last night. got home at 9:30 which is so early in a town that never sleeps. I slept and now I need to get my own homework done.
Peace!
I asked if any of them had seen someone smoke pot and every hand went up. OMG, I thought. First of all that the culture in our society is such that talking about this is very okay and that these students don't keep information to themselves. I will never breach the confidence that they have in me unless I am obligated by law. What I will do is to help them learn.
Last week they all told me how they have been hit for punishment (spankings, cords, belts). So drugs and fear of physical punishment, guess I'm getting to know these kids more and more. I have amazing students that are insightful, resilient, happy, and a joy to be with most of the time.
I retaught how to multiply 2 or 3 digit numbers this week. I also tested the 7th grade students on 5 different NYS standards. Hopefully they understand the different classifications of numbers and can tell the difference of a rational and an irrational number now. They also were tested on their understanding of adding and subtracting integers. Most of them can handle the integer laws. This week we finished multiply and divide integers. Next week the 7th grade students will delve into remembering the Order of Operations. This is one of the skills that they need to practice A LOT! My principal is going to observe me on Tuesday. It's my first formal observation. I video recorded myself this week to see what he will see. I am making some immediate changes. First of all, students fill any time you give them. So if I give them 5 minutes to do something that should take 2 minutes, they'll fill the entire 5 minutes. So... I have shortened the amount of time I give them to do tasks. Especially the time to get into the room and to get started. We practiced this on Friday. We reset the room and went back into the hallway and came back into the room and reduced the amount of time needed by 50%. That's a huge amount of time that I can use for instruction.
Enjoyed a night out with many of the staff last night. got home at 9:30 which is so early in a town that never sleeps. I slept and now I need to get my own homework done.
Peace!
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