Middle School Ain't So Terrifying Anymore

With a week of introductions to ourselves, classroom expectations, and general school procedures behind us, the second week of classes much more normality and familiarity to what middle school education looks like. As the responsibilities being handed to me were growing (first copies, attendance, and checking homework and now those plus discussing a daily practice problem and leading some classroom activities and lessons), so did my passion for teaching and my affirmation for going into the field! There was just something so natural and so right to being up in front of the classroom; many joys and challenges came from it, and I definitely continue to grow each and every day as an educator through both of them.

Teaching to Relieve an Itch
A first happened this week: teaching a lesson in its entirety.

This is something I have looking forward to for a long time as my itch to teach has been being scratched for years now. On Wednesday, I was able to co-teach a lesson on multiplying and dividing real numbers for Algebra 1 students. Then, on Thursday, I co-taught that same lesson adapted for Math 8/Pre-Algebra students twice and then solo taught a lesson on absolute value and opposites for Algebra 1. You could say my itch was satisfied.Generally speaking, each of the lessons went really well! There was not a moment of panic in any of the lessons and it seemed as though the students understood what was going on. Granted, these lessons were already created by my cooperating teacher and the content was review; however, having this set-up be there for my first experience as a teacher was definitely welcomed. It allowed me to focus more on the pacing and the management side of teaching.

With the first hour Math 8 class, it has been noticed that it feels like they have less time than the same class second hour to cover the same material. In this lesson, this meant that second hour was able to make it to and through a study of application, real-world problems whereas first hour had no time to even begin studying them. It truly feels like there is a ten-minute bonus in second hour. This observation has definitely caused me to think about how each class, despite being called the same thing, can be very, very different. I have yet to determine the cause for this (students, having run the lesson already, beginning of the day duties taking more time than anticipated, etc.), but it is forcing me to think about what my response to this should be as a teacher. Should I plan for the amount of time in first hour and then give second hour an additional activity that extends the content? Would that be unfair to the students in first hour who would benefit from the extension? Should first hour become a little faster paced so that each hour does the same activities as a whole? Is that a disservice to students in first hour? There is a lot to consider and I have not formed a conclusion that serves the students best. Thoughts on the matter are definitely welcomed!

Prior Proper Planning Provides Power
Given this predicament, I have grown fond of these tubs.

What a time saver that gives students so much power! With the students creating their own interactive math notebook that serves as their textbook, having resources such as glue and highlighters at their disposal has definitely been a blessing. It creates organization and normalization for students so that having the materials on the desk are not distracted by their presence, gives students materials they need to succeed, and allows for efficiency to be even more present in the classroom. The latter is important as we only have 45-minute periods. Those extra minutes saved from passing out the materials daily are crucial, and I am so happy that they can be devoted to content. They definitely provided these benefits and were extremely helpful during the lessons I facilitated. Use of tubs will definitely be a part of my future classroom!

Not Just a Teacher
One my goals for the semester is to better know my students so that I can better serve them. This past week, I was able to form what I thought were connections with a few of the students. Its affirming that these students are wanting to see you as more than a teacher, and I cannot wait to see what more relationship building I can do this week. Breakthroughs can happen when students are able to see you as more than someone who delivers content. In fact, as one of my fellow teacher assistants put it, "students wont care what you know until they know you care."

I think this statement is true, and that means I have a lot of work to do. Not only does it mean I would like to make lessons that show I care for each students' learning, it also means that I should be striving to get to know the students' lives and create a sense of trust with them. I'm ready to take on that challenge, starting with week 3 tomorrow! 

These experiences have shown me just how much middle school does not have to be a scary place anymore--both as a teacher and as a student. I used to want to avoid it at all costs, but now that I have have been immersed over the past year, I cannot wait to see how further immersion will help me become a better teacher!

Student Blogs: A Definite Part of My Future Classroom

Once I was introduced to the idea of having students blog, I was hooked! As a student, I was feeling more connected to the course and the students in the class. The conversations happening beyond the four walls of the classroom added a whole other dimension (an exciting one!) to the course, and I believe I was learning more than course content by blogging. In fact, I was able to learn something for each of these 10 reasons!

Thus, I see so many ways that a blog can benefit students and make a math class come alive. Let's take a look into how I envision this coming to life on both the teacher and the student end.

The Teacher Side of Things. My cooperating teacher has a class website that allows her to communicate many parts of the class with her students. They can view items such as the online textbook, assignments, answer keys, important class information, and more. I see this as an excellent way to convey information to students and parents about what is going in inside the classroom. Although student blogging is not a part of her classroom, I see that her model can be expanded to include blogging to create even more benefits for students.

If I were to make a class blog, it would have different pages for assignments and answer keys, important class information, a class calendar, links to commonly used sites (desmos, geogebra, etc.), additional resources to help learn course content, my personal blog posts, and more. I would loosely model it after Zach Cresswell's page. I plan to integrate technology into my future classroom through various online activities from Desmos, Geogebra, the Math Twitter Blogosphere (#MTBOS), and more; thus, this would be a nice place for me to post links for these activities for absent students, students who would like additional practice, and a common place to access them in class. A teacher having a blog has so much potential for efficiency in the classroom as well as potential for immense transparency about your classroom, both of which I would advocate for.

The Student Side of Things. A student having their own blog gives the student so much power to become better, well-rounded students. Literacy is huge for students, and blogging serves as a great avenue for digital, written, performing, viewing, speaking, reading, and listening literacy skills to be developed. This blog can be used across multiple classes, which allows the student to practice literacy skills in each discipline. Specifically with math, there is so much  potential to work on mathematical literacy, an area a lot of students need development.

With class activities, student can post reflective blog posts about the activity so that the teacher can get a better scope of how the individual student is learning course content. If a blog post is the method of submission, it is an excellent way to elicit student thinking and get inside the student's head. Students can write out a response, post pictures of their work, post a video of them explaining their work, and more. They can even do more than one of these in one post! As a result, the student can better convey their understanding to the teacher and be more accurately assesed,

On the more organizational side of things, having information about the class posted in one, convenient location only makes things easier for students. Plus, if comments on other student's blog posts are required, a blog offers a space to have the other blogs linked.

Students get to create it and make it their own. It gives students a voice. It connected students in a way they love to connect--digitally. This only begins to crack open what blogging can do for students!

Where This Could Become Problematic. There are definitely a lot of areas where this model could become problematic. Some of them are

• students having limited or nonexistent internet access at home or in the classroom,
• having to take class time to go over the process of creating and using a blog effectively,
• the potential for students to be inappropriate or unproductive,
• the potential for unequal benefits for communication between students, and  
• if parents be on-board for students being present online in this manner. 

While I recognize these areas for potential problems, I believe that there is so much for students to gain from this experience and would choose to implement these in my classroom in a heartbeat. They can stake the skills they gained from using a blog later in life, no matter what they choose to do. Student blogging is bigger than my classroom, and that's why I want it to be a part of it. 

Saved by the Bell

As a part of being a teacher, I will be analyzing my students to better understand them a person and learner. Thus, getting practice in this skill--even if the students is fictional--will only be beneficial. To get some practice, I will analyze Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell. His character arches over multiple series, so we can get a deeper look into him as a student.

Here are some observations of Zack based on Wikipedia and YouTube:

• During eighth grade, he received help from his friend and classmate, Mikey, on his schoolwork. He was also a troublemaker at this time, since he was often found being called out by the principal for various acts and schemes he instigated. 
• In high school, Zack receives poor grades in the classroom, but scores a 1502, a very high score, on his SAT. The latter allowed Zack to be accepted into Yale University, even though he attends California University in the follow-up series Saved by the Bell: The College Years. Based on his marks, his classroom performance would not deem him college ready, but his SAT score would.
• Zack also showed an interest for business and demonstrated strong leadership skills in high school. 
• His extracurricular activities in high school included cross country, basketball, track, being in a band as a vocalist and guitarist, played the trombone, glee club, restarting the school radio station, the JROTC program, student council, yearbook committee, and being manager of the school store. 
• He was rarely seen having a job. 
• One of his major interests was betting. In combination with this habits that began eighth grade, he is the type of student who is more distracting than engaging.
• He was one of the first characters to be seen carrying a cell phone, giving evidence that he is likely from a higher socioeconomic class.
• At college, Zack got along with his professors most of time. 

Based on these observations, if he were a student of mine, I would try to engage him as a student through the use of technology. I would find an effective and meaningful way to integrate his cell phone into lessons, assuming that each student could have access to a phone or each group of students had one. The lessons would surround something that would be of interest to Zack. It could take the form of the mathematics and statistics of gambling. This would likely pique his interest so he could become a better gambler. Making lessons like this would allow Zack to still have his personality, but would also allow for him to start comprehending the topic.

Watch Zack in action below!

Just Another Friday Afternoon Exploring the #MTBOS

I always knew that the MTBOS was a great place for math teacher to communicate and collect resources since I was exposed to it about 2 years ago and have been collecting what resources I would like to draw from in my classroom since. However, in digging a little deeper today, I found some pretty neat things (resources and blogposts) I thought were worth sharing.

Resources

Desmos activity on exploring aspects of linear functions through legos and superheroes

Desmos activity to learn geometry vocab by playing a guess who style game

Musical Chairs game from Brooke for expression review, could be use with many concepts

Interesting Blogposts

Justin talks about students becoming inquisitive and their rusty integer skills

The power of literacy in math-how big is it? See it at work with Bridget

Mark discusses feedback to students and its importance

Julie shares some neat first day math problems

Fawn shares her first two days of each of her classes and the syllabus for each

Victor debunks 5 myths about the Standards for Mathematical Practice

John on teaching students quadratic through misconceptions

Becoming a Reflective Teacher

With the beginning of another school year comes an abundance of opportunity for teachers and any kind of educator. Opportunities to learn, to grow, to productively struggle, to learn from mistakes and failure, and to impact the lives of students only begin to name them. But with all this opportunity in our hands, we must be ready to seize them in order to become the best educator we can be. This means that we cannot become complacent with who we are as a teacher currently. We must be constantly critiquing and evaluating ourselves as teachers, our teaching strategies and how effective they are for students, if the needs of our students are being met, and much more. In essence, w must be cognitively aware of what impact each and every moment of our day has on us as an educator and be striving to change as necessary to become better each day. Thus, as I immerse myself into the realm of teaching, I will be trying my best to become a reflective teacher.

I have been challenged to be intentional about picking a few areas where I want to grow as teacher over the semester. Let's dive right in to see the areas I want to seize opportunity in!

Specifying and Reinforcing Productive Student Behavior
One of my biggest fear going into this semester--just like a lot of new and training teachers--is classroom management. That is why I am so glad I have a whole college class on the topic this semester. Having worked as a camp counselor for middle schoolers this past summer, I am super glad that I have been able to try various methods to see what works and does not work. I realize that each class will likely be different and that camp is different than the classroom, but I hope that I can use those experiences to have a healthy classroom environment that promotes and reinforces productive student behavior. Some of the specification of what the classroom norms are is out of my hands, since I am learning from my absolutely amazing cooperative teacher, but I look forward to contributing to further specifying them and reinforcing them with students this semester.

Learning about students' cultural, religious, family, intellectual, and personal experiences and resources for use in instruction
I recognize and can identify the power of a lesson striking home to something familiar in learning the content of a lesson. Thus, I want to be intentional about building genuine relationships with my students and be able to find ways to relate to them and ways to relate the content to their lives. One of the most common frustrations with students in a math class is identifying where the concepts can be realistically applied to their life or what life-skills they have gained through understanding the concepts. Therefore, I want to make it my mission to find creative ways to explain the concepts through relatable experiences for students. I would like for students to view math more like Stanley rather than how SpongeBob does, and it begins by getting to know students better.

"Oh, I see how math is useful now!"

"Math is so useless I don't even want to see it!"

Support Productive Struggle in Learning Mathematics
This one I feel as though is going to be an ongoing pursuit to find the sweet spot between giving a student too much assistance that we have done the thinking for the students and too little assistance that the students begins to flounder. In other words, I want to be able to rescue a students in an appropriate manner, or in one where both the students and I can feel confident that they can continue on and understand what is going on.

Thus, I will be working for students to not feel like a flopping fish

 and more like George Lopez.

Currently, I feel that I go back and forth between too much help and not enough, so I want to be intentional about finding the sweet spot in order for the student to have the most powerful learning opportunity they can have.

I know that there are many more ares to improve--and I hope that I can make strides there too--but I feel as though these are important to develop as I develop as a teacher through teacher assisting this semester. Check back with my weekly updates to see how I am doing in these areas!

Glad to be in the Dawg Pound

What a first week at Grandville Middle School!

I came into this week both excited and nervous at what the next semester would entail as a teacher assistant. However, I have now left this week with only the biggest smile on my face that beams all the overflowing excitement and passion that has come to light because of what has happened in the classroom! I even bought some Grandville apparel because I am already digging this place so much!

To put it in a few words, it just seemed natural. There was something right about being in a middle school classroom and in front of the room. Whether it was introducing myself for what seemed like a hundred times, passing out materials, or assisting students in activities, there was an undeniable sense of home-- and it was only solidified once the content began. It has given me lots of courage that I will overcome the fears I had coming into the semester, and it has be feeling ready to take on this semester (just like this bulldog below) as the weeks only get more intense from here. I will fail at some point, but I feel as though I am in the right place and this semester is going to change me for the better with all I have to learn.

The week was most definitely full, and it may have made me feel like the next bulldog when I left the building each day, but I am eager to fully immerse myself in the teaching world throughout this semester. And I get to do just that this week as I get to teach a lesson!

Here's to the rest of the semester! Go Bulldogs!

Improving Teaching, Not Teachers

Although I feel as though I do not fully know this important distinction by any means, I do feel like I am beginning to get a sense of how teachers and teaching differs. James Stigler and James Hiebert's The Teaching Gap offers some insight into the distinction from its opening chapter. 

Much of the discussion surrounding improvement within the educational system is abut changes to standards and assessment. What is not being targeted is the teaching methods being used by teachers. Stigler and Hiebert argue that "making higher standards a reality for students will require more than just the status quo inside our nation's classroom; curriculum, assessments, and--above all--teaching must improve dramatically" (Stigler & Hiebert, 2). Notice how it said that we do not need to usher in a new wave of teachers, but rather change the teaching occurring in the classroom. With all the constant change in standards, curriculum, and assessments being made constantly in education, we are failing to see the results we desperately want. Time and time again, they come with the promise that students will score significantly higher on the countless tests they are given. However, what has yet to be critically evaluated through these many changes is the execution of these changes, or the teaching going on in the classroom. Thus, "improving the quality of teaching must be front and center in efforts to improve students' learning" (Stigler & Hiebert, 3). 

Learning opportunities for students need to be abundant in classroom and come from a variety of approaches. What is common in a lot of American mathematics classroom is a focus "for the most part on a very narrow band of procedural skills" (Stigler & Hiebert, 10) rather than deep conceptual understanding. This repeated emphasis on being able to execute procedure causes the students to look like this. 

This emphasis allows the students to be passive learned in some regards as well as to execute the procedure mindlessly. Don't we want to students to be actively engaged and actually understand what they are doing? Thus, the learning opportunities need to excite students, rather than bore them. Let's make them feel like Kermit when they enter a math classroom!

Now let me make something clear here. I am not saying that a teacher is wanting to bore students and they do not have the intention for students to succeed in their classes. I do believe that, on the whole, teachers are trying to employ methods that allow students to perform well. What I am trying to say is that I think teachers revert to the methods they were taught in, since teaching is a cultural thing, and these methods are making us become stuck. 

The world has changed since these methods were first used. What skills we desire for students to have when they exit school have changed, However, we have maintained widespread use of traditional methods in classrooms. Thus, "if we wish to make wise decisions, we need to know what is going on in typical classrooms" (Stigler and Hiebert, 8) and positively change and transform "the one ingredient most likely to make a difference in students' learning: the quality of teaching" (Stigler and Hiebert, 2). 

It also is important to note that I'm not saying that there are not teachers out there already being all-stars and adapting their teaching to provide avenues for deep conceptual understanding for there students. They do, in fact, exist. However, "although there are teachers using extraordinary methods in all cultures, the extraordinary is not what defines most students' experiences" (Stigler and Hiebert, 10). For the sake of our students, let's work together to make extraordinary a little more ordinary!