obama and mathematics

We watched Obama take his oath today in a very boisterous, crowded, and somewhat chaotic lunchroom.

It was amazing though, seeing the sheer joy the girls had whenever Obama came into video view, and conversely, the loud boos that ensued whenever Bush came into view.

My lesson today built on what Obama had said in the past, along with some of Dr. King's most memorable words from his "I have a dream" speech.

(Again, amazing how many students knew specific quotes from Dr. King's speech)

Here's how it worked:

Their Do Now entry asked them what their mathematical portfolio goals were for the week. I then showed them pictures of the University of Chicago, and explained how I had gone to the same school Obama had once taught at as a professor.


We discussed the quotes in the above slide and I had them do a quick Turn and Talk:



Amazingly enough, every single class, students were able to come up with the idea of goals, which was a nice segue right into my lesson for the day, which basically had them outlining what they were planning on doing for the week.

Here's the Goals Worksheet (at least a part of it)



All in all, the lesson went really well. There was still some talking/complaining/etc, but by and large I think I will give myself a pat on the head today.

limits

My principal bought this for me, and I can't recommend it enough.

Although the anecdotes are somewhat formulaic after awhile, the message is clear, and I would highly suggest reading it if you're (like me) having trouble with management in the classroom.

Basically, the gist of the book is thus: Offering limited choices empowers students but also puts you back in charge.

For example, a kid is tilting their chair backwards deliberately even after repeated warnings. Instead of repeated warnings, and the inevitable power struggle, the book suggests simply stating the following:

"Student, you may either stop tilting your chair OR you may stand for 5 minutes until you figure out how to sit appropriately".

This puts up clear expectations/consequences of what will happen to Student A if he/she chooses not to stop the behavior. All the teacher has to do is follow through with the consequence (sometimes easier said than done)

Another idea is having what's called the Teacher Rental Store. I am getting awfully tired of kids coming in without pens/pencils/paper/notebooks etc and claiming that it's in 'their locker'. After the semester ends, I am going to institute this system, in which if a student wishes to borrow something, they must pay 'rent'. Whether this involves cleaning boards, putting up chairs, or some other service, students will learn that they have to give to get.

Responsibility. I can haz?

In any case, I've taken away some really good points from this book, and hope it helps you too.

Sara

afghan students

I am planning on giving this article out tomorrow for reading silent time for those students who finish their quiz early.

let the social justice begin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/world/asia/14kandahar.html?hp

i'm hoping we will have time to discuss after. I want to show them what other girls have to go through in order to get an education they get freely here in the States, and what that entails

what I did today

I'm talking to a friend and realizing I'm slightly nuts.


Today's Happenings:

• taught three lessons
• wrote letter for student in need of sp. ed services,
• made student give me an apology letter,
• created advisory slides for lesson tomorrow,
• changed regular lesson for tomorrow to reflect what we've done today,
• worked with student on portfolio, filled out two referrals for students behavior in class,
• met with assistant principal about how my co-teaching class is going,
• replanned/edited portfolio rubrics and materials, printed 90 copies of all materials needed, printed out materials for tomorrow, emailed sp. ed teacher about hw assignments
• created fraction power game cards with co-teacher during prep
• announced mathlete of the week
• passed out newsletters created last week

amazing...

but i'm still not done.


sara

Newsletter

hello!

here is an example of our class newsletter with Mathlete of the Week. I've deleted name/picture of student for legal purposes, but wanted to show what it looked like for this week.

GroupENewsletter

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Education middle school Newsletter

hope all is well,

Sara

Our first newsletter

I've created my first math newsletter for my class!

This, I hope, is going to be helpful for the following reasons:

Keep me on point with Mathlete of the Week, which slowly faltered as the days went by
Provide information to parents
Give a Math Game of the week to play at home
Become a means of communication between the work we do at school and how it might be relevant to home.

Check it out below!

Math Newsletter 1.5

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Teaching Education newsletter 1.5

the best laid plans of mice and saras

It is 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

I have been up since 5:30 working on my new unit. Here is what I am planning on doing in the next week and a half. I think I might be going crazy

1. Washington D.C.
1. Bus Rental
2. Permission Slip
3. Fundraising/Money Ideas
4. Deciding how who is going
5. Finding teachers to help plan the trip
6. Come up with Itinerary/Budget
7. donors choose funding possibly for D.C.
   
2. upload grades
   
3. test revisions re-grade
   
1. Staple papers together
   
4. plan out unit 3
1. UBD template
   
2. smartboard slides
3. weekly overview
4. update google docs calendar
5. Portfolio work
6. Guided Math for Group D
1. come up with schedule for meeting
2. separate lessons to help them understand structure
3. acuity results/put them into play

In particular, I am planning on using guided mathematics in my CTT class, based on the model that I used last year. I found a REALLY great website by an elementary teacher who is using guided math in her class. Check it out! It's awesome, and has planning documents, tips, routine strategies and more

http://www.mandygregory.com/guided_math_groups.htm

My next unit is on probability and fractions. This makes me a little nervous, since I know that many students were struggling with fractions last year. (I gave a diagnostic in the fall, and a disproportionate amount did not do well on the fractions parts)

any advice on my endeavors would be appreciated!

Hope you are resting as I should be. =)

Sara