"Your brain is like a muscle"

This past week we had one of our final math classes for 8P29, we ended on a likelihood that we would talk away with a lot of knowledge gained!

We started with a fun Mind On activity and a great way to introduce Data Management and Probability, and funny that I would not have thought of this idea. Definitely will be Minds On activity that will be tucked away in the math toolkit of resources to use in the classroom. The collection of data done on a stem & leaf chart brought back memories to elementary days, but funny enough I could not remember how data collection of a stem & leaf chart were done. I really enjoyed how we started with a small prediction and really brought it along for the entire duration of the class and used that data to continue with an example to explain data management.

The different activities we did throughout the class with the leveling of the pattern blocks for determining mean and the cereal box example were great examples that tied data management and practicality together. It’s important to have data collection happen with a purpose, as it mentions in Making Math Meaningful. It started by asking good questions, making the lesson fun and meaningful. Both data management and probability connect different math units together and makes learning more meaningful and with a purpose. Important to keep in mind with data management is the question being asked. As educators it is important we have our students understand the importance of open-ended questions to answers that relate to what the students have learned and elicit meaningful data for the right target audience. 

I enjoyed doing the small mean activity where we had to find three numbers and then four and find the mean of those numbers. Was never taught how to find the mean without a calculator and I loved learning that by simply finding the middle number you will find the mean…developing that growth mindset! Learning a new trick of finding mean was added to the toolkit of resources. As I was reading through the text something I enjoyed learning is how to act out the notion of finding the mean. The text talks about giving the students the opportunity to understand the concept of mean by acting it out physically in a class setting. I personally love the concept of adding physical movement to any class if possible, but with math it can make it that much more enjoyable and seeing a concept in math has very rewarding feeling, a feeling that I have felt over the course of these past few months.

An important concept that I felt was missing during my education in mathematics is the notion of when and how to display the data that has been collected. We learned how to create a chart or graph, learned basic ones such as bar, chart, scatter plot, pie graph don’t remember the pictograph but think that one can be really fun for primary grades when learning about graphs and representing the data of how many people voted for a favorite pet for example. It is important for us educators to understand when the best time is to use the different types of graphs and educate our students on which graph would work best to represent the set of data gathered keeping in mind our audience.

I enjoyed the technology aspect we explored as well with the Gizmo’s and the tinkerplots. It is important for us educators to continue learning and become expertise in our profession by continuing to learn new and innovate ways to teach. The Gizmo game provided a fun game that helped us gather data that we can then represent using a graph, made math fun mostly because the data reflected my scores of the activity, gave math a meaning.

Lastly I really enjoyed the video of Class Dojo and will definitely be replayed in my classroom when I become an educator. Comparing the brain to a muscle is brilliant and a Phys. Ed Major like myself really enjoyed the pun! It is extremely important to educate our students on the importance of exploring ways of learning and explaining to children that it is okay to make mistakes and find a different way to solve a problem. Students will miss 100% percent of the shots they don’t take, so why not take that shot and make a mistake and learn how to bounce back and find a different solution to the answer.

Let's assess the situation from last week

This past week in Math class was different then past weeks as we reviewed different forms of assessment relating to Mathematics. Before diving into assessment our opening activity was three different stations of co-operative group activities that got us working collaboratively to complete a task. The three tasks connected with different math strands learned over the weeks in 8P29. As difficult as I found the Number puzzle I really enjoyed working with my peers to solve the activity because it allowed me to learn as we were working through the puzzle. I found the different activities to be very useful to help students recall different mathematic strands covered and adapted into a small starting activity. The clue for each activity is what I enjoyed the most from the whole opening activity. It is an easy and effective way to get all the students involved to help solve the problem at hand and actively participating. I wouldn’t say anything from this week was to challenging, besides the number puzzle activity that my peers helped me to understand how to solve for the possible answers. Key points to be taken away from working in groups from Patricia was that big groups can sometimes be a challenge to maintain and keep all students focus so having rules in place for groups to follow as they work through the different stations and also to ensure that everyone’s voice is being heard (i.e. clue aspect for each student).

As we progressed in the lesson to learn about assessment and the key relationships with Mathematics the online segments from EduGains provided some valuable insight to creating learning goals and take-away quotes to remember when assessing and developing learning goals. A quote that stood out to me as I was watching the segments was:

“Learning is easier when learners understand what goal they are trying to achieve, the purpose of achieving the goal, and the specific attributes of success”

-Chappuis (2002) Segment 1: TheFoundation of Assessment for Learning

Having my students apart of the creation of learning goals s a vital aspect to their education and learning. It is keeping them actively involved and understanding what the learning goals and objectives are for different lesson plans that combine to make a unit plan. Important tips to remember presented in the edugains video segment:

Ø  Active participation when creating Learning goals (like mentioned above)

Ø  Identities knowledge and/or skills from the curriculum

Ø  Incremental and Scaffolded

Ø  Use student-friendly language

Ø  Verbs are specific and observable

Ø  Stated from a student’s perspective 

All of these tips are important to keep in mind when creating learning goals for my students in the future that apply to each and every subject. Another quote I enjoyed from the segment was:

“When we invest time up front to build the vision [of what students are to e learning], we gain it back later in increased student motivation and the resulting higher-quality work.”

-Chappuis (2009) Segment 2: DevelopingLearning goals

It is essential for us educators to involve our students in creating their learning goals and success criteria; it helps to give students a purpose for learning. 

Assessment plays a vital role to demonstrate students understanding of different mathematical strands and learning objectives created by the teacher with the students actively engaged. As important as it is for us to assess students it is just as imperative students know what they are being assessed on. Providing immediate feedback to help correct and develop students learning in a specific area. Assessment for learning occurs through out every class! It is also important to remember that when it comes to the performance standards that we integrate all 4 categories throughout a unit plan. Assessment helps students understand: Where am I going, How am I going, Where to next… (Segment 1: The Foundation of Assessment for Learning). Self-monitoring students own success is important for them to begin developing this skill as they progress through school. Having student assess their progression in with different units within different subject areas will help develop their knowledge and understanding of the lesson. It can help them apply their learning of material into a problem created by the instructor on a formative assessment.

I want to end my blog this week with a quote pinned to my board on pinterest. Scaffolding is a vital learning tool we as educators have to adapt our teaching to help guide out students to develop a growth mindset for learning. 

Scaffolding as an educator. Ms. M Pinterest (2016) 

Measuring my knowledge in Math

This week in math class we opened with an activity that has to be one of my most liked thus far. It was a very ‘Minds on’ activity that got us working in a larger group then just with our table mates. “I have…. Who has…,” can be an activity that is used in a number of different subjects that really gets all students actively engaged in classroom discussion. During the activity I personally followed along as we each moved from question to answer, I trued to answer the question in my head before the student with the car stood up. I wanted to test my knowledge and see if I remembered the lesson from last week on geometry. I can imagine more students also tried to do the same thing as myself. Key points to take away from this activity is to ensure the questions are at the right level of challenge as an opening activity and that they are easy and quick to answer, to ensure the flow of this particular activity.

This week we explored measurement and in particular area and perimeter. I found this week to be one of my more challenging weeks, because measurement was a unit I struggled with during elementary school. A big take away from this week was how much measurement was Inquiry-based math, because having students keep track of their work as they work through different problem solving based questions will be key to successfully finding answers. The picture taken below is work that my partner and I explored to try and find a possible answer to the question being asked. 

Having us keep the answers we tried to solve for the correct answer helped us create a process of elimination and like Patricia said in class “get us closer to solving the answer.” This specific method would be very beneficial in a number of different math lessons when we teachers ask our students a variety of problem-based questions that lead to more then one solution.

Knowledge is Power, and when we as educators discover different resources and tools it will help our students learning experience and can help students learn math and not just memorize how it can be done. Reliable sources help build the toolbox of knowledge and resources as a teacher. Each subject has it’s own toolbox and in Math having it filled with as many practical and real-life scenario tools it can help bring validity to my teaching habits. This week’s readings added resources and tools to help teach measurement, such as the different manipulative that can be used to compare and analyze shapes and objects part of the lesson. 

Measurement is a very practical unit in mathematics;

“Measurement concepts and skills are directly applicable to the world in which students live. Many of these concepts are also developed in other subject areas, such as science, social studies, and physical education.”

-OntarioMathematics Curriculum Grades 1-8

It applies to student’s lives in instances such as cooking, comparing heights, finding relationships between objects, building, etc. It also applies to a number of different subjects outlines in the curriculum above. Learning and being able to solve measurement problems can help apply similar knowledge to a science project that allows works with measurements and in physical education, one unit in particular track & field.

One thing I am learning about becoming a math educator is that I will always be learning how to be one! Mathematics is emphasized hugely in school for students and plays such a crucial role in a student’s life outside the classroom. It is a very practical learning subject that is involved in our everyday lives. Creating lesson plans that build on one another is vital for students to learn and build on the knowledge from each lesson itself. As en educator doing the math work before hand so I have a number of ways to solve problems is important and having a growth mindset will help tremendously. Math is no longer about one answer, but rather exploring a variety of solutions to one question. Using a variety of different learning tools will also help in a classroom that has students with different learning styles, it all starts with getting to know my students and their learning abilities. I can imagine there is much more to becoming a math teacher and as I continue through school and start teaching I will only grow as an educator in Mathematics.

Geometry….You Gotta touch it to learn about it!

Creating different groups occasionally is always good to get to meet new classmates and have the opportunity to collaborate and share ideas with each other. The separating of our new group this week was a great start to part one of the lesson plan, which lead directly into our ‘Minds on’ portion. Starting the class talking about congruent shapes and similar shapes indirectly had us discussing the lesson, relating our Halloween pieces to one another. This activity could easily be done using a number of different objects related to different seasons or different holiday and events coming up. Another aspect of the beginning portion of our lesson plan was when we had to reflect back on the different shapes we share today that were both symmetrical and asymmetrical. Starts getting the students reflecting on everyday objects that are seen and compared to what is being learned in math class, the connection of classroom to real-life experiences.

Children’s literature is something that has been used over the course of the this semester, it is a great resource future educators can use to help students learn about certain topics relating to math. The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Brown not only began introducing students to different shapes but could relate to real-life situations on how to treat friends and the values of having something and wanting something one can’t have. Stories can be used to draw student’s attention, knowing your students and the types of learners they are play a crucial role with the tools an educator can use. As an educator you can stop at anytime to ensure students are staying on track and have them reflect throughout to ensure their understanding.

Geometry was a subject that I never enjoyed a whole lot, which was surprising because I am very hand on and need manipulative and objects to learn and I find it hard to learn about shapes without using objects. This weeks activities were very practical and required using shapes to learn, key to learning geometry is “making it as physical as possible,” something Patricia explained to us throughout the class. Manipulatives can help develop a different part of our brains that benefit our learning and to grasp the concepts of symmetry and congruent shapes quicker.

This picture of the pattern blocks shows us using shapes to conjure shapes and then further create bigger shapes. We worked together in our groups to create shapes and structures that were visually demonstrated first on a worksheet. This activity worked on group work and teamwork but also can target the students of different learning styles, who need to physically see an object or just envision it on paper. Working with different learning styles comes with knowing your students to create lesson plans that will benefit all the students.

Learning about polygons was one of the more challenging parts for me this week. I was never comfortable with polygons and had a hard time differentiating them based on their characteristics. The tangram duo’s worksheet was an activity that benefited me as a learner because it had me physically working with objects to create different polygons. Two key points I took away from Tuesday was;

·      Look for number of sides…important!

·      Look for parallel sides when comparing quadrilaterals

The mini lesson plans were all done well by each classmate. They all had create activities that connected well with their lesson and were each different that got us learning about shapes in a variety of different ways. Lianne’s activity got us using an alternative to physical manipulative and that was jube jubes. The matching game done by Amber was creative and has us talking the language of geometry and shapes. Courtney’s activity focused on symmetry and reflective symmetry with different shapes, and got us accomplishing a task at the same time, which sometimes brings out motivation in students to learn and progress through the lesson or activity. Overall done well by each one of the presenters!