BLOG ELEVEN

"How can curriculum mapping assist you?  Do you have one?  Does your school/district curriculum map?  Where would/will you start in creating a useful curriculum map for your classroom?"

For my Algebra class there is a curriculum map.  It has been incredibly useful for me throughout the semester. The map outlines all the units and how many days to spend on each one.  It also includes the common core aligned objectives and gives corresponding homework assignments from the textbook.  Furthermore, our district also created unit exams and review guides that all Algebra 1 teachers give. The curriculum map really helps out in my unit and daily lesson planning. 

There is currently no curriculum map for my Algebra Extensions class.  In order to create a useful curriculum map for this class I will look at the final exam that has been provided for us.  This past semester I had no planned curriculum and no official final exam so I ended up teaching what I thought students needed work on.  However, for next semester, now that I have a final I will plan a curriculum based on what they need to master for the final.  This will include units on adding and subtracting, fractions, estimation, and rates.  I am going to try to outline the semester based off this exam and hopefully this will provide much more structure for my class.

BLOG TEN

"Do you differentiate instruction? Why? Why not? What is the importance of differentiating instruction? What impact does it have on student learning?"

I differentiate instruction every day in my Algebra Extensions classes. As I've mentioned previously I do stations in these classes, and I have students grouped based on their abilities.  Therefore, with each group that comes to my station I switch up the instruction based on what they particularly need.  For example, we are working on adding fractions with unlike denominators right now.  For my lower groups we spend quite a bit of time on understanding how to find lowest common denominators.  For my high groups, they already understand how to do this so we have moved on to word problems involving fractions with unlike denominators.  

Differentiating instruction is very important because you want to challenge kids, but at the level they are performing at.  For example, if I extensively went over finding LCDs with my high groups, they would be incredibly bored and it wouldn't be benefiting them because they wouldn't be learning anything new.  However, if I just jumped into word problems with my lower groups, they would get easily confused.  With them I need to go back to the more basic instruction before moving on to word problems.  

BLOG NINE

"When working with special education teachers what are your challenges? Strengths? What could be done to increase your skills in this area?"

While I do not work directly with any SPED teachers, I do have SPED para-professionals in two of my classes.  I find my biggest challenge is that I do not always clearly articulate my expectations for what the para is supposed to do during the class period.  While I always have materials ready for him, I feel like at time he is not doing exactly what I want, but I realize this is probably because I do not make my expectations clear.  However, in general I do prepare the materials and answer keys for my para and I feel that this makes it a lot easier on him.  Furthermore, it is also good to have him in the classroom because he can keep an eye on the special education students and let me know who might need some extra attention.  In order to increase my skills in this area I think I need to get a bit better at my communication with my para.  I think it would be useful to meet with him on Monday mornings to go over my lessons for the week and to give him a head's up on what he will be doing during the classes that week.  This way he can also ask me any questions he has and I can make sure he understands his role that week. 

BLOG EIGHT

"When using technology with your students, what are your challenges?  Strengths? What could be done to increase your usage of technology in the classroom?"

I use technology almost every day in my Algebra Extensions classes.  Students use chromebooks and work on a program called Ascend, which has them work on lessons based on their individual needs and levels.  I have also used the chromebooks for partner math games such as jeopardy.  Overall the use of technology in my class works very well.  Students get excited about using laptops, especially when we play games on them.  They are still doing math but the fact that they get to do it on a computer makes them more engaged.  One of the challenges I have is that some students will go on to other websites and will not do the assigned work.  To counteract this issue I have set up a table in the back of my room and students who are working on the computers sit at this table and their computer screens are visible to me so I can make sure that they are on task.  I use a decent amount of technology in my classroom so I don't think I need to increase usage at this point.

BLOG SEVEN

"How prepared do you feel in effectively teaching your students in reading word problems?  Is this one of your strengths?  A weakness? 

Have you started to plan to the Common Core Standards?  If you have, how is that going?  If you haven’t, why not?  What support do you need?"

We are currently focusing on reading word problems in my Algebra Extensions class, so I feel that teaching this is one of my strengths.  I have taught them multiple methods to solve word problems, but the consistent things among these methods is to always reread the problem and to underline any important information.  We have also gone over important definitions of words that often come up in word problems, and what mathematical operation these words represent.  One method that has been effective is the star method.  The paper is split into five parts [looks like a star].  The first section is where they put the actual word problem and where they underline and circle important parts.  In the second section they write what they already know about the answer.  The third section is for coming up with a method to solve the problem and/or setting up equations, and the fourth section is where they actually solve the equation.  The final section is where they put the answer, as well as determine if the answer makes sense.

My district has emphasized planning to the Common Core Standards in the math department.  Our main focus right now is implementing the eight standards for mathematical practice in our daily lesson plans.  In every lesson we are supposed to use standards one, make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, and six, attend to precision.  In addition to these two standards we are supposed to choose one more standard to focus on during every lesson.  We have a lot of support in our district regarding common core in math, so it is going well so far. I have been really trying to work in standard four, which is modeling with mathematics   I try to always make real world connections with whatever we are learning in class that day.

BLOG SIX

 "Post a reflection to your blog based on your practice as it relates to what you learn from the article. How effectively is your well classroom management system working at this point in the year?  What are your struggles?  What are your successes?"

I read the article "Classroom Management: Ten Teacher-Tested Tips" by Gary Hopkins.  The article gave several ideas for effective classroom management from teachers who have had success with managing their classrooms.  I notice that many of the tips given in the article are things that I have tried or do now, but I do not do them consistently or with the necessary precision.  For example, as the article mentions I do a countdown in my class to get my students' attention. Sometimes I will count the amount of time after the countdown that students are still talking and will make the class stay after for that amount of time.  The article suggests a similar idea, but emphasizes the importance of being consistent. I am certainly not consistent with this practice and know it is something I need to work on.

In general my classroom management is probably the aspect of teaching that I struggle the most with.  My biggest struggle is remaining consistent.  Some days I will consistently give out consequences, and other days I will be a bit lax.  I struggle a lot with getting students to be quiet and listen while I am instructing.  I tend to yell over my students a lot and seem to constantly be trying to get their attention.  I have not yet found an effective way to do this.  However, I have had some successes with classroom management as well.  Most of the successes have been with individual students.  There are certain students who were really difficult at the beginning of the semester, and I find now that I do not have to redirect them as often and they call out and misbehave less.  I think this has happened because I have created better relationships with these students.  There are still some students who cause me issues, but I definitely see an improvement with some.

BLOG FIVE

"Reflect on your use of assessment in the classroom.  On a scale of 1-10, ten being the highest, how would you rate yourself? What are your plans for becoming a "10" if you are not already there? How are you using assessment in the classroom to guide your instruction? Describe how assessment results are use to differentiate instruction within your class."

I would rate myself at a "6" for assessment.  In my Algebra Extensions class I often use exit tickets to assess my students, but I am not consistent with it, and believe I need to be more consistent so that I can better see where all of my students are at.  I originally used assessments to split my students into three groups for station rotation.  Students are organized based upon ability level.  This allows me to successfully differentiate instruction because I focus on different topics with different students based on their examples.  For example, we are currently doing a unit on fractions.  For my lower students we are working on visually representing fractions, as well as important fraction definitions.  With my higher-level students I am working on word problems involving fractions, and even having them write their own word problems. 

Blog Four

“Reflect on your time in the classroom to this point.  How are you feeling emotionally, physically?  Do you feel that you are getting through to your most difficult students? What strategies are working?  What strategies are not?   What are your next steps with student engagement within your classroom?"

Teaching is definitely a challenging endeavor.  I am both emotionally and physically exhausted, but it is worth it because I believe I am making a difference.  With regards to my most difficult students, some days I feel like I successfully get through to them, and other days I feel very lost and confused on how to reach them.  I have certainly created better relationships with my students in general, but I am still struggling with investing and motivating a lot of them.  Some strategies that have been working are doing stations: one station students work with a paraprofessional, one station they work on a math program on chromebooks, and then the third station is instruction with me.  This has been effective because at my station I am working with much smaller groups of students and it is a lot easier to get them engaged and to make sure I am addressing the needs of all students.  One strategy that I have not been able to effectively implement is playing games in class.  I thought review games would get students more engaged, but with any I have tried it ends up just being a select few students doing the work and many students not participating.  In order to encourage more student engagement I want to do more partner work.  I find that in larger groups not everyone gets involved, but I would like to do some partner projects. My students seem to be more engaged when they work with others, but I want to make sure that each student is contributing, thus why I want to have them work in pairs.

BLOG THREE

"What are you doing to meet the needs of your special education students?"

The main way in which I am meeting the needs of my special education students is by trying to follow their IEPs closely and adhere to their accommodations and modifications. The main ones that I focus on are whether or not students are allowed to use a calculator and whether or not students should be given extra time or a different testing space during exams.  I also have a paraprofessional in two of my classes and I try to make sure that he is working with my lowest performing students, many of whom are special education students.  This is important because it is very beneficial for those students to have one-on-one instruction and help, especially if we are moving on to a new topic.  I also try to pair my high kids with my lower kids so that they can work together and my high kids can act almost like tutors.  It seems to be a good system so far since the high students in general enjoy helping their peers, and the lower students feel comfortable asking for help from their peers.

BLOG TWO

"In a profession as challenging as teaching, honest self-reflection is key. That means that we must regularly examine what has worked and what hasn't in the classroom..." This year, what has worked and what has not in your classroom.  What will you do differently?

One thing that I have noticed that has worked in my classroom, that I was originally very skeptical about, is allowing my students to listen to music while doing independent work.  Although this might seem like a minor example, I think it definitely ties in to "self-reflection" because at the beginning of the semester I was adamant about not letting my students use their cell phones in any way during class.  When I was in high school cell phones were forbidden and I just didn't understand how that was no longer the case! However, I began to allow my students to listen to music during independent work time or while they are taking a quiz and they actually seem to focus much better and they are much less likely to chat with their neighbors, which was previously one of my biggest issues.  I have also found that telling my students that listening to music is a privilege in my classroom allows me to use it for classroom management.  If students are not paying attention and are misbehaving then they lose their privilege to listen to music that day.

Something that has not worked in my classroom is trying to talk over students/teach while students are talking.  Sometimes I just get frustrated with students continuing to talk so I just start talking over them and trying to teach those students who are actually paying attention.  However, I have discovered that this does not benefit anyone.  Those students who are paying attention get distracted by those who are not and find it difficult to hear me or follow along anyways.  Also, by talking over students I am basically telling those students that it is okay that they continue talking and being distracted.  I am working on "waiting time" where I do not start talking or teaching until every student is silent and paying attention.  Sometimes this is a bit painful but I am noticing that it is working and students realize I will no longer talk over them.

BLOG ONE

“Write about 2 things that are going well in your classroom that you are proud of.  Write about 2 things in your classroom that you wish to improve.  What steps will you take to improve these items?"

The biggest thing that I am proud of so far this school year is that I am creating good relationships with my students.  When the school year started I had trouble connecting with my kids and getting to know them on a more personal level.  However, as the semester has progressed I feel like I have become closer with my students and know more about their interests and there seems to be better classroom culture in general.  Another thing I am proud of is specific students who I have worked a lot with and have improved.  I have several students who have come to tutoring a lot and I have been able to work closely with and I have seen their grades improve quite a bit.

I most want to improve my classroom management.  I have really struggled with getting my students to not talk while I am talking.  I feel like I spend so much time yelling at them to be quiet, and I know I have wasted so much time doing this.  I have tried a lot of different things to improve this so I am not exactly sure what to do at this point.  But this week I have a TFA staff member coming in to specifically look at my classroom management and to work one-on-one with me, so I am hoping this will help me out.
I also hope to improve the overall scores of my students.  While some students that I have worked closely with have improved, my classes as a whole are not improving very much.  I have started to try to improve this by taking more time on topics that confuse students.  Before I stuck to a schedule that I had planned out for each unit, but often students would not understand a topic and I would just move on.  I am trying to be more responsive to my students' understanding.