April 29, 2009

I just finished teaching my first entire math unit. This unit was about fractions as fair shares through the investigations curriculum.  It consisted of 14 lessons and  several formative and summative assessments. Students began the unit by sharing brownies among 2, 4,8 and 3 and 6 people by cutting up a piece of paper into those number of pieces. Throughout the unit students had many opportunities to explore fractions through manipulatives, discussions and activities. The image at left shows the chart the students and I created when we were combining and comparing fractions. We connected fractions to shares, discussed what to do when something can't be shared evenly and saw their fractions as decimals. The assessments from this unit were the best from the entire year. The students really showed us that they have developed a firm understanding of fractions through this unit.



To see all the lesson plans I taught you can click below:


03.25.09 Sharing Brownies.pdf: Students explore sharing one brownie equally among 2, 4, and 8 people, then 3 and 6 people by cutting apart a square piece of paper.

03.26.09 Sharing Brownies Part 2.pdf: Students make fractions cards of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/3 and 1/6. Students then order fractions in order of size from smallest to largest. Students discuss adding fractions and equivalent fractions.

04.01.09 Math Fair Cookie Shares.pdf: Students work with pattern blocks to determine fractions Students will compare different size fractions and how to make them equal 1/2.

04.02.09 Math Comparing Shares.pdf: Students compare the size of cookie and brownie shares in different situations. After activities, students will be able to compare fractions and mixed fractions to find the larger one.

04.06.09 Fraction Cookie Game.pdf: Students play a game with pattern blocks and a fraction dice that involves adding and subtracting fractions. Students are working on identifying fractions parts, exchanging equivalent fractions, and adding and subtracting fractions.

04.09.09 Backward Sharing.pdf: Students use pattern blocks to find the total number of brownies to problems that tell the size of the share and the number of the people. Students will work on putting pieces together to make a whole and looking for number patterns.

04.13.09 Half Yellow.pdf: Students find ways to make pattern-block designs that are half yellow. After they make a design, they explain how they know it is half yellow.

04.17.09 How can we split balloons?.pdf: Students think about sharing different kinds of items, like those that cannot be split into parts and items (like money) that have a limited number of parts. Students work on relating division and decimals to fractions.

04.20.09 Sharing Dollars.pdf: Students determine how to break apart money. Students continue to relate decimal notation to fractions.

04.27.09 Sharing Many Things.pdf: Students determine how to share 19 pennies equally among their group. They decide what fraction they will get and what number of pennies make up that fraction.

04.29.09 Hershey's Fractions.pdf: This is an extension activity I designed using a read aloud that allowed students to take their understanding of fractions one step further.


A5 Justification: This is evidence that I planned coherent short and long term learning opportunities because I was able to help students continuously build upon their knowledge and understanding of fractions throughout the unit.

4/16/2009

Today, I was able to hand back the retest we gave students, (see blog: Fair Assessments) with the other assessments from the fraction lesson I had been teaching. My mentor and I were giving them to students so that they would have them for their spring conferences to share with their parents.

When I handed them out, I was also given the opportunity to explain to the students how I scored it. I have been grading many papers in math and recording those grades see the picture at left, but it was my first time explaining the grades to the students. At first I felt nervous about how to explain to students what I did and what I was looking for. However, I was confident in my grading and knew what I was looking for in each score I gave students. Therefore, I was able to tell students that they earned a 4+ if they discussed that the fewer number of shares there were, then the larger those shares were. I was also able to recognize students for the scores they earned because all students earned a proficient score.

Again, at conferences, I was able to report to parents about the students grade and why they earned the grade they did. Because I followed the rubric and clearly understood what I wanted students to demonstrate, I was able to confidently report student grades to parents.

Beyond grades, I could tell parents about the student's performance in class activities because I have been monitoring student progress and work in class. For instance, one student's fall goal was to participate more in class. He said that he thought he had improved on this. I agreed with him and was able to specify that he is constantly volunteering during math and guided reading. I told him that I appreciated his participation and that it showed me how much he understood.

B2 Justification: This is evidence of my ability to monitor and assess students' performance and then to report it to the students and parents. I shared my criteria and reasons for grading students as I did and in this way reported what was expected.

April 18, 2009

I was honored when Becci Burns and Carla Zembal-Saul asked me to share my blog at the Penn State Teaching with Technology Symposium.  (See a screen shot of the email at the bottom of this entry.) This conference was held at the Penn State Hotel and Conference Center and was held for Penn State Professors across all campuses and colleges. Becci asked me to share how I tag my blogs to help my advisers find the necessary information. I showed the Teacher Education Performance Framework (TEPF) link and explain how tagging entries with "portfolio" allowed me to highlight only the best pieces of evidence. I also showed the professors how we can comment on each other's blogs and how I had numerous comments on my own blog. I explained how comments help us as interns to stay in tune with what others are experiencing.

 My part was short, about five minutes of a 45 minute presentation, but it was an honor to be asked to be a part of an important project like this.  When I gave my presentation my legs were shaking and I felt very nervous, but I was able to share my hard work and success through my blog. It was very exciting to be able to share my progress with others in a formal setting.



D3 Justification: This is evidence of me valuing profession growth because I went with my professors to a conference to share a new technology and tool that I am using. I was able to show what we are learning to do in PDS to help other professors in other colleges use similar technology. Also, I benefited from hearing about the progressions and uses of the blog in the college of education and PDS.

2/20/09

I regularly meet expectations and responsibilities. I come to school on time at 8:00 AM every morning. Some mornings I even arrive earlier if I know I have things I need to prepare for the day. I also have only missed one day of school so far this year (as of May 1, 2009). I come prepared and enthusiastic for the day. However, I did not want this blog to just be me explaining how I meet expectations.  So instead, I will let the comments of my adviser, Cindy and mentor, Julie do the talking for me.

This is a sample of the positive feedback i have received from my adviser in her notes from observing my lessons:

On Feburary 20, 2009, I taught a lesson on light bulbs in which students explored inside a light bulb to see how it is a part of a circuit. Students examined working lights and burnt out lights. The lesson required material management and personell management as there were four adults in the room helping. The lesson was a smashing hit. The parent even commented to me about what a great lesson it was. These are my adviser's comments on the lesson overall:


See the entire observation notes here:
02.20.09.observation.pdf

As I have been involved and more and more grading in our classroom, I am seeing how important it is to have a good rubric. With the number of open ended and free response questions that our students encounter in all subject areas, having a systematic way to grade student work and analyze it for strengths and weaknesses is obviously important. A rubric provides some guidance as to how answers can be scored. As I have learned, rubrics are not always black and white, but they certainly provide a teacher with the necessary guidance to make fair assessments of student progress and work.

I helped my mentor grade the winter language art assessments. Students had to read 2 poems, answer 10 multiple choice questions and one written response. I used the rubric to score student answers to written responses (pictured above). All of our students scored between a 2 and a 3 out of 3 points. This showed us our class had a good understanding of interpreting poetry. 

However, one student scored a 4/10 on the multiple choice, but a 3/3 on the written response. My mentor and I discussed together and with his parents at conferences that his scores indicate that he did understand the poems.  The open response question should be more difficult than the multiple choice, because students have to construct their own answers. However, this student did much better on the open response question than the multiple choice. This indicates that he probably did not take the time to go back and check for information in the poems as he was reading the poem.  Even though this student scored at a "basic" level on the assessment levels, we recognized that it might have been foolish errors that he made when he rushed through the test. Because of the rubric and our confidence in his response, we were able to tell parents not to be concerned about the score, that he is reading on target in class, but that he just needs to slow down during reading assessments.

I also used a rubric to score science journals. At first I found it difficult to differentiate between a paper that earned a three and a four. As I was able to see more and more examples of responses that earned threes or fours, it was easier for me to grade the papers.

I think grading is not unlike other parts of teaching. Grading takes experience. I have seen that a rubric gives some guidance to grading, but still leaves room for interpretation. As a teacher it is important to remember the lesson objectives and to think about how students show their thinking.  As I continue student teaching and teaching I am sure that I will continue to learn more and more about the art of using a rubric to grade.

C2 Justification: This is evidence of systematically assessing students, because I have practiced using a rubric to systematically analyze student performance. Also, I have used this information to categorize the performance of students on written work.

April 27, 2009

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the other intern's inquiry projects. I only wish that I had been able to visit more! Each intern has a valuable experience to share with others. As a fellow intern just learning the art of teaching, I know that I learned a lot from each presentation I visited. One that I have been thinking about as I've been teaching is Monica's and Casey's. They did their inquiry on blurting and how a teacher can prevent their students from blurting when they are not supposed to.

They focused on giving clear directives when asking questions. They found through their observations and data collection that students were less likely to call out when the teacher gave students clear instructions about how to answer before asking the question. So for instance, instead of saying in math "What fraction of the whole would you get?" and just hoping the students will raise their hands. The teacher says "Raise your hands and tell me: What fraction of the whole will you get?" This way the students know exactly what is expected of them.  They also mentioned that the teacher can use signals. For example, if I wanted students to raise their hands, I could raise my hand when I ask the question.

There are also signals to tell the class you want the students to  just yell out the answer, like "Everyone tell me, what fraction of the whole would you get?" or a signal would be to open your arms, palms up to the class.

As I have been teaching recently, I have been thinking about the directives I give students and how I can use them to increase participation. It is still to early to tell, but I am getting much better at catching myself and rephrasing my unclear directives to clear directives so that students know what I am expecting them to do. I am seeing that the students are responding better when I give them clear directions. Thanks Monica and Casey for the information.

B5 Justification: This is an example of communicating clearly because I use my words to clearly explain who I expect the students to respond. I also use signals to demonstrate the response I want. Hopefully, as I get better at this, student participation will increase and there will be less confusion.

April 2, 2009

Background: in our classroom we have personal journals in which students can journal about anything that is on their minds, knowing that only myself and my mentor will read them. We encourage our students to be honest with us. These journals are usually completed once a week, or whenever students feel the need to journal.  I read the journals once a week and respond to each entry.

For personal journals in class today, I asked the students to write about whatever they wanted. As I walked around the room I noticed one student was writing about something that had happened at home the night before. I couldn't see what it was exactly, but I moved on because I did not want to make the student uncomfortable while he was writing. When the students left for lunch, I went back and grabbed the journal to see what it said. I was shocked and saddened by what I read. I shared the journal with my mentor who was also concerned. We shared the journal with the school guidance counselor to get her advice. She suggested that we show it to the parents.

After school that day, the parent of this child came to our room and we shared our concern. She was very thankful to receive the news and told us she would not mention that she saw the journal.

A few days later, my PDS adviser mentioned to me that my mentor had asked if I had shared this incident with her. She had told my mentor no that I had not and that it was probably because I thought it was not professional to do so.

In fact, that is why I did not share the incident with my adviser. Although I trust her and know that she would treat the information with all the confidentiality necessary, I just felt like it was not something to share with very many people. It was something personal that should only be revealed to those people who truly needed to know to help the student.

D4: This is an example of demonstrating profession, ethical conduct because I used my own personal judgment to keep that students story among just a few adults involved.

April 27, 2009

As I was teaching my final official lesson from the Fair Shares Investigations Unit on fractions, I was sure that there were some students who were right on target. They volunteer frequently and have good responses when I ask them personal questions while they are working. However, today, there was one student who stuck out in my mind because he was not completing the work during class time. After our math lesson, when the students went to library, I flipped through this student's fraction workbook. I noticed many uncompleted pages that I had not even remembered were not complete. Then I began to wonder about other students who may slip under my radar during class lessons.  I make an effort to call on and visit as many different students as possible, but I am not always as successful as I'd like.

I began to flip through five students'  fraction booklets. I noticed a few errors and misconceptions in the books. I noticed that some of these students were confusing the connection between fractions and division. There was a lesson connecting the two in which students mentally figured out the answers and then punched it into a calculator. This lesson had two corresponding pages in the booklet. On the first page the questions were worded: "9 brownies shared among 4 people." The students answered these questions correctly. They pushed 9/4 on the calculator and got 2.25. However, on the next page the questions were worded "4 people shared 9 brownies." This time the students punched in 4/9 and did not get the correct answer.

I had not even thought about the fact that students might have difficulty with the change in order of the numbers in the questions. Thus, I had not discussed with the students why the ordering mattered when they pushed buttons on their calculator. Luckily, now that I know that there is some confusion, I can use my last lesson that I am designing myself to help clarify the connection between division and fractions for these students.  I am incorporating some calculator and division work into my read aloud lesson using The Hershey Chocolate Book of Fractions.

Hopefully, because I am aware of the issue, I will be able to help students clarify their thinking before we end the unit.

C3 justification: This is evidence that I use classroom data to anaylze my own teaching, because after assessing student's independent, written work I noticed that I had not reviewed a concept thoroughly enough. Because of my observations and assessment, I was able to adapt my future teaching to ensure that I clarified this concept for students.  

April 27, 2009

For my inquiry project I studied how teaching self-monitoring skills to students who have difficulty controlling their behavior helps them to build friendships. At the beginning of the year, I began to notice that the student Aaron (a fictitious name), who displayed some hyperactive and impulsive behaviors like rocking, poking, fidgeting, putting objects in his mouth and making noises, was being isolated by many of his peers at recess and on the rug.

 In January, Aaron gave me a note, which named students who were teasing him and what they were calling him. At a meeting with the school counselor, they signed a contract in which Aaron agreed to stop making noises and the other boys, Micah and Tim (fictitious names) agreed not to call Aaron names any more.  Despite the contract, the other students had expressed in early February  that Aaron's noises had not stopped. This lead me to to wonder if Aaron needed some support controlling this behavior.

On Monday of each week for the entirety of my inquiry project, Aaron and I got a brand new monitoring tally sheet. This tally sheet contains the days of the week in the left column and two columns following for AM and PM. Each time I saw Aaron or he noticed himself making noises we marked a tally on our own sheets. See the image at left. I also gave Aaron pennies to keep in his pocket to keep track when he was away from his desk.  At the end of each day Aaron gave himself a rating based on the number of times he made noises.

On every Friday, we recorded the total for the week. If Aaron accumulated five 5's then he earned a 15-minute trip to the computer lab with three friends. Aaron later requested that it be all fives in one week to earn the reward.

After it appeared that Aaron's averages were next to zero, Aaron and I switched gears and began to monitor in the same way, the number of times Aaron put any object in his mouth. While Aaron stopped formally monitoring noises, I continued to keep track of both.

    We used another monitoring sheet, which involved a checklist to monitor his on task time during independent tasks.
 (see image at right) Every minute for five minutes Aaron would check "yes" if he as writing answers or working, he checked "no" if he was not doing either. At first I tried to use an egg timer, but it ended up being more of a distraction. Instead, as the students worked independently, I walked around the room and tapped Aaron's desk every minute and he would check off whether or not he was on task. This tally motivated Aaron to stay on task and complete assignments. 
 
Later, I was able to use the checklist as warning to tell Aaron he needed to get working. I would say: "Do we need to get out the checklist?" He would shake his head and I would say, "Then show me." This usually motivated him, if not I got out the checklist and he always completed his tasks.

B4 Justification: This is an example of managing student behavior and learning because I worked very closely with Aaron to help him control behavior that was inhibiting his ability to stay on task and make friends.

March 23, 2009

As part of our Festival of the Arts unit, we studied many artists, like Mary Cassatt, Van Gogh, and Keith Haring. However, we also were able to study about different musicians. I choose to teach the students about the Beatles. This lesson was exciting because it was something that many of the students' parents knew about. A little over a week before I taught the lesson, I sent home a newsletter telling parents we would be studying the Beatles. When the parents found out, some of them began sharing what they knew about the Beatles with their students. Many of my students came to my lesson filled with interesting facts. One student even brought his iPod filled with Beatles music from his father. Others told me about how they and their parents listened to and learned more about the Beatles after the lesson.

For the lesson, I created a PowerPoint filled with pictures, music and video clips of the Beatles. (See a copy of the PowerPoint here: beatlespresentation.ppt) Students sang along to "Yellow Submarine" and complained about the screaming fans on the video of the "Ed Sullivan Show." After the presentation, there were so many great questions about the Beatles. The PowerPoint and the capabilities it provided were able to bring the Beatles to life for the students.

When my adviser came to observe this lesson her words were: "Your wording, choice of photos, and real book pages added variety to the show. Each slide was a hook for the group!" Here are my adviser's notes about my lesson on the Beatles:
03.23.09observation.pdf

B5 Justification:  This is evidence that I communicate the lesson to students in a variety of ways. I presented the students with a slide show which included pictures, music and videos to enhance the lesson. I also used my own voice to add information and read the slides to the students.