Below is the schedule, as determined by you through our lottery draw:
March 24th
Veronique and Krista
Kayla P and Kim
Heidi, Ashley, and Kayla S
March 26th
Elena and Katie
Emily and Amanda
Kayla Sh.
March 31st
Sarah Y and Amanda W
Alicia and Esther
Mallory and Jennifer
April 2nd
Kayla R and Stephanie
Nicole and Sarah W.
Robin, Sarah, and Kirsten
April 7th
Chrystal and Tiffany
Keshia and Matt
Holly and Dana
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Team Teaching Activity: Questions and Answers
During the week of March 10th, I spoke in class at length about our team teaching activity. Hopefully many of you took notes. Here are my notes, for those of you unable to attend the class.
What is your responsibility?
KEY STATEMENT: Your lesson / task / activity is to be an open-ended problem solving activity/task taught according to the NCTM Principles and Standards.
What is your responsibility?
KEY STATEMENT: Your lesson / task / activity is to be an open-ended problem solving activity/task taught according to the NCTM Principles and Standards.
You will provide the class with an example of great math teaching (☺) through a twenty (20) minute problem-solving mathematical activity that is a strong example of what to do with children.
Please review process standards here if you are in need of a refresher.
I will be looking for evidence of interesting mathematics and your understanding of that mathematics.
I will be looking for evidence of your growing understanding of how to manage time, materials, groups, diverse students, whole group conversation and technology if appropriate.
Remember, please do not use your valuable time making pretty things for your lesson. It is not necessary or important for this assessment. I am looking for a thoughtful approach, evidence, of your understanding of mathematics education.
When you are not teaching a lesson you will be participating as a learner. You will provide brief written feedback at the end of each teaching activity.
What do you pass in to me?
Please pass in a one-page explanation of your activity in paper form just prior to teaching. This one page should explain in clear language what it is that you will be doing, the important mathematics that the lesson takes up, how you will assess understanding, how it is connected to curriculum, and how you will extend it for diversity. This one page is not the place for detailed descriptions. Please do not use a cover sheet or accessorize with clip art.
What manipulatives do you use?
You are welcome to use any of the class manipulatives but you will need to make certain that the manipulatives you need actually exist and are available. Please have the materials you need organized and your teaching space (chairs, tables, materials, computer, overhead) ready.
How will you share lessons with each other?
You will post your teaching activity on your blog (each of you) after you have taught the lesson. It will include a reflection on the activity. How did you feel your activity went? What worked well? What didn’t? What you would do differently? Your written description of the activity should be clear so that others can take the lesson and do it themselves during their internship or teaching future.
What’s this about having a conversation during the lesson?
When it comes to your teaching activity, part of the lesson will include a mathematical conversation facilitated by you, the teachers, with the 'students' after they have had time to experience the activity, since we know that whole group conversation is a significant part of any good mathematics lesson. Getting students to communicate their thinking and ideas is key and takes practice.
Yes. You will need to keep track of the time and to use your time well. You will be stopped when you reach twenty minutes.
Before you leave class, you will have a brief reflective conversation with me. You will also receive feedback from your classmates in written form after I have read their comments.
What is the purpose for this assignment?
This summative assessment has many pedagogic purposes, including:
• To expose you to a variety of solid mathematical ideas that are connected to curriculum and are developmentally appropriate.
• To provide you with the chance to teach and lead a lesson.
• To allow for collaborative teaching and planning.
• To demonstrate your growing understanding of problem solving and worthwhile tasks.
• To demonstrate your ability to reflect on teaching and to articulate strengths and areas of improvement.
Please review process standards here if you are in need of a refresher.
I will be looking for evidence of interesting mathematics and your understanding of that mathematics.
I will be looking for evidence of your growing understanding of how to manage time, materials, groups, diverse students, whole group conversation and technology if appropriate.
Remember, please do not use your valuable time making pretty things for your lesson. It is not necessary or important for this assessment. I am looking for a thoughtful approach, evidence, of your understanding of mathematics education.
When you are not teaching a lesson you will be participating as a learner. You will provide brief written feedback at the end of each teaching activity.
What do you pass in to me?
Please pass in a one-page explanation of your activity in paper form just prior to teaching. This one page should explain in clear language what it is that you will be doing, the important mathematics that the lesson takes up, how you will assess understanding, how it is connected to curriculum, and how you will extend it for diversity. This one page is not the place for detailed descriptions. Please do not use a cover sheet or accessorize with clip art.
What manipulatives do you use?
You are welcome to use any of the class manipulatives but you will need to make certain that the manipulatives you need actually exist and are available. Please have the materials you need organized and your teaching space (chairs, tables, materials, computer, overhead) ready.
How will you share lessons with each other?
You will post your teaching activity on your blog (each of you) after you have taught the lesson. It will include a reflection on the activity. How did you feel your activity went? What worked well? What didn’t? What you would do differently? Your written description of the activity should be clear so that others can take the lesson and do it themselves during their internship or teaching future.
What’s this about having a conversation during the lesson?
When it comes to your teaching activity, part of the lesson will include a mathematical conversation facilitated by you, the teachers, with the 'students' after they have had time to experience the activity, since we know that whole group conversation is a significant part of any good mathematics lesson. Getting students to communicate their thinking and ideas is key and takes practice.
Do you need to use all of the 20 minutes?
Yes. You will need to keep track of the time and to use your time well. You will be stopped when you reach twenty minutes.
Before you leave class, you will have a brief reflective conversation with me. You will also receive feedback from your classmates in written form after I have read their comments.
What is the purpose for this assignment?
This summative assessment has many pedagogic purposes, including:
• To expose you to a variety of solid mathematical ideas that are connected to curriculum and are developmentally appropriate.
• To provide you with the chance to teach and lead a lesson.
• To allow for collaborative teaching and planning.
• To demonstrate your growing understanding of problem solving and worthwhile tasks.
• To demonstrate your ability to reflect on teaching and to articulate strengths and areas of improvement.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Greg Tang's The Best of Times provides children with an intuitive understanding of how to multiply.
"Four is very fast to do when you multiply by 2. Here's a little good advice --please just always double twice!"
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Pub. Date: August 2002
ISBN-13: 9780439210447
Age Range: 6 to 10
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Thinking Mathematically
Today I showed you the text Thinking Mathematically by John Mason, Leone Burton, and Kaye Stacey. This revised edition takes up the processes of doing mathematics. We discussed the notions of specializing, generalizing, conjecturing, convincing and justifying.
We also looked at the three stages of a problem:
1. Entry
What do I know?
What do I want?
What can I introduce?
2. Attack
3. Review
2. Attack
3. Review
And remember that being STUCK is an honorable state!
Assessing the Quality of your Blog
Blog Self-Assessment
This is a reminder that Thursday’s class is an independent working session. Your task is to get caught up in your blogging and to revise or edit your work to your own degree of satisfaction based on the following:
• Is my blog free of grammatical/spelling errors?
• Is it easy to read?
• Have I been careful to avoid statements that make sweeping generalizations?
• Have I used appropriate examples to explain my ideas?
• Have I come up with good questions that are interesting, important, or provocative?
• Have I gone further than simply retelling events to trying to unpack and understand events?
• Have I shown evidence of growth of understanding through my reflections?
• Have I been careful to avoid identifying teachers, students, and schools?
• Have I been clear in my writing and choice of words?
• Have I satisfied 4.8.3 MUN University Regulations on Good Writing as described below?
Good writing is characterized by the following qualities:
1. Content
a. critical insight and freshness of thought,
b. clear and penetrating ideas,
c. perceptive, pure grasp of subject,
d. intelligent use of primary and secondary sources, and
e. a sense of completeness about the handling of the topic.
2. Organization
a. effective introduction and conclusion,
b. main idea is clear and logical development follows,
c. smooth transitions, and
d. good use of details.
3. Style
a. appropriate, accurate, precise and idiomatic diction, and
b. sentences varied in kind, length and effect.
4. Mechanics
a. consistently correct spelling,
b. accurate use of punctuation,
c. grammatically correct sentences, and
d. well organized paragraphing.
Please create a brief self-assessment (to be printed and brought to class on Tuesday Feb 17th) of your blog in one paragraph, addressing the following two questions:
1. How is my blog strong?
2. What do I need to do to improve the quality of my work?
This is a reminder that Thursday’s class is an independent working session. Your task is to get caught up in your blogging and to revise or edit your work to your own degree of satisfaction based on the following:
• Is my blog free of grammatical/spelling errors?
• Is it easy to read?
• Have I been careful to avoid statements that make sweeping generalizations?
• Have I used appropriate examples to explain my ideas?
• Have I come up with good questions that are interesting, important, or provocative?
• Have I gone further than simply retelling events to trying to unpack and understand events?
• Have I shown evidence of growth of understanding through my reflections?
• Have I been careful to avoid identifying teachers, students, and schools?
• Have I been clear in my writing and choice of words?
• Have I satisfied 4.8.3 MUN University Regulations on Good Writing as described below?
Good writing is characterized by the following qualities:
1. Content
a. critical insight and freshness of thought,
b. clear and penetrating ideas,
c. perceptive, pure grasp of subject,
d. intelligent use of primary and secondary sources, and
e. a sense of completeness about the handling of the topic.
2. Organization
a. effective introduction and conclusion,
b. main idea is clear and logical development follows,
c. smooth transitions, and
d. good use of details.
3. Style
a. appropriate, accurate, precise and idiomatic diction, and
b. sentences varied in kind, length and effect.
4. Mechanics
a. consistently correct spelling,
b. accurate use of punctuation,
c. grammatically correct sentences, and
d. well organized paragraphing.
Please create a brief self-assessment (to be printed and brought to class on Tuesday Feb 17th) of your blog in one paragraph, addressing the following two questions:
1. How is my blog strong?
2. What do I need to do to improve the quality of my work?
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