The Tale of 2 Fleas

I found a book at the Westfield State University library that I thought looked interesting. I was there looking for picture books for a class and came across the teacher education area and started browsing. I picked up a copy of "Understanding Middle School Math" by Arthur Hyde and others. After reading the first part of the book, I felt that author(s) had really great approaches to teaching. They focus on a technique used in ELA call KWC. When a student is approached with a problem, they answer three questions: What do you Know? What are we trying to figure out? Are there any special Conditions?

Their approach to teaching is more along the lines of a constructivist philosophy, where the student figures out new information based on what they already know. This is also involves students working in small groups, communicating, and figuring stuff out together. This makes it so the teacher has to keep kids on task, help and guide stuck groups, and be constantly moving. The teacher does not show the student how to do a task, then they practice in groups. The students actually figure out the solution as they go, reinforcing problem solving skills and perseverance.  

Dropbox link to "Tale of Two Fleas"

It actually went great. I supplied each student with the paper and a ruler. Then I had them work in small groups. The kids really had to think and had good questions. And yes, I did have to guide a lot. But it was such a relief not to push a worksheet on them and drill them to death. 

Algebra tiles

I used algebra tiles today to illustrate what is going on in the distributive property. I used the meal deal method to introduce the concept a few lessons ago but not very many kids retained the concept on the last quiz I gave. So today, I spiraled back and used the tiles. It was a nice way to ease back into school from our February break. 

The students cut out their own tiles and placed them into envolopes. I modeled what to do by drawing pictures on the board as my projector set-up was not hooked up from the break. Tonight, I am going to use some blank magnet sheets and create some alegebra tiles that will stick to the whiteboard. I gave all the students their own whiteboards to use and circulated around to all the groups to make sure everybody was okay. The common mistakes were there, like when a student does too much...when the equivalent expression should end at 3x+6 but they go on to combine unlike terms and make it 9x. Having the visual models helped recognize the mistake.

Social issues intertwined with math

When I get back to school after this amazingly freezing week off of school (AKA February Break in Massachusetts), I am going to introduce Equations to my sixth graders. I am going to pull in some really heavy social issues regarding equality and inequality in society. 

I'm thinking about gender equality and race equality. Maybe talk about Black History Month a little bit and the Civil Rights of the 1960's. I think that in these kids' search for identity, they need to be exposed to stuff like that. Has anyone tried to do anything like this and was it successful?

It's going to eventually tie into math somehow.

Technology in the classroom

So here the deal. I'm a Math teacher at a middle school in Massachusetts. I teach 6th grade math and one section of science. 

I have a lot of technology in my classroom. I have a school issued iPad 2 which is the only piece of equipment that they have given me. My older brother has lent me his AppleTV which I have set up in my classroom. It is connected to my projector which allows me to mirror everything that I have on my iPad screen.

I use an app called Noteability a lot. I use this when I am demonstrating examples. I also project video clips and online news articles. And it is all wireless, which is even more special. I can take my iPad anywhere in the room and sit next to a student who is getting a little noisy or venture on over to another student who wants to solve the problem on the tablet. 

I use a Bamboo stylus, 2nd Generation to write with.

I have been recently using an app called ZipGrade. It allows you to use your iPhone or tablet as a scantron machine. I normally just walk around with my iPhone and scan quizzes as the kids finish. They get an instant score and I get immediate feedback on how the class performed in general with the statistics tab.