A Classroom For Everyone

The theme of the week in math was creating an open classroom where all students are able to exemplify their learning. Rich tasks, differentiated instruction, and flexibility in the classroom all revolved around ways we as teachers can help create a math class that all students will enjoy and learn.

Rich tasks are problems that allow the students to connect to mathematics which helps them become more interested and engaged in the subject. As a class we created a criteria for creating a rich task. Some of the criteria was that it was to incorporate collaboration and discussion and have the students use their own curiosity or engagement. Out of the criteria created these two stood out to me the most. Giving the students the opportunity for them to be creative will help them be engaged in the topic and put forth more effort. Collaboration is also key to creating rich tasks. As seen in the modules from the previous week, students are better able to learn when they are allowed to work in groups compared to when having to work individually. Steve Hewson also provides a more in depth explanation of how rich tasks help students improve mathematically in his article What Is a Mathematically Rich Task?.

As a teacher I feel that integrating rich tasks will be beneficial to all members of the classroom. The rich tasks will help the students become more engaged but also help teachers evaluate students. Rich tasks provide for multiple answers and helps the teacher understand the learning process that students use. Teachers can evaluate students for their problem solving skills and work habits instead of assessing the student for the final answer as they used to.

This week I also participated in a webinar that focused upon differentiated instruction strategies. While the presenters gave use twenty resources the resource that caught my eye was a math focused version of Tic-Tac-Toe. This game put a twist on the classic version and allowed the students to practice their math skills while being a little competitive. The game offered a variety of math subjects and levels to choose from. While the game was a great resource our webinar group also discussed how the game could be altered for the students in the classroom. A unique idea that was presented was having the students make up their own questions which their opponent had to answer correctly in order to be able to place an ‘x’ or an ‘o’ in that square. The resource was great and certainly one that I will take into my future classroom.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.funbrain.com/games/tic-tac-toe-squares

The Mindset Modules also conveyed the message of creating a classroom for all students. The question 18 x 5 had the same answer for all students but, contained multiple strategies on how the students solved the problem. Being able to see the difference between each solution allowed me to realize how many possibilities there are to solving a question with one answer. In my classroom I hope to help encourage students to solve the problem in the way that helps them understand math and to not only solve the problem by punching numbers into a calculator. 

Math for All

Throughout Teacher College differentiated instruction (DI) has been one of the key components of every class. This week in math differentiated instruction was explained to me in a whole new way. Teachers can create differentiated instruction by providing the students with multiple problems of varying degree also known as parallel tasks. The problems should be open ended with a wide base and allow all students to choose their starting point. The assigned problems should be about similar topics (percentages, fractions decimals etc). When discussing the answers that the students have created the teacher should ask questions that are common for the problems. The class discussion never has to centre around one problem or the other and can be used to help students understand both problems. The parallel tasks allow for all students to begin working on a problem of their choice but also helps the teacher facilitate a discussion that all students will be a part of.

retrieved from: http://edtheory.blogspot.ca/2016/04/differentiated-instruction.html

The responsibility of differentiating instruction falls upon the teacher in the classroom. As a teacher candidate I often pondered how I would include DI in my own classroom in more ways than just the examples that have been given to me during my own schooling. The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat published the article “Differentiating Mathematics Instruction” which breaks down DI into three simple steps that can be translated to other subject areas. The three steps are focus instruction on key concepts, use an instructional trajectory/ landscape for planning and create open questions. Out of these three steps the one I found the most useful is the first one. Focusing on the key concept rather than the curriculum expectation will allow me to recognize the main idea that I hope the students will learn from the lesson. The expectations should be used to help the teacher find the starting point for the key concepts they plan on teaching. Focusing on the key concept will help me and other teachers more easily plan to differentiate instruction.

Retrieved from: https://www.tes.com/lessons/lrDlRlZiTH8JWg/differentiated-instruction

An example of teaching for all learners that I specifically like and plan on using in my own classroom is the game I Have … Who Has. The game is great for teaching students and gets all members of the classroom involved. The game can also be used in a classroom with students at different levels or grades. An important aspect of this game is to make the questions challenging for the students. If the questions are too easy, students will quickly answer the question and not have time to understand the question. More difficult questions also provides the opportunity for collaboration among students. The challenging questions can also cause the students to make mistakes which is a good thing in mathematics because that gives the students a chance to help their brains grow. I Have … Who Has is a great differentiating instruction resource that all teachers can utilize in their classroom. 

To know or to understand

Another math class has come and gone and with that my thoughts on how to teach math have expanded again. Over the course of the math class one statement stood out from the rest, “Brains only grow when they make mistakes.” This statement made me reflect on my math education but also how I will teach math going forward. As a student math was always about getting the correct answer and mistakes were seen as bad. This statement changes how I view mistakes and how as a teacher I can use mistakes in the classroom. Mistakes should not be something that a students is punished for as it was when I was a student. Instead mistakes should be used as a stepping stone in learning. If a student is never making mistakes then they are not challenging themselves enough. We want students to push the boundaries of their comfort zones and make those mistakes in math and all subjects so that their knowledge base can grow.

Throughout the class knowing/doing vs understanding was also a topic that was brought up quite often. As a class we watched the above video.The video asked the students to answer a question that they were not given enough information for. Many students tried to formulate an answer using mathematical processes that they had previously been taught. When students don’t understand the problem that is given to them they are likely to give answer using a formula they have been taught but don’t understand. As teachers we need to teach students to understand the problem first before trying to answer the problem numerically. If the students are able to understand the problem and all the parts that are associated with it they will be able to better answer the question.

The last part of class that had an impact on me was two in class activities that we completed. The average number of hats and how many owls were both activities that shown my growth in math. If I were to do these activities in the previous year I would have created a mental picture or done the math in my head. This year I find myself drawing the pictures or completing the math using manipulatives. As a teacher I now appreciate how useful manipulatives can be. The use of manipulatives can help the students contextualize the problem and find different ways to get an answer. The appreciation for manipulatives will also have an impact on the way that I will teach my class. I will ensure that my students are not required to do math the way that I was taught. Instead of paper and pencil mathematics I will ensure that my students have multiple resources available to them during math lessons. While giving the students the resources I will also encourage and model the use of the manipulatives throughout.

via: EDBE 8P54

Via: EDBE 8P54

 

This math class challenged my thinking and taught me valuable ideas that I can bring into a classroom. 

Math is back, back again

In the first math class of the year I was reminded why I appreciated the math class so much last year. One of the first activities done in class was game about squares. While this game did not have us using addition, subtraction, multiplication or division it was a great activity to get our minds going. The game centers on solving the puzzle of squares and circles and helps students enhance their problem solving skills. This activity would be a great icebreaker for students to help them focus on the problem solving aspect of math and to get them interested in math.

via: www.gameaboutsquares.com

Activities as the one previously mentioned as well as the multiple student centered lessons taught in year one is what I tried to bring into my teaching during my first placement. During my placement I tried to consistently teach without the Nelson math textbook that was provided for the school. At first the students were surprised, it was time for math but they didn’t need textbooks instead we would have discussions based on questions and the different techniques that students would use to get an answer. The conversations not only helped the students understand there was more than one way to get the correct answer but also involved many more participants. The students felt comfortable talking about their own ideas and were more open because they did not have to follow certain steps from a textbook. Teaching through activities that the students found interesting was an important aspect during my placement and hopefully I will learn more activities through this year’s math class. 

The online portion of class this week required we watch 5 different Youtube videos. These videos all had similar messages and reinforced the role of the teacher within the classroom, especially when teaching math. The videos focused on stereotypes and myths that students and adults have about mathematics. These videos all focused on different ways to disprove the myths and stereotypes and offered insight on what makes students believe them. After watching the videos I realized that it is not only a teacher’s job to create interesting lessons but also to change the discussion around math. We have to help students talk about math in a positive manner. When students begin to speak of math positively they will realize that each and everyone one of them will be able to be successful.

Through the next six quick weeks I hope to learn not only new activities by ideas and tips to help end the stereotypes and myths that surround mathematics.