In this lesson, students were using number bonds to decompose fractions that were greater than one. The whole unit on fractions can be confusing for students because we are looking at parts of a whole instead of whole numbers. With the Eureka curriculum, my students have done surprisingly well in comparison to years prior. Once they get a solid grasp on what a fraction is, it moves into more difficult concepts, like fractions greater than one. During our math block we have a very set routine and students know expectations because the layout does not change from day to day. We start with our fluency, then we move into an application problem that uses previous skills learned, then we move into the concept development of a new skill, then students work on their workbook pages during math rotations, and then we debrief at the end. We have been working on transition times in our classroom because it has been taking us too long to move from one activity to the next. I have been using a countdown method to challenge students to finish the transition before I count down to zero. This has seemed to work, but some of my students have started becoming unsafe with their movements around the classroom by running, jumping over chairs, etc. I have had to remind my students that they can move quickly and safely at the same time. With that being said, I wanted my student to focus on pacing of my lesson, transistion times, and higher order thinking questions. I feel as though I have content delivery down and I have a good management system with high expectations for my students and now I want to focus on going deeper with my questioning. I have tried to come up with three HOT questions per lesson that I decide ahead of time, since thinking of those questions on my feet has been a struggle. I also always try to make it a point to not just accept a student answer if it is correct. I ask them why, what strategy did they use, or to explain their thinking. I want to see how they got to the answer they got to. I have also looked into using Bloom's Taxonomy question stems as well to help come up with questions to ask my students during lessons.
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During my second CT observation, I did an enrichment activity on graphs. We had been learning about graphs for about two weeks so students were familiar with what they were. In our time studying graphs, they never had to collect their own data to make a bar graph. In this activity, students were given two fun size packs of M&Ms, a tally chart, and a graph template. Their first objective was to sort their M&Ms by color. They created piles of the color M&Ms on their desk and began tallying their totals. After they tallied, I asked students to write the number next to the tally groups that way they did not need to keep recounting their M&Ms during the activity. I think this helped them not make mistakes on the assignment as well. Once they showed me their data, I gave them their graph to color in. At the bottom of the graph, I worked in some math questions from our previous unit on fractions.
I think this lesson went really well. Students were engaged the whole time and really enjoyed the activity. I thought that students were going to struggle with not eating the M&Ms but they did better than I thought they would with waiting until the end. I think it helped my usual students who struggle with completing assignments get the work done because they had a reward of M&Ms to eat at the end. I think this lesson really solidified their understanding of graphing data. Students were exposed to what it is like to collect and record data and how diverse the rest of the classes data was. No two graphs looked the same with the same amount of colors and they were surpised with that result. I definitely would do this lesson again. |
AuthorDanyelle Estill Archives
April 2018
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