New Year...New Beginning

The new school year is already in full swing. To be honest, I hate the first few weeks of school. I have to be patient and slow down the pace to make sure that students know how to navigate the classroom, assignments, and supplies. I know that in the long run, this will save time, but I love my classes so much that I just want to get into the "groove of things."

 This year, I began working on the programs : Which One Doesn't Belong and 3 Act Math. I begin my math classes on Thursday with 3 Act Math. We watch the prompt, work with "elbow partners," work on a solution to the problem/task given. This year, I added a write up in the student's math notebook. We discuss what we did, then I have the students write about how they solved the problems with the strategy used for the assignment. On Fridays, the classes begin with the prompt from Which One Doesn't Belong. Students think about their answer, move to the location that corresponds with their answer. Discuss with a partner/group about our justification for our answer. We "share out" our reasoning/justifications for our answer. Then we go back and we write about it in our notebook. We label the activity, draw a picture of the prompt. Then give our answer with the justification. My goal is to help students become proficient with explaining or justifying their answer. I have found this to be a slow process, taking up time. At the same time, I have found it to be beneficial. Students that seem to just "go with the flow" now have to do the assignment. I have found the students use of academic language to increase. Students' understanding of terms like estimation and justification has improved just in the few short weeks that I have started.  Good beginning! Just need to be patient!!!

I hope that as you are reading this, you are thinking to yourself how you can begin to improve on activities or assignments that you have given in the past. I always remind myself to not reinvent the wheel, but improve on things that I already have in place. Be willing to take a risk with current assignments. Never settle!!! Keep being a life long learner!

Here is to a great beginning!