Today’s math lesson began with a “Discuss the math” activity in pairs from the textbook. In terms of solving the word problem this activity went well; students understood the content. The students began the discussion of the solution, and I was able to help complete their explanations. As a result, we were able to reach a consensus on the answer. However, I observed that the manipulatives got a little distracting for the students. It was the first time I had brought in manipulatives into a math lesson. So, I need to go over the “rules” so to speak around using these items in my lessons. The students need to be told that these manipulatives have a purpose – to improve their understanding of the given mathematical content – and this is the purpose they should be used for. For the group that was completely distracted, I did go over to point out this idea. And by keeping near this group, they did improve their focus a little bit. Regardless, it was a couple of students from this group that ended up being distracted for a majority of the lesson. Therefore, next time I use manipulatives, I need to have a discussion with the students as a class to explain why I bring things like coins, or mosaic tiles into the math lesson.

For the two examples we worked on together, content wise this part went really well. Students were understanding the use of different diagrams – tables, tree diagrams, spider diagrams – to organize their outcomes. And how to further use these to answer leading questions like the total possible outcomes and the sample space. I made sure to include some tips as a way of offering different explanations; for example, pointing out an easy way to write out sample spaces with or without a diagram. Between each question I asked for any confusions and reminded students about the post-it notes I had given. This was also the first time I used these post-it notes so the students need some time to get used to them. And I plan to use them through a lot of my teaching in the different subjects. I ask them to keep the post-it note because their questions or concerns do not just need to come from the lesson time period. They may have something come up when they are at home or working on the assigned work. I also tried to frame the questions a little differently during these examples. For example, instead of just asking me “who knows the answer to _____” I tried asking “Who can explain what a tree diagram is to the rest of the class?” I feel like this kind of question may motivate more students to participate as the question is framed more as a demonstration of their knowledge. That is, it is more of a moment of pride, they get to demonstrate what they know. Again, while working on these examples, the same students mentioned above were quite distracted again. As a result, I found myself giving constant reminders to bring their attention back to the front. This is something I need to get comfortable doing, as my s.a. and I have discussed, having full attention from all students at all times is almost impossible. This is why I think the short brain break between the examples and the next word problem worked really well. I also thought it was really important to make sure that they actually got up to talk to someone from another table. This helped the distracted students calm down a bit and refocus. I thought this brain break worked better than a normal brain break because the break was still relevant – they had to speak about what they were learning. So, it was much easier to settle them back in and like I said they were actually more focused upon returning. When they came back to their seats, I asked for examples about what they talked about and I received input from almost each table group.

Coming back from the brain break, the students worked in pairs on the last “Show you know” word problem. And when we discussed the solution, there were no interruptions, and I did not have to ask for attention constantly. So, something I really thought about afterwards is how important it is to be able to change the lesson if for some reason there are interruptions – whether that is from distracted students or an external source. For example, just providing that small, yet relevant brain break. This is something my s.a. and I have spoken about in great detail. And sometimes it is not important to have the lesson go exactly as you planned; but rather, focus on addressing an issue that may become a larger concern. For example, maybe skipping out on a small portion of the math lesson may be okay to discuss a bigger idea like the importance of participation and attention in learning.

Related to this, student participation and accountability is something I really would like to focus on as I enter the long practicum. I discussed with my s.a. to maybe even change up the seating plan completely as I observed just one off-task student was distracting others in the table group. However, it was interesting to note that once I had asked that student to pay attention, his partner began participating and continued to participate throughout the entire lesson. In terms of the seating plan, we may need to discuss about the current seating plan being a privilege to be able to sit in a group with friends. Also, I plan to have a discussion about the importance of paying attention and participating. This is something I would like to incorporate into the class meeting as a variety of class topics are always discussed in these meetings. This is especially because I actually had students who were paying attention throughout the lesson come up to me and point out that certain students were not paying attention and it was “not nice.” Basically, I want to make it clear that one of my expectations is respect and this can be shown by simply just paying attention to not just me, but also peers. And if they are paying attention, they will be more likely to participate which will only benefit their learning. Lastly, something I noted on the performance checklist I completed with my s.a. was that I can use assessment as a way to set learning goals and motivate students. So, I plan to include this in my discussion on participation – so students know that their participation is crucial in their final grades. Another idea I had is creating an anchor chart of our discussion that can be kept up in class. That way, when I notice problematic behavior, I can point the child to the anchor chart as a reminder. For today’s circumstances, my s.a. actually spoke to some of the students individually as there has been some problematic behavior occurring this week. And sometimes this kind of private talk can be helpful for the students involved and it might be more likely to result in a solution.

The ending to the lesson was actually really interesting. I began to assign their homework questions. Some of the students noticed that I did not assign the last 3 problems. To my surprise, they asked if these problems could be assigned as well. I was more than happy to agree!

We also finished reading The Giver today. The students have been engaged in the read-aloud of this novel throughout. I learned a lot about novel studies through leading these read-alouds. First of all, students need to be asked a variety of questions. This means, not just basic recall questions, they get bored really quickly. Instead, I found I received the most input when I asked questions about their interpretations of what was happening in the novel. For example, asking, “how do you think Jonas feels knowing his brother is being released?” I was pleased to see a majority of the class raise their hands. In fact, I had to say, “I’ll get to all of you!” Another popular question was asking students to analyze why a character behaves or acts a certain way. Again, these kinds of questions allow for students’ opinions and a variety of answers. I also was able to improve my own teacher voice through these read-alouds. Specifically, I found myself getting better at using different tones to my voice as different events occurred in the novel. For example, I would stress my voice more when something really important was occurring, to emphasize. This novel had a variety of themes which were really applicable for this age-group and I definitely would use it again in the future!