Reflection

=Reflection=

//What sort of Bell work appeals to you and why?//
Bell work that does as many things as possible all at once is most appealing. It should require a recall of the previous lesson's content, but also introduce concepts for the day's lesson. The question should be on the board when the students enter the room, getting minds on right from the start. Students work individually, and the questions will be taken up as a group. The teacher will use this both as an assessment tool and as a transition into the day's lesson.

//What strategy will you use to get the attention of the class? Why? Will you have difficulty in this area?//
There are a number of different attention-getting strategies, some of which include turning the lights on and off, performing a count-down, or using some kind of noise-making device. A technique that I really took a liking to when it was introduced to me was the idea of narrating exactly what you want the class to do. For example, if you want the class to be quiet and pay attention to the front, you would say "And then all of a sudden, the room became quiet, and all eyes were on me." I find this technique appealing because it is a little theatrical, which students definitely respond to. The script itself can be edited as required, becoming more serious or humorous when the situation calls for it. I do not feel like I will have difficulty in this area because I have a voice that carries and resonates well, which in itself can get students' attention.

//What do you fear most about classroom management?//
Worst case scenario: all Hell breaks loose.

//What are your thoughts about the use of rewards and punishments in class?//
The use of rewards and punishments in the classroom is a topic that generates a lot of discussion. Author and lecturer Alfie Kohn says that rewards and punishments are extrinsic motivators, and by using them the student is set up for failure. I am incredibly excited about the idea of a class being entirely intrinsically motivated, but it would seem to be a pipe dream. One question that I have been pondering is "What is the absolute bare minimum of extrinsic motivators required to effectively teach a class?" There is probably no one answer, as I am sure it would depend on who the teacher is and what their teaching methods are.

//How would you feel about letting students contribute to the creation of class rules at the beginning of the year?//
It is definitely a good idea to let the students create their own class rules at the beginning of the year. The reason for this is because it gives the students a sense of ownership and responsibility towards them. In the class that I observe, the students developed their own rules in cooperation with the teacher, using the school's code of conduct as a template. Upon completion, without prompt from the teacher, the students decided to sign the chart paper that the rules were written on, as a sort of class constitution.

//Do you think competition is a good way to motivate your students?//
Competition can be healthy, but it needs to be applied in moderate doses, and in the right areas. It is unfair to use competition as a tool to teach curriculum, because it has the potential to not only make "losers" of students, it can make them appear ignorant and feel stupid in front of the rest of the class. Personally, it is a good idea to use competition when doing energizers, or ice-breaking activities, as it gives a chance for individual students to stand out and showcase a particular skill. It is the teacher's responsibility to have a variety of activities that will eventually showcase each student as being the best at something.

//How important is it to make math relevant to your students?//
It is incredibly important to make math relevant to the students. Let's face it, math can be a boring subject! One question that students always ask is "Why do we have to learn this?" By making math relevant, hopefully they can connect with the material, and get excited about it.

//Should punishment be used in the classroom?//
Punishment can be used in the classroom, but never as a method of teaching or reinforcing curriculum. If students associate the two, there is potential for their enthusiasm in the classroom to be lost. The only place that punishment has in the classroom is to reinforce behavioural codes of conduct. Should a student be acting out in class, a clear warning about the consequences of continuing such actions must be given. If the student disregards the warning, then the teacher must "practice what he preaches", and punish the student exactly as was forewarned. By doing this, the teacher has shown the class that they are fair and can be trusted to hold students accountable for their actions, which will go a long way to developing class management.

//What will you do when a math concept like "order of operations" is really not that important to learn? How will you sell this topic to the students?//
Let's face it, there are a lot of math concepts that students feel are "really not that important to learn". It is the role of the teacher to come up with practical, real-world examples of exactly where these math concepts can come in handy. An example of where "order of operations" can be used is checking a pay stub:

//You worked 40 hours at regular time, 12 hours at time-and-a-half, and the deductions include employment insurance and income tax. How much did you make?//

It is a lot easier to solve this problem as one "order of operations" exercise than as many smaller parts requiring separate calculations. It's safe to say that EVERY math concept has a real-world example - the teacher just needs to think "outside the box" now and then to figure out what they are!

**//What strategies work for you? Why?//**
Four different strategies were covered in class today. They are Visual Organizers, such as a Venn diagram, Fermi problems, Story, and Drama. Each has its own strength, and can be used effectively. The two strategies that worked for me included the Venn diagram and Drama. What I liked about the Venn diagram was that it was a visual organizer, and helped students break a concept down into different parts; they had to define the concept, and provide both examples and non-examples. I find that Drama was also a good strategy because it gave the students a chance to take a concept and try and show how it fits into real-life situations. The student video shown in class was a great example: what would the world look like without circles?

//Which strategy would you hesitate to use? Why?//
The strategies that I would hesitate to use are Fermi problems and Story. The reason I do not like Fermi problems is that it is too easy for students to lose focus on the concepts being taught in class, instead coming up with problems that are, albeit very good, off-topic. I myself made this mistake with my partner while trying out this teaching strategy in class. As for the Story teaching strategy, one question that comes to mind is: what happens if you have one or more students who have trouble with reading and comprehension? Not only is there the possibility that they will not understand the lesson in the story but there is the chance that they might come to dislike the subject material as a result.

**//Would you use manipulatives? Why or why not? Which ones do you like?//**
Of course I would use manipulatives! They can be a great addition to any lesson; for those students who are kinesthetic learners, they are very useful. Careful consideration must be taken when choosing which manipulative should be used for an activity, and how it should be introduced to the students. There is a very big risk taken when giving students something to "play" with in class, as some of them can be easily distracted.

Of the manipulatives we covered today in class, I feel that the one that would be least productive would be the Linking Cubes; they are too easily mistaken for a toy instead of a learning tool. The two online manipulatives, Geoboards and Virtual Algebra Tiles, were also not very effective tools; I found that they were very tricky to use, and required a fine touch in order to make things work as you wanted them to, not to mention the fact that you would have to have a computer for every student in the classroom in order to get them to have access to these two programs.

The best manipulative of the day was the Pattern Blocks; they are easily recognized as a learning tool, and not a toy. By using them to answer fraction and percentage questions, I found myself really using my head! If I ever had the chance to use them in my classroom, I would definitely take it.

**//How do you think technology should be used when you teach?//**
I think technology should be used often, but not for entire lessons, in order to maximize its effectiveness. I plan on using a SMARTBoard for all of my lessons during my practicum, as there is one in my classroom. That being said, I am going to try not to make it the focus of every lesson. If you take a look at the "Organization" page, there is a lesson plan there for Location and Movement, accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. Within that presentation are a few slides with blank grids. I intend on using the SMARTBoard to draw axes, coordinates, and put on appropriate labels on these grids. The benefit of using technology (the SMARTBoard) versus chart paper in this case, is that I can erase whatever I want on the SMARTBoard. This is not possible with the chart paper; if I make a mistake or want to make a change, I would have to get a completely new piece of chart paper and start all over again.

The clickers are definitely useful as an assessment tool. During my university career, I took a class with over 300 students that required clickers. At the beginning of every lesson there would be a short five-question quiz projected at the front of the lecture hall. The professor used the clickers as both a means of taking attendance, and testing. He had instant results on his computer, giving him an idea of where the class was with the curriculum. What I thought was most beneficial to the professor was that each clicker had a serial number that belonged to an individual student; it's input could be directly associated to a particular student. If I use clickers in the classroom, I want to assign a specific number to each student, and track their results. This way, I can track how each student is performing in real-time, and not have to wait for formal evaluations, such as tests, to check their understanding of the material.

The Geometers Sketchpad pre-made examples were very well-done for the most part. The only downside is that unlike our class, where every student has a laptop to play with the program, there are only a few computers in the classroom that I am doing my practicum at. The only way that GSP can be used in the classroom is if it is projected on the SMARTBoard and students take turns trying the different activities.

In my opinion, Tinkerplots is a complex program, and I would not try to use it in a grade 7 or 8 classroom. It appears to require a lot of instruction for students to use effectively.

Day 7 - Teaching Strategies (Technology - Part 2)
My partner (Nadine Long) and I decided that the most effective collaboration tool was the Wiki; each user can keep their own Wiki page, and upload any information that they deem useful and appropriate. Other users can then sort through this material and either add to it, or edit what is already there. Any activity on the Wiki is logged within the "History", so each user can see what has been changed and by whom. Of the production tools, we both thought that Google docs was the most effective. It is a very powerful, free set of tools that allow users to create all kinds of different documents online. These documents can be opened by any computer with internet access.

Nadine and I agreed that the least effective collaboration tool was Pirate Pad; this was true during most of the instances it was used in our math curriculum class. Most collaborations ended up turning into an editing free-for-all, where users would try to manipulate each others' entries, resulting in little actual work being completed. While it is a neat application, Wordle is easily the least effective production tool. It is simply an image-generating tool that requires a user to input words, and arranges them in a collage.

Robin, could you please resume posting reflection questions at the end of each lesson? Thank you.