Making assessments

Assessment is extremely important to me especially because of my past experience. I say his because I experienced assessment as something that was very negative.

When a teacher is assessing a student, there are many goals that must be met in order to improve the student's learning experience. By assessing a student, the teacher is learning about their strengths and areas of improvement in math. Once this has been determined, it becomes easier for the teacher to accommodate and modify their lessons in order to create a better learning environment and learning experience. This can encourage the student to become more engaged and thus, more confident in their learning.

During my elementary school years, I experienced the opposite of this. I had selective mutism and was extremely quiet during school yet I completed my homework. During kindergarten, my teacher somehow determined it was due to my apparently lack of fluency in English and put me in ESL. her assessment was poor since I understood English very well. I just didn't speak.

Because of this experience I had throughout elementary school, assessment has become an extremely important thing for me. My elementary school experience has influenced me to not assume things about a student or discourage them. Assessment is so important for teachers so they can understand that their students are still learning. It is imperative for teachers to sit down and have a one-on-one conversation with their students to better understand their level of understanding of the course content.

During this week's class, I learned the importance of assessing students at the very beginning of the class term. This can be done by giving them basic mathematical questions to complete and determining whether or not they are level A, B, C, or D. It can be determined through the amount of work they show and the answers given.

Our professor gave us the assessment questions which included multiple pages of simple and varied math questions to complete. It included fractions, multiplication, etc.

I have learned that it is important to document all of this (their work, amount of times you had discussions with the students, etc.) so that it can be shared with their parents. In addition to this, it's important for parents to be involved so they can better understand their student's level in math and assist them at home.

I have also learned that assessment should be differentiated. Not all students can demonstrate their level of understanding the same way (such as a pop quiz or a unit test). Teachers must recognize this and use alternative forms of assessment. This can be done through a worksheet, a project, or an online math activity.

In conclusion, it's important to really assess your students and understand their learning experience. Build a rapport with your students and make them feel confident in their learning.

Thanks for reading!

What are the chances of snow?

Hello everyone,

I found this week's math class to be just as exciting and engaging as the Geometry and Spatial Sense lesson. During this week's math class, we explored PROBABILITY!

This lesson is very fun for me because there's just so much you can do with the probability unit. It can range from questionnaires, playing games of chance, etc. During this week, we had two presentations on probability.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take any photographs so I will explain what each group did.

Group One:
The colleagues distributed a handful of paper clips to each group and had a contest on who could make the longest link in one minute. Once the activity was over, they collected data from the students ("How many paper clips were you able to link together?") and made a list of the data collected.

Once this was done, they asked the students to organize the numbers in order and find the mean, median, and mode. This activity was really fun because I find any competitive activity to be exciting. With the use of manipulatives, their lesson was engaging and quite enjoyable.

Group Two:
The colleagues distributed some signs at each table that stated: Impossible, likely, unlikely, etc. and asked a series of questions ("What are the chances of the sun rising tomorrow? Why?"). We were to hold up signs that we believed to be correct and justify our answers.

I find probability to be an exciting unit because there's a hundred different types of activities to integrate into the lesson. This can include the use of manipulatives, signs, or spinning wheels.

In addition to this, the teacher can integrate technology into the lesson and use online dice that will draw random numbers (SKUNK). I've also included a video on how students can learn to play SKUNK in the classroom.


I found this anchor chart on Pinterest and I think it is extremely helpful for students. It can be used in the classroom to help students identify what each probability means. It's most helpful when the probabilities relate to personal experiences.

What is measurement?

Greetings!

I found this week's lesson to be a little difficult. Why? We were immediately asked the simplest question, "What is measurement?" We were stumped.

Could you define something that is so broad? How can we put together words to define something that has never been defined to us? It is a term that students are expected to just know. It took me awhile to define what measurement is. It is the "assignment of a number of an object or event, which can be compared with other objects or events."

Throughout the duration of the math course, we have been exploring Sesame Street videos to define terms for us in student-friendly language. During this week, we looked at the following video:

Despite our age, I find Sesame Street videos to be extremely helpful. It clarifies specific terms in a language that is easy to understand and comprehend.

I think it's best way to teach measurement in the classroom is to apply it to real-life. Ways that teachers can achieve this is by measuring things that surround us in the classroom. This can be posters on the board, tools used by both the students and teacher, accessories that we wear.

It's important to use objects that are tangible because students can have a hands-on experience on what measurement is and how to measure things.

In this photo, it shows images of real-life objects that can be seen in our everyday lives (except the crocodile, of course, unless you live in Florida!).  A way to use this worksheet with tangible objects is to remove the images altogether and keep the images of the rulers. We can replace the images with words of objects that surround us, such as chalk, eraser, pencil, etc.

I believe the measurement strand is the most flexible unit a teacher can teach. There are so many different methods to teach measurement in the classroom and make it as engaging as possible.

Squares, triangles, cubes, and cones.

Hello everyone,

During this week's class, we focused on the strand, Geometry and Spatial Sense! I found this week's lesson to be really engaging and exciting.

Let's just say my colleague's presentation was quite delicious!

During their ten minute presentation, they asked us, the students, to create three-dimensional polygonal shapes using toothpicks and marshmallows. I found classroom management to be difficult for the presenters because it was hard to keep the students from eating the marshmallows.


Once this presentation was over, we moved onto a group activity that connected to games that we play outside of the classroom - Battleship! Without realizing it, we were learning about coordinates on a graph.

Our team's task was to create our own version of ships on a laminated grid with dry erase markers. We were to create lines up to 5 squares in length. I found this game to be a little challenging because the grid was so large and there were hundreds of points on the grid for a ship to be located.

I found this activity to be really fun and engaging for the class. The students were able to learn how to coordinate points on a grid and do so in a strategic way. The activity was really engaging because it allowed us to be more competitive towards our classmates. We were eager to win so we had to think of possible positions in which the other team's ships were located. I will definitely use this activity in my future placements.

Because math is a subject that is difficult for many students to truly enjoy, I think it's important for teachers to find as many possible ways to make it engaging and exciting. It's not necessary for teachers to integrate online interactive mathematical games. With a dry erase marker and laminated paper, a math lesson can become the highlight of a student's day.

Having fun with blocks

Hello readers

This week's math lesson focused on creating patterns and solving patterns. At the beginning of the class, a colleague taught us how to solve a pattern (one that is increasing) and, after solving the pattern, we were to guess the number at a certain position. For example, we were given the terms and values of numbers 1-4, and then had to guess what the value would be at term 100. She did a great job with her presentation and I found her handout to be both challenging and helpful.

After her presentation was done, the professor gave the class a few different patterns. Our job was to find the equation that solved the pattern.

The trick is to count the difference between the first value and the second value and so on. We can see that the value is increasing by four. Therefore, the rule is "output number = input number x 4."

This pattern was quite easy so solve, but eventually the patterns got more difficult. It took some time to solve these patterns and I found them to be quite challenging. For example:

Term 1: 4
Term 2: 7
Term 3: 10

We can see that there isn't an obvious pattern in these terms compared to the previous pattern. To solve this, we must figure out the difference between the values and then solve the difference between the values and the difference.

The rule to this is "output number = input number x 3 + 1."

Moving on from this, the professor instructed us to create these patterns with blocks. This is very handy and could be used in the classroom. It's most helpful for children who learn better with  visuals in front of them rather than a chart. We were given blocks and "secret rules" and had to build that. After that, our colleagues had to guess the rule.

Once this was done, the class walked around the tables to see how different everyone created patterns. I found this to be very interesting because it shows that people learn things differently.

Proportional thinking

During this week's math class, we discussed the curriculum-changing activities Dan Meyer has been doing in the classroom. This wasn't our first time discussing his importance. We have learned that he has been able to make math lessons more engaging and exciting for students of all ages. He has done so by allowing them to think outside the box.

While discussing his methods, our professor showed us a video of Dan Meyer teaching a lesson on proportional thinking with a video of someone building a pyramid of pennies.

As someone who has difficulty with math, I found the video of the pyramid being built quite headache-inducing. It was fast and gave the viewer little time to process how many pennies there were.

In order to make the lesson more engaging, Meyer allowed the class to ask multiple questions (and saved them for later) that they first thought after watching the video. There were questions such as, "How many pennies are there?" "How many are in a stack?" "How heavy is it?"

After noting these questions, Meyer gave the class time to try to solve the question. He allowed the class to give rough estimates. After these estimates, he zoomed in on the video to show how man were in a stack (13). After figuring this out, the class was to see how many rows there were. Once this was determined, it was easy to figure out how many pennies there were by using the formula that is used to calculate area.

I found this lesson to be quite inspiring. I think it's important for teachers to understand that the process is important when teaching a lesson and trying to solve a problem. There is too much importance placed on the answer itself and, because of this, students are struggling with trying to find methods to solve a word problem.

In the video, Meyer has taught us the importance of process, curiosity, and collaboration with your classmates.

Let's talk about integers...

The following week after our lesson on fractions, we were given the challenge to answer the following word problem using integers:

The math question sounds quite easy. However, our table group had a lot of complications with this word problem. At our table of four colleagues, we seemed to all have different answers. It turns out there's more to consider when trying to solve the problem. We forgot to consider the fact that the base camp was 15C above sea level and started at 0.

In order to successfully solve this problem, we were given a blank sheet of paper and were asked to draw our solutions. As our professor has stated multiple times, it's extremely important to show your work and show how you achieved your answer.

This activity was really challenging but fun. The one thing I found quite interesting was our chance to walk around the classroom and look at the work that the other table groups did. By doing so, we were able to recognize the fact that there are multiple ways to solve the question.

In the photos below, you can see that people have used different techniques and images to solve their question. Majority of the groups used a similar method of drawing the mountain and then drawing a line graph in the middle in order to count the decreasing temperature.

After this challenge was completed, we were given a fun activity to enhance our math skills! It's an activity I have never heard of or thought to use in the classroom but I found it to be very engaging. It was Integer football! I'm no expert on football, but I was able to grasp the basics of the game.

We were to split our table group into two teams. With a penny and a large die, we had to roll the die and then flip the coin. If it was heads, it was a positive number. If tails, it was a negative number. The goal was to reach the opponent's side to get a point.

The game is so simple and easy to create - just using dice, paper, and pennies - and you can create really fun and engaging activity for the class. I genuinely hope to use this in the classroom.

Fractions, fractions, fractions!

Hello again!

During this week's math class, we had a really interesting math presentation on fractions. During this presentation, our two colleagues taught us ("elementary school students") on how to solve fractions. I usually have difficulty with fractions but I found the lesson to be both engaging and enjoyable.

The two presenters gave the students one handout - which was personalized with their names on it and had a math problem that was about them - and a manipulative of counting blocks. Each block represented a dollar value and it was up to us, the students, to determine how much money we had.

I found this presentation to be very insightful. It taught me how important it is to integrate a math manipulative into the lesson. By doing so, it makes the lesson more engaging - especially for visual learners. In addition to this, it's important to make the actual word problem more enjoyable. The presenters achieved this by creating a word problem that was about the teachers, rather than a random character named Sally or Mike. This made the lesson more humorous.

This presentation allowed me to enjoy math. Comparing to my experience in elementary school, math was strictly instructional and using a math manipulative in class was considered a treat. In this case, it's something that should be used in every single lesson to promote consistent engagement.

Following the presentation, our professor taught us a really fun method of teaching fractions. She gave us a pack of cards with fractions and shapes. We were to evenly distribute the cards around the table and play a game of "War." To win the game, you must put down a card (without looking) at the same time as your opponent. Whoever has the larger fraction wins.

Being someone who is really competitive in games (at least ones that don't require physical activity!), I found this game to be highly, highly engaging and enjoyable. My tablemates and I were playing quite competitively without realizing that we were learning in the process.

An important lesson that the math class has taught me is that it's possible to incorporate a fun game in your math lesson and still teach. I hope to use this method when I become a teacher.

Teaching common factors

The child's mind is absolutely incredible. After this week's class, it's quite astonishing to see the different methods to multiply, divide, and add whole numbers. Prior to this week's class, I have always believed that the traditional method was the only method. There is so much more than what I was taught in elementary school. I'm happy to see that students have more choices on how to solve a question!

Besides this, my partner and I did a micro lesson/presentation and taught the class how to find common factors. We used the following activity from the textbook Making Math Meaningful, "Peter's dad wanted to give his sons timbits (it was originally cookies). Peter got 30 timbits and his younger brother, Billy, got 18 timbits. His dad wanted to make sure his sons got the same amount of timbits in a bag. How many were in a bag?" We brought timbits and ten sandwich bags for each group in the class and allowed them to work together to figure out the answer.

After a couple minutes of group work, both groups were successful in finding the correct answer - which is 6. I really enjoyed doing this lesson since we were able to bring realistic manipulatives (that related to the question) rather than blocks. I believe this made the lesson more enjoyable for the students. They were able to work with their classmates and, of course, enjoy some treats after the lesson.

After this presentation, the teacher gave each table a set of cubes. We were to pick two colours and give them each a value as an incentive for students (ex: red meant 10 points and green meant 5 points). Once a value was determined, we were to collaborate with another group and decide on a value for our colours and count how many points we had. Once decided, we were to all collaborate together as a class on a value.

This was quite interesting since we couldn't quite agree on what each colour should be valued at. The teacher was right - it was quite hard to give up on your idea after being set on it. Because of this, there was difficulty on setting a fixed value.

It's important to be open-minded towards other members' ideas. Without open-mindedness, collaborations will continue to be difficult and it will be near impossible to find a proper connection with your team members.

Learning it all over again...

Last week's class was, once again, quite interesting to say the least. During class, our professor thought of a clever way to make us look through the Ontario curriculum. She managed to do this by creating a Jeopardy game and did this by splitting the class into groups. Indeed, this made us more knowledgeable of the curriculum but it also made us want to learn it - especially in a competitive way. Unfortunately for my team, we lost but that's okay.

During my first week of placement at Regina Mundi Catholic Elementary School, there were two whole periods of math. This was good for me since I still need to re-familiarize myself with the math work. The class was in the middle of a unit where they had to find the common difference by using a T-chart. A difficult challenge was given to the class - one that I found quite difficult as well. The students were to create two different formulas to find the number. I'm still not quite sure if it's called common difference since they were to find the pattern/difference between the set of numbers.

I found it to be amazing that the teacher only used the Smartboard to teach the math lesson. He used multiple colours to distinguish what he was writing. Here's an example of the work from the class:

My associate professor taught me a really good lesson that teaches me to be a better math educator. The number rule, he states, is to not know all the answers in your lesson. If you know all the answers, then it's not as fun for the students. If you don't know the answer, you and your students will all work together to figure out the answer - it promotes teamwork and allows for more engagement in the lesson. I look forward to integrating this into my future math lessons.

So... what's BEDMAS again?

Hi, my name is Catherine Vo and I am a teacher candidate at Brock University. In this blog, I will chronicle my journey to become a better math educator. As a humanities student, I have struggled with math or anything that has to due with numbers. The only time I have ever used math after high school is when I am calculating my tuition or finding out what the price is after a discount. Silly, right?

So far, the math class has been quite enjoyable. To be honest, I found this to be surprising. During the first session, we had to use four 4's to figure out how to get the numbers 1-20.This was extremely challenging yet fun. The class managed to get a majority done. Below is an image of our work.



After this activity, we were asked to draw what we imagined as a math genius. Since I was in grade school, I remember seeing a "math wizard." Unfortunately, this was the only image I could think of when asked to draw one on the spot.



It's very clear I am not a good at drawing. During the duration of the course, I hope to be able to become a better math educator and become better at drawing a math genius (of course).