525 Week 5

Identifying Similarities and Differences
In math, I think you are always looking for connections among the different topics.  Many times one topic will lead into the next.  For example, in math we were working with decimals and now fractions.  They lead right into each other because we took decimals and turned them into fractions and then took fractions and turned them into decimals.  From here, we will start working with fractions and computations.  In math it is important to find similarities among the topics.  However, in math I also try to show the students the connections among the other subjects they are learning.  How the vocabulary they learn in reading and language arts is also used in math.  Some differences might be that the same word means something else in a different subject.

Homework and Practice
For me as a math teacher, homework and practice is very important.  By having the students practice the skill they are taught, it becomes more a part of their memory.  It also helps me and the students to know if they understood the lesson or not.  I tend to give homework every night, except Friday.  The students then correct their own homework the next day first thing in class.  This allows them to see for themselves that they do or do not get what we did in class.

One thing I would like to try is to have them do homework online.  However, many times, the students are not allowed “screen time” or computer time during the week.  This would make it hard for me to give them homework online. Also, some kids still do not have computers at home.  I would have to let the parents know that sometimes homework might be online or that they need to be allowed some access to the computer during the week.

Generating and Testing Hypothesis
In my classroom I am always changing up lessons and how I teach.  This week alone, I have started by teaching the kids a note taking method.  Before this week, the kids had a workbook that we worked through together.  The kids thought this book was very confusing.  I think that by showing them a note taking method, I am teaching one way to take notes as well as teach them the lesson.  This was a hypothesis I thought would work to teach the kids the lessons, yet keep them from being confused.  I am now in the phase of testing it.  However, I will not have the results of this for a few weeks.  There are many times that I think of trying something or teaching something other than how the book shows it.  I enjoy showing the kids a variety of methods and allowing them to decide what fits them best.

Another example is last year in 5th grade when we reached the metrics unit, the math book wanted the students to use a chart to memorize facts about the metric units and how they convert among each other (meters to centimeters, liters to ml, etc.).  This chart was complex and difficult to understand and the students were not able to meet the goal of memorization.  I looked online for an easier way to teach the metric system to the kids and came across a ladder-type of method (http://www.beverlyschools.org/memorial/di/Math/metricsystem/metricsystem.pdf or http://sciencespot.net/Media/metriccnvsn2.pdf).  As the units got bigger, they would move up the ladder.  This gave the kids more of a visual feeling of what was bigger and how much bigger. The reorganization of the information on the chart helped the students to relate better to how the units converted and as a result, were more successful.  I decided to try and use this method instead of the book.  The kids loved it and even showed other teachers in the building.  I had so much success with this method of teaching the metric system that I decided to teach it the same way to my 6th graders.  I now have now included the standard that, by 6th grade, they must have the ladder memorized.