Nearing the End of the WMS Visits

The entirety of class today was a learning experience in itself. The teacher put the student aids under the impression that the students were just as misbehaved, unfocused, and disrespectful towards the teacher on Wednesday as they were on Tuesday. This being said, rather than attempt to continue with the lesson of dividing fractions, the instructor decided to take a two day break to focus on respect, cooperation, and teamwork as a way to not only further the students’ ability to act respectfully in the classroom, but also to advance their common core skills. The common core skills in math include teamwork, the ability to listen and understand direction, the ability to put their knowledge of the material into his/her own words, and to think critically. Keeping these ideals in mind, the teacher decided to do a team activity in which the students were divided up into groups of four. Within these groups, one teammate was assigned to be the builder and the remaining teammates would give the builder instructions. The teams were given twelve colored blocks and six instructions (two per instruction reader) for the builder to organize the blocks in a certain fashion. The only restriction is that the builder is not allowed to read the cards.

This activity forced students to cooperate with each other in a team setting. It also allowed the builders to listen carefully to what the other students are saying, and apply their instruction. On the reader side of things, these students had to read their card, understand precisely how the blocks needed to be organized, and then relay it to the builder in a way that makes sense. This is a great activity not only to further students listening, reading, and problem solving skills, but it also allowed students to develop multiple ways of stating information so that the entire group would be able to understand what he/she was saying. Besides furthering positive qualities within the classroom, this activity also gives students a few days of break from fractions so they can come back next week refocused and ready to learn.

I thought that this was an excellent way to address the disrespect problems that were occurring in the classroom. It takes a lot of courage for a teacher to take a break from the curriculum in order to give students a chance to work together and develop qualities such as listening and problem solving that they will need to use for the rest of their lives. Even the students that were getting frustrated learned that using different methods of explaining can actually lead to the correct answer in the end, so it was even a learning experience for those who seemed unhappy. Because of these reasons and my knowledge of how rambunctious these students are, this is an activity, even a mindset that I can see myself using in my classroom in the future.

WMS Visit #8

Today the students at WMS were learning how to divide fractions. Building on their learning from last week, the teacher decided to create a “Do Now” worksheets focusing on problems the students struggled the most with during the previous week. The two main sources of confusion for the students revolved around changing mixed numbers to improper fractions and further multiplying, as well as dividing fractions with mixed numbers. The teacher allowed students to have some private think time to develop some ideas on how to respond to the two questions on the paper, but it was clear that the students were still very confused. The teacher ended their think time, and began going over some algorithms and corresponding diagrams for the problems. However, the overall confusion of the students persisted. It was not until the teacher used visual materials and fraction magnets from around the room that the students really became engaged in their learning, and began to understand the mathematics behind multiplying and dividing fractions.

The teacher ended up relating the problem (where the students were dividing fractions) to baking. She explained that in order to make this batch of cookies she would need 1¼ cups of flour, but she only had a ½ cup for measuring. Thus, she asked how many half cups would she need to measure 1¼ cups of flour. She used beakers and a bowl to demonstrate the problem which proved to be a good visual but not entirely effective for the students’ understanding. She then shifted to using equivalent size fraction magnets. The magnets are rectangles and signify equivalent fractions. There is a 1 associated with the largest magnet, and underneath this magnet are two ½ magnets which when combined are equivalent to the 1 (or the whole) magnet. The magnets went all the way down to 16 little 1/16 magnets which when added together equal the entire 1 magnet. When she placed the ½ magnets underneath the 1¼ magnets, it was clear that a light bulb went off in each of the students heads as they began to understand the concepts.

The utilization of visuals is sometimes completely essential for success within a classroom and corresponding topics. The students had diagrams, charts, and algorithms on their papers, but they still were not fully grasping the concepts. However, the beaker visual combined with the fractional magnets proved to be an extremely beneficial visual for the students. It allowed me to witness a teacher persevering through a very challenging lesson with low student engagement and understanding, but persisting nevertheless and utilizing many teaching methods to arrive at a teaching style that was effective to the students understanding of the topic. This taught me not only to utilize a variety of resources and teaching methods within the classroom, but also to never give up when teaching because there is always a way to break through to the students and further their understanding!

Back to WHS!

This visit to WMS proved to be extremely beneficial by expanding my teaching practices and knowledge that I will be able to implement within my own classroom in the near future. During today’s lesson, the students were learning how to divide fractions. They were in the instructional phases of this mathematical topic, thus the students were instructed to divide whole numbers by fractions using diagrams. The teacher did not give students any algorithms, but rather presented application problems which included a specific scenario where a pizza shop has 6 blocks of cheese, and the workers need to know how many pizzas they can make with this cheese if it takes ¼ of a block of cheese to make a pizza. Thus, the students were trying to evaluate the problem of  6 divided by ¼ using diagrams and models. There were a variety of problems with different fractions that divided into the six blocks of cheese such as ⅓ and ⅕. All of the first few instructional, pizza shop examples had a 1 in the numerator to allow students to better see the pattern. Thus, students were taking their models, and asked to analyze how they might be able to find the answer without the use of models, but rather using an algorithm before moving on to more challenging problems.

I have seen this class struggle immensely in the past with relaying the mathematical ideas of a specific topic back to the teacher. However, during this particular lesson, the teacher flipped the classroom and asked the students to try to derive an algorithm from their basic knowledge of fractions. I was hesitant at first to see the effectiveness of this method because I assumed that students would not be invested in their learning as they normally become as the class persists. However, this was not the case at all. Students really began to analyze the models and create hypotheses and conclusions. Students were then asked to explain an algorithm if they found one, and many students concluded that to divide by a fraction is the same as multiplying by a reciprocal. This proved to be an extremely effective lesson for the students because not only were they thinking critically by solving the problems, they were also analyzing the mathematics behind their problem and further hypothesizing about the methods. This expands student learning and understanding immensely because it shows that students understand the material and the mathematical process so well that they can form further conclusions and analyze patterns. I was really impressed by the success, enjoyment, and level of engagement I witnessed as an effect of this lesson.

Having students analyze their work and develop further hypotheses is fundamental to the common core state standards. Flipping the classroom is a great way for students to really analyze and understand the mathematics in a way that works best for that individual student, while aligning with the state standards. This was the first truly successful middle school flipped classroom that I have ever been a part of, and it gave me great insight into the effectiveness of using such a method to further student engagement and understanding. This is a teaching strategy that I will definitely be using in the future.

QR Codes: An Interesting, Fun Resource to Use Within the Classroom

QR Codes are an interesting, fun activity to implement into the classroom. Students can download the QR code app onto their iPads, iPhones, or any other technological device. This app allows students to scan the bar code, and then brings them to an alternate link provided by the instructor. These links can prove to be very useful for teachers who can create links which include instructional videos, articles, and web sites. QR Codes are a great way to get students using technology in the classroom, and using the QR Code that I provided above, reader's will be able to view and example of a QR Code that includes three best reasons for using exit cards in a classroom.

China: A Sexuality and Gender Equality Focus

Although there are not many statistics which delve into how many homosexual, transgender, or bisexual individuals within China. homosexuality is a social discussion that has divided the country. Based on a survey taken in China, over 54% of citizens do not accept homosexuality. This is more than half of the entire population who do not approve of same sex relationships. To further this lack of acceptance, homosexual couples are prohibited from marrying in China. The government also limits many other aspects of same sex couples rights such as prohibiting adoption of children, and not restricting or regulating discrimination against homosexuals. There is an ongoing increase within acceptance of homosexuality due to social media access, entertainment, and globalization, but the Chinese government still limits access to such sources, and thus furthers the argument that China has a long way to go to further acceptance of LGBTQ people throughout the country. 

Premarital sex is another controversial social issue in China, and is also regulated. China seems to be a semi-restrictive society when it comes to premarital sex in that it is regulated, but often disregarded and worked around. It is in accordance with Chinese tradition that a woman remains a virgin until the night of her wedding, and that night there is a ritual where the woman bleeds on white sheets during sex to symbolize her virginity being taken from her by her husband. Although even this ritual is often faked to ensure a lasting marriage and impression, the Chinese government looks down on premarital sex. Sex Ed is often not even taught in schools, rather the only real talk of intercourse education comes through the discussion and strict policy regarding abstinence. Again, attitudes regarding premarital sex are changing due to the same reasons stated above, but a shocking 70% of Chinese citizens have admitted to having premarital sex even with the strict ideology regarding the act. There is also a double standard in which women are primarily blamed for giving up their virginity to the man before marriage, and some textbooks even target women for being the leading cause behind the large number of premarital sex cases in the country. Women are, in turn, viewed as slightly inferior to men in China. China still has a long way to go in accepting women's rights and the rights of homosexuals, but I would argue that they are moving in a positive direction. 

WHS: Another Visit!

Today was an especially rambunctious day for the seventh grade students. Within the first few minutes of the lesson, it had become clear that the students were talking over the teacher more than usual, ignoring the teacher’s instructions repeatedly, and the students were contributing little to no effort into their learning. This proved to be frustrating for the teacher, but the frustration began to emulate within all of the teacher aids and college student volunteers. It was not solely the issue that students were not engaging in their learning, it was the disrespect and lack of care within their learning that was the most frustrating. The teacher was teaching a lesson on how to multiply improper and mixed number fractions, a topic that most students kept shouting out that they did not understand or remember from before their winter break. However, when the teacher or any of the classroom aids walked around and asked students clarifying questions, almost every student knew the answers. Thus, it was not that the students were disruptive because they did not understand the material, rather the students were being disruptive for a variety of personal reasons.

The frustration and lack of patience that the teacher was developing became ever more prominent as the class persisted. However, the teacher made a very interesting decision that completely grabbed the attention of the students. When students are upset in class, frustrated, or misbehaving, the teacher instructs them to sit in a chair at a long table in the back of the room to take a break and calm themselves. This is a great teaching technique in itself because it allows for students to reflect on what they were doing wrong or what was upsetting them, and then join back into the class with a cleared mind. In today’s class, however, the teacher became so frustrated that she announced to the class in the middle of her teaching that she was going to take a break because she was upset with the lack of student engagement. She took a break for about four minutes and instructed the students to think about the math they were learning while she was taking a break. The class was absolutely silent during these four minutes, and showed a clear level of discomfort for having their teacher take a break. Not only were the students more focused after this tactic, but they also became calmer and showed a higher level of respect for the teacher and the aids in the room.

This is a teaching technique that I can use because it allows students to remember that the teacher must be respected in the classroom. It is nice to have a relationship with the teacher, but talking over him/her consistently and being disruptive is disrespectful. Taking a quick break allows students to see that the teacher is upset, and fosters the idea in students’ minds that they need to change their behavior because the students were clearly upset and uncomfortable when the teacher took a break. It is a relatable, effective teaching tool that I had never thought of before, but once I saw the effectiveness of this practice, it is a great way to suggest to students that a higher level of respect is needed from the class, but also to refocus students on their learning.

What is WIDA? And How Can I Use it as a Teacher?

WIDA is an organization which promotes equality and equal opportunity within the classroom for non-English speaking students. It is WIDA's goal to advance the development and academic achievement for English-language learning (ELL) students through the implementation of specialized teacher training, standards and assessments specifically for ELL students, and through the ongoing research of ELLs carried out by WIDA within classrooms across the country. WIDA devises a four step plan for ELL students which mirrors their success in areas such as listening, speaking, and writing. There are four "WIDA levels" for students, with one being the entry level for ELL students (or students who speak, read, and write little to no English), and five being nearly fluent in all three areas assessed. If a student is at level 5, and completes the corresponding WIDA exam in the areas of listening, reading, and writing, then that student is said to be sufficient in the English language. Similarly, students can improve their WIDA levels by passing numerous evaluations in reading writing, and listening. Thus, some students may be at different levels in their speaking compared with their reading, often listening is at a higher level than speaking. 

Instructors are given "Can do" behavior charts in which they can classify ELL students into one of the four categories, but then can also look at the "Can do" behaviors provided by WIDA to alter their instructions and evaluations of students to better fit their abilities. Based on the "Can do" chart below, one can see that under WIDA level 1, ELL students should be able to point and identify certain words, pictures, or phrases. This is an extremely helpful tool for teachers to determine not only if a student is at an entry level, middle level, or upper level in learning the language, but also allows teachers to thoroughly understand precisely what an ELL student should be capable of doing at each level. Teachers are also encouraged to use both the "Can do" behaviors as well as the testing to ensure proper student placement within the WIDA levels. WIDA scores are an essential tool for teacher's with students learning English within their classrooms, and is an encouraging program for ELL students to ensure that they're efficiently maximizing their learning within a classroom that can be tailored around their abilities.