Math talk moves

I have to say that I love the math talk moves we have learned this quarter.  I have found myself using them with my students across disciplines.  The first time I used the talk moves, during a math lesson, and asked my students to add onto or revoice what another student said, it felt a little clumsy.  But during the following days math lesson I continued the use of them, and began to see the benefits of doing so.  At one point during the 2nd days lesson, a student was explaining her thinking, when a I asked another student to revoice what the other student had just said, he looked a little puzzled.  I gave him some wait time, and on his own, without prompting, he looked at the other student and said, "can you repeat what you just said?" He was then able to repeat what the other student said and it seemed that he understood what he said as well.  If I hadn't used the talk moves I think this student would have still been confused about what we were discussing.  This is just one example of many I have seen over the weeks of using the talk moves and how it benefits and enhances student understanding and engagement.  Since I have now been using these talk moves for many weeks it just feels second nature.  I now use them across disciplines and can't imagine doing without. 

Mutliple Techniques

I have seen many different techniques of how teachers gain the attention of their students.  My cooperating teacher uses a variety of different methods.  The two most common are doing "shout-outs".  She says "3-2-1" and the students respond with "zip" and then are expected to be quiet and listen, and let me tell you it almost always works.  Another "shout-out" we use is, she will say "hubba hubba" and students respond with "yes ma'am", this also almost always works as well.  I have seen other teachers ring a bell when they want their students attention.  I have also seen teachers use a musical instrument or a song to gain student attention.  I like, and use, the methods of my cooperating teacher and since we are teaching 6th grade I find them very age appropriate and kind of fun.  I like the idea of using a variety of methods so you are not using the same one all the time, but at the same time not using too many that students become confused on what is expected of them.  If I teach 5th or 6th grade next year I will definitely be using the methods of my cooperating teacher.  If I teach a younger grade I like the idea of a musical instrument or little bell.

Constructive Feedback

I find all of the constructive feedback I am receiving helpful in one way or another.  One specific example is from my first observation and debriefing with my field instructor.  It was pointed out to me that during the lesson I said "ok" over 35 times within an hour and fifteen minutes.  When she asked me if I noticed I was doing that I said no.  I had no idea that I had said "ok" that many times.  Once she pointed it out to me I realised how much I like to say it.  I use it as a transition word and apparently a space filler.  This feedback was extremely helpful because it first of all made me aware that I was doing it and secondly reminded me to be very conscious and purposeful with my word choice.  In the next lesson I taught I found myself doing it again.  I thought about how distracting that might be for my students.  So I stopped what I was doing and talked to them about how it had been brought to my attention that I say "ok" a lot.  The students agreed that I say it all the time and we had a great laugh about it. I told them I was really going to work on not using that word as much and asked them for their help in pointing it out when I do so.  We agreed that if I started over using it they would all raise their hand at the same time.  While I still say it every once in a while I have greatly improved, with the help of my students, in a very short amount of time.  This feedback was extremely helpful because it made me conscious of not only my over use of a specific word but conscious of my word choice in general and making it as purposeful as possible. 

Building Community in the Classroom

This is the community quilt we made as a class during September in my main placement.  After our summer course, in Human Growth and Learning that focused on community building activities in the classroom, I was very excited to do one with my students.  It was a lot of fun and allowed us all to learn something new about one another.  The kids loved this project and began to see themselves as a community instead of just a bunch of individuals sitting in a room together.  It created a shared experience that we can look back at everyday since it is still posted up on the wall in the classroom.  This is definitely something I will be doing again and again in future classrooms.  But, what community building should I do next with my students?  Any ideas, or favorite ones you have used or seen in your placements? 

Oh Twitter...

          Hmmmm, what to say about Twitter?  This quarter I was "forced" to join Twitter, yes I did say forced.  Before this quarter I could have guaranteed you that I would never join Twitter or Tweet, but I would have been wrong.  After a whole quarter of following people on Twitter I would have to give it a mixed review.  The good thing about Twitter was being able to follow and read about what educators are talking about.  The best thing I got from Twitter was a how to guide for teachers about blogging with your students in elementary school classrooms.  This was very helpful and I don't think I would have come across it if I hadn't been on Twitter.  With that said, I didn't really get a whole lot more out of Twitter.  Most of the other Tweets I found useful just linked me to a blog post, which I feel I could have gotten otherwise from just following blogs.  I kind of feel like the overall time I spent on Twitter was not well spent.  I could have used the time spent on Twitter more productively, by doing something else.  Though I won't write it off completely.  I do see that it may be a great resource once I am in my own classroom, especially my first year of teaching.  What do you think about the usefulness of Twitter for teachers?

Going back home!

The day has finally come.  I get to go back to my main placement and see my kids.  I cannot possibly express how excited I am to see each and everyone of them.  While I have been back a couple times over the past 8 weeks to visit, it is extremely exciting to be going back knowing that I will be with them for the rest of the year.  I can't wait to see how much they have grown and learned while I have been away.  I am also excited to apply what I have learned over the past 2 months from both my methods classes and dyad placement.  I can't wait to try out one of the small group inquiry math lessons with my kiddos and see how it works.  What type of lesson are you most excited about teaching to your main placement kiddos?

Class Meetings

Ok, so I know I want to have weekly student run class meetings in my future classroom, but what is the best way to structure them.  When I was volunteering in a 6th grade classroom a couple of years ago I was introduced to weekly student run meetings.  I thought it was such a great idea.  The students were able to address issues that were important to them and involved every member of the classroom community.  The teacher pretty much stayed out of it, accept in rare circumstances where he felt he needed to intervene or interject. 
I have not been in a classroom where they have regular class meetings since I was in the one I previously described.  I was wondering if anyone else out there is seeing regular class meetings in their placements.  Some important key parts of the meetings I saw were that students ran the meetings and came up with the topics and issues discussed; there were clear guidelines and agreed upon rules that students followed such as being respectful of one another and only the person with the ball could talk.  Does anyone else have any ideas or knowledge of resources to help structure student run class meetings?  What are some other key parts?