Hello My Friends, Colleagues, and Peers out there in blog land,
It is with deep sadness that I have to inform you that this is my final post on this blog. Due to restructuring and budget cuts by my board, my position as Math Coach has been "discontinued." I will be returning to the classroom in the fall.
The past 3 years (and the past 5 as a Math Coach) have made me learn so much - and not just about math but about classroom management, higher order thinking, policies and procedures, the way students of all abilities learn and the way that schools run. I've loved sharing all of the hard work that "my" teachers have done with all of you, and hope that you can see their dedication and committment to their students through their work.
On a personal note, I am going to be scratching an item off my "Bucket List" this fall and could use your support. I'm completing a half marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. Blood cancer is something that has touched my life in many different ways, and running a half marathon in the US is on my "bucket list" so I decided to put the two things together and put my running to good use and help out that charity.
You can help support me by making a secure online donation using your credit card. Click on the link below:
http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=3385391&langPref=en-CA
You will receive an email confirmation, along with your tax receipt for your donation and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation. I thank you in advance for your support, and really appreciate your generosity!!
Thank you for all of your e-mails, and views.
I hope that you make this upcoming school year the year you "Pick math, choose math, love math"
Lesley :)
Friday, June 29, 2012
Planning Around Us
I had the pleasure of doing some planning with the Primary Division at Wexford the other day, and since they have solid long range plans in math, we decided to focus on what some of the struggles they had teaching math.
We decided to use the Freyer Model to help us organize our thoughts around what the one thing was that we struggled with in math. We placed that in the centre of the organizer. Then we gave an example of what it looked like in our classroom, and what the "ideal" situation would look like. The last section was for us to create "solutions" to our struggles. Here are what our finished products looked like:
The best part of the activity was the rich discussion we had as a group talking about solutions to our struggles. In our discussion we were able to offer support and advice to each other; provide examples of successful strategies; clear up misconceptions that we had about math; and really get a chance to learn from each other as we work towards student success.
We decided to use the Freyer Model to help us organize our thoughts around what the one thing was that we struggled with in math. We placed that in the centre of the organizer. Then we gave an example of what it looked like in our classroom, and what the "ideal" situation would look like. The last section was for us to create "solutions" to our struggles. Here are what our finished products looked like:
The best part of the activity was the rich discussion we had as a group talking about solutions to our struggles. In our discussion we were able to offer support and advice to each other; provide examples of successful strategies; clear up misconceptions that we had about math; and really get a chance to learn from each other as we work towards student success.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Planning Just Got Easier
Last night almost 30 committed and excited teachers got together to create a binder full of great problems to use in their classroom for the upcoming school year. The workshop was called: 2 problems x 5 strands = 10 great problem based lessons to use in your classroom.
Each teacher got a cover page, index tabs, and 10 problems organized by Overall Expectation. The problems were all new to us as they were taken from back issues of Teaching Children Mathematics, the publication from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). You can find out more about them, or sign up for a membership at www.nctm.org
Here is what the cover of our binder looked like:
The attendees worked through several problems talking about how they would modify the program to meet the needs of their grade, what the learning goals would be, how they would assess this problem (based on the achievement chart) and what modifications and accommodations they would make to fit the needs of students in their class.
I know I really learned a lot from working with everyone and can't wait to try some of these problems out with students.
Each teacher got a cover page, index tabs, and 10 problems organized by Overall Expectation. The problems were all new to us as they were taken from back issues of Teaching Children Mathematics, the publication from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). You can find out more about them, or sign up for a membership at www.nctm.org
Here is what the cover of our binder looked like:
The attendees worked through several problems talking about how they would modify the program to meet the needs of their grade, what the learning goals would be, how they would assess this problem (based on the achievement chart) and what modifications and accommodations they would make to fit the needs of students in their class.
I know I really learned a lot from working with everyone and can't wait to try some of these problems out with students.
Probability in Pictures
My Literacy Coach and I took a few teachers to visit a demonstration classroom recently, and although we were there to see Rakel's literacy program I couldn't help but take a peek at the math in her room as well.
Her Grade 1 class is working on probability. As we know, it's pretty simple in Grade 1 and the focus is more on the understanding of the likelihood of events occuring. Because her language program is so rich, it allows for her students to be more successful in their written communication in math class.
Here is her anchor chart as the centre of the work that they are doing around probability. She has a definition of probability, and then you can see her minds-on activity under that. She asked the students what would happen they tossed a coin in the air.
This is a great activity for students to do to help them understand a little bit more about probability. Thank you for opening up your classroom to us Rakel!
Her Grade 1 class is working on probability. As we know, it's pretty simple in Grade 1 and the focus is more on the understanding of the likelihood of events occuring. Because her language program is so rich, it allows for her students to be more successful in their written communication in math class.
Here is her anchor chart as the centre of the work that they are doing around probability. She has a definition of probability, and then you can see her minds-on activity under that. She asked the students what would happen they tossed a coin in the air.
For the action, the students set to work showing examples of events that Always Happen, Sometimes Happen and Never Happen. It is organized nicely by using magnetic clips to hold up the students work.
This is a great activity for students to do to help them understand a little bit more about probability. Thank you for opening up your classroom to us Rakel!
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