Strategy Lesson: Reflection Post

My group which included Sarah Ellen, Brittany, and Shelby focused our lesson plan on a key math concept that is taught to students in middle school. Our lesson plan focused on inequalities but more specifically how to solve and graph an inequality problem.

After presenting our lesson to the class, we found some areas in which we can improve for the future. One of the improvisions we would like to implement is the idea of simply slowing down when we are explaining what an inequality is and the steps it takes to solve an inequality. We would also like to pause and ask the class if they have any questions regarding the material. Though we did not have an entire class period to present our lesson plan, I believe the point of being patient with both the lesson we are instructing and the students who are learning this for the first time is a crucial part of being a teacher in middle grades. 

On the flip side of this, I really thought, and so did our fellow classmates, we did well on making it a point to annotate each piece of the word problem given. Not only is this a crucial math tool when solving word problems but is also a great literacy tool that can carry over to other subject areas as well. Everyone seemed to be really engaged when we let them annotate a problem on their own and was eager to tell us what he or she annotated in the problem. Engagement in the classroom and an eagerness to do a certain activity I have learned is an extremely important asset to have when dealing with middle school students.

Overall, I think my group did very well for this assignment and was a great learning experience. I know we will all take the grows and glows into our future teachings.

Word Count: 313

Synthesis Blog #5- What should differentiation look like in my classroom?

This week's synthesis blog proposes the idea of a differentiated classroom. The term "differentiated" is a term we are seeing a lot in today's educational system. Students are getting bored and disinterested in the basic teacher instruction. So, how do we allow our kids to be more involved and have a willingness to learn?

I found an article, related to the math classroom, that discusses some "tips" to help us as future teachers to create a differentiated classroom.

Tips for a differentiated math class!

From this article, there was one tip that stood out to me- "Offer choice (as often as possible)". This idea can be hard for us, or maybe it's just me, because I know I like to be in control; however, studies show that giving students a choice "a minimum of 35% of the time in class will increase their intrinsic motivation to learn." (Smith, 2016). Now, by choice I do not mean a students has the choice to do an assignment or not, but rather giving the students a choice to work on the assignment individually or collectively as a group. There are many students that feel pressured completing a task on their own. Allowing the students to have a choice will help those students that do not perform well on their own and can help increase their social skills.

A differentiated classroom does not have to be a hard task for teachers to implement, rather something that we have to be subconsciously aware about when making our lesson plans.

Word Count: 254

Resource Blog #4- Recycle City

CROSS CONTENT!!!!

This week's resource blog is probably my favorite I've done so far because not only is it interactive, but it is so informative not only for the classroom setting but for real world problems as well. The website I found is called Recycle City (link down below!) and is meant for users to see how the people of the city: reduce waste, use less energy, and save money by doing simple things at home, at work, and in their neighborhoods.

A huge part of the middle school science curriculum I have found is discussing topics such as energy and how we can save that energy for later dates. This website gives a plethora of examples showing that "how". I believe students will find this website very easy and fun to use because of the vibrant colors and facts that it provides about what is going on in today's world. Many students, as we all know, become very disconnected when they do not see the point in learning certain material when they will never use it to their advantage in the real world, so it is our job as teachers to always provide them with that "real world" piece even though it may be tricky sometimes. This website does a terrific job providing those students with that piece of reality. 

The website gives a map of the city and goes through each part of the neighborhood and different ways one can recycle, save energy, save resources, etc.. Perhaps one day everyone will be familiar with these ideas and create a better, safer, healthier world to live in!

Word Count:263

Link: Recycle City

Synthesis Blog #4- Tearing Down the Wall: Literature and Science

***OUT OF CONTENT!***

Summarize: 

In this science article, published in an english journal, I first discovered how to incorporate english literacy in the science classrooms and science in the english classrooms. Moreover, I found that there is a relationship between these two subjects, we as teachers, just need to show that relationship, which may be easier said than done. At the end of the day, it is essential to find a healthy balance of both science and english literacy. 

It is important for us, as teachers, to have solid background knowledge in all subject areas so we can incorporate little bits and pieces of these subjects to create a very diverse but intellectual classroom. 

Connections:

As I read this article, I came across the discussion of the movie, Back to the Future, and how this movie can incorporate both science and literature elements. This is a great connection as I have seen this movie and helped me bridge the gap between science and literacy.

The article also provided examples of what kind of experiments modern day scientists, such as Verne, conducted to illustrate electricity in the classroom. I loved this because it allowed me to think of what type of experiments I would use in the classroom if I were one day to teach science.

Critique:

I believe it makes sense and is also important that the author incorporated specific examples of science in literary contexts. This allows the teacher to use these resources for his or her classroom. 

The first sentence of this article, "Something there is that really does love a wall, especially in the land of academics" does not make sense to me and kind of threw me off for the rest of the reading (Westcott & Spell, 1999, p. 70). 

Why is this important?

This science article allows for teachers, of any subject area, to incorporate english literacy in everyday instruction. One may be blind to how the english subject can be incorporated at first, but it is honestly very apparent once you dive deeper and read articles such as this one. 

Many students do not perform well in Language Arts because they only associate English learning in one classroom. If we as teachers make it a point to incorporate some of the skills and techniques into other subject area classrooms, students will not only be better off in the english classroom but in life as well. 
Word Count: 405