Instructional/Curriculum Materials

DATE	Materials w/ Description	Teacher interaction	Student interaction
10/22	Anglegs -          Use anglegs to visualize impossible triangles Homework -          14 problems for the students to do	-          Gave students directions to make impossible triangles -          Assigned to students by teacher	-          Students built the impossible triangles and look at the side lengths -          Students have to complete it individually
10/23	Homework -          8 problems for the students to do	-          Assigned to students by teacher	-          Students have to complete it individually
10/24	Homework -          11 problems for the students to do	-          Assigned to students by teacher	-          Students have to complete it individually

Link to pictures

The anglegs that the students use I would say use procedures with connections.  In the activity this week they were told to make a triangle using 3 certain sides.  They then had to come up with a reason on why they couldn't make a triangle out of them.  This activity was a concrete representation of the triangle inequality.  The homework would be doing mathematics.  The problems follow some sort of pattern using the materials they just learned.  There isn't that must complex thinking that is going on. 

My CT says that they barely have any control over the curriculum.  He usually sets the schedule in plenty of time in advanced.  He also gives the students the materials they need through notes.  Usually, the only thing that students use to create themselves is when they use the anglegs.  My CT does use Geogebra quite a bit, however the students aren't really involved in creating them.  The textbook is usually only used for the student's homework.  They aren't ever out when he is giving his lecture in class and doesn't refer to it that often.  About the only manipulative that the students use is the anglegs.  He likes these because it lets the students create shapes and make the discoveries on their own.  

From my observation, I think that I would want to use some sort of manipulative in my class whenever I can.  I like that it gets the students engaged and involved in their learning.  I would use this especially if I teach at a school with a block schedule.  From my observation, I have noticed that activities like this take up a lot of time.  I don't know if in a normal schedule it would be possible for me to use them.  Also, I think that if I had the same book as Southwest, I would do the same thing my CT does.  I think the book is only good enough for if students need a couple of examples for them to try to learn the materials a little bit better.

Homework

Homework is the one thing that my CT says is the one thing he can't find the right to do during his time teaching.  Usually his homework is review of the lesson that they just when over the previous day.  Then at the end of a chapter, he will give a review sheet that the students have to do for homework.  The homework assignments usually have 15 problems and the review will have about 25 problems on it.  Most assignments will be a lot like the practice problems that they go over in class, so the students should not have too much trouble doing them.  As for going over the assignments, he spends very little time going over.  He usually sets time aside to go over questions, but he usually just skips it to get to the more important parts of the lesson.  Even when he does fit it into his lesson, it usually only takes about 10 min.  The kids only ask for about 1 or 2 problems and then my CT goes over them pretty quickly.  Homework for the chapter is turned in all together right before the chapter test.  Every assignment from every student gets checked.  However, it is only graded on completion.  

My CT says he tries to assign homework everyday.  However, he said when he doesn't get through a lesson he will wait to assign it after he finishes the lesson.  He said he tries to create assignments that give the students a little bit of a challenge and also problems that help them on their tests.  He said he would love to go over every problem and give the students feedback on every single problem, but he just doesn't have the time to do that.  So he goes over every problem and sees if the student put in effort to work the problem.  He doesn't give any of the students projects for the students to do.

My ideal way of going over homework is to give students assignments with 8 or 9 problems on it.  I would assign something for every lesson and the students would turn them in the next day.  I would then grade them on the completion but give them comments on the actual work.  I think that grading them on completion and not the work is because homework is for practice the problems so the students are probably going to make mistakes on it.  Then the feedback will help the students see their mistakes and they can learn from them.  Hopefully I will be able to actually use this system and I don't have to skim back on it due to lack time.

Steve's motivation

Through my 4th week of practicum, there is one kid that I can't quite figure out.  For this post lets just call him Steve.  Steve has a huge problem with his motivation, and the problem is that he doesn't have any.  He never gets out his stuff when they have a warm-up or takes notes in class.  Also, when we are doing board work, he always is off goofing off somewhere in the classroom.  My CT always has to get on him to stay on task and do what he is supposed to be doing.  The thing is that when he is on task he knows most of the material.  You would think that if he put a little more effort into his school work he'd know pretty much all the material.  Logan and I have even talked to our CT about Steve.  He's trying a way to find to get Steve to get motivated to learn the stuff, but he hasn't figured out a way yet.  He also said that his mom cares way than Steve about his grades.  You would think an extra push from both his mom and teacher would light a spark under him to try in the class, but that's not the case.  It's kind of hard when I'm in the classroom to try to get him on task, yet he still ends up goofing around 5 minutes after I say something to him.  He sure is good practice for motivating students for my future.

Time Management

Time	Phase	Instructional Strategy	Teacher does…	Students do…
1:33-1:52	Opening warm-up from lesson before	Warm-up	Presents problem and goes around answering questions	Work on the given problems
1:52-2:01	Daily quote and Estimation 180	Warm-up/interaction	Explains motivational quote and guide Estimation 180	Listen and make guesses for the Estimation 180
2:01-2:28	Lesson	Lecture	Lectures the students	Take notes on their handouts or in notebooks
2:28-2:38	Individual Practice	Hands-on work	Walks around and helps out students	Works on examples on sheet
2:39-2:55	Answer questions from the sheet of example problems	Lecture	Answers questions and shows how to do problems	Asks questions and observe as the teacher solves the problems
2:55-3:03	Work-Time

One thing that my CT isn't the best at, and he's told us this before, is his lack of time management.  He says the activities that he plans out usually always take longer than he expects them to, so he never finishes his whole lesson that he has planned out for the day.  Due to that he is usually behind the schedules of the other geometry teacher and has to cram in multiple sections into one class period.  Usually the activities that is the culprits of taking up more time than he expected are the opening activity and/or the individual practice.  He tries to get around to everybody that is struggling and helps them out, and in this class is there are plenty that fall under this category.  Luckily Logan and I can kind of help him out with this so he doesn't have to take up as much time.  Our CT also has a daily quote that he shares with the students and then they do the Estimation 180 (a website where the class estimates thing e.g. how sheets of paper are in a ream).  I do like these activities that he does because he gets engaged with the students and it helps their thinking.  

One thing I've noticed with our observation is to plan for more time than you need on things you for sure want to get done.  Then if you get done early with what you want to get done, you can always go on and do something with the next lesson.  When you are trying to catch up with the other teachers, I think that your teaching gets rushed and your'e not teaching at your best ability.  I've seen that happen in my classroom and I don't think that it is good for either you or the students.  

Week 2

As week number 2 comes to close, there are a couple of things that have stuck out to me.  The first one is the students energy when they enter the class.  It varies so much from day to day.  Our class is at the end of the day so I kind of expect the students to be tired and wanting to go home.  However' one day no one in the class says a word , and then in the next day they are bouncing off the walls.  I could never remember my energy that varied when I was going to school.  Maybe I never noticed it because I wasn't the one that had to run a classroom full of kids like me.  When I asked my CT about it, he said that it is always like that.  He said that it just depends on what is happening during the day. It is kind of nice when the students are a little more entergetic.  They might talk to each other every now and then, but they also do participate a lot more during the lesson.

Another thing that I have noticed is how important it is to establish norms in your classroom early on in the year.  There is one thing in particular that kind of irks me.  Technically, class shouldn't get out until 3:03.  However, at about 3, the students start packing up their things to get ready to go.  Its already 4or 5 weeks into the year and it's already a norm for them to do that.  I'm not sure if the students do it just in my CT's class or every room, but as a teacher that would bug me especially when I'm trying to finish up a lesson.  Either way, it's just something that the students are used to doing.  My CT tries to tell them that they shouldn't pack up until 3:03, but since they are used to it they ignore him and do it anyways.  I wonder if he stated early in the year that they should not pack up until the bell or there would be some sort of consequence, then this may not be a problem.  

Physical Classroom Environment

Mine and Logan's CT has to share his classroom with other teachers, so there is minimal personality to the room.  The classroom the tables are set up like a traditional classroom.  All the students sit in rows facing the main white board.  There are two students to a table so they have plenty of room for their work space in the classroom.  Our CT's "desk" sits at the front of the room.  Since he shares the room, he doesn't get to decide where or what's on the desk.  This is usually where he teaches from.  The walls are mostly covered with white boards and then one side is all cupboards where they store all of their materials.  There are barely any decorations on the wall.  However, there are some posters that are from another class that add some character to the room.  Out CT uses his iPad everyday and for pretty much everything.  He tries to use AirPlay whenever he can so that he can walk around a bit.  However, the times I've been there, AirPlay hasn't worked for the whole lesson.  When it goes out he then has to connect his iPad, which makes him have to sit at his desk.

  

Due to the fact that our CT has to share his room with other teachers, he has no say on how the room is set up and what goes on the walls in there.  He does think that his iPad does a lot for his teaching.  He said he can get a lot done with that and the projector.

After seeing this classroom, I would definitely not have my classroom like the one in my practicum.  I think that having students in some sort of pods would be a lot better.  In the traditional style, students can only talk to their neighbors on the sides of them.  I think these pods could create dialogue between multiple students when they are discussing things in the classroom.  I also plan on putting some sort of things on my wall.  When I'm sitting room for my practicum, I don't feel like its that inviting of a classroom.  I think that the little character that things on the walls makes the students feel more relaxed.