High School, Cool Activities, and More!

Well, it's been quite a while since I last posted! Since then, I have moved on to observing Algebra I and Algebra I Part I at Eastern Montgomery High School. There are very different issues to deal with in high school, but I really do love it so far! There is only one week left, but I'll be there for student teaching. So, I'm excited for more!

Students

The students at EMHS are very different from the students at the high school I went to. From what I can tell, most of the students are lower SES. They talk a lot about partying, and one of the couples at the school even live together! I am definitely not used to the social environment at EMHS, but I've been learning a lot about how to deal with it.

One of the girls in the class is pregnant, and my CT told me that the student didn't know she was pregnant until she was 20 weeks pregnant! And, the other students in the school are so excited for her baby. This is another huge difference from where I grew up, as being pregnant in high school was not seen as an exciting thing.

Classes

My CT grades most (if not all) of their classwork for correctness. This seems to be necessary, as certain students will just sit there and not do anything (though I'm not sure how much of a motivator a grade is for them).

There is a SMART board in the room, and my CT has this tablet that goes along with it. She can walk around the room, write on the tablet, and the markings appear on the SMART board. It's really cool! She says she needs to do this because she feels like her classes behave better when she is walking around throughout the time she gives notes.

Cool Activities

In my Elementary and Middle Mathematics class, we did this really cool activity with Fraction Circles. Basically, we took a red plate and a white plate (Hefty brand) that had 36 indentions on the sides, found the center of the two plates, cut a slit, and put the plates together. These Fraction Circles are SO USEFUL! They can be used for probability, fractions, angles, and even trig! You can put the unit circle on them, use them for adding angles, display all sorts of fractions (any denominator that's a factor of 36), etc. I think this is an EXCELLENT manipulative for many, many grades. I plan to use it in the future!

Teaching Techniques

All my classes in undergrad and grad programs stress the use of reform mathematics to teach students. While I agree that many of the activities are beneficial for students, I think a teaching style that incorporates traditional and reform activities will truly benefit students. I think reform activities are good to use as introductions, and then teachers can use a lecture or provide a formula once students investigate and develop these methods for themselves. This stye of teaching helps to meet needs of all students, and I plan on using it in my student teaching and beyond!

Also, during my field experience, I've been thinking of activities to do based on the lesson my CT is teaching. This is really good practice for me for lesson planning in trying to incorporate reform and traditional mathematics. I hope to use these activities I come up with next semester during student teaching!