It's 11:oo pm on Monday night.
I have 25 make up tests to grade because my regents students failed their original test miserably. Perhaps, it's because the students thought imaginary numbers were a joke. Or maybe it's because I called it a "test" rather than a quest or quiz. Apparently, test is the new 4 letter word prohibited in the classroom--silly me.
I have to review notes on quadratic inequalities to teach my honor students first and second period tomorrow.
I have my research paper to complete by tomorrow night at midnight.
A peer review to prepare for Wednesday's seminar.
Prep for my final observation on Wednesday.
And lastly, my Mathematics final-say a prayer for me. Roughly 9:00 pm on Wednesday I will have completed my first semester of grad school. (I can almost see the light.) You better believe I'll be celebrating with a bottle of wine and an episode of Private Practice--oh baby oh baby!
At this time I'd like to reflect on the things that got me through this semester. And when things get tough next semester, which I'm sure they will, I can refer to this list as a pick me up or an escape:
Iced coffee, green tea, internet cafes, starbucks--and the guy who is teaching himself Greek (hopefully next semester I'll learn more about him), banning the word stress--it's now called power surges, chocolate, chips and salsa, arios, writing letters, running, e-mailing buddies, yoga, brothers and sisters, shopping for work out clothes, david gray, taylor swift, candlelight, itunes, my diary, kickboxing, quotes, king of queens, reading my horoscope, mud soccer, people watching, eavesdropping, thanksgiving eve, fantasy vacation planning, attending movie theaters solo, sweatpants, hoodies, novels, romantic ideas, '08 election, sing a longs, kashi, my down comforter, charities, naps, happy hours, kraft mac and cheese, merissa, first snowfall, Jamaican rum cream, bread and balsamic vinaigrette, kenny chesney, long drives with music cranked, new friends, old friends, text messaging, hot sauce, mexican food, lark fest, massages, ME days, 5k runs, long showers accompanied by country music, grey's anatomy, belly laughing, taking chances, chisel class, chelsea love, photos of when I did have a social life, a glass of wine, dance parties, flirting, and sleeping!
Shaker High
Monday, December 10, 2007
Personalities within the Classroom
Character traits in the class room are becoming evident! Each class has several personalities combined together to form one classroom personality. It’s amazing to see that the teacher’s mood really affects the classroom persona. I expected to see a large difference between the Honors class and the Regents class; however, I was shocked to see the difference between the two Honors class. My first two periods are Honors level classes and my third period class is Regents level. In general, my second period of Honors students seems to be weaker than the first class, even though the lesson plans are exactly the same. It is important to note, that as the teacher, I believe the lesson given second period is better than the same lesson given first period. In my opinion, each time I teach the same lesson, it gets better. I feel more confident with the material and have an idea of the questions that will be asked.
After the first two weeks of class, it is apparent that second period tends to take longer to go over homework, quizzes, and tests. There are more questions on concepts and simple errors in period 2. Also, it seems that overall period one’s atmosphere screams confidence, where period 2 does not. I want to boost the confidence level of period 2. I also note that new strategies may have to be developed for going over homework with period 2.
My goal for the remaining of the semester is to build the confidence in period 2. Confidence is part of what makes an Honors student stand out.
After the first two weeks of class, it is apparent that second period tends to take longer to go over homework, quizzes, and tests. There are more questions on concepts and simple errors in period 2. Also, it seems that overall period one’s atmosphere screams confidence, where period 2 does not. I want to boost the confidence level of period 2. I also note that new strategies may have to be developed for going over homework with period 2.
My goal for the remaining of the semester is to build the confidence in period 2. Confidence is part of what makes an Honors student stand out.
Japanese education system versus United States
The Japanese education system is known for its structure, strength, and rigor; however, to no surprise, there are flaws. Although it is almost impossible to judge an education system of another culture, I think the level of preparation forced upon the students is too intense. Unlike the United States, Japanese students are required to take entrance examinations to get into highschool. It worries me that some Japanese students are developing stress related problems at such a young age of 12-15. I find it unreasonable that the high school entrance exams weigh so much on the students’ future. At the mere age of 15, a student does not truly know themselves or their aspirations. The high school entrance exams also apply pressure to the parents of the students, who want the best education for their child, and the teachers, who are trying to satisfactorily educate the students for the exam.
At the same time, I do not think the Japanese high school entrance exams are terrible all together. They provide the students with motivation that can be carried with them in their future. Also, the students learn at an early age how to take responsibility for ones education. This is a value that many students in the United States lack. As in all education systems, there are some flawed and some exceptional aspects of the system.
In conclusion, Japanese students preparing to take the high school entrance exam put forth a great amount of effort and take personal sacrifices to do well. A little pressure never hurt anyone, but too much pressure is not healthy. The question is what is too much pressure?
At the same time, I do not think the Japanese high school entrance exams are terrible all together. They provide the students with motivation that can be carried with them in their future. Also, the students learn at an early age how to take responsibility for ones education. This is a value that many students in the United States lack. As in all education systems, there are some flawed and some exceptional aspects of the system.
In conclusion, Japanese students preparing to take the high school entrance exam put forth a great amount of effort and take personal sacrifices to do well. A little pressure never hurt anyone, but too much pressure is not healthy. The question is what is too much pressure?
Conceptual Understanding in the Classroom
I support the belief that conceptual learning and basic skills are essential in mathematics classrooms. Students should be taught to reason effectively, allowing the ability to work through problems rather than memorizing a step by step procedure. The ability to be able to reason effectively should be pushed in all classrooms as it is a valuable life skill, especially when entering the work force. Mathematics educators can assess the student’s ability to reason by assigning problems that allow students to “think outside the box” using their creativity, rather than a set procedure.
I also agree that today’s teachers need professional development. I trust that the teachers have a deep understanding of mathematic skills, yet they do not know that teaching concepts along with basic skills is necessary. For example, instructors who have been teaching for several years are prone to teach by rote learning. On the same topic, teachers may not know how to express the fundamentals of mathematics in a conceptual framework to the students. Either way, professional development will solve both problems. I strongly think mathematics educators should focus on creating an environment that incites higher level thinking while instilling basic mathematical skills.
I also agree that today’s teachers need professional development. I trust that the teachers have a deep understanding of mathematic skills, yet they do not know that teaching concepts along with basic skills is necessary. For example, instructors who have been teaching for several years are prone to teach by rote learning. On the same topic, teachers may not know how to express the fundamentals of mathematics in a conceptual framework to the students. Either way, professional development will solve both problems. I strongly think mathematics educators should focus on creating an environment that incites higher level thinking while instilling basic mathematical skills.
Implementing Graphing Technology in the Classroom
Halfway through my student teaching experience, I was forced to implement graphing technology into the classroom. We started topics such as quadractic inequalities, absolute value inequalities, and radical equations which graphing calculators are necessary to fully teach the unit. I realized I was not comfortable with the graphing calculator and did some research on the importance of the integration of technology into the mathematics classroom. I read the article “The Role of Graphing Calculators in Mathematics Reform” by Bert Waits and Franklin Demana (1998) to gain knowledge on the topic.
The most interesting part of this article is that it was written almost ten years ago. In Waits and Deamana’s closing paragraph they state “it is clear to us that ten or fifteen years in the future the mathematics curriculum of today will have changed considerably to take full advantage of just the technology that exists today.” In my opinion, the authors’ prediction of the mathematics curriculum was correct. It today’s classroom, graphing calculators are used almost everyday and readily available to the students. For example in my placement, each student owns their own calculator and in addition each classroom has a set of roughly ten calculators that the students’ may borrow. There is a television screen in each of the mathematics classroom that displays the screen of the teachers’ calculator. Thus, students are actively learning how to use the calculator correct. Additionally, there are large posters of the calculators with the buttons labeled so that the educator can teach the students the navigation of the graphing technology. Waits and Demana were also correct when they considered professional development a key factor in implementing technology in a classroom. In another example referring to my placement, staff development day at the start of the school year a workshop on the latest Texas Instrument graphing calculator called TI-Nspire was held.
In conclusion, I think Waits and Demana approach to integrating the graphing calculator into the traditional mathematics curriculum is beneficial to the students’ learning and a similar approach can be seen in the various classrooms today. Waits and Demana were correct in their thought process, just a little ahead of the rest of society.
The most interesting part of this article is that it was written almost ten years ago. In Waits and Deamana’s closing paragraph they state “it is clear to us that ten or fifteen years in the future the mathematics curriculum of today will have changed considerably to take full advantage of just the technology that exists today.” In my opinion, the authors’ prediction of the mathematics curriculum was correct. It today’s classroom, graphing calculators are used almost everyday and readily available to the students. For example in my placement, each student owns their own calculator and in addition each classroom has a set of roughly ten calculators that the students’ may borrow. There is a television screen in each of the mathematics classroom that displays the screen of the teachers’ calculator. Thus, students are actively learning how to use the calculator correct. Additionally, there are large posters of the calculators with the buttons labeled so that the educator can teach the students the navigation of the graphing technology. Waits and Demana were also correct when they considered professional development a key factor in implementing technology in a classroom. In another example referring to my placement, staff development day at the start of the school year a workshop on the latest Texas Instrument graphing calculator called TI-Nspire was held.
In conclusion, I think Waits and Demana approach to integrating the graphing calculator into the traditional mathematics curriculum is beneficial to the students’ learning and a similar approach can be seen in the various classrooms today. Waits and Demana were correct in their thought process, just a little ahead of the rest of society.
The International Gap
A few weeks after being in the class room I knew I was not in favor of the mathematics curriculum in New York State. After further research, I began to support the need for a national curriculum and learned about the international gap. The international gap shows the United States falling behind other countries in mathematics, mainly due to the lack of a national curriculum. In addition, the curriculum in the United States has a unique set up compared to high achieving international countries. The following is my reaction to Coherent Curriculum: The Case of Mathematics, by Schmidt, Houang, & Cogan in 2002.
Analyzing 41 top achieving international countries shows that their curriculum increases in the level of difficult as the grade increases. Also, the topics covered in the A+ curriculum are taught during a condensed time period with the average length of a topic spanning over 3 years.
This is vastly different than the majority of state curriculums in the United States. Research shows that topics are covered for a longer span on time, resulting in repetition over the years. Thus, each topic is briefly touched upon at each grade and overall instruction on a topic lacks depth. This curriculum is identified as ‘a mile wide, an inch deep’. In addition to the repetition the curriculum displays incoherence, or inconsistency in the order of teaching the mathematics topics.
A major set back causing the international gap between the United States and the A+ countries is that the students do not have the appropriate requisite background to fully understand a particular topic because of the lack of order seen in the states’ curricula. Due to the lack of depth within each topic, some students do not attain enough knowledge to build upon. Therefore, students tend to fall more and more behind at the introduction of a new topic. According to Hirsch, the widening of the international gap can be attributed to this occurrence. Even more so, Hirsch believes the lack of previous knowledge and the process of falling behind due to an incoherent curriculum is the cause of the achievement gap between privileged and underprivileged students within the United States.
At this point in the article, I get frustrated and stop reading. Closing the achievement gap between minorities and their peers in the United States is the motive that keeps me going in the education field.
I am in agreement that the lack of a national curriculum is a disadvantage to the teachers and students in the United States. I am hopefully that changes will be reinforced; however, I know that the effects of the change will not be immediate. If the curriculum was altered, it would be a long process, but well worth the wait!
Analyzing 41 top achieving international countries shows that their curriculum increases in the level of difficult as the grade increases. Also, the topics covered in the A+ curriculum are taught during a condensed time period with the average length of a topic spanning over 3 years.
This is vastly different than the majority of state curriculums in the United States. Research shows that topics are covered for a longer span on time, resulting in repetition over the years. Thus, each topic is briefly touched upon at each grade and overall instruction on a topic lacks depth. This curriculum is identified as ‘a mile wide, an inch deep’. In addition to the repetition the curriculum displays incoherence, or inconsistency in the order of teaching the mathematics topics.
A major set back causing the international gap between the United States and the A+ countries is that the students do not have the appropriate requisite background to fully understand a particular topic because of the lack of order seen in the states’ curricula. Due to the lack of depth within each topic, some students do not attain enough knowledge to build upon. Therefore, students tend to fall more and more behind at the introduction of a new topic. According to Hirsch, the widening of the international gap can be attributed to this occurrence. Even more so, Hirsch believes the lack of previous knowledge and the process of falling behind due to an incoherent curriculum is the cause of the achievement gap between privileged and underprivileged students within the United States.
At this point in the article, I get frustrated and stop reading. Closing the achievement gap between minorities and their peers in the United States is the motive that keeps me going in the education field.
I am in agreement that the lack of a national curriculum is a disadvantage to the teachers and students in the United States. I am hopefully that changes will be reinforced; however, I know that the effects of the change will not be immediate. If the curriculum was altered, it would be a long process, but well worth the wait!
Mathematics is the Evil in Education
I’m frustrated. I want my students to want to learn Mathematics. The Honor students: They want to be at the top of the class, go to a top notch 4 year school, and keep their GPA up to make their coaches and parents proud. But do they want to learn Mathematics? Some of them yes. Some no. And this is frustrating. The honors classes differ from the regents class I teach in that the honors classes are more in depth with derivations and proofs of how concepts come about. In my opinion an honors student should appreciate the derivation of the quadratic formula using complete the square. Yet, there are moans coming from the corners of the classroom when they are required to take notes on something they are not tested on.
It shows how the education system in New York is solely based on grades. But at the end of the day, grades are just numbers. I would rather have my students get a B, learn from their mistakes, and admit they did not get an A than have my students receive an A by pure rote learning. But the students do not see the latter as an option. (This is evident after seeing the facial expressions when returning their first grade of the year.)
It shows how the education system in New York is solely based on grades. But at the end of the day, grades are just numbers. I would rather have my students get a B, learn from their mistakes, and admit they did not get an A than have my students receive an A by pure rote learning. But the students do not see the latter as an option. (This is evident after seeing the facial expressions when returning their first grade of the year.)
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