My first math doodle

I got my first random picture from a student! Too funny.

Sayings of the Week

So a couple sayings that I found quite humorous this week. As a precursor my maturity level varies between where it should be and that of a middle school boy.

One happened while we were playing a game called TriBond. In this game the goal is to guess the connection between 3 different words. For example Pert, head and shoulders, and suave are all shampoos. So anyways I let a boy read off some of the cards and he gets to one that stumps us all.

"Snow, Moth, Gum."
Now we all are confused and I take a guess at flies but all of us were wrong.
"Alright fine I'll just come right out and say it...Balls!"
*everyone bursts out laughing* and my composure is shot.

Second good quote once again had to deal with unicorns. A different boy spent 15 minutes trying to convince us unicorns live in the ceiling vents. It was priceless.

The Goldilocks Dilemma

This week has been a learning filled week. Starting Monday, I took over all three hours of regular 7th grade math and the whole week I've felt like I was in my own Goldilock's story because I could not figure out the pace of the lesson and each period has its own personality. Before I go into day by day review of what I did here is the class makeup,

1st hour: this is what Miss Mobius and I like to call the 'bobblehead' class because that is about as much energy as you will get out of them. This class is extremely easy on the classroom management side but it is so hard to tell if they understand the material or don't because they give such little feedback. There are some days where it feels like I'm talking to a brick wall while trudging through molasses. I'm working on how to alter a lesson to their needs/capabilities that first morning class.
2nd hour: is probably my favorite hour. The class and I have such a good relationship as a whole and individually because they have a good amount of energy and are respectable to me and each other. I also have found I am able to be myself around this class the easiest because they are easy to joke with and be sarcastic with.
5th hour: is my classroom management test. They come in right after lunch so they're bursting with energy and chatter so its the complete opposite of 1st hour. They are the only class to have really heard my teacher voice and while it is hard to be in discipline mode because I want to teach them, I know I have to instate my authority before I can be more of myself around them. Because I wasn't hesitant to manage them, it made Thursday and especially Friday flow and feel a lot more comfortable.

Monday I felt the lesson went too fast because even though it was creating a review foldable (see below) giving directions and reviewing the material takes a lot of time since they are not used to my language and I'm not use to their 7th grade demeanor. Up until this point I've spent my time observing, planning, and teaching high school math students but high school pace is much quicker than 7th grade pace. Although the speed was a little rough, the students ended up liking the review foldable because there is a 'secret' compartment that they can flip to. The foldable is essentially 8 flashcards in one piece of paper so that they could review properties, evaluating expression, finishing sequences, and using the distributive property.

Tuesday caught be by surprised. They were supposed to take a quiz that day so I had (naively) assumed it would be an easy day. What I had forgot to consider was the quick review I needed to give them and how to state the directions clearly for the quiz. I also forgot about the time between handing out the quizzes and receiving them back how I would be grading them. Lastly, during 5th hour, my classroom management hour, Miss Mobuis went out into the hallway to tutor a student who had been gone and that time the students decided to test me. They are the first class to really hear my teacher voice because it took them quite some time to stop talking for the quiz. There were two students who I had to keep telling to be quiet so afterward I brought each of them aside separately to tell them the reason I had to keep yelling at them was because some students cannot concentrate with noises around and I didn't want to assume they were cheating. Luckily, both of these confrontations went well and calling for authority now helped me later in the week.

Wednesday was my first full teaching day since Monday was mainly review and Tuesday was the quiz. This lesson went too slowly. I'm certain 1st hour took 2 hours. The problem was that I tried to have the students see visually what a word problem was asking for. I had three students come up and play Hugo, Patricia, and Sun (seen right) and then handed them expressions as the story asked for it. This idea did not go over so well 1st hour, 2nd hour really enjoyed it, and it was about 50/50 on 5th hour. At this point I was starting to get nervous about this timing thing because on Thursday my supervisor was coming and I really wanted to nail the timing for him and myself. I made sure then on Wednesday to take care of myself by exercising and getting enough sleep and that surely did wonders on Thursday and Friday (who woulda thunk it....).

Thursday Goldilock's was achieved! I finally got an activity for 1st hour to move around to and get their energy flowing--thank goodness because this was the hour my supervisor came. I handed out an index card to each student with either an expression or a vocab word they learned yesterday. The goal of the activity was to find their partner. This activity worked really well 1st and 2nd hour and it was easy to see if the vocabulary words stuck or not. After this activity, I gave them notes over how to simplify expressions and then I had them trade off with a partner in the steps of simplifying different expressions. The lesson finally timed out really well! 5th hour I learned that having them get up and move right away proved difficult because it was hard to get them to all be quiet enough to give good directions. I'm still learning. Also, my supervisor gave me some really exceptional comments considering it being my first time being watched. I told him about my timing issue and he said that I'm likely to continue struggling with that but when I do get it down, it will make my lessons so much better.


Friday was just wonderful. The lesson for Friday regarded adding linear expressions so I split up the examples I did for them and then they did for me into three 'levels' so that they knew the difficulty of each problem. I really think they liked knowing this and could anticipate each part well. After the lesson, I had 5 index cards numbered 1-5 that they could chose from. Surprisingly they really liked this activity (thanks to Miss Mobius for this idea). 2nd hour I had one boy tell me that he got all 5 problems right! He was so proud of himself and so am I. Those are the moment I live for. 

As you can see, I survived week two even with all of its struggles and strengths. This next week I teach all of Math 7 classes again and in about a week and a half I attempt to add on Pre-Algebra.

Last but not least, I go to show a ViHart video on Tuesday and Friday about Spongebob and Fibonacci as a continuation from Friday's small exerpt about them. Here's that video!

Here goes nothing..here goes everything

Overall, I am really impressed on how inviting the classroom environment is. I have felt fairly comfortable in front of the class the whole time, I have learned all 150 kids names (that was my goal for the week), and I have now been given the responsibility of all the 7th grade math classes because my teacher trusts me. I am very flattered and very nervous for tomorrow especially since it will be my first full out lesson. I'm slightly worried about how to move from the college student to a student teacher where I have to focus more in on classroom management. I think it is only easy now because I'm the new girl, but I think that will soon fade and they will bring out their true colors. All in all, my teacher has a good classroom management in place which is extremely helpful and I'm noticing that discipline is more controlled than the high school. I've realized that that is obviously because the high schoolers were taught how to act in middle school. 

Looking back, I'm really thankful for how this week has gone and that so far I have the patience, creativity, and ability to stand in the middle school classroom. The students are a show everyday and I love seeing the environment, attitude, and flow change from class period to class period. I can't believe I start to take control of half the day tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Here goes nothing...here goes everything.

Names, Fibonacci, and BUZZ!

Thursday was very similar to Tuesday's review session (I'd show a picture, but Ms. Mobius erased it before I could snap a picture). Because I was starting to get into the flow of things, I spent most of Thursday really trying to nail down names. I decided to not let pride get in the way of me asking for their names, sometimes more than once. Thursday after school, we had our department meeting where we solidified the curriculum map for the chapter we are currently working on. While I didn't have much to say, Ms. Mobius did ask me to explain the Flyswatter Bingo game and the Review Foldable I'm making on Monday in order to let the other teachers know of the ideas I'm trying to contribute to the classroom.

 Friday was predominantly quiz day because it was the end of the semester so school was finished at 12:00. That day went by so quickly because we only had 30 minute classes so with checking assignments, creating homework maps, and taking a quiz, there was not much time to reflect. Luckily, each class finished their quiz early so I was able to use those last 5-10 minutes. For the Math 7 classes, I told them about the Fibonacci sequence because they recently were taught about sequences. I was able to tell them how it is all over in nature and how it's one of my most favorite things about math. In one of the classes I was also able to talk to them about the Golden Ratio. One class period, I rambled as long as I could and there was still time left so I took a survey.

Me: So I was wondering, if when I start having kids, what do you think about naming a kid Fibonacci?

*blank stares* *two kids in the back shaking their heads*

Me: No? Hmm fine. Well what about if I named a kid Pythagoras and wait for it....I could nickname it Pi. 

*This girl is crazy looks* *more kids shaking their heads no*

Me: Fine. I suppose I should start paying for therapy now. 

For the pre-Algebra classes I was able to introduce the game BUZZ! to them which was a lot of fun--especially with the last class of the day. The game is a counting game where the leader starts at 1 and then each person follows in sync the subsequent numbers. The trick is anytime there is a number with the number 7 in it or the number is a multiple of 7, you have to say BUZZ!. For example

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, BUZZ, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, BUZZ, 15, 16, BUZZ, 18, 19, ...

Each class could only make it to 26...we will be trying for 30 next week!

The rest of Friday was spent lesson planning for this upcoming week because Ms. Mobius is handing off the 7th grade regular math classes already! Happy Lesson Planning Weekend to me!

Properties, Flyswatters, and the Unicorn Apocalypse

4th hour discussion today:

Little Limit*: There is going to be an Unicorn Apocalypse.

Me: Really? Why do you say that? Unicorns are not scary.

LL: Exactly. When they explode, they'll explode into a million sparkles!

Me: Sparkles? What about using their blood to live like in Harry Potter?
Little Prism: Hey! Haven't you seen the Chronicles of Narnia? They have unicorns that go to war!

Me: I suppose you're right, maybe they are able to start an apocalypse.

LP: I have a unicorn! I rode it to school today!

Miss Mobius: Really? What's its name?

LP: Captain SparklePants

(some time later)

LP: You know which apocalypse I'd prefer? A Dinosaur Apocalypse, because really who can say they've been run over by a T-Rex? Anyone? I didn't think so. It should be a Dinosaur Apocalypse.

And those were the words of wisdom of the day brought to you by lovely 7th grade girls.

Looking over the last three days, I can't believe it has only been three days. It feels like I've been here at least a week already if not three (each day feels like a week because so much information is learned student wise and pedagogy wise). Before starting this week I had assumed that I would be observing most of this week...boy was I wrong. 1st hour I already started putting things into the grade book; 5th hour I was helping someone out in the hall; and by the end of the day I was creating and running the tutoring session. Talk about diving straight into the classroom! 

Tuesday Miss Mobius went ahead and let me create and lead the board problems which is about a 10-15 minute chunk at the beginning of every regular 7th grade math hour where the students review previous concepts from the chapter. So in order to help make review interesting, I traveled back to my 5th grade classroom where my teacher always made it like a game show to come up and place your answer on the board. The game show is called "Why Me?" Because everyone knows that is your first thought once your name is called. While first hour was a little low on the energy, 2nd and 5th hour really had a lot of fun with it as I joked with them how I needed a theme song and a big spinning wheel. Simultaneously, the students showed growth from the day before and I was able to help out those at the board who were struggling. After I finished these games, my job was not over. I started to place myself in the classroom as another teacher that is able to walk around, answer questions, and catch mistakes. These moments have really built up my street cred if I must say so myself. Here's an image of the board problems I used:

Wednesday--Today! Today I ran that same 10-15 minute chunk but this time we wanted to specifically review five properties that the students are learning. I remembered a fun game I always liked to play--Flyswatter Bingo! Again, I made it sound like a game show and had the competition set. I also remembered to talk about setting rules with what to do with the flyswatters and what not to do and I felt the students got the point without feeling harped on. Once again 1st hour was a little hesitant but we got the goal accomplished, 2nd hour was crazy competitive, and 5th hour was somewhere in between. It was such a blast walking around handing the flyswatters to the students whether they had volunteered, tried to volunteer their friend, or even made a slight gesture like fixing their hair. I didn't have anyone become self-defiant but they all rose to the challenge. Here's the flyswatter bingo I put together:

So all in all I am honestly having a blast everyday with these kids. I must say, I am getting along well with my goal of learning all of the students names by Friday (I'd say I'm at a solid 50% if not 60% on all of their names). I'll keep you posted on how I do Friday because Miss Mobius might be testing me there. 

So there you have it! There are some small tidbits to an already crazy, exciting time.

*Little will be placed in front of each student's name because a girl named Limit just isn't that exciting. I am aware though that most of the time these students are not little since they're not smaller than me... 

P.S. Because we talked about Unicorns today and because this is probably the first video I saw online in middle school, I'm bringing back Charlie the Unicorn. 

I'm ready

I can't believe that January 14 is basically here. I woke up this morning at 7:30am and realized that in 24 hours I will be in my classroom getting set for the day--mind blown. Here's a picture of part of the classroom that I will be working in:

The last couple weeks have sent me on a roller coaster of emotions ranging from joy and excitement to terror and anxiety. Overall though, I feel certain that these are the emotions I'm supposed to be feeling going into a career that I've prepared for and dreamed about since my first day of college.

I remember how when I first saw the year 2013 pop up on the screen at midnight on New Year's Day, my first thoughts were, I finally made it--I made it to the year of change. I was filled with so much expectancy and excitement regarding student teaching, graduating, and starting a real job--all the things that 2013 will bring. And! It will bring so much more! I realize the transition will be another roller coaster of its own, but once again, I have to think that it is time and God is going to take me step by step through all of it.

E Middle School are you ready to learn from me? Because I'm certainly ready to learn from you.