How do people maintain blogs? They must have far better time management than I do. Once I no longer had a student teacher, any semblance of time to plan, prepare for lessons and assess just seemed to vanish. Report cards loomed. I missed two separate weeks with my students, so when it came time to start writing those, I felt like we hadn’t done much at all!
Our schedule changed slightly too – we lost a PE block (we were sharing with another class before, and dropped down to two blocks a week to reduce contacts with other classes). While I feel like that should have meant that I would have MORE time, somehow, I had less. I’m not sure how I fit everything in before… although a colleague pointed out that my math blocks are likely longer than previous years. Yeah, that story checks out.
So what have we been doing?
Bimonthly quizzes (twice a month, not every two months, in case you – like me – weren’t sure). I’ve been working with the students to try to explain that I don’t count points or average marks in math. These quizzes are opportunities for students to show me more of what they know. I wonder if I need to rebrand these? We’ve had a few different formats:
- Individual quizzes (you know, standard format)
- Individual quiz, followed by me frantically running to the photocopier. Once copied, I handed out the photocopies, randomly assigned students to groups to try and check their answers/add more in a colour of pen that stands out from the photocopies. This allowed me to see what they could do on their own, what they could do together, and give them another chance to review the material
- Collaborative quiz followed by individual quiz
Since we’ve been spiraling through units, I’ve been adding one or two questions per strand, to allow for more review. I’ve also been toying with the idea of giving the students a physical copy of my assessment grid so that they can choose an “I can” statement that they feel like I need to add. I suppose I’ll have to make up a question bank – but would love to leave an option for students to make up their own question too!
Spiraled units – I feel like I’m doing a better job of spiraling this school year. The loose plan I laid out has helped guide me. I’ve been able to explore MathUp a bit lately, and they also have some suggested year plans. I may try following one of those next year. I’ve also realized that I can address more than one thing at a time, like reviewing algebra while also talking about strategies for multiplying and dividing decimals. I know that sound silly, but it’s good for me to remember that I don’t have to do the two as separate lessons.
Thin slicing and problem strings – I’ve been experimenting with ways of doing problem strings and creating my own thin sliced activities. We had a great one with algebra which kept me moving around the room from group to group. Music to my ears? When I got to one group and a student confessed, “Oh, we did that question already. We, uh, copied the question from another group while we were waiting.” I definitely celebrated that outwardly, so hopefully that group knows they have my full support in doing that again! I also loved celebrating with students once they were able to answer something that took a while to get there. So. much. fun!
10 mins to bell. I should probably do all the things.
Notes for my future forgetful self 