Homework Observation

OBSERVATION

                The content of the homework consists of problems from the textbook (which can be a physical book or it can be found online). These problems are chosen by the teacher. The problems picked are to increase and challenge the students, but mainly to give the students have practice with types of problems they will see on the test. These problems almost always follow from what was discussed in class that day. The students are to finish the homework and return it by the next day in class. The problems are of good quality for the most part. It seems that some repeat showing the same skills over and over, but usually those topics need to be repeated so that the students can get a good handle on the problems. The number of homework problems never should take the students over an hour, maybe even a half an hour. Our teacher doesn’t assign a certain number since some problems are very short so that night there might be a greater amount of problems to accomplish for the next day. Some days our teacher will make a worksheet that will have the same criteria as discussed here.

                The students write the number of which question they had trouble on from the night before on the board as they are walking in to class. The teacher will go over big questions that several students struggled on, but she will not do the entire problem so they are still using their skills to give the complete answer. The first five minutes of class is used to go over homework. Our teacher says that she never wants to use more, but if it needs to happen then they really missed the point of the class before. I think the efficiency of the homework review is very good. It is good and concise. The effectiveness varies. If the students really still don’t understand something then they will come in to ask questions after school.

                The procedure to check the students’ homework is quick and effective. Our CT said to never put a grade on the top of the page since research shows that students look only at the grade and never at the feedback. So she grades and comments on how to do things that the students don’t understand. Individual work is checked. Each student has their homework checked individually. These assignments are checked either the day they are turned in or the immediate day after.  Incomplete homework is not accepted until there is an answer for each question. The criterion for the grade is completion, but as said above incomplete homework is not accepted. I think effectiveness of the grading is good. It is definitely efficient for the teacher since they are not putting a grade for each assignment. It is good for the students also since the grader can tell whether they tried, copied or just wrote stuff down.

INTERVIEW

                Homework is assigned nearly every day. The only days that are not included in this is usually the day before a test since the previous homework assigned is sufficient, or the day after a test. A majority of the assignments come out of the text since the teacher loves the text for Algebra. If the problems are not good or insufficient then there are worksheets that are created by the teachers that teach that level of math. The problems that are pulled from the book are ones that look like the test. The test drives everything she does. So these problems can be word problems or simple equation solving. In the book she also looks for diagnostic things that give good feedback for her as the teacher. She also likes her homework worksheets to be more challenging than the tests since she knows if the students can understand her homework then they can get the test. Usually these assignments are not more than a hour and she tells the kids to not spend more time than this.

                She does not like to spend a whole lot of time on homework at the beginning of class since very few kids are engaged in that activity. She answers the questions, but does not dwell on these things. She likes to go over parts of questions such as getting started or a certain step and leave the rest of the problem for the kids to figure out. To grade the homework, she picks three questions that she posts on the board that they grade on their own. Also, she picks three questions that she picks and grades on her own. She does not assign projects as individuals, but some projects are completed in class by groups.

REFLECTION

                I think that based on everything I have seen in this class so far, this way of going over homework is very effective and efficient for the teacher. It gives a great view of what the kids know and it gives them feedback as to what they are missing. Right now there is an all or nothing scoring, however that is changing over the next semester. Instead of all or nothing, it will be based on the three question that are picked by the teacher. Based on how many of the three questions they get incorrect then they will receive a 100, 90, 80 or 70. This is good because then they will connect that getting the right answers is just as good as doing the work. So it transforms from doing work to doing GOOD work. This will help me achieve my goals. This is very diagnostic is nature since the students will be getting more specific grades now that they are entering into high school.

"Showdown" Throwdown

Another week under my belt as a middle school Practicum-placed student. What a week it was!

Our classroom is set up in the same style as our Methods class (four students grouped together). Most call it cooperative learning. I did not have a strong attraction towards this when our placement began, but now I see the benefits and purpose to it. 

One reoccurring game/teaching activity we do is called "Showdown." Even though the students often see this as a contest or competition as many games become in middle school, or even in high school, and sometimes in college also. This activity really utilizes the cooperative learning structure of the classroom. The kids learn from each other through peer learning and discussion, while the teacher (and her helpers) go around to groups to make sure they are understanding.

In this activity each group of four students is given 7-10 flash cards with a question on it. Each student, first, tries to work it out on a personal whiteboard by themselves. After they get an answer then they compare to their group mates. If answers are different then hey discuss and figure out where one of them went astray.

Even though I had my several doubts as to whether this would work, due to side discussions, copying work, messing around or just not doing it, it really has been great for the students in their learning journey. Our CT always poses the question when they are about to begin, "If you are copying someone else's board is that helping yourself?" And it is always answered with several half-hearted, robotic "no's." Then she proceeds with, "If someone doesn't understand the material then is letting them copy you helping them learn?" Again the groans of "no's" fill the room. Even though the students know this is true, I can see the benefit of always reminding them when we begin.

As we did this activity one particular day this week, our CT, Cassie and myself were all checking answers. I was checking the board work of a student. Her work to get to this answer was completely jumbled and incorrect. Dropping negatives. Adding incorrectly. Taking a division sign as subtraction. Amazingly she got the correct answer: x=24. So I told her that she did not have the correct work for this answer, to which she gave me a little attitude. She could not understand why I was telling her to recheck her work if she got the same answer as all the other three students. This was when I got the opportunity to explain that the work we use to get to the correct answer is just as important, if not more important, as the the answer (Thanks Lorraine). Lesson learned.

Until next week!

Detours Ahead!

Sometimes to get to where your going you have to take a couple detours. The thing about detours is that they take extra time from our original route, but they are necessary. If you came to a road block and there was no detour route then you would be stuck until they finished the construction. This was an important lesson that I learned within my first week at Culler.

It seemed to be a regular day (as "regular" as a middle school teaching day can get). Bell rings. Take a seat. Do the warm up. Please don't talk. However, if you do, don't let the teacher see you. After experiencing what a Monday was like in our classroom, I was incredibly interested and, honestly, a little but nervous to see what shenanigans this Friday would bring. Go over the warm up activity. Take out your notes. Start lesson.

This is where the adventure of teaching took a turn. While learning about unit price I got to witness a new side of the classroom and of the teacher. It was obvious the class was not grasping the concept of what unit price was. Up to this point in our Friday class the eighth graders were unusually obedient and engaged. To alleviate their confusion our CT tried an example comparing a small jar of spaghetti sauce to a large jar of spaghetti sauce. This example led us on a string of tangents from spaghetti sauce to Spaghetti O's to favorite foods to different rhythms of clapping to whether or not our CT was dating someone. This winding path of discussion topics was driven by the students pointed and reaching questions. To say the least it was amusing to watch the students move from one topic to the other.

It was both a ten minute tangent to what they were supposed to be learning, however it was also a great help to them. While our CT, the majority of students and I were moved to tears because of our laughing, it was so great to see the personalities come alive in the class. It helped them "take a breath" from their confused minds trying to grasp a difficult concept. However, at the end of this detour the kids were more focused in their groups and willing to complete the group activities that were given to them. A possible reason for this could be due to the morale of the classroom.

As much as this was a long detour from the highway of learning, it was a beneficial detour in the grand scope of things. There are several ways to get to where you are going. Some are interstates of learning and some are back roads. However, more often than not the back roads are much more interesting.