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I love, love, love that this teacher incorporates music and motion into her learning-- it is so stimulating and makes the kids build memory using their body and the rhythm of song to ingrain what they are doing daily in class!  This is both meaningful and motivational.  I was taught in a very dry, traditional method which often shamed students for not feeling like they "got it" if their hands were not raised with correct answers.  I felt that there was only one model for learning, without thinking that students need to use different methods to cement learning.

Love the process of "3 ways..."  Allows kids to wrestle with a problem, realize there is more than 1 way to get to an answer, but instead of the teacher explaining "how,"  the 3 students get to explain the "how" to the class, further ingraining self-confidence and knowledge-- the best way to learn really is to have to teach it to others!  Brilliant!

Her math strategies-- breaking numbers down, or using mental math to make easier problems is such a great way to work in large group and for kids to see there are many different ways to simplify problems-- it's all so positive and I would want to structure my classroom using her ideas to empower my students!

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How does the teacher make learning meaningful?

Structure, consistency, predictability, song, music, movement, singing, posing questions to students about why are we doing this? Students show and explain their work to the whole class. Discourse in the groups while working on the problem. Journaling. Maximum 20 minutes of work time and use of clock, bells, timers, etc. Having students explain how or what they did. Normalize error. Learning positions (body is ready to learn).

What types of motivational strategies does the teacher use?

Her philosophy that if students are working and thinking hard then they will find success. Daily practice. Time to work and problem solve. Independent work then moving towards partners or teams. She gives them a high five, a hug and checks in with them individually to ensure well-being. Allowing choice for the students. Effort means they're taking ownership of their own learning. Hard worker, think hard and apply yourself, the effort and that's what makes you successful. You can always keep trying and think more.

How can you apply this to your own classroom?
I appreciated her comments for new teachers on how to create a schedule for the students. That try to create a schedule that would work best but know that it can be adaptable and you are not locked into it. Don't be afraid to make changes or try new things in your classroom.

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From the start, Ms. Saul has students up and out of their seats, interacting as a classroom. This allows the students to understand, and immediately sets the tone, that the classroom is a collaborative community in which every student will be involved and working together. Throughout the lesson, she asks the students why they might be utilizing a certain strategy which allows them to better comprehend the purpose of their learning. This allows for the learning to be more meaningful.

A prime motivational strategy she uses is having the students acknowledge that their hard work reciprocates knowledge and that the harder they work, the smarter they can become. She lets them know that she understands and that if their brains are tired it is because they are putting in a good effort. This gives them ownership of their own learning.

Other stuff she does that is beneficial throughout the lesson is having the kids work with different partners, or table mates, and also by themselves. This allows for the class and lesson to keep moving and not feel stagnant or repetitive. She also provides them with several different ways to solve the same problem, acknowledging that there is more than one way to solve a problem.

I can apply this to my own classroom by creating an atmosphere in which the students understand the reasons for what they are learning and understand the purpose of their hard work. I can emulate Ms. Saul's classroom and provide the students in my room with different ways to learn the material and different people to work with throughout each lesson. Furthermore, I can attempt to make my lessons as engaging as hers by offering movement and music.

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The teacher, Ms. Saul, makes learning meaningful in both her planning for her lessons and classroom and also in how she explains and draws connections between math and the world. Something in particular I noticed was how she utilized music in her classroom to help students to remember an order of numbers or math facts. She recognized that music helps students to retain information and applied it to her classroom. She also utilized the "think hard work hard" mantra in her classroom to reinforce for students the idea that their effort and use of thinking strategies is what helps them to be successful and learn. Success in math is not a fixed characteristic that you have or do not. I also loved that she explicitly drew a connection for why we use mental math in the world. She elicited an answer from the students "because math is all over the world" and expanded upon it by saying "and do we always have a pencil and paper on us to write out problems? no." She very nicely used student input to draw a connection about why mental math is useful!

I also loved her use of motivational strategies such as music and cheers! The rollercoaster cheer, round of applause cheer, motivational song as students begin their math work help build community and encourage students. I also loved her "heads together butts up" cooperative learning element. I thought that was extremely motivational because it got students to collaborate with each other and share how they are approaching a problem in a low-stress environment. Students could learn from and teach each other. I also thought that having students come to the board and explain their answer was motivational too because it helped students to feel like an expert in their subject and that their thinking is heard and valued. One little boy, Carlos, I think, said that "they correct it but they don't say like you're wrong." A girl named Sarah said, "when you go up there it's like we are a family, like we are all friends." Clearly Ms Saul has done a great job of teaching students how to listen respectfully to their classmates when they go and share something in front of the class. I also loved Ms. Saul's little bit of affirming physical touch for students as they walked out of the classroom. That hug or squeeze coupled with a nice word really helped the students to feel loved and valued in her classroom. I think that is an amazing thing and I hope to implement this in my own classroom in the fall.

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There were lots of instances of making learning meaningful in this classroom. She made their class a safe space for error and for presenting without fear. She paired them up for discussion so they are doing more talking than her. She differentiated the lesson into many different applications to keep it interesting. She made sure they moved a lot, at least every 20 minutes. She made sure their "brains were tired" and explained why that is a good thing. The most important thing was that she helped them take ownership of their learning.

Motivation included using song and dance to inspire learning. Touch is another tool she used to make sure each kid knew she was connected to them that day and appreciated their hard work. I love that she normalized error and the students commented on how they are a family and no one is nervous to speak in front of the class.

I love the songs for the math facts! That was awesome! It was interesting to see them do timed math facts tests because that was discouraged at my school in the last few years. I love that she kept herself on track with a timer. I am familiar with the mental math, at our school we call it number talks, we use the language and the hand signals to do this as well. I love seeing other classes do it too though, I cant wait to have my own class to implement this time with them. :)

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There were many similarities between the lessons being meaningful and motivational!
-The teacher made this learning meaningful by the day to day consistency, incorporating real world problems, taking ownership to their learning from the 'find 3 ways', ensuring self instead of waiting for the teacher to tell them they got it right, and feeling important, and normalizing error.  This teacher allowed the students to work independently as well as in groups to be able to communicate effectively about math.
-To make the lessons motivating, the teacher incorporated song, dance, and movement, had a positive attitude, encouraged students to encourage their peers, had times of indendent thinking and turning and talking to partners, had student led discussions, and allowed students to have choices as to which strategies they thought worked the best.
-This video gave many purposeful strategies to use in my future math classroom.  I enjoyed watching how the teacher had the math block split up into different parts, but obviously stayed consistent with those parts every day.  Not only does consistency help students learn, but they are building off of newly learned skills every day-which makes for an effective classroom.  I liked that the teacher had many opportunities for student assessment individually but also has the students working together.  The students obviously encourage each other because they felt very comfortable leading the class in math discussions.

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How does the teacher make make learning meaningful?

Strategies and instruction that relate to their life, talk and ask about why math is important. Students have a chance to discuss together their work and share.

Schedule making good use of time and transitions, use of timer.

What types of motivational strategies does she use?

Her attitude is excited about math - she uses music and movement to engage and unite the students. Personal talk/interaction at the end of day.

Teaching a growth mindset - that students have success at math because they think everyday, work hard.

Discussing with students why math is important/how it applies… ex. Mental math

Use of music and motions to help with remembering math facts. I like how she had both group practice and individual math journal practice.

How can I apply?

I can use her techniques such as adding music and movement, promoting the importance of effort and trying hard, good use of the schedule and planning, regular teaching of mental math and facts practice, students discussing with each other math, use of relevant math problems to my students and building positive relationships with them.

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•How does the teacher make learning meaningful?
•What types of motivational strategies does the teacher use?

-How can you apply this to your own classroom?

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The teacher in this video made math meaningful because she gave students real-life situations when practicing math. She also showed how they would use a skill, such as mental math, in real-life and why.

The teacher in this video used a variety of motivational strategies. For example, she tried to involve the students as much as possible in their learning. They were constantly involved in the lesson and she incorporated a lot of collaboration activities and opportunities. Another way was using student-led solutions, meaning she had students show their work to the class. She also believed in keeping students moving periodically throughout the day. Lastly, I want to mention the connection she created with students. Not only did she say that is what she tries to do but you can see in the video that the students respect and trust her and that they are surrounded by a comfortable and accepting environment.

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This teacher makes learning meaningful by getting her students up and moving and being active in their math. The students are engaged and look like they enjoy what they are doing, the songs about the multiplication facts I think are great. She keeps her students moving. Another way she makes learning meaningful is she plans on her day to the minute, she uses a timer throughout the day to help the students keep to a schedule and make the most of their time. Her students are also turning and talking about math specifically mental math and she asks them why we need math and why it is important.
Some motivational strategies she uses in her class is when they are leaving for the day she gives them a hug, pat on the back or something that lets them know that she is happy they are working hard in her classroom. She talked about her students having their brains working all the time throughout the day and encourages this. She talks about having a strong classroom culture which causes her students to be excited about learning.
I can apply this to my own classroom by using some of the math strategies and activities that were shown in the video. I like the activity about 3 ways because it lets the students choose and give the freedom to learn which gives them confidence. They them work with other students how they got their answers. I thought this was a great video on students being very involved in their learning instead of sitting at their desk doing math.