https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes - CEDC 729.5 - en-us 2018-10-01 01:14:44 UTC 2018-12-03 22:55:15 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Folder.png avigo16 https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/292541111 Being the first day of the Go school, the day was mostly spent doing icebreakers. One icebreaker in particular had the students do a poem, consisting of coming up with characteristics that described them, starting with the letters of their name. Each characteristic also had to be accompanied by a drawing. This turned into multiple means of expression when some of the students decided to color what they wrote and their drawings, some of them did elaborate black and white drawings, some of them drew stick figures, and some drew word bubbles of dialogue representing the characteristic. ]]> 2018-10-14 14:54:32 UTC https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/292541111 avigo16 https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/295183983 Since I teach 6th grade math, the head teacher asked me to help her out with ways to make the math lesson a bit more interactive. It was a lesson on equivalent fractions and she had magnetic fraction strips, so I thought we would be fine. We had a hard time engaging some of the students who were constantly asking to go to the bathroom and to get water. I then had an idea from my math curriculum class. In order to have multiple means of representation, I had those students bring cups of water filled only halfway and 1/4 of the way. We then labeled them as 1/2 and 1/4 with the magnetic strips. According to the strips, 2/4 should be equal to 1/2, so I had the students pour together the two 1/4 cups of water and they saw that it was indeed equal to the 1/2 cup of water.]]> 2018-10-21 14:27:49 UTC https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/295183983 avigo16 https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/297687669 Today a portion of us student teachers were set aside to receive a quick PD on running records. Once we were done I returned to my assigned class, who were doing a worksheet on adding fractions with different denominators. All except two of the students were having trouble finding equivalent fractions in order to get the fractions in the addition problem to have the same denominator. Related to last week's learning barrier, I realized I provided a concrete model to go with the fraction strips, but we did not connect the fraction strips to the abstract mathematical expressions. In that sense, we did not provide the necessary multiple means of representation. My head teacher wants to cover addition of fractions again next week, so I will follow up on that.]]> 2018-10-27 21:01:40 UTC https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/297687669 avigo16 https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/303358418 Today the head teacher did a read aloud and then had the students do an activity in which they had to draw the four main events of the story. We allowed for multiple means of expression when some of the students asked if they could do the following:

1) draw in color
2) draw stick figures with word bubbles
3) draw elaborate borders separating the four drawings]]> 2018-11-12 16:54:59 UTC https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/303358418 avigo16 https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/306051754 During the math portion of the day, the head teacher decided we should do stations to reinforce multiplication facts. I ended up in charge of a station with multiplication bingo. I asked the students how they did in the different stations as they went through mine. The consensus was that they were better at some of the activities and not as good in others. All of them involved multiplication in one way or another, so it was a good example of multiple means of engagement. In the end, we realized that almost all of the students were good with their multiplication facts, which meant we could move on to applying this knowledge into multiplication of fractions.

]]> 2018-11-19 18:16:03 UTC https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/306051754 avigo16 https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/310683667 Recommendations for GO Project:

- More curriculum support for head teachers. My head teacher did wonders with the little guidance that she got. That said, more support in that respect would give them a better idea of what to do.

- Standardized integration of student teachers. My head teacher and I did our best to leverage our strengths and weaknesses (she's better at ELA, I'm better at math), but more guidance on what is expected of both of us in the classroom would be beneficial.

- Some sort of orientation experience with the one day volunteers. The regular volunteers are the backbone of the GO Project student experience. They are invaluable in dealing with classroom management and instruction. One day volunteers, on the other hand, were a hit or miss. An orientation would set expectations and indirectly weed out people not cut out for volunteer work with students.]]> 2018-12-03 22:39:55 UTC https://padlet.com/avigo16/observation_notes/wish/310683667