Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Uncomfortable {Slice of Life}


I was feeling uncomfortable.  I didn't feel confident.  I was trying but I wasn't sure if I was doing it right.  I watched the instructor.  I tried to follow along.  I started telling myself, I can't statements.  I realized I had to stop that right away and decided to adjust what I was trying.  I focused on my feet and let my arms sometimes join in.  The pace was fast and I wondered why there wasn't more modeling before sending me off to do this on my own but then I realized I wasn't sent off on my own...I "volunteered" to come nobody sent me off.  I also wondered why the routine didn't start small and built on parts to help me remember what to do.  I finally made peace with all of this thinking and thought about all the things I ask of my students in a day.

Being a student in a dance fusion class at my local YMCA made me realize my own students need to feel comfortable to build confidence and a willingness to try.  They need to be able to self adjust a bit for success and work at their own pace a bit.  They show up each day and that's the first step for learning and being a community member.

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for fostering this writing community.

Monday, November 6, 2017

Step Back {Math Narrative}

I was launching a unit on telling time and decided to use an idea from Math In Practice, Teaching Second-Grade Math by Susan O'Connell, John San Giovanni, and Allison Peet.  They suggest having students build a human clock to help understand the clock is a circular number line.  I followed their suggestions got twelve students started and sat down with the rest of the students to observe.

My eyes darted from conversation to conversation.  I noticed the students who were leading the work and those who observed and waited to find their placement.  I observed some more as their work gathered momentum and then I smirked.  I found my teaching point.  I found a misconception.  Students had placed twelve at the top of a circle but then placed 11, 10, 9, and 8 to the right of the 12 where 1, 2, 3, and 4 should be.  They completed their circle and no one looked back at an analog clock to catch this slight error.  

I had the students count around the circle as I held up a Judy clock.  A small panic struck our room and students started to show faces of, "that's not right."  We looked at the Judy clock together and our "that's not right" faces turned to "we've got this" and instantly they were rebuilding the clock the "just right way".  Everyone wanted to try this so we had a second group try and we discovered they built a human clock much faster.  This led us to a discussion about learning from others and trying more than one time to do something.

When I attended our local state math conference a couple of weeks ago, @mlipinos used the words, math narrative and I was intrigued.  Maybe stepping back and taking time to observe we help us all capture math narratives.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep

I was trying to read the other week in a park and was quite distracted by two squirrels playing independently and then together at the base of a tree.  This was a little foreshadowing to my upcoming book sale shopping experience.  I couldn't resist picking up Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep by April Pulley Sayer and illustrated by Steve Jenkins.  At first glance, I thought the book was an easy read and maybe too easy for my second graders.  Then I read it again while shopping and discovered the simple text structure was packed with information about squirrels.

Think about this sample text - 
Tail umbrella.
Tail as flag.
Tail for balance.
zig and zag!

Maybe it's my recent personal encounter with squirrels or the carefully crafted cut and torn paper collage illustrations but I'm thinking this book is a perfect mentor text for writing from your observations.  As I read many pages, I kept nodding my head and saying; I saw that.  Not only is this about squirrels but about their impact on trees.  

The book has a wonderful four page insert at the end with additional information for readers to understand the ideas presented within the simpler text; tails as tools, feeding time, and overwhelmed by acorns are a few sections.  She also offers suggestions for further reading.  This information here makes this book accessible for readers in any grade.  I also think it would be interesting for older students to start with the last four pages and discover where the simpler texts ideas came from.