Tokens Update!

I haven't spoken about these in a while. I wanted to share that this system is still running strong about 2 months into the school year. That's awesome! One thing that I have noticed....It seems as though if the entire class manages to get gold (i.e. 603).................................(for the most part) it stays that way. They have been like this for the past month and a half. It's like if an entire class is able to get 4 gold tokens weeks in a row, every group will repeat the same level of effort and collaboration for this to happen again.

I mention this because a student in 604 made an interesting observation, and mentioned today "Mr. E, everyone is starting to get gold now!" And he's right, as this is the 2nd week in a row in which that entire class has earned 4 golds. This class has seriously upped their game as of late. What I love about this class the most is their effort. While they are certainly not mathematically as strong as 603, their level of effort and participation with each lesson is certainly #1. They are so strong in MP #1, work together, and are focused on learning. That makes 2 out of 4 of my classes "all gold". There others are still a mix.

Note: I have changed the VSC Math Gold pencil prize to anime. I bring my laptop to the classroom and hook it up to the smartboard and have students watch Naruto and/or other cartoons. Seems to be a much more wanted prize so far!

Visual Models!

The students and I have been getting tons of mileage out of the visual models lately. We've started Unit 2 this past Monday and we've been doing a great job so far. We have been doing division with fractions. In this unit, I really want to go over any sort of topic or lesson that deals with division. It's imperative, as some of the division with fraction questions (word problems) are known to be extremely troublesome for students without strong conceptual knowledge. However, these visual models can help dig up this conceptual knowledge and help students understand what's going on in the question.

I have been staying far away from algorithms (aside from having them rewrite these division w/ fraction problems as multiplication, as making that relationship explicit is equally important). I think if we can make sense of plenty of many different types of these questions via visual models, we'll do a pretty decent job with this unit. 604 has seriously been stepping up their game, and the models have been a  great tool for them to use when tackling division w/ fraction questions. So far, what a great start to Unit #2!

Percents

For the past week and a half we have been learning about percents in VSC Math. It's been quite challenging passing on the conceptual knowledge. I've given students some of the following questions:

We've used some tape diagram models to solve some of the questions. For some of my students, prior experience with simplifying/reducing is an issue. Some haven't mastered this concept so solving these by making proportions can be troublesome. Also, some of them still struggle with the idea of a proportion or why we would use it. Cross multiplication can be used and some have preferred that (cross multiplying and dividing by the number without a "partner"), along with turning the percent into a decimal and multiplying (if we're looking for the discount). 

We have completed unit 1 and we will start unit 2 next week. It's an ongoing struggle when students are missing foundational skills from prior grades that prevents them from making extreme progress in 6th grade. The next unit encompasses 6.NS standards. I hope that all if not most of the students can really grasp the concept of division before we begin to tackle dividing fractions by fractions, and doing so with word problems.

A Game of Chess...

How awesome it would be if all pieces of mathematics could be turned into a game? The level of student engagement would increase exponentially! I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea to give students that seem to get into trouble often something like this to do. Chess is a game that requires one to constantly assess one's situation, plan, and make good choices.

One could argue that chess helps build decision making skills. But first, students have to get used to the pieces, memorize how they move and understand the purpose of the game. We all know those people (yes, even adults) who get too wrapped up with their queens! Who knows how great a student may be at this game given some time and some decent matches!?

A Trip to the Mathematics Museum....

I woke up early this morning to take a trip to the Museum of Math in the city. It was my first time going there, and I have an assignment to complete literally a month from today that required me to go to this museum. I wanted to take my students there last year, and I'm glad that I wasn't able to. I think the museum is awesome, but many of the stations are very difficult to use and/or understand. On the top level, most of the mathematics behind the stations have much to do with Geometry. I have to create a lesson plan based one one of these stations that I visited. My friends and I below playing with some of the geometric shapes on 1F below:

The part of the museum that clicked with me the most were the tiles that stuck to the wall (I cannot recall the name of this part of the museum). I could easily picture some sort of lesson where students are learning about the first few square numbers, or an elementary level class learning about perimeter and area.

It is very hard to (immediately) see the math behind most stations. I think plenty of students would enjoy coming here, but won't necessarily come away with much new mathematical knowledge. I asked an employee about an average day at the museum. Apparently, 300 students come on average, and most tend to gravitate towards the following two activities:

Of course, the bike riding.. And..................................

Some sort of interesting maze game. Apparently they are adding a few new stations to the museum and improving the activities so they are more user friendly and so that they'll hopefully be easier to extract the mathematics from. I did pick up some dice for some of my students to learn their square facts!

A Helping Hand

It seems as though I have a created a classroom culture drastically different from the one present in my room last year. Lesson learned: regardless of whether or not people are directly in your room to observe you, word gets around about what takes place in your classroom. In mine, students are really motivated to work, work together and achieve. I am aware that my instruction and practices have definitely improved from last year.

My co workers from last year have been asking for my opinion and help lately, and it's something that I feel happy about. I looked up to them last year and even now, I still do. They are excellent in their craft and genuinely care about the students. They gave me a lot of advice and help last year, and they were always there to talk to. Really, it makes me so happy that this year that I am able to help them! I feel like the structure that exists in my classroom is really just a combination of some of their teaching traits along with the ones I've developed. Some of their effective teaching traits that I jotted down last year:

- Being very positive
- Being firm
- Being fair
- Holding students accountable

My mentor, the science teacher from last year taught me a lot about making my expectations very clear to students and being quite firm and fair with them. From the ELA teacher, I learned that some classes may require different temperaments. The atmosphere of her class was far different from mine even with the same group of students. I wondered about what I could do to develop this type of atmosphere in every class as well as motivate students. I noticed a system that hold students accountable for exhibiting taught procedures and positive behavior, along with a teacher giving direct positive feedback can really help create this type of atmosphere. Not done with this post! Time to plan..

Why is Math Important Part II - VSC

Memoirs of the 7th Graders Pt. 2

Again, what a busy week! A few 7th graders came to my room earlier this week (and by earlier this week I mean yesterday) because they've taken notice of 6th graders playing Wii U. While I would love to have these students come up to play once a week, it wouldn't be fair as Wii U is a prize that 6th graders have to earn. In addition to this situation, it's hard because what about all of the other 7th graders that will inevitably hear about it?

 I'm glad they enjoy spending time with me even though I'm no longer their teacher. As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, I'm still bewildered that I made an impact on these kids. However, I don't think there's anything I can do in regards to having these 4 students play each week. Looks like it's a one time thing! I know video games are fun!

Chance Lesson - Unit Rate & Unit Price

Below are videos of VSC Math's first chance lesson. The students generally worked really well during this lesson and did a great job learning about how to find the unit price.

Task: I set up different fruit stations around the back of the classroom. There were:
Lemons - (3 for $1.50)
Kiwis - (6 for $4.80)
Limes - (8 for $1.60)
Grapefruit (1 for $2.00)
Tangerines (8 for $3.20)
Golden Apples (4 for $5.00)

Groups were to go around to different stations and find the unit rate of each fruit, along with answering a few questions:

Here are some videos of students learning:

Note: You'll see some students gettin' jiggy to Michael Jackson's music in the videos!

This week's topic: Unit Rate & Unit Price

This week, we've been learning how to find the unit rate and unit price of items. I decided that this year, I want to incorporate more movement into my lessons. To the students, they're called "chance lessons". This is a good way for students to work as a team and show that they're able to work collaboratively with their groups.

Students that succeed in these types of lessons generally don't waste much time to get started and are good at working together. Below are a few pictures of the lesson. The next post will showcase videos of the students working together and displaying their learning.

Gold Mystery Photos & Prize - Week 3

This week, I decided to give things a little break with Super Mario 3D World and I brought in Mario Kart 8. A few of the students were excited to try this title as some have never played it before, and I think they were a bit tired of SM3DW. We had a blast!

I think this will be a new favorite! I'm waiting until the 21st for the new Smash Bros. for Wii U releases.

VSC Math Mathletes Feature #1

The Mathlete page showcases a picture of some of our talented mathematicians, a video feature regarding their current thoughts and opinions about math, and a showcase of some of their recent work in VSC Math!


Student Feature # 1 - G & K

Congratulations to G & K for their excellent teamwork, responsibility, effort and collaboration. They are the very FIRST Mathletes to be featured on the VSC Math Palace! Here is a picture and their opinion on how they feel about math currently:

 

Homework Help #1 - Finding the Unit Rate

Homework Help #1 - Finding the Unit Rate
(note: the top of the sheet should say "unit rate" not "unit price")

Homework Help

The Homework Help page is intended to be a guide for students to complete specific homeworks, and also a resource for students to re-visit prior topics covered in class. It features specific homework monitors that I go through homework with at the end of the day.

There are different homework monitors from each class, so different students will be featured on different homework help posts. Please understand that there is simply not enough time to make videos and update this section daily. Try to check it once a week towards the end of the week or weekend.

The Golden Mystery Prize - Week 2

Congratulations to class 603 for beating the first boss and making it to world 2!
Congratulations to the NEW groups that earned 4 tokens to play this week!

Let's continue to earn gold tokens to make progress in Super Mario 3D World!

Gold Mystery Photos - Week 2

Introducing: Mathletes, Homework Help, and Slideshow

A great deal of why I haven't exactly posted this week, is because I've been spending time putting up the new pages for the blog. The first new page is the slideshow, a place where you can view pics of our class, advisory, or Wii U Thursdays, or anything else related to my math class.

I've also started the Mathlete page, which will give students their own voice on the blog as they share their ideas and opinions about their current experiences with math as well as my class. Students have to redeem 4 gold tokens to be featured.

Lastly, I'm starting the homework help section today. I do not think that this section will be updated everyday. I simply do not have enough time, but I will try to make this as decent of a resource as possible for students to check out when they go home.

In any case, VSC Math has had a great week. Let's keep up the good work!

Going Once...Going Twice....Not Sold...

For some weird reason, VSC Math Gold and Silver pencils are NOT a popular choice for rewards! It's almost as if students don't care about the fact that they will be the only ones with these pencils (because nobody else has chosen them), nor the fact that they say something cool, nor the fact that there's only ONE way to get each pencil!

Shouldn't they feel empowered? Shouldn't they feel excited? In students' minds, getting a chance to play the Wii U is the ultimate prize. I don't have a degree in marketing, so I have to find a way to sell these other prizes. Literally NO group has chosen these pencils! I have been using them myself...I'm sure they feel under-appreciated.

In fact, the most popular prizes in VSC Math are:
Gold Tier - Wii U/SM3DW
Silver Tier - Lunch with Mr. E (Just naming the prize, I promise I'm not that vain...)
Bronze Tier - Fruit snacks (well, there's only one other prize in this tier to be fair)

Tokens - Week II Review

This week was the second round of VSC Math Tokens. I am happy to say that this system is still running strong and stable. I have to schedule a few lunches with students on Monday, but aside from that, it's still manageable. Class 603 is running strong, with the entire class obtaining 4 gold tokens for the week. Quite impressive! I am happy to say that all of the groups from the other classes have a high mixture of gold and silver tokens (i.e. 3 gold 1 silver, 2 gold 2 silver, 3 silver, 1 gold, etc.)

While my goal is for each group to earn 4 gold tokens, I have to be quite consistent with my expectations for what type of behavior/classroom performance earns a gold token. On Wednesday, I had to take ALL tokens away from class 602, and spend time practicing lining up outside of the room and entering the class. What was interesting to me when this occurred is that I did not seem to be affected by it at all. Last year, I would be very distressed about this type of situation, but now I know the answer to this situation. That is, we have to review and practice expectations before we proceed any further (with anything). We had a discussion at the end of class about what we needed to improve on and why I took tokens away. They were flawless the next day (Thursday, double period) and I was very impressed. Unfortunately, I did not return their lost tokens. I gave each group a fruit snack except 2 groups that actually met the expectations on Wednesday.

The life of this reward system is more about my consistency than their behavior. I am happy that in 1 month, I've only had to have 2 classroom discussions. Class discussions seem to be VERY effective. I am actually amazed that a mere dialogue about what we've done wrong, and what we need to do as a class can shift students to do the right thing and earn/reclaim their tokens. I want students to understand that tokens are just representations of what their group is capable of.

Week Overview..

It's been almost a week since I've posted! This week we started to learn about unit rate and unit price, a topic that seems to get students quite confused. In addition to students needing to first understand what a unit rate/price is, they also need strong long division skills. This can take a lot of time if students don't know multiplication facts, or if they don't know how to do long division at all. I want students to practice long-division skills on their free time at home on khanacademy.org or through other means. It is so crucial to this particular topic in the current unit!