For my assignment, I interviewed a female math teacher that works at Parrish Middle School. She has been a teacher in the Salem area for 7 years and has served as the math team leader for her school.
My interview with her went very well for the most part and I learned a lot about the area and how their philosophy lines up with the nation's standards. For question 1, she basically told me that the CMP curriculum does a nice job of lining up with the core standards but is usually used as a supplement to her teaching. She will pick and choose parts of the book and show those examples to the class and work from there.
1. The CMP curriculum lines up very well with national standards. This particular teacher uses examples from the text and supplements her teaching with them and does not directly teach out of the book. She is much more creative than that.
2. When students are several grades behind, they can be placed in the same level class as their peers, and also will be enrolled in other math intensive classes to help supplement their building of and refine their math skills.
3. In CMP, homework is given out by the discretion of the teacher. The CMP workbooks don't necessarily assign students with problems to do inside the workbook; it really depends on if the students can take these home or not. In my past experiences, homework was not assigned a lot to students for whatever reasons there may have been.
4. I did not receive a very concrete response for this question because we went off on a lot of tangents during the interview.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Closure and Anticipatory Set
List of resources that contribute to the goal of this module- http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/pte/lessonplan.htm
http://www.okbu.net/ed/398/set.htm
http://crsd.wikispaces.com/message/view/home/44888164
Closure/Assessment (taken from the first source listed above)
Assessment is what you and your students do to demonstrate that you have met the lesson objectives. It may be the practice activity that follows the lesson where students apply the knowledge they've gained while you look over shoulders and give feedback; it may be a quiz over the lesson material; it may be a feedback session on the principles learned. Whatever the structure, it should be congruent with the anticipatory set and the lesson activities.
Research shows that classes that end with a specific closure activity reflect better student performance and behavior. Closure alerts students that "passing time" is near. If students recognize that the teacher will watch the clock and respect their need to wrap things up before the "bell", they are more likely to stay on task and use their time productively. Closure may be a reporting on what was accomplished during work time, putting away materials, review of the homework assignment, questions about what happens next, checking for understanding, or the assessment activity.
My definition of closure:
The closure aspect of the lesson is very important because it gives light to the purpose of the entire class period and sets an attainable goal by the whole class. Ideally, the class is somewhat responsible for contributing to reach that goal each day and the role of the teacher is to guide students to get there and not do every little thing for them (no spoonfeeding please). The closure activity can be very brief and right to the point. As a matter of fact, I almost prefer closing my days with a really brief activity at the very least because it's not very taxing and it takes very little time, and at the same time, it's meaningful and has a purpose. What is the purpose you may ask? It is simply to give the teacher a little gauge of where the students are in their thinking for that day and gives some concrete evidence of where they are at and should be according to the standards or objectives for that day.
List of resources for anticipatory set-
http://www.edulink.org/lessonplans/anticipa.htm
http://k6educators.about.com/od/lessonplanheadquarters/g/anticipatoryset.htm
A principle of learning that gives the teacher the opportunity to make a statement or ask a question that enables the student’s mind to focus and make positive transfer.
(source: edweb.fdu.edu/anyfile/BaldwinD/AntSet.ppt)
My definition of an anticipatory set:
Any form of communication that a teacher can use to help stimulate the minds of the students that is directed towards the day's lesson (it can be an activity, a question that is given, an icebreaker, written response, etc.)
http://www.okbu.net/ed/398/set.htm
http://crsd.wikispaces.com/message/view/home/44888164
Closure/Assessment (taken from the first source listed above)
Assessment is what you and your students do to demonstrate that you have met the lesson objectives. It may be the practice activity that follows the lesson where students apply the knowledge they've gained while you look over shoulders and give feedback; it may be a quiz over the lesson material; it may be a feedback session on the principles learned. Whatever the structure, it should be congruent with the anticipatory set and the lesson activities.
Research shows that classes that end with a specific closure activity reflect better student performance and behavior. Closure alerts students that "passing time" is near. If students recognize that the teacher will watch the clock and respect their need to wrap things up before the "bell", they are more likely to stay on task and use their time productively. Closure may be a reporting on what was accomplished during work time, putting away materials, review of the homework assignment, questions about what happens next, checking for understanding, or the assessment activity.
My definition of closure:
The closure aspect of the lesson is very important because it gives light to the purpose of the entire class period and sets an attainable goal by the whole class. Ideally, the class is somewhat responsible for contributing to reach that goal each day and the role of the teacher is to guide students to get there and not do every little thing for them (no spoonfeeding please). The closure activity can be very brief and right to the point. As a matter of fact, I almost prefer closing my days with a really brief activity at the very least because it's not very taxing and it takes very little time, and at the same time, it's meaningful and has a purpose. What is the purpose you may ask? It is simply to give the teacher a little gauge of where the students are in their thinking for that day and gives some concrete evidence of where they are at and should be according to the standards or objectives for that day.
List of resources for anticipatory set-
http://www.edulink.org/lessonplans/anticipa.htm
http://k6educators.about.com/od/lessonplanheadquarters/g/anticipatoryset.htm
A principle of learning that gives the teacher the opportunity to make a statement or ask a question that enables the student’s mind to focus and make positive transfer.
(source: edweb.fdu.edu/anyfile/BaldwinD/AntSet.ppt)
My definition of an anticipatory set:
Any form of communication that a teacher can use to help stimulate the minds of the students that is directed towards the day's lesson (it can be an activity, a question that is given, an icebreaker, written response, etc.)
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Inquiry and CMP Research
The CMP model is a very unique approach to teaching math. I have been recently introduced to it even within the past year or so. After experiencing math as a student through more of a direct instruction approach and practicing problem after problem to find one solid answer, it was really neat to see a different approach that has lots of research to back up its claims.
I think that one overall difference from CMP to the traditional style of teaching math is that CMP dives into more complex and applicable situations into the classroom. For example, instead of just writing out equations and simplifying them, CMP will use these concepts into investigative problems.
I feel that the CMP approach also has a sense of group work that is a valuable trait for students to foster and create for themselves. Math is not meant to be an individual journey but for great minds to come together and attack any problem at hand.
I think that one overall difference from CMP to the traditional style of teaching math is that CMP dives into more complex and applicable situations into the classroom. For example, instead of just writing out equations and simplifying them, CMP will use these concepts into investigative problems.
I feel that the CMP approach also has a sense of group work that is a valuable trait for students to foster and create for themselves. Math is not meant to be an individual journey but for great minds to come together and attack any problem at hand.
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