Week 5: Report and Reflection

Good job goes out to my fellow Learning Activity presenters Kevon and Zach, another assignment done! So good on us.

This week focused on integers and the majority of class today was spent on our learning activity presentations. I am glad that our text books provide us with very many activities that we can implement into our classrooms, and it is so interesting to see the ways that they are presented by our peers. 

This week since I was a presenter I want to reflect on the lesson I provided:

I put a lot of thought into what I was going to say and introduce my lesson and how it would flow into the activity. I decided I wanted to split my lesson into 3 categories: Minds On (introduction to material), Activity (let's test out what we just learned), and Consolidation (how what we just learned applies to the curriculum expectations and our overall learning). 

2 Rules For Adding and Subtracting
Integers & Cheat Sheet

When it came to presenting I decided I wanted to introduce what integers we were dealing with (positive/negative whole numbers). And ask students what they knew about describing a positive whole number, and use that to relate to what a negative whole number is. I wanted to use that as a lead way into what we were going to look at for the lesson which then lead into the rules, and examples. 

What I was hoping from my plan was that students who were not certain could have some understanding of the integers we were dealing with, and also had a cheat sheet on the board in writing and also a diagram that they could refer back to for the equations we were about to solve. 

I decided to make a larger than life number line using a relatable material, a deck of cards, which were going to be using in our Core Activity as well. I was skeptical on how this would turn out because I was not sure if the students holding the cards had the opportunity to see what was going on. But I also wanted it to be an experience so I thought it was necessary to have volunteers come up to hold the cards. I tried to differentiate for each types of learners; experiential learning, visual learning, written information on cheat sheets, and also oral information. I am hoping that it was effective but I am worried that I could have organized my number line better and remembered to walk through by taking steps to the next answer. Next time I want to make sure that there is enough space, and also that everyone can see the line and the cheat sheet well from where ever they are sitting. In a grade 7 classroom, students could change places with those sitting so that they all have the opportunity to stand up and hold a card and then sit back down and observe.

Larger than Life Deck of Cards Number Line

I chose the card game activity from Making Math Meaningful called Integro, where you basically use your mental math abilities to shout out the sum of all the numbers of the cards everyone in the group has drawn. This was harder in larger groups and I think in the classroom with grade 7 students I would use smaller groups (maybe even groups of 2 for those not as strong in mental math). I would also not use this as an introduction activity, but maybe after a few days of covering examples just to make sure the students have some more experience with the material before putting them on the spot in front of their peers where they could possibly be embarrassed if some know the material and others are not sure. Nicole came up with some suggestions after the activity that it would be a good idea to group those who are stronger together and those who are not as strong together; this could help so that they are not frustrated that others are quicker than them and can give them a more fair chance in playing.

Integro: Find the sum of the numbers (+2)+(+4)+(-5)+(-7) = -6

Overall I am happy with how it went, I felt that there are a few things to be aware of when using this lesson in a grade 7 classroom and practicing it first on my peers allowed for some insight on that. I find that it is hard to be in front of the class and constantly wondering if what you are doing and saying is making an effective impact, because we can't be the observers of our own teaching. I am also aware that not everything is going to go as perfectly as it will in your own head, but it is good that our peers can give us feedback. 

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A few people asked about the large scale cards I made, here is the How To For Your Own DIY Large Scale Deck of Cards:

Where: Brock's IRC

Materials (all from IRC):

• 6 pieces of large white construction paper 
• about 3 (maybe more) pieces each of black and red construction paper
• 4" Block Ellison Dies (Numbers, Letters, Shamrock, and Heart)
• Tape or Glue
• Laminator (has a cutter on it but bring scissors to cut yourself incase)
• Paper cutter
• Ruler

How:

1. Divide/cut your red/black construction paper into 4" strips (should get about 4 strips per piece).
2. Use Ellison Dies to cut out your shapes - you can put 2-4 pieces in for one cut to save time, but press down a few times to make sure it's made the cut out.
3. Once you have all your numbers/shapes organize them on your pieces of white construction paper. Find where your middle point is and mark it, and you can lay out and tape or glue the outline for two cards on one large sheet of white paper. (I laid out my numbers 1" from the edge and then taped my symbols in relationship to that).
4. When you have laid out and taped down all your numbers and letters you can laminate all your pieces. 
5. Once everything is laminated, use paper cutter to slice excess lamination off, and now cut your white paper at the middle mark so your one large white piece is now two separate cards.