Wrap up

The class is just about over.  In fact after I write this there will be nothing more to do for this class.  So now would be a really good time to chronicle or at least visit some of the things that were really good about this class.  The things that I really want to remember to implement when I am a teacher.

Frayer Model

A focus of the class was on various kinds of instruction and also language.  One of the areas that would really help me as a math teacher is the vocabulary instruction.  There are a ton of vocabulary words in math and we try to be very specific in our writing in mathematics.  The various activities like the Frayer Model with definitions, examples and non-examples and the semantic feature analysis with the concepts down one side and plus or minuses whether the attribute applies to the concept or not.  Frayer Model and Semantic Feature Analysis Example. Other activities include having students create their own definitions and also creating word webs.

Another aspect of the class that I felt was really stress was having group discussions with groups of 2-5 instead of having whole class discussions.  Whole class discussions are dominated by the teacher and then maybe a couple other students that enjoy talking in class.  But having the groups allows people that aren’t as bold to share their thoughts.  This doesn’t mean getting rid of whole class discussion.  It means that whole class discussions are a good time to share highlights from individual groups.  Then you really get the best answers or at least a good variety of answers.  This helps all students.  It especially helps those ELL students in your class because they have a smaller group to try and participate in.  Maybe you could have a group of ELL students that discuss in their native language and hopefully one of the students will speak well enough that they can contribute the ideas of the group of ELL students.  Learning is a social experience and it should include multiple people.  Being able to learn from your peers is very important just like learning from the teacher.

Comprehension and text selection is also a very important facet of teaching.  There are a number of texts that are available to teachers and for students.  Some are more accessible than others but they should still be used when available.  As part of my text set I found an app in the Apple App store that I think is awesome.  It is called Khan Academy and it is not only for mathematics but also has instructional videos about science, humanities, economics and finance.  Another big focus of comprehension instruction was that it builds students’ metacognition and it happens before, during and after reading.  So there should be activities to help comprehension before, during and after reading.

A comprehension strategy was making and checking predictions and inferences. Another was observing text features like headings and author chosen vocabulary word to understand the main points of a text.  Summarizing and visualizing were a good tools to check comprehension after reading.  Making connections is another comprehension strategy that helps connect different concepts and make relations.  Asking questions also helps comprehension because then you can think about what you understand and maybe what you don’t understand.  Then ask something about what you don’t understand.  Then, of course, a useful during reading strategy is using a graphic organizer to organize all the information that is being learned.