Personal vs. Shared Writing

During the last literacy class, I met with my small writing group to share a personal vignette about my experience with reading or writing.  I shared my story and then listened to the comments from my group.  They were all very kind, but suggested that my other vignette had been a little more of a window.  One of my group members shared how writing was very personal to her.  I completely identified with how she expressed her feelings.  I learned just how personal writing was that week.  For the same class, I had a project that involved writing a rather large paper with my teammate.  My teammate and I met three separate times and spent a total of 12 hours crafting our paper.  It was painstakingly slow at times, but we both felt strongly about different parts of the paper.  We also were very gracious to each other and worked well together.  However, we both noticed a certain maternal feeling toward our written work and were just a bit miffed at the other whenever a correcting pen touched our work.

The personal aspect of writing came out yet again as my class collectively wrote a thank you note to a teacher who had hosted us in her Kindergarten class.  I did not care how we said thank you, but those who did care were very passionate about how that thank you should be expressed.  These three experiences have caused me to question the practice of shared writing.  I feel that those who are invested or who care, will find it difficult to compromise on the way things are said.  Those who are not invested don't care how things are expressed, or who reads their writing.  I wonder if it is possible to lose kids, or for them to pass from passionate and invested into passive and uninvested if their ideas are not valued enough to be included in the shared writing. 

...a teacher in training...: Teaching with picture books...ohhh the possibiliti...

...a teacher in training...: Teaching with picture books...ohhh the possibiliti...: "Here I am, soon to be a teacher, constantly thinking about the things I will do to be a successful (middle school math?) teacher. Not once d..."

In response to Mr. Linger's blog about using read alouds in the classroom to introduce topics in math, science, or social studies (non-Language Arts content areas), and reflecting on how read alouds can present unique pathways to teachable moments - I am in agreement. Before our assignment, I don't think I would have considered using a poem or story to introduce a math lesson, but it really grabbed the students' attention. Now I am pondering whether this "tactic" works because it is novel and if I need to use it thoughtfully in my own teaching, or if it will continue to create interest in a topic regardless of how many times I use it. Does the read aloud strategy have a half-life? And if so, what is it?

...a teacher in training...: Permutations & Combinations

...a teacher in training...: Permutations & Combinations: "1. What did you learn? I have always had a tough time remembering the difference between 'permutations' & 'combinations'...for which does or..."

In response to Mr. Linger's blog post about the difference between Permutations and Combinations - I can totally relate! I don't recall learning this during my years of high school or college math. I was introduced to P&C as I began to study for the WEST E Middle Level Math test. I liked how Mr. Linger found a way to keep the two straight using mneumonic devices. I have a similar one that I use for Multiples and Fractions. This might seem silly because if you just look at the names, it seems fairly apparent that multiples implies many and fractions implies parts of wholes. However, I have found that on tests and in classrooms, students are mostly exposed to GCF and LCM. The F and M don't have the same meaning as Fraction and Multiple to students. I always say to myself, Fraction is Fewer and Multiple is More.
Thanks for the helpful tip, Mr. Linger!

Blogging Reflections Update

I had a very clarifying experience, and it seems only right to share about it here as it has to do with blogging.  A few weeks back, I wrote a post about why people blog.  I understood the need to keep a journal or record of your thought process, and the need to be reflective, but I did not understand why people would want to post this kind of information online for anyone to read.  The truth is that blogging is sort of a professional discipline. It is allowing yourself to be vulnerable to the thoughts of others.  It is also creating a portal between you and another person so that you can learn from each other, and sort of hold each other accountable.

In our math class last week, our professor talked about her teaching experience and how she improved as a teacher when she reflected on her teaching methods.  She saw a gap between the curriculum and what her students were asked to do on tests, and so she created an activity to fill the gap.  Her improvement as a teacher and her decision to add to the curriculum would not have come about if she had not been reflecting.  When she told us that, a huge light bulb went on in my head.  I have noticed that each quarter we are asked to write papers reflecting on our teaching process, reflecting on the experience, reflecting on ..... whatever.  The goal of the teacher cert program I am enrolled in is to create a cohort of reflective educators.  That is their "gift" or what sets this program apart.  In previous quarters, when I saw the reflection assignments, I would sort of roll my eyes and grit my teeth.  I am not a super reflective person by nature, you see, and so writing reflective papers is not on my list of favorite things.  However, after class last week, I am starting to see the benefits and having a little change of heart.  I am going to look forward to being reflective, and blogging, and see these as opportunities to improve myself and my teaching craft. 

Do you see the pattern?

For math class this week our instructor revisited ways to teach students how to add and subtract positive and negative integers.  One method she showed us that I found really clever was to introduce a pattern.  For example:
3 - 3 = 0
3 - 2 = 1
3 - 1 = 2
3 - 0 = 3
3- -1 = 4
3- -2 = 5
3- -3 = 6

If you start with what kids know (subtracting positive numbers from positive numbers) and then move into a more challenging concept (subtracting negative numbers from positive numbers) it helps students to see how the sum is calculated and follows the pattern.  If a teacher then asks students to see if they can identify what is happening when a negative number is subtracted, it is more likely that they'll see the result is addition of that number.

I can absolutely see using this in my classroom and I would be excited to see if the students were then able to come to the conclusion that subtracting a negative number results in adding that number.  I really like this technique.

Bean Counters

I neglected to write what I had learned after class last week.  We had a hands-on tutorial of using manipulatives (in this case, black and white beans) to add and subtract integers.  I had never experienced doing this kind of work in an actual class, and I found the use of two colored manipulatives for counting to be very helpful. 

We were given a number of problems to solve, and we had to use our beans.  One color represented positive numbers, and one color represented negative numbers.  Using the two colored beans helped for solving problems such as -5 - 4.  In order to solve this problem, you first had to add 4 positive and 4 negative beans to your stash of negative 5 beans.  The addition of the +4/-4 beans did not change the value of beans because the negatives canceled the positives.  Then, when you took the 4 positive beans away, you were left with -9 beans.  If the problem were -5 - -4, then you would take away -4 beans from your stash of -5 beans, resulting in -1 bean.

I learned a new method for teaching students how to add and subtract positive and negative integers.  I think this is very applicable to the classroom and it can help students who struggle to understand the number line.  When I was in middle and high school math, the number line was the only tool we were given to help solve these problems.  I like the idea of using familiar items, like beans, instead of fancy colored chips because it shows kids that they can use regular items to help solve math problems.

Radio New Mexico

So there I was, driving home from my school placement, trying desperately to find a decent song on the radio.  I had the scanner on, and stumbled onto a song I recognized.  Less than a minute later the song ended and I was listening to some talk show out of New Mexico.  I was born in NM, so I decided to listen and see what my staties were up to.  The radio talk show was going to be a discussion about native tribes creating new words in order to keep their language alive.  The radio host was talking to several experts, one in Hawaii and one in Alaska.  The speaker from Alaska made the point that it was difficult to get the younger generation interested in learning their native language when the language did not have words for things that have become so commonplace (i.e.: computer, phone, tv, etc.).  The elder generation did not want to just incorporate the English word into their language, as it broke up the flow of speech.  Very interesting point.  But then, the speaker from Alaska said that their native language already incorporated many Russian words.  This was okay in the speakers eyes because it was long ago.  Now, that made me stop and think. 

I wondered if TV, internet, computers, and other big technology had been made in a foreign country, would we try to think of a word in English to express it, or would we just incorporate the foreign word for that object?  Would I be angry about that word being used?  If a culture does not continually create new technology, is it in danger of having an extinct language?  How many languages have already been lost because they did not make new technology or incorporate the language of new technology into their existing language?

blogging reflections

Anyone who knows me, knows I am not a fan of blogging or bloggers.  I'm not opposed to the written word, I just don't particularly like having to wade through the thoughts of others.  Or rather the half-formed, misspelled thoughts of others.  I'd rather read something that had a professional editor attached to it, or a review board that would reject the "duds" and only publish the well-formed and well-articulated thoughts of others.  As I write this, I am fully aware of the hypocracy.  I rarely monitor my speech with the controls that I am advocating for bloggers, and I am writing this on a blog site.  I'll add the disclaimer that I am required to blog for my class, but that still leaves me with the problem of speech.  So, perhaps I have more in common with bloggers than I would like to admit.  They just write their thoughts, while I speak mine. 

Today, I was exposed to the idea that blogging could be useful - as a means of professional reflection.  Again, normally this would not appeal to me.  I am hardly a reflective person by nature, but this education program has sort of forced it on me, and well, I have been converted and I see the value in it, even if I still find it very difficult and unnatural (it's like trying to eat with a blindfold and with your opposite hand).  I can see how we, as humans, have lots of thoughts and ideas, and we all carry around our experiences and these serve as a filter through which we learn everything.  As we gain new experiences that inform what we think and by keeping a written record of these thoughts, we can chart our changing selves.  So now, professional blogging seems more like a journal or diary, except that it is 100% public and open for anyone to read.  Instead of writing these ideas down on paper with a pen, we use the computer and type them (which I understand - it is the technology of our day), but I still do not quite understand why we send them out into cyberspace for anyone else to read.  Is it the desire to leave something lasting behind?  The hope that we'll connect with someone else?  The longing to be seen and valued and acknowledged?  That is still the part I don't get.

Blog is no longer a four letter word for me, but I have not entirely embraced it either.