Falling Forward Reflection
Rosalind Ali
February 19, 2015
One of my focus areas for my DREAM-IT project was improving number sense among my students. Trying to fill such a huge gap in a short amount of time was very challenging. It was hard to know where to start, so I initially focused on 6th grade because they have so many computation skills to master. Narrowing the focus to division helped my math team develop a plan of action and our first “success” was the “Math Madness” afterschool math bootcamp program focusing on improving multiplication and division skills. This was a six-week program, held Tuesday-Thursday from 3:45 – 5:00 pm.
Staffing the program was not difficult-- without hesitation, my 5th grade teacher volunteered to work with the students after school. We also had a pool of teachers to fill-in, in case of emergency or conflicts with other after school commitments. The program grew to include more that our targeted 6th graders, many of whom are responsible for walking younger siblings home from school. Other teachers pitched in to help provide activities for younger siblings from grades Pre-K to 5. On a typical day we had 20-25 students participating in our after school math bootcamp program.
Assessment data showed that progress was being made, however, at a much slower pace than I anticipated. Not wanting to lose momentum over the winter break – my math team hosted a family-math night so parents could learn activities and strategies to help students work at home during the break. This event was all attended – more than 100 students and parents participated. Typically we host an event like this annually, but events like this should be held monthly.
Once the 6-week afterschool program ended, the need for additional math time still existed so my team decided to devote 15 minutes of daily science lab time to computation practice for 6th and 7th graders (needed more practice working with computation & rational numbers). This 15 minutes of computation practice in the science lab complements the conceptual and application activities conducted in math class. Collaboration with other content teachers have definitely helped me work around time constraints.
In the upcoming months, I’m looking to implement more number sense activities – the math club for 6-8th grades will continue meeting and I hope to expand that activity to include 3-5th grades. I’m also planning to meet with outside consultants for suggestions to develop certain number sense strands, and plan more family involvement activities.
This semester, 8th graders will be required to develop web pages and I’m concerned about the lack of technology access outside of school. I am planning a technology workshop for parents where they can learn about internet/cell phone services and plans to ensure they ‘re aware of the best options for access to technology/internet resources. Parents will also visit content practice sites and creativity/project sites (pixlr, infographic, 3d modeling) so they understand the benefits their child receives by having access to these technological tools.
My wildest hopes for my DREAM IT project is that every student has access to the tools they need to research, practice and create using technology in the comfort of their own homes. I’d also like for every child in school, to have one-to-one technology access in every classroom. During the upcoming months, I’ll be looking for grants and other funding opportunities to make this happen.
Rosalind Ali
February 19, 2015
One of my focus areas for my DREAM-IT project was improving number sense among my students. Trying to fill such a huge gap in a short amount of time was very challenging. It was hard to know where to start, so I initially focused on 6th grade because they have so many computation skills to master. Narrowing the focus to division helped my math team develop a plan of action and our first “success” was the “Math Madness” afterschool math bootcamp program focusing on improving multiplication and division skills. This was a six-week program, held Tuesday-Thursday from 3:45 – 5:00 pm.
Staffing the program was not difficult-- without hesitation, my 5th grade teacher volunteered to work with the students after school. We also had a pool of teachers to fill-in, in case of emergency or conflicts with other after school commitments. The program grew to include more that our targeted 6th graders, many of whom are responsible for walking younger siblings home from school. Other teachers pitched in to help provide activities for younger siblings from grades Pre-K to 5. On a typical day we had 20-25 students participating in our after school math bootcamp program.
Assessment data showed that progress was being made, however, at a much slower pace than I anticipated. Not wanting to lose momentum over the winter break – my math team hosted a family-math night so parents could learn activities and strategies to help students work at home during the break. This event was all attended – more than 100 students and parents participated. Typically we host an event like this annually, but events like this should be held monthly.
Once the 6-week afterschool program ended, the need for additional math time still existed so my team decided to devote 15 minutes of daily science lab time to computation practice for 6th and 7th graders (needed more practice working with computation & rational numbers). This 15 minutes of computation practice in the science lab complements the conceptual and application activities conducted in math class. Collaboration with other content teachers have definitely helped me work around time constraints.
In the upcoming months, I’m looking to implement more number sense activities – the math club for 6-8th grades will continue meeting and I hope to expand that activity to include 3-5th grades. I’m also planning to meet with outside consultants for suggestions to develop certain number sense strands, and plan more family involvement activities.
This semester, 8th graders will be required to develop web pages and I’m concerned about the lack of technology access outside of school. I am planning a technology workshop for parents where they can learn about internet/cell phone services and plans to ensure they ‘re aware of the best options for access to technology/internet resources. Parents will also visit content practice sites and creativity/project sites (pixlr, infographic, 3d modeling) so they understand the benefits their child receives by having access to these technological tools.
My wildest hopes for my DREAM IT project is that every student has access to the tools they need to research, practice and create using technology in the comfort of their own homes. I’d also like for every child in school, to have one-to-one technology access in every classroom. During the upcoming months, I’ll be looking for grants and other funding opportunities to make this happen.