Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Week 23
Last week was a paper grading week! Monday I graded their independent practice math worksheets. It surprisingly took the whole time. I never really realized it, but with grading it is necessary to make judgement calls on whether the question is right or wrong. Thursday I graded their math assessments which was front and back. As a general, the class did pretty well. I've noticed a few problems with simplifying and doing larger math equations. That should come with practice. My mentor teacher is really cracking down on the AIMS testing that they are doing next week. She is redoing topics that a lot of the students missed on their practice AIMS test. I can tell that this is a really important test, just as it is in high school. I even watched the students recite memorized poems. As I expected, a lot of the students had not memorized it, while others had it memorized it completely, and some only had it memorized partially. Memorization, I have found, can be very difficult no matter what age. It takes motivation and concentration which canbe achieved with time and practice. My mentor teacher stated that she had never had so many students not memorize the poem. Unfortunately, it is the choice of the student on whether to do it or not like with most assignments.
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"As I expected, a lot of the students had not memorized it, while others had it memorized it completely, and some only had it memorized partially"....how as a teacher can you help/encourage students to do this all the time? Maybe a game? What do you think? If you were the teacher how would you have handled it??
ReplyDelete"My mentor teacher stated that she had never had so many students not memorize the poem"......how doyou think this made the students feel? Do you think this comment was effective - did the students WANT to them go back and memorize the peom based on what she said???
Mrs. Woods
To help handle the situation I would have put the poem into a song or add a rhythm to it. I have found that to be very effective. I remember doing that with the preamble in sixth grade and I can still recite it as that tune is still fresh in my head. I think that her comment made the students feel discouraged and an overall feeling of failure which was not the case. The comment was most certainly not effective because it just adds, like I said before, a feeling of discouragement. I know personally I would not bother with the poem anymore as I'm sure they did too. I would have tried to find a different approach to having them memorize it. I feel that is an important skill to have during someone's schooling and without the proper guidance and encouragement that will not happen.
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