You are six weeks into the school year. Describe one new tool or strategy you have implemented.
- How and why you are using it?
- What impact is it having on you and your students?
This school year I was really interested in allowing my students to write more within math class. I have always wanted my students to be able to explain the steps that they took to arrive at an answer on paper and verbally. However, this year I wanted to not only focus on the math problems but to allow them to voice their strengths, weaknesses, struggles, and victories within math class as well. I decided to provide my students with a list of 20 prompts per 9-weeks to choose from to write about on a weekly basis. I wanted to reinforce the CIF strategy of “writing to learn,” in order for them to have a voice in narrative.
Last week I established my classes within www.kidblog.com and I hope this week to have the students log in and start posting their journal entries online for other students to have access to each other’s experiences within math class. I think that it will be important for my students to see that their peers have mathematical struggles and accomplishments. I hope that they will respond to one another positively and supportively. I know that my students have been very surprised that I am actually looking at their journals to see what they have to say. I have enjoyed the process so far and I hope that the blogging will go as well if not better than the journalling has!