Week+7+Journal

__Week 7 Journal__
This week has been a slow starter. I needed to track some students down at the beginning of the week to get them to take our Student Needs Assessment Survey. I still feel like there are a few students who need to take it, but we have a fairly good pool of data. Some of the results were surprising, while other results were not. I have been trying to find time to work on a possible social studies project for after the holiday break, but haven't been very successful. The students are so excited about having some time off, and I must admit to being a little eager myself!

In Math this week, we have been reviewing for a test that will be given Wednesday. Today we used a PowerPoint Jeopardy game as a way to review. I know it doesn't seem all that exciting, but the kids really seem to like it, and because it is a team competition, they work pretty hard. Here is a copy of the Jeopardy file we used.

Teachers I work with in science also developed a jeopardy game for science and reported the same thing. It was popular with the kids. Did you develop this or was it part of the math program? Very cool. KR I'm still struggling a bit with how to fit into this class. It seems like everything that is taught is essential for the students to be able to move on with learning the math. There is such a wide variety of skills in this class, ranging from barely knowing what operation to use and when, to being able to solve many problems in their head without much effort. When I think about how to use PBL in this room I tend to want to "group" kids by ability, and I really don't like to do that. But I keep asking myself if that isn't what needs to happen, just because it makes so much more sense. So, if we group the kids by their ability, and then give them various tasks to complete, I wonder if the groups would be able to function without considerable guidance from the teachers in the room. Luckily, there are usually three teachers in the room for this class, so it might not be too hard to facilitate. Unfortunately, the math teacher I am currently scheduled to be with is absent with a family emergency. When she returns, I am going to see what she thinks. Maybe after the holiday we can think about some kind of project.

I had time to spend about 10 minutes with the language arts teachers at the end of the day today. Just spending a short period of time with them is so productive! I wish there was a way to coordinate common planning time for the entire team. I think we would really be able to make some great plans...maybe next year! Today, we looked at adding an assignment to the Moodle page for the poetry slam! Kids get so excited about writing poetry.

On a personal note, last night, before I went to bed I was working on a forum post for the Moodle class, and something finally clicked with me! I am the kind of person (meaning "old") that has to do one thing at a time. I hate having a bunch of windows open on my computer, and I rarely am good at "multi-tasking." But last night, I was desperate to get a few things accomplished. I needed to finish my post, find info about swim goggles to send to my husband so he would be sure to pick up the right model for Christmas presents, and I really wanted to get on iTunes to get some free music someone told me about, and I needed to address some emails. I opened everything up and started in! I felt like a real pro...switching from one thing to the other, using the time songs were downloading to work on my post. After songs were loaded, I played them while surfing for goggle info and sending emails. I got it all done and felt pretty good about myself...I had multi-tasked (and survived). I am beginning to get a feel for how our students do things.

Fritzi, You've sure got me beat! I multi-task, too, but I wouldn't say I'm very efficient at it. Kathy