Fluency

Fluency is important to the content area of Mathematics by allowing student to easily read, breakdown, and identify the number of components and operations needed to solve the a word problem.  A student lacking in fluency will have difficulty understanding what the problem is asking of them, the quantification of items, and what operations to apply. This will add to the student's anxiety, cause them to rush or guess at the problem, and shut them down before being able to write the equation needed to problem solve.

Using word study, ever changing word walls, and reading problems aloud would be the strategies employed to help the students with fluency within my Math class. Word study would start at the beginning of a unit to help students prepare for what is to come. Word walls would be built out of the the word studies with words, examples in the math, and definitions.  Lastly, the read alouds what help read the problem aloud from start to finish, then a re-read with a brief stop at the words that clue in quantifications, operations, etc.

20 September "During Reading Strategies"

I am definitely a re-reader when it comes to what strategy I use from the list of options discussed tonight.  the text gave many examples of dependent readers in Chapter 7,and feel connect to quite a few of the examples: mind wondering, but the eyes are moving over the words, and the pretending to read example in class as well. That was me for sure.  I do find myself trying to re-read and make sense of the content I am reading these days, but there are times I find that I have read a page or more and couldn't retell any of what I read.  Luckily I am strong enough to force myself to go back and read it again.  It's frustrating, but necessary to try and break out of the old reader mold I am stuck in.

For my students, re-reading word problems in Math is important to better understand the content, but I feel the say something, think aloud strategies would help the students get the information from the reading and apply the problem solving skills needed to complete the task.

13 September - Inferring Activity

The bag.

The bag strategy is an inferring activity in which the teacher role plays as a good sumaritan who decides to employ the class in helping find who the bag belongs too by removing the bags contents one item at a time.  The intent is to only observe all the items of the bag and then make an inference (educated guess) as to who this person that owns the bag is.

For tonight's activity: the person owning the bag is more than likely a female (the glasses with decorative bows), who may teach, or is a student, of natural science (the shell and rock). The k cups does not help determine student or teacher as either in a college setting would need/enjoy them. Haha.  But for the purpose of secondary school, I would say science teacher.

I would use this activity in the classroom for a couple of different teachable moments.  Inference is first and foremost, as the students are using what they have learned/observed and prior knowledge to determine who may own the bag.  Another would be attention to detail.  I would allow them to guesses item after item on a piece of paper, each time writing a new answer. Once all the items have been removed then have them make their final inference.  The purpose would be to show that a guess after each item may not get you to the correct answer, such as with life. Be patient, wait for all the information to be reviewed, then move forward.

6 September- Class Post

What do good readers do:  Thinking about your thinking, what would change as a teacher?

Regardless of my thinking (anxiety, nervous, worried about my own reading skills) I would be forced to change as a teacher. Forced is a little too harsh, but I would be motivated to ensure my reading success as I am now a model for my students to emulate. That doesn't mean I change overnight, or pretend that I am some avid reader in front of my students. It means that I need to enlist the to good readers' habit and adapt myself to ensure my own literary success. In doing so, I can become a "cheer leader" of sorts for those struggling readers who need that encouragement to keep with it and persevere through their assignments.