I always like to post new things that I find online. Sometimes I get really excited, and then realize that.... It really isn't all that exciting. However, today that changed!
As I'm sure you all know by now I have a delicious.com account. I had one when I was in college, but now that I'm an educator of my own right I have scraped that and started a new one. Madison Simis 65. My students use this so that I know they're staying safe on the web.
Another great resource I found was an online review generator. It makes games that correlate with soccer and basketball and popular game shows. It is completely customizable and even better, it's free! I picked it up through Science Review Games (not good for elementary subjects however) and signed up through
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Oh the way our students learn!
Sometimes I wish I had a million hours to spend on Math. When I was in school I learned one way of doing it, and that was the only way. No other way was available for use. However, in college my brain was torn apart and I learned new ways to do things.
Because of this I'm trying to teach my kids that there is more than one way to solve problems. In multiplication this was successful (though I left some of the more exotic like lattice and square methods out). In division it's been impossible. Until today! I teach repeated subtraction because the traditional algorithm confuses me to no end.
One of my girls showed me she really understood (though she could never explain it) what division is because she came up with her own way to divide! It needs a lot of work still for her to be able to explain it, but the way is monumental for me. I just hope I can help her structure her thinking!
Oh, how I love math now.
Because of this I'm trying to teach my kids that there is more than one way to solve problems. In multiplication this was successful (though I left some of the more exotic like lattice and square methods out). In division it's been impossible. Until today! I teach repeated subtraction because the traditional algorithm confuses me to no end.
One of my girls showed me she really understood (though she could never explain it) what division is because she came up with her own way to divide! It needs a lot of work still for her to be able to explain it, but the way is monumental for me. I just hope I can help her structure her thinking!
Oh, how I love math now.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
A very late night.
Please take a moment to look at the timestamp on this post.
There, you've looked right? No, your eyes are not deceiving you. It is 2 AM here in Arizona.
It has been a long time since my interactions with children have lead to serious nightmares. However, I find that nightmares where my students are involved are usually the most terror filled, though action-wise, they are very tame.
Take the last one I had. It was when I was living with my sister in Telluride. I worked at a summer camp with K-2nd graders. One of the kids (we'll call him T) was the main character in this dream. In Telluride they have gondolas that take us from the town of Telluride up to the town of Mountain Village. Rockies (the center I worked at) would sometimes take the kids on field trips up there. The Gondolas were free, but sometimes we had more kids then we had teachers. Each Gondola held eight people. With 20 kids and 3 teachers, we needed four Gondolas. When this happened we would pick the three most responsible 2nd graders and place them in the third gondola. That way when they reached the top they'd be reunited with the teachers already there.
In this dream however, T managed to get separated from the group and put in the gondola going back down the mountain. That was it. But I lost hours of sleep.
Tonights horror? Lockdown drills. A thousand questions spin in my head. It's scheduled for 3:00. My class is usually moving between class and specials at 3:00. Do I keep them? Do we rush into the classroom of the nearest teacher? Do I stay with them at specials? What do I do? What if this was a real lockdown? What would the procedure be then?
I know it is useless to worry about this at this time of night, but my nightmare played out with each possibility happening and the consequences playing out. None of them were wonderful. Most were psychologically scary.
My place in this Adventure in Learning? Scared, and very, very tired.
There, you've looked right? No, your eyes are not deceiving you. It is 2 AM here in Arizona.
It has been a long time since my interactions with children have lead to serious nightmares. However, I find that nightmares where my students are involved are usually the most terror filled, though action-wise, they are very tame.
Take the last one I had. It was when I was living with my sister in Telluride. I worked at a summer camp with K-2nd graders. One of the kids (we'll call him T) was the main character in this dream. In Telluride they have gondolas that take us from the town of Telluride up to the town of Mountain Village. Rockies (the center I worked at) would sometimes take the kids on field trips up there. The Gondolas were free, but sometimes we had more kids then we had teachers. Each Gondola held eight people. With 20 kids and 3 teachers, we needed four Gondolas. When this happened we would pick the three most responsible 2nd graders and place them in the third gondola. That way when they reached the top they'd be reunited with the teachers already there.
In this dream however, T managed to get separated from the group and put in the gondola going back down the mountain. That was it. But I lost hours of sleep.
Tonights horror? Lockdown drills. A thousand questions spin in my head. It's scheduled for 3:00. My class is usually moving between class and specials at 3:00. Do I keep them? Do we rush into the classroom of the nearest teacher? Do I stay with them at specials? What do I do? What if this was a real lockdown? What would the procedure be then?
I know it is useless to worry about this at this time of night, but my nightmare played out with each possibility happening and the consequences playing out. None of them were wonderful. Most were psychologically scary.
My place in this Adventure in Learning? Scared, and very, very tired.
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