Goal
This week I continued working on my goal of implementing journaling into my math instruction. Some ideas I have tried are:
Reflection
Although this was a three-day week, my students were able to journal for at least one problem a day, making a total of three journal entries this week. I think out of the three different ways I have implemented, this one is by far my favorite. I found that having to write out their thinking, helped improve our whole group conversation because they would not "forget" what they were going to say when it is their turn to talk, as kids so often do. It also allowed me to "get in their head" as they had to explain every step they went through to solve the problem. Likewise and even more importantly, it helped them gain a deeper understanding because they had to take a lot of time to think about each and every step they went through to solve a the problem.
Additionally, this week we explored many different strategies that could be used to compare and order fractions. So, asking them to write why they chose one strategy over another made them think about the efficiency and effectiveness of some strategies verses others, which is something I don't think they would have taken the time to consider before.
This week I continued working on my goal of implementing journaling into my math instruction. Some ideas I have tried are:
- Journaling in response to the essential question, so that I am able to see their level of understanding at that particular time.
- Writing down what they feel comfortable with and anything they are still confused about.
Reflection
Although this was a three-day week, my students were able to journal for at least one problem a day, making a total of three journal entries this week. I think out of the three different ways I have implemented, this one is by far my favorite. I found that having to write out their thinking, helped improve our whole group conversation because they would not "forget" what they were going to say when it is their turn to talk, as kids so often do. It also allowed me to "get in their head" as they had to explain every step they went through to solve the problem. Likewise and even more importantly, it helped them gain a deeper understanding because they had to take a lot of time to think about each and every step they went through to solve a the problem.
Additionally, this week we explored many different strategies that could be used to compare and order fractions. So, asking them to write why they chose one strategy over another made them think about the efficiency and effectiveness of some strategies verses others, which is something I don't think they would have taken the time to consider before.