Week Six 1510

This weekend turned out to be a very hot and humid weekend.  We started Friday off with thunderstorms and ended the day with almost 7" of rain in a flash storm that lasted about 2 hours!  That is a lot of rain in a short amount of time.  Interstate 90 runs through Austin, MN and actually is perpendicular to the end of our block that we live on, and the city closed Interstate 90 for a few hours due to flooding!  We have lived here for 15 years and although the interstate gets closed several times during the winter season, this was a first for us.  Austin, MN made the Twin Cities news because of the closure, that is always fun!  When we started our day on Saturday, we could tell right away that the heat was going to overtake the cool aftermath of a thunderstorm.  My kids got the idea to set up an ice tea stand at the end of our block and they asked me to bake chocolate chip cookies to sweeten the deal :)

Ironically, this particular week in Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers, fractions was the topic of learning.  Baking is filled with fractions and is always a great teaching tool for my kids when we get the chance to do it.  By the time I began baking, the temperature outside had reached the low 90s and even though the air conditioning inside was perfect, turning on the oven was pure madness!  However, when it comes to creative ideas and the kids getting along, I will help them out with just about anything.  They braved the heat and set up their stand and sold $23.00 worth of ice tea and chocolate chip cookies at $0.50 for both.  They had a blast and Chris and I enjoyed peeking out the window of the air conditioned house to watch them flag down customers and see the smiles on their faces when they would make another sale.

Here is the recipe for these delicious chocolate chip cookies:
Oven at 350 degrees

1/2 cup softened butter (not margarine)
1/2 cup shortening
Beat these two together in a large mixing bowl, set aside
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Combine into separate bowl and mix generously
1+ packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips for baking

Take approximately 1/3 of the flour mixture and add it to the butter/shortening and mix.  I use and electric mixer.  Once blended, add another 1/3 and mix, and then add the remaining flour mixture and combine until all blended.

I listed 1+ packages of chocolate chips to the ingredients because we love chocolately cookies.  I have made this recipe for years and I have never had a complaint about them and pretty much everyone we know loves them.  So here is my secret:  I add one full package and about 1/4 of another package and hand mix them into the cookie batter.

Drop tablespoon size balls onto cookie sheet, I can get 8 on a jelly roll size pan.  Bake 10-12 minutes but keep an eye on them.  My first batch always takes longer.  And here is part two of my secret:  Take the cookies out just as they are slightly brown around the edges.   This particular recipe does well with a slightly underbaked cookie.  Even though the cookies rarely make it two or three days after I am done baking, on the off chance there are a few left, they are still soft.  If you leave the cookies in the oven until they are browned, they will not be as delicious as they really can be! :)

So this is what our weekend was all about, ice tea, chocolate chip cookies, and extremely hot temperatures!  I love that I was able to take time away from school to be a part of this fun activity with my kids.  My daughter would run home every so often to cool off and on one such visit, she exclaimed that a woman had just given her and her brother $1.00 each without wanting any tea or cookies solely because this woman had done lemonade stands as a kid and it made her happy to see them out having fun!  Now that is pretty nice!

Math really is a great subject and, as you can see, is a part of daily life.  Baking is a great activity for kids to learn about fractions and reduce recipes or doubling them.  In the classroom, it is great to have manipulatives for students to continue to have the hands on learning that is such a vital part of the school day.  I look forward to more baking and teaching as summer will pass and the frenzy of the holidays approach.

Week Four 1512

I am going to start with a memory that I have of Geometry as a freshman in High School.  I was not very good at sitting and watching my teacher explain angles and lines and degrees on the chalkboard (Yes chalkboard.  I used to clap erasers as a chore after school!).  I distinctly remember taking a test that had 25 questions on it.  I did all the homework, I studied from the text, and then took the test.  I ended up getting 13/25 on the test.  I was devastated!  After class, I approached my teacher, practically in tears, and asked "what now?"  He looked at me and said "I have no idea, but you would have done better had you just guessed the answers rather than tried to figure them out."  Ugh!  That was not the response I was looking for.  I walked away from class that day telling myself that I have no ability in math and my teacher doesn't have much faith in me either.

As I reflect on that day, I know that my teacher didn't mean to crush my hopes of becoming an excellent math student.  Math tends to be difficult and requires extra effort for a person, like me, who doesn't see the equation or the answer or the reason for the answer.  I have no ill-feelings toward my teacher and I do remember that he had me come in after school for about a week as he helped me, but I was already mentally checked out.  Note to self:  as a teacher, never use sarcasm.

All of that to say that I was interested to read about the NCTM Geometry Standards for grades 3-5.  (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics).  As I scrolled through the information, I noticed how much the concept of visualization and relationships between shapes is stressed in the Standards.  "The study of geometry in grades 3-5 requires thinking and doing.  As students sort, build, draw, model, trace, measure, and construct, their capacity to visualize geometric relationships will develop."  (NCTM)  As I think about teaching, I am thankful that the standards are explicit in their objectives.  I see the standards that are written for all the subjects as a great tool and assurance that students are getting the best possible education they can get.  I look forward to challenging my students in their educational goals and will guard my tongue against the kind of "knee-jerk" remark that was said to me.

Week Three 1510

My assignment this week was all about cooperative learning.  Here is a You tube video that sums up the idea of cooperative learning:

Cooperative learning is an excellent tool for students, of all ages!  This past semester I was able to observe excellent teachers in the classroom.  I was surprised to see the constant movement in the classroom compared to what I grew up with almost 30 years ago.  Classrooms are mobile and active, which is something that is exciting to see.  I was able to watch these master teachers take students of all ability levels and create an environment that allows every student to excel.  In the elementary school that I have been observing in, there is a high population of ELL students.  I noticed that many of the ELL students that spoke no English would sit quietly in class, taking in all the sights and sounds of the classroom and then work the best they could on the assignments.  When the teacher or specialists spent extra time with the ELLs there was a greater opportunity for deeper learning.  However, with 25+ students in a class, it is easy for the quiet students and ELLs to get overlooked.  This is where cooperative learning is a great benefit for all students.

My mentor had great success with Think-Pair-Share in his classroom.  He used this technique daily and several times within each lesson.  I watched as quiet students came to life when they were given the time to think about an idea, share with their fellow classmates in a small group setting, and then present to the class as a whole.  I marveled as students encouraged each other and politely challenged some thoughts and ideas.  The students who were higher achieving always took the time to listen and offer any suggestions and the students who tend to struggle always listened closely.   There were times that I could literally see new ideas form as two or three students talked about concepts and ideas. 

This type of learning gets me very excited!  I look forward to observing over the next several years as I finish up my own education, and take all these ideas and concepts into my own classroom.  I can already see that cooperative learning is an incredible tool for every classroom.  I get excited watching students work together and understand ideas rather than "just learn it."  As students go into to the world and continue in their education and become employed, this teaching tool will prove beneficial in daily living.  You can't get much better than that!