Observation Assignment #4

Name_________________________________        Date____________            Total              /15

***Make sure to show all of your work***

1-5 True or False (Write out the whole word ex. True) (2 points each)

1.) A net of a cube must to only have 4 sides to create a cube.                                ____________

2.) An octahedron has 12 edges.                                                                                ____________

3.) A soccer ball is an example of a truncated icosahedron.                                     ____________

4.) A tetrahedron has 6 vertices.                                                                                ____________

5.) A cube has 6 faces.                                                                                               ____________

6.) Create a net of a regular octahedron, using a ruler and protractor.  (5 points)

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1) What do you think the objective is?  The students shall be able to derive information from knowing what the shapes look like and from Euler’s Theorem.

The students will be able to construct an Archimedean or Platonic solid with the help of a ruler and protractor.

2) What level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is that?

Knowledge, Analysis, and Application

3) How will you assess it in 10 minutes or less?

I will assess them in 10 minutes or less through questions 1-5 for knowledge and analysis and Application through question 6.

Observation Assignment #3

            I have to say that the classroom management in this building as a whole is nothing like I have ever seen before.  The students at East Greenwich High School, as a whole, are very driven and they are well behaved.  The students were all in the classroom and had their stuff at their seats before the bell rang for the end of the passing period.  When the bell rang they made their way back to their seats.  Unless they were asking the teacher about something. The class would begin right after the teacher asked about who was absent. 

            As the class begins, I notice that the students have the procedure of leaving the room one at a time and they had to sign out on the chart, and finally take the pass.  This procedure does not hold when people have to go to the nurse or when the students are called out of class.  I did not get a chance to see an example of how the teacher collects paperwork except when the students were placing their homework into the designated bin.  The paperwork that the students needed for the class was passed out by the teacher as he was explaining the next activity.

            At one point a student came into the classroom late and as soon as they got to their set the teacher made sure to quickly summarize what they had been doing.  A different student at one point had their cell phone out and was texting and all the teacher had to do was make a serious, but at the same time joking remark that let the student know that the way they were behaving was not how they were supposed to be, and the student put the phone away.  When I asked the teacher about this later he said that he feels setting the expectations early on makes all the difference.  He says that he spends the first three days to set expectations and to get to know the students.

            In his classroom help enforces the expectation of 24-hour mutual respect and he expects his students to have a positive attitude whenever they come to class.  I really appreciate the idea to 24-hour mutual respect and I will make sure to bring this into my classroom, but as far as the positive attitude goes, I think that sometimes it cannot be avoided.  We can do everything in our power to make them happy, but sometimes they are going to have a bad day, and we should make them feel ashamed of that.

            I feel that the way that the classroom management was handled added a sense of safety that is needed in order to learn at the optimal level.  The students are able to concentrate on their studies rather than worrying about what the other students think of them because they know that the teacher will make sure that sure that any behavior that is negative s corrected.  Because the students aren’t afraid of being too smart the students aren’t afraid of having or sharing the right answers.  The students may even be competing to have the correct answer, but that could also lead to bad things if not managed.  However the teacher is very aware of what is going on between his students, in and out of the classroom, so he is able to maintain balance in the classroom.  Before the students arrived in his classroom he gave me a rundown of all the students and how they would interact with him and with the other students.  This demonstrated a great understanding and awareness of his classroom which is beneficial in so many ways because then he can figure out how to handle situations that is truly the best for the students.  I believe that the way that the classroom is managed is intertwined with the amount of success in the classrooms.

Promising Practices Conference

            This semester I attended the Promising Practices Conference.  The first workshop that I attended was the one on Google Maps. While we were there, they demonstrated how to use the program to make our own maps so that we could make our own interactive field trip.  The professors that were presenting the workshop were both from the history department and they made a map of a walking path in Providence that would visit many of the different historical sites in Rhode Island.  They explained to us that we could find awesome field trip destinations in Rhode Island if the right research is done.  I think it would be a great thing to do with math class if I could find enough places in a close area to bring the students to see and make them more interested in the topic.  I could also use the Google Maps program itself to make an activity so that technology could be incorporated into the course.  Math can be a really difficult subject to try bring technology into, but it is also important to do.

            The second and last skill shop I went to was the one on bullying.  I find that this is a topic that must be incorporated into every class.  I found that there were some topics that I didn't realize, that should be talked about like special needs, which never are.  Some take these things for granted and just think "Oh, they should know this" or "Well this a no brainer" but no these should be talked about all the time.  With any difference that there is could be, teachers need to teach their students that acceptance and inclusion.  She gave us poems and books that would help to spread those the feelings of inclusion and understanding.  As well as poems that explain the heartache of being bullied or having a loved one who is bullied.  I want to make sure to include these lessons in my classroom because this is such an important topic that it shouldn’t just be in the advisory class or the English class.

            Then we had the speaker on hip-hop education.  This one was quite confusing for me because he wasn’t expressing what we should do exactly but that we shouldn’t have classrooms structured as they are.  He didn’t explain how exactly to include the cipher in the classroom.  So I’m not sure how to include this in the classroom, although I do believe that should be a change in the structure of the classroom.

Here you can post your comments on my second lesson, Thank you!