Week+5+Reflections

=Week 5 Reflections =

=Lesson 9 -Assessment =

Today I worked with Samina in a discussion on how to use Assessment effectively in a classroom. After discussing and taking web polls, I have come to the final conclusions regarding homework for students. I personally feel, that pupils that are K-7 should not have homework as it is very important to develop their "whole student". It is critical for students to have collaboration among friends, social interaction for the overall development in literacy. For these reasons, parents and teachers together should encourage social interaction outside of class and have engaging lesson plans to develop study techniques for Secondary School. In Grade 8 and 9, this is when students begin having homework, where the teachers work closely to encourage students to attempt homework and develop study skills. With all the improvements towards Literacy in students, the students should be able to critically think and therefore apply theories to word problems in math. However, when it comes to High School if the student is Academic, they should expect homework! As not only does it cover the material but it develops good study habits for success while studying towards a profession! As far as workplace and college math, I feel that your lesson should be engaging with opportunities in class to attempt the homework. Otherwise, the homework will not be completed as the students are simply not motivated!

Samina and I continued and discussed the key questions that we can we can ask our students, referring back to the "Grow Success" document. Important things to take into consideration were: why would we ask this question?, how many questions would we ask?, the type and format of question, and how we will assess the student? Samina and I would create a question for homework based on what was previously learned and then we would assess them by making the student answer the question as a bell work problem. This is something fun and also doesn't overwhelm the students. Attached below are Samina's and I breakdown for our Rubric for assessing a student using Pythagorean Theorem.

Samina and Liz

Knowledge 5marks Recognizing the Right Angle Triangle, Maybe Pythagorean Theorem ?

Thinking 5 marks Organzing the problem for solving using the Pythagorean Theorem? Apply the formula and solve for a?

Communication 5 marks Post on PiratePad using your group url, to display your answers

Application 5 marks The students design a question, where they are required to use this Theorem to calculate an angle, or length of their real-life right-side angle. As and example: The length of a ladder required to clean out your eavestroughs?

=Lesson 10 -Individual Differences = With it being our last class, prior to being sent off to Practicum, Dr. Kay shared with us about his personal story of his daughter who has Aspergers. From here this was the introduction into a video call "How difficult can this be?" by Rick Lavoie. Here we were placed into a seminar where teachers, education assistants, family and friends were given material to experience just what it is like on a daily basis for a person with an individual difference. From here, he showed us just how our critical questioning can be so difficult, rude and alienating. By not judging a book by its cover yet creating a strategy to have a peaceful, harmonious classroom. You can talk ahead of time to this student and tell them during open-ended questions you will not come to them randomly. When I stand in front of your desk, this is your warning that I am going to direct this question to you! This way, the student can engage to the best of their ability with the conversation, as they have already been called upon. I really appreciated this movie, as it made me aware of the struggles and how a simple technique can create an engaged learning environment for all!