Spark joy with Math & Science
As a student, math and science were always my most challenging subjects. They were hard to understand and I felt incapable. I never thought I could take part in a career that used math or science because my learning experiences left me with zero confidence in those subject areas. Fast forward ten years and I can honestly say I love math. Math has become my favorite to teach and to integrate into all subject areas.
How did this drastic change in opinion happen? Grad school.
As an undergrad I began to view math and science as fun and engaging through the help of my professors at Michigan State University. This spark of math joy led me to pursue a master's in math and science education at my alma mater. My drive for this master's degree was my current and future students. I wanted to give them the opportunities to find joy and confidence in math and science. Through conceptual understandings and hands-on learning, I have shown my students a side of math and science they haven't experienced before. Math and science can be fun. You are capable of math and science. Math and science can spark joy.
Below are a variety of math and science showcase pieces as well as literacy components.
How did this drastic change in opinion happen? Grad school.
As an undergrad I began to view math and science as fun and engaging through the help of my professors at Michigan State University. This spark of math joy led me to pursue a master's in math and science education at my alma mater. My drive for this master's degree was my current and future students. I wanted to give them the opportunities to find joy and confidence in math and science. Through conceptual understandings and hands-on learning, I have shown my students a side of math and science they haven't experienced before. Math and science can be fun. You are capable of math and science. Math and science can spark joy.
Below are a variety of math and science showcase pieces as well as literacy components.
Mathematics
Complex Instruction
A focus of my math centered masters was researching and incorporating complex instruction into my classroom. Complex instruction is an equitable group work approach that emphasizes the use of tasks that need all students working cohesively to be accomplished. To successfully implement into the classroom, norms and student status needs to be addressed prior to introducing tasks.
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"Complex instruction works by leveling the playing field in the classroom so that a broader range of students can engage powerfully in mathematical practices." |
complex_instruction_1_.pdf | |
File Size: | 883 kb |
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#Unit Chat
Through my masters coursework I was introduced to technology resources used by math educators to enrich the authentic experiences in math learning. One of these resources is #unitchat found on Twitter. This resource allows educators to view images of authentic math visuals around the world. I have adapted this resource to be in essence a number talk. Prior to each math lesson, I ask students "how many?" or "What do you see?" Math is a language and is interpreted differently by each person. By using the math visuals, students are able to see math all around them and see the math perceptions of others.
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Research
For my master's degree I researched strategies to support African American female students in math education. During the school year I found that my math intervention groups consistently consisted of my African American female students. As educator, it is my job to advocate for my students and to support them in any way possible. I began researching strategies that can be enacted in the classroom, school, and at home to best support my students. What I found was a lack of self-confidence in students ability to be successful in math. While there are historical factors at play that also impact my findings, I was able to utilize confidence building activities and encouragements to my students to help build their math confidence.
Research.pdf | |
File Size: | 22 kb |
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Intervention
Collaboration and Equity in the classroom were the focus of my math and science centered masters. I identified the lack of collaboration among students and sought to find a solution. After reading, Smarter Together! Collaboration and Equity in the Elementary Math Classroom, I created an intervention plan to support changes to the classroom that would allow for more cohesive collaboration and equitable discourse. The intervention included new large and small group norms, group roles, and group worthy tasks. Through this intervention I was able to increase the amount of student participation within and out of group work and create a classroom climate that is more accepting of others ideas.
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Science
Modified Curriculum
To better support my students I modified our school's science curriculum. The science unit being altered below is focused on water and climate. The lessons have been edited to include our school’s I.B. (International Baccalaureate) program. In addition to the incorporation of I.B. curriculum, the lessons have been adapted to be trans-disciplinary with a focus on student engagement.
Science Vision
As a part of my science vision, students will guide learning in a direction that is of interest to them. Allowing students to guide where learning goes increases engagement and creative thinking. Students are responsible and take an active role in their own education resulting in higher levels of content acquisition.
When instruction is student guided, “students learn how to think for themselves and take responsibility for their own learning” |
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Literacy & Writing
While my masters is in math and science education, attention still needs to be paid to literacy. In order to be successful in math and science, students need to be able to read fluently and write effectively.
Case Study - Fluency Intervention
For this case study I focused on one students reading fluency. Reading with ease allows a student to focus on reading for understanding that in turn helps the student make connections to what they are reading. This study worked on improving the students words per minute and accuracy of reading. The table shows the student's pre-intervention fluency skills and post-intervention skills.
Pre intervention words per minute & accuracy |
Post intervention words per minute and accuracy |
74 words at 96% accuracy |
104 words at 99% accuracy |
case_study.pdf | |
File Size: | 318 kb |
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Writing rubrics proposal
As a teacher at an International Baccalaureate school, I encourage my students to be academic risk-takers, inquirers, and creative. However, by using writing rubrics we are limiting students to a set of guidelines. I suggest using conferencing, self-assessments, and progress monitoring as means of assessing student writing abilities. In this proposal to my principal I give evidence and reasoning to this alternative writing rubric.
writing_instruction_portfolio.pdf | |
File Size: | 1611 kb |
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