Helping students learn.

Many of my students arrive in high school without the necessary study skills needed to succeed.  I don't know why that happens but once they arrive, they have to learn. 

One of the first thing I did was to supply composition books and two pocket folders so they are more organized.  With the notebook, they can keep all their notes in one place.  I've tried three ring binders in the past but students usually destroyed the binders by December. 

Once they have the notebooks, I teach them  Cornell notes for most of the notes they take but I also teach the outline form of notes because the outline is often better for taking notes from a book or for writing process type notes.  After one semester, my students are getting quite good at finding the information in their notes when before they'd loose papers, mix them up, or forget to place them in order when they used binders.  

The next step, was to get them to look back at their notes so when I give them a test, or we play jeopardy, I allow them to look at their notes because every time they review the notes, they learn.  If I don't do that, they refuse to even glance at their notes.  In fact, the other day, I had students copy down sentences with blanks for them to fill in as they re-watched a video.  Then we played a Kahoot game with the same type of sentences with blanks.  As soon as they saw the first question with the blanks, the kids pulled out their notebooks to quickly check their notes on the topic.

I also have to have them learn to discuss mathematical topics. They have arrived in high school missing the skills needed to express their thoughts and ideas mathematically.  One way to do that is by using those activities created by Desmos where students are paired up and they each choose a picture of a graph or whatever and have to ask questions to help eliminate the ones it isn't.  Kind of like battleship.

This is the step I'm at right now for students this year.  I am just about to begin the idea of highlighting the point a mistake occurs, handing it back without the grade and having them make corrections before I actually assign a grade for both daily work and tests.  One of the hardest things is getting students to check their work.  Most times, when I ask them to check work, they glance at it and turn it in so I'm hoping this will help them really "see" their work.

Next week, I'm hoping to find some concrete methods to address the study skills needed to do well in math.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great weekend.

What Do You Do?

I think everyone has that one or two students who are always finished first, even when you give them slightly harder work.  They understand what they are doing and rip through the assignment.  You check the work and there are few  if any mistakes. What do you do at this point?

I finally found a solution which is working out but it means I have to be ready with the "next" assignment.  I let them work on the next assignment so when the rest of the class is ready to do it, they are my "assistants". 

They help me by going around the room answering questions so I don't feel like a gerbil running around in circles. This helps these students retain the material better and it implements peer tutoring which has been found to be beneficial.  As my students sometimes comment "The explain it in a way I understand better." 

I am starting to have students actually ask me for work so they can help out in class. Last night at study hall, I had two students who completed Friday's work so they can help me in the room.  They think its cool being totally caught up and ahead.  I like it because it keeps me so I"m thinking further than just the lesson I'm on.

I admit that with four weeks of school left, I"m to the point of looking at my day by day teaching rather than planning ahead.  This also gives me something to add to my planning for next year.  Yes I"m one of those teachers who plan ahead, create lesson plans, and decide how to teach things.  I don't rely on "last years" plans because every year I have a different group of students with different needs.

Another  reason I like doing this is simply that it is moving it from being teacher run to being more student run.  When students take ownership of their learning, they are more likely to do it and learn better.  I'm happy with this development.