Reflection on Speaking Part 1

We are beginning our End Of Year State Test Review Unit. We're all tired and ready for spring break. I just don't feel right "requiring" them to speak at this point in the year when it hasn't been an expectation. Middle school students are resilient sure, but they're also not super flexible, which is why routine is so important for them. 

So I WONDER how our review will go this week and the week after spring break. Will they discuss? Will they remember some of the concepts, especially from first semester? Will they use some of the vocab we've worked on? 

I'm going to let this idea percolate, but I LOVE the verbal response assignment idea, and am thinking about incorporating it into their routine next year starting with Unit 1 first semester. My concern would be the amount of "cheating" that is happening with students looking up answers online and using AI to get the steps to "show their work." I imagine an AI generated response being read would be as obvious as when I see an AI generated response in Classkick. In general the "explain it back to me" assignment idea is great, and it shouldn't cause issue with the students who have severe anxiety because I'm not asking them to do it in front of the class, right? Maybe? 

Much more to ponder, and I'm happy to take spring break to percolate on it. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflection on lines and angles unit

Image
Last week we started a unit on lines and angles. Every year that I have taught this unit I have used the same guided notes (slightly revised each year, but the bones have remained). This unit is very vocab heavy, including but not limited these terms:  Supplementary angles Complimentary angles Corresponding angles Vertical angles Adjacent angles Transversal Parallel lines Triangle Sum Theorem and more!  The guided notes usually take an entire lesson and sometimes spill into the next day, without actually applying any of the information. This year I scrapped all that. What vocabulary do they need to know to be successful in this unit? They don't need the textbook definition of "vertical angles." They need to be able to recognize angles that across from each other when 2 lines cross, and understand that those angles are congruent. So I think in all these discussions about academic vocabulary, we also need to keep our eye on the ball. What do students need to know to be succ...
Read more

Pythagorean Theorem Infographic

Image
 I actually can't take credit for this, it was already an existing template in Canva, but there's honestly nothing I would change. So I'm not claiming that I created it, but it's what I would use if I needed an infographic on the Pythagorean Theorem. 
Read more

Reflection on Pythagorean Thoerem Lesson & Comprehensible Input

 Last week (week of Feb 24) we wrapped up our unit on the Pythagorean Theorem. We spent a good deal of time reviewing key vocabulary, predominantly "leg," "hypotenuse" and "square root." I found myself intentionally adjusting my speech when making sure to use the proper vocabulary word, while sometimes I find myself rapidly thinking out loud during more basic explanations. For example, I don't worry too much about slowing my speech when I say, "I'm going to add 2 and 3." I say it as fast as I can write it on my screen. But by the end of the unit, I had found a cadence with saying at a specific tempo, "A squared plus b squared...calculate...take your square root...round correctly," and students were building fluency by those repeated instructions.  I digress. So I presented them with this question:  "On the coordinate plane, what is the length of the line segment that connects points at (-1, 0), and (6, 2)?"  I displaye...
Read more