Before I even start talking about how my Monday went, I wanted to share this.
I feel so lucky to be part of a great team.
I am the only teacher teaching this restart class at my site. My other two classes are computer science classes. So I don't have a team to work with at my site. But in return, I gained a group of teachers from other sites within my district. Joe, Lara and Deborah email me and share what they are doing with their Introduction to Algebra students on a weekly basis. We share our thoughts. It is so helpful to work with a group but also have the freedom to do what I want in my room. We all share our assessments and activities.
Also, because I have students who require much attention from the Behavior Support office and the counselors, my administrators and counselors email and speak with me on a regular basis.
It's true that the main focus in my restart class is classroom management. It's also true that I currently have no life because I have to constantly think about what I need to do to support my students academically and otherwise. And I call many parents everyday, including weekends. But I am also happy and grateful. Working collaboratively yet independently is what I always wanted. The only thing I lack is personal time.
So yeah. Even though none of these people I mentioned even know I blog, I wanted to thank them. And I wish all of you will have something that I have right now. I know how great this is, because I never had one for the past 10 years.
Now back to today.
I thought about it. If these students failed Algebra 1 for years, then that must mean that whatever they had to do prior to being with me didn't work for them. So then I can't try and do the same things I did in my regular classes.
My pacing guide tells me it's time to go beyond solving one-step equations. It's time to solve two or more step equations.
I decided I'm going to have them draw. Maybe that will be easier for them when I explain why we have to eliminate the variable on one side when we see variables on both sides of the equal sign.
We already learned to add integers using James Tanton's exploding dots so they know that an antidot and a dot goes "poof" and leaves nothing.
My students complained that they had to draw too much, but it seemed like they understood what had to happen. We'll see what happens after the test Thursday.
Surprisingly, my day was easy. I had to write 2 referrals but it was because my children misbehaved with the sub while I was gone Friday.
After school, a girl from my #StartOver class came by to ask for help. I was overjoyed!
Today was a good day. Using the scale model to help students understand how to solve equations is everywhere, even in our textbooks. But for some reason most of us don't use it. Do you know how I know?
Cuz I asked all my restart kids and only one child told me that he saw this model from his middle school teacher. And the truth is that I never used this visual representation model til today.
It works. Remember? My students are not the only ones starting over. It's #StartOver for me as well and I'm really enjoying this journey.
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