Day Two: The Syllabus

6th Grade Math Standards: From the Reading Informational Text Standards #6: "Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in a text." See the homework assignment to understand why this was the standard featured today (it's kind of a stretch - I know).

The Learning Objective: Acknowledge rules and demonstrate routines of the classroom.

Quote of the Day: From my syllabus and with the help of Harry Wong: "I am here for YOU - for you to succeed and to enjoy this class. I care about each of you and I am here to help each of you. In order to create a positive learning environment, we need to have a class where we will listen and communicate with each other with respect. All students must come to class without fear of being ridiculed or threatened. It’s going to be an exciting year of learning, so behavior that hinders learning in our classroom will NOT be tolerated. In order for us to create a positive learning environment, we have five rules to follow throughout the year.

1.      Be respectful.

2.      Be prepared.

3.      Be cooperative.

4.      Be responsible.

5.      Be the person everyone wants to sit next to."
The Agenda: Today was picture day. It was easily the best picture day in my six years as a teacher. It seemed fairly early in the year relative to when we have had it in the past, but that worked out great. The first two classes we had were shorter, so the agenda fluctuated somewhat throughout the day and I had to have more prepared than I actually was going to teach just in case the longer classes ran out of activities.

Class #1

1. Jumpstart: Welcome to Math 
2. Students write down their homework in the Agenda Books
3. Review the syllabus as a class

Class #2 

1. Jumpstart: Procedures and class information reviewed
2. Review the jumpstart as a class
3. Review the homework assignment
4. Begin the homework assignment
5. Check students supplies
6. Have students journal about how many ways there are to study (in past years I've had students that have had more than 70 ideas). 

*We never needed to do #5 on this day

The Assessment: I went around and checked the procedures jumpstart as students were working. One student added to the lesson by asking if it was ok for him to make changes on his jumpstart as I reviewed. I was ecstatic with the question because this is always an issue. Reviewing the jumpstart is where learning can take place as students recognize mistakes.

Homework: Writing a letter in the voice of your fifth grade teacher.

My Glass Half-Full Take: The students were following the procedure for starting class in each block. Developing this routine allows me to check homework and in essence do a formative assessment of the homework and the jumpstart. I also take attendance and if time allows put together packets for the students that are absent. Students responded positively to questions that we had not discussed when I told them to be creative or try their best.

Where I'd Throw the Red (Challenge) Flag: I made a bad call in the way that I had students start their homework. Some students did not have their notebooks. I should have told them where the loose leaf paper is kept sooner and encouraged self-advocacy sooner.

Some students told me that they preferred to wait until they got home to start. Given the new structure we have of 2 math classes starting homework in class will be much more common, so now I'm thinking I will call the time they have in school to start homework a different name so the students have a different mentality when it comes to doing it.

Several students asked me how many paragraphs they had to write. I gave the students two exemplars, but never read it through with them. Perhaps this could have saved me time.

Valuable Web Visit of the Day: 65 Ways to Check for Understanding in Math (Pinterest)