Day 2 The Syllabus & First Homework Assignment

6th Grade Math Standards: N/A

The Learning Objective: Analyze rules and procedures

Quote of the Day: "Don't worry about whether you're better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best you can become. You have control over that; the other you don't. Time spent comparing yourself to others is time wasted." - John Wooden

The Assessment: Borrowing an idea from the Book Making Thinking Visible, I had the students use red colored pencils and yellow highlighters today as we were reading the syllabus. It is my seventh year teaching, and I have never done this before, but what a difference it made in our discussions. I did not intend on doing this until around 8:30 today (toward the end of my first class, who unfortunately missed out on the activity). It was somewhat bad planning as I actually thought I could assess this originally by just having students and parents sign it. That is not as beneficial as what we did.

I had students use yellow highlighters for anything that made them think. What I mean by this is anything that makes them want to share a past experience, or if they strongly disagree with something in the syllabus, or if they want to expand on what I'm talk about in another way. The red colored pencils were used for anything that made them stop. Words that they did not understand, expectations that did not make sense, etc.

Through using these two writing utensils, today we had conversations about ratios, proportions, what a fair grade looks like after three trimesters, what it means to be ridiculed, what are some examples of statistics in sports, and other rich conversations. The best part for me was that I wouldn't have gotten any response if I used my traditional methods of "Are there any questions, comments or concerns?"

Agenda:

1. Welcome to Math Jumpstart
2. Review the Syllabus
3. Procedures Recap
4. Letter from last year's teacher
5. Write homework in the agenda book 

Glass Half-Full: This was by far the best I have ever done at collecting the slips for the nurse, handbook, and student information in the morning. We have a very small window in homeroom to do this. Inevitably there are students that go to the wrong room, can't open their locker, etc. and time is precious (we only extend homerooms by 5 minutes today instead of an hour). What I did was write on the board the directions for passing in the forms. I told students to place the green sheet, white sheet, and red sheet on the table in the back of the room where there was a manila folder for each of the sheets. Next to the three folders, I had a checklist with their names on it. If they handed in all three sheets, they checked their name off. I still gave verbal directions, but this idea really enhanced the efficiency of this process. 

I was also glad to have the students who did not get a jumpstart when they initially entered the room go back to the front of the room and rehearse entering the classroom the correct way. 

One Regret: With the procedures recap, I wish I had put a timer on the board as a way to motivate students. It's a common routine in my classroom and it would have been a great time to introduce this routine to the students. 

I also wish we had practiced throwing away papers and I was more explicit with my directions. We threw away the procedures jumpstart. Some students crumpled up the paper. I like it to be flat. One class passed their papers to the front. I like every other student to recycle it at the least because it gets students out of their seats for a moment. 

Homework: Here are some samples of the letter students need to write from their fifth grade teacher. I shared these as exemplars with the students. 

Link of the Day: More and more districts are buying personalized computers for students as assessments are being pushed online.