So, my first day of classes was rather surprising. The younger class, which I was most worried about, is remarkably easy to manage, even though the kids are antsy at the end of the day. The older class, which I thought could be a little more open, is a mash-up of all different kids and grades and personalities and motivations (or lack thereof). This will be a challenge.
What I imagined for this first class: All of the kids show up within two or three minutes of the official start time. There is paper and a pencil ready on each desk. I have a 3x3 magic square drawn on the board, and ask the kids if anyone knows what's special about it. Some kids get it quickly, and after a minute I give a hint to the remaining kids. After a few more minutes, everyone had gotten it. I hand out a homemade worksheet with partially-filled magic squares, answer a few classwide questions, and let kids work on it in their small groups. Much inter-student discussion ensues. Once most have finished, I draw a table on the board to flesh out some patterns that showed up in the squares. For the last part of class, I hand out mini challenges to each group ("Make your own magic square that...") and let them work together on it. If someone finishes a challenge and doesn't want to start a new one right before class ends, I give them a puzzle photocopied from MathMania. Done.
What actually happened: Kids show up after lunch. One of the first girls in is not actually on the attendance list, so she sits and mopes until our counselor gets here and can take her to the office to see what class she's actually signed up for. I show the class the magic square on the board, and ask if they can tell what's special about it. Some kids know already. I give the hint and some scaffolding, and a few more kids get it. I, along with student volunteers, flesh out what the trick is, and a few more kids say they get it. Our last student to show up walks in, sits down at the very back table, and I tell her to move up to one of the tables with other people at it. Since there are about 12 kids who've already mostly figured out what's going on, I hand out the worksheet to everyone. The girl who came in late has no idea what's going on with the math, so I ask the girls at her table to try explaining how to fill them out. After a few minutes, I realize that one of the problems I put down doesn't actually work, so I tell everyone to cross out that square. After looking at a few finished papers, I clarify that each sub-square must have a different number, that zero isn't one of them, and that squares can have different magic numbers. A few more kids fix and finish their worksheets, or just get frustrated after trying for a while. There's about 10 minutes left in class, so I give kids the options of either trying one of the challenges, or doing the other puzzle. Most kids chose the puzzle, but a few attempt the challenges and come up with some good work. Kids say they don't get what's the goal in the puzzle, even though there are directions written on the page. Class ends.
What I could do differently:
- Hand out the photocopied puzzles at the start of class to keep students occupied while everyone gets to class, and to suggest some math techniques. (The puzzles will be related thematically to the actual lesson.)
- Have all necessary supplies on the desks before students come in, along with extra paper.
- Up on the board or individually, give a set time for students to share some techniques and tips for the day's activity, to use as reference at all of the tables.
- Designate a bathroom/water break 15 minutes into class. (It is right after lunch, after all.)
- Have one calculator for each small group, so that students who are slower at arithmetic can still get something out of it. (This is for elementary and not secondary students, so I'm not totally contradicting previous opinions >_<.)
- Check and double-check any papers I hand out.
- Use the worksheets as scaffolding, with directions, hints, and prompts included.
- Figure out how to integrate the kids that are signed up for my class because their parents don't want them to fall behind over the summer, which may or may not be the same kids that show a lot of learned helplessness. Yeah, Differentiated Instruction!
- Commandeer another counselor (already done for tomorrow).
I'm going to try to implement as many of these changes as I can for tomorrow's lesson. Hopefully, I'll be able to convince my kids that I do actually know what I'm doing, and that this will be a positive environment for exploring math. First days are always rough.
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