I am very excited to meet my students. This will be my first year teaching middle school, and 6th grade. Many of these students I will have taught in elementary school.
If I could describe my classroom in five words, they would be: engaging, collaborative, supportive, diverse, and differentiated.
Students in my class take ownership of their own learning and they become reflective learners. Because of the passion I have for Math and my strong desire to connect it to the real world, my students contentiously find their personal avenue to success.
Hearing a student say, “I use to not like Math, but I love it now, because I really understand the process.” is the best compliment I could get, right next to, “Thank you for creating lessons/activities that make Math meaningful.” Every student in my classroom is different, therefore differentiating learning/instruction is key to a student's success. I was a struggling learner myself when I was in school. Therefore, I am determined to give every student I teach, the best education possible.
My Project
Math must be made meaningful or students won't retain the lesson taught. Even with 6th graders, it's very important to put manipulatives in their hands.
Students learn best when they are building, problem solving, discussing and engaged with each other.
I like to use both whiteboards and clipboards in my classroom when my students are moving from station to station. The combo of both will save space, time, and I know the kids are going to love them. They will take on the role of a "real" mathematician and save paper.
The privacy partitions I plan to use in multiple ways. My middle school classroom does not have desks. I have tables, which is really great in most situations. In other situations, students need a little privacy to work independently, especially when taking an assessment. I also plan to use the privacy partitions when doing stations. My kids love doing stations and these will keep each station organized at the tables.
As for the manipulatives, I plan to use these for teaching whole group lessons, interventions, and enrichment. I typically just don't have enough hands-on materials for my students to complete activities successfully. The volume cubes (used for building), protractors (used for creating), equation tiles (used for problem solving), and the color chips (used for enrichment activities) will raise the level of engagement in my class. Making math meaningful is my motto.
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