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Location Date Rathfarnham 
1336431600 Dublin -
Location Date Tue, 08 May 2012 1336482509 Fri, 04 May 2012 1336144114 Fri, 27 April 2012 1335483524 Tue, 24 April 2012
1335285092 Fri, 20 April 2012 1334941867 Tue, 17 April 2012 1334691652 Fri, 30 March 2012 1333132536 Tue, 27 March 2012 1332860901 Fri, 23 March 2012 1332517356 Tue, 20 March 2012 1332256667 Thu, 15 March 2012 1331847504
Well today didn't exactly go as planned. The excitement for their trip tomorrow + tougher material = getting no work done in class. The first years have an overnight trip tomorrow so they came into class with an extremely excited and talkative attitude.
We needed to go over their quizzes from last week and work on new word problems. I had already anticipated them having trouble with these new problems but their lack of attention made it nearly impossible to make it through one question. The biggest issue was with them reading the questions. Half the class would be up in arms wondering where the numbers were coming from while the other half would respond by yelling at them that it was in the problem. I felt like I spent the entire class repeating myself and getting them quiet just for them to get riled up again a few minutes later.
The worst part was the students who were actually trying to understand were suffering because of the disturbances from the rest of the class. I am definitely going to rethink my next lesson in order to get things back on track.
My thought is to go back to the same type of problems as today and have them break down the questions by circling and underlining each part to identify them. I'm not sure how else to make sure they are reading each problem thoroughly and identify the important information. I am open to suggestions! (Please and thank you)
They have been working so well up until now so I expected them to pick up on the new material and work just as well today. My lesson was a little ambitious so I quickly adjusted my pace and broke down each problem more than I originally planned for. However, with the mind-set they came in with, it was a losing battle. Also once they remembered next week was my last week, the "can we have a party" took over. That must be something that every student will push no matter what age or where you are.
My kids may be on a trip the next two days, but I have no shortage of work to do now! I hope they get back to the way they were when they come back from their trip, especially for my last observation on Tuesday. Right now they have me really worried that I'll crash and burn for that last observation!
- comments
Cate Try chunking each of your problems... If you need to find "x" first in order to find "y" and you need both of those to find "z" lay it out as 3 separate but cumulative problems. This should help with them not being able to find the information, but they are still getting to the end goal. After doing 2 or 3 like this turn it into a 2 step problem, do a few more than you should be able to make it one larger problem. As far as the talking and interrupting, you could turn it into a relay race where there are3 teams of 6 (or however many kids you have) and it is a race to finish correctly for something like bonus points or Hershey's kisses or whatever.
Steve In addition to what Cate says about chunking, stop after each important piece of information and have them repeat what is important. After they read the next chunk, go back and ask them what is important from before and the new part. Continue that process.