Week 9

Week 9 was a challenge for both my students and myself. The end of the quarter one is neigh—the end of quarter one material is far from neigh. Unit 3 stood between us and a week of rested assurance of having mastered many of the 7^th grade math standards.

Decimal operations, scientific notation, and the order of operations—a big and mismatched three of 7^th grade math chuck full of possible pitfalls in understanding—some of which we would face. But I held fast to my guided notes method—having proven itself successful in pulling up scores during Unit 2—and charged ahead. Each day a rotating INM-“We Do”-“You Do” cycle that I tried to scaffold would drill through adding-subtracting-multiplying-dividing decimals and more.

Playing on the weirdness of the week before—students would read aloud as poets with English accents declaring the I can’s of the day. When the assessment finally came around there were initially mixed results. Our first round of decimal quizzes would show some confusion over the steps for multiplying and dividing decimals—a facet which I would work to later remediate with the Order of Operations. Then the Unit 3 assessment came just as quickly as we moved through our work—as I worked to force myself to stay true to my calendar.

Then there was the need to prepare students for their Quarter One Assessment—which would take place early the next week. I came up with the idea to have the students write study guides for 6^th graders at local elementary schools about the material that we covered in Quarter One, as well as writing them a letter letting them know how cool 7^th grade math was. They ate it up—with the agreement that this project would be the last piece of homework they would have for the rest of the semester.

Good: I was able to keep my kids focused whilst moving through lots of material at a very quick pace. The kookiness factor of my classroom has shown to support a classroom culture that the students fell comfortable in—which in turn has secured their learning something…

Bad: But maybe they are too comfortable. Hearing my name has become an item of loathing as students call out as they raise their hand. (At least they raise their hand?) I give my class a B.