SOLs Covered: SOL 8.1 Comparing and Ordering Real Numbers
Math Unit: 04 Comparing & Ordering Real Numbers
Daily Agenda: October 3-7, 2022
Upcoming Assessments: CA Unit 1 Test (8.1, 8.2, 8.3) (A-Mon. 10/10; B-Tues. 10/11)
Howdy, folks! Let's go ahead and jump straight into this week's math work. As mentioned last week, we continued working on comparing and ordering real numbers and prepared for the quiz. While working, the kids seemed to be right with me throughout all of the work and doing well with all of our classwork. However we noticed with the formative check that the kids weren't doing as well but we also noticed they weren't writing anything down as part of their work for the assignment. While they improved their scores with the retakes, I think that's more because they've discovered some tricks and are taking advantage of the unlimited chances to redo, just changing their answers until they stumble across the right answer. While I can appreciate the cunning thought process, that method won't work for the quizzes, which only come with one retake, nor the tests, which have no retakes.
After seeing the kids attempt to do the same thing with the quiz, not writing anything down to show their work, Mrs. Combs and I knew we had to regroup. I hadn't thought of the plan to fix this until the end of today, so while I had a chance to implement with my 4B class, I'll be putting this in place Monday/Tuesday with the rest of my classes. The plan is that I'm going to model how to show all of their work by completing the Unit 4 Formative Check on the board for the kids, which will also ensure that those still missing this assignment will get it completed. While I've been modeling solving questions since the first time we went over a question, I'm putting up a piece of notebook paper as a background on the board and writing it all out there on "my paper" the way I'd expect the kids to do it for themselves. We're looking at how to solve the questions but also discussing strategies like "slash the trash" to eliminate obviously wrong answers.
Once we've finished that, the kids will either do their quiz retake or start the test, which we realize already the kids will need some extra time to complete and we'll thus be giving them the following class (Wednesday/Thursday) to complete as needed and we'll use any extra time to work with small groups/individuals needing extra support as needed and we'll have an enrichment activity for any not needing that.
Now we know that some kids aren't going to be motivated with just the idea that by showing their work, they'll improve their grades and understanding, so I've come up with a solution to this as well... bribes! Well kind of. I've finally had a chance to set up my ClassDojo classes and we'll be awarding the kids extra points on that, which can then be spent on a variety of things, which we think will motivate those kids who aren't motivated by grades alone, but we'd still like to ask families to chat with kids about the importance of putting forth that extra bit of effort to ensure they do well.
Well, that should cover everything from a request that all families ensure the Impact Aid Forms are returned by Monday to students' 1A teachers. I hope everyone has an amazing weekend!