SOLs Covered: 6.NS.2 Integer Relationships & Absolute Value; 6.MG.3 Coordinate Plane
Math Unit: 01 Introduction to Integers; 02 Coordinate Plane
Daily Agenda: September 3-6, 2024
Upcoming Assessments: Quiz 1.02 SUM Coordinate Plane & Integers (Thurs. 9/12)
Good afternoon! It's been another fun filled week of math in Room 1612 and even though it was a short one, this math teacher is really tired with the addition of Back-to-School Night last night, so let's get right into the work from this week. We reviewed integers as mentioned in last week's update before taking the quiz on Wednesday. The kids first attempts had really mixed results. There were those who scored well the first go 'round with no issues, but for those who didn't do so well, it wasn't simply from not understanding the mathematical concepts.
One of the struggles many 6th graders come across is their lack of familiarity with the full capabilities of their Chromebook for educational purposes. Having spent last year at Enon as their Title I math interventionist, I found that many elementary teachers do not use the Chromebooks nearly as much we do at the secondary level. While I had expected as much, I was still a bit surprised with how seldom some teachers used them outside of DreamBox, Imagine Math, and Lexia. Being a techie person myself, I've always enjoyed helping students learn the full capacity of their Chromebooks and have found that some students thrive when given the chance to use them more, so I happily share all the tricks to make navigating their Chromebooks, Canvas, and the various Google Drive programs to enrich their learning experiences. That being said, I do know the value of "old school" paper-pencil assignments, so we incorporate that as well as merging the two worlds. All of that wasn't just me going off on a tangent, but for assessments we actually have both paper and technology. We start the year off by giving the kids a full paper copy of the assessments and have them transfer their answers to the Chromebook. We'll wean them off of paper copies as we go along and they'll eventually have just the same types of blank paper they get for the SOL test.
For this first quiz, some students had mathematically correct questions on paper, but struggled with the digital component when they had to complete some of the TEI (technology enhanced items) questions that simulate those found on the SOL test. For example, students had to drag numbers in ascending order for one problem; while some got it wrong because they forgot what "ascending" meant (least to greatest), others got it wrong because they didn't understand which spot was meant for the least to the spot that represented the greatest (it was numbered 1-5, but some kids thought they needed to set it up more like a vertical number line). Additionally, there were little things like basic test taking skills that are currently on the weaker side: highlighting important portions, showing work, "slashing the trash," etc. Since I see my role as a guide for them in all things education, not just math, on Thursday I walked through their second attempt... yes, you read that right, they got a second attempt on their quiz and they will for all other classroom assessments, just like they CFU's I mentioned in last week's update. There is a difference in that for assessments, the two scores are averaged together whereas assignments the highest grade is taken, Also just a note that students are allowed to use their notes on the second attempt; while this might seem unorthodox, I find that it incentivizes the students to take better notes, which also results in them paying better attention and ultimately having a better understanding overall. For students who still scored low due to the first attempt being too low, I have a correction form that can be completed to earn back additional points and will have copies available for the kids next week.
I've yet again gotten carried away with this update, but before I close it out, I did want to mention that we only got into the bare basics of the coordinate plane today in class after a short intro activity yesterday. We'll be getting further into it next week, but I already feel like the kids have a better understanding just based on the extra time we spent on integers and a basic number line (the coordinate plane, also called a cartesian plane, is just two perpendicular number lines after all). With SGA testing starting next week, plans might need to be further adjusted, but if all goes well, we'll be taking our first summative assessment on Thursday.
Well, that should more than cover this week but as always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. Hope everyone has an amazing weekend!