Professional Action Project
Overview: During a planning meeting I led a 2nd grade team discussion on the tools4ncteachers.com website. As a team we had been discussing creating/finding more engaging math activities for students including hands-on authentic learning. I decided to do some research and found the tools website that I wanted to share with the group. The tools4ncteachers website provides math clusters for grades Kindergarten through 8th. I took my team through the 2nd grade clusters. I discussed the content in each cluster as well as what is included in each cluster. Each cluster covers standards that tie together in the 2nd grade math curriculum. Each cluster includes lessons, activities, and assessments for student learning. The activities involve mathematical thinking, number talks, and hands-on activities with detailed directions and descriptions. As a group we dived further into the next cluster we would be teaching which was cluster 6: working with linear measurement. We decided to pick a lesson and assignment to do with our students that involved hands-on interaction with the concept to see how the lesson went and how students enjoyed the lesson by giving them a post-survey. Then as teachers discuss our positives and negatives with the clusters and activity.
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Description: As mentioned we decided to pick a lesson and activity to go through with students from the clusters website. We picked How Big is A Foot? from cluster 6 to start off our standard measurement unit in class. The lesson and activity download as a word document and have easy to follow steps. On the plan you will find; standards, desired outcome, materials, preparation needed and easy to follow directions. As a group we went through these areas and worked together to make the lesson and activity as accurate and useful as possible. We listened to the read-aloud book off of youtube, used the discussion questions listed in the directions, and then completed the activity whole group. The book was called How Big is A Foot? and discussed the need for standard measurement because everyone has different sizes actual feet and measurement can be off. Then the activity had students cutting out twelve one inch squares and taping/gluing them together to create their own ruler, students then labeled the ruler, and used the ruler to measure various items around the room.
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Discussion/Reflection:
Students: As a team after the lesson and activity was completed we created a survey to give students to gauge their involvement and engagement with this type of lesson plan. We gave them a quick and easy survey that had four parts of the lesson plan and students put a :) or :( depending on if they liked or did not like that section of the lesson. We then went over the surveys and had overall positive results. Students really enjoyed making the ruler and using their own ruler to measure things-the discussion wasn't there favorite activity as expected and the majority enjoyed the book. This survey was a good way for us to recognize that students really do enjoy the hands-on activity.
Colleagues: I then discussed with my colleagues how they felt about the lesson and activity along with further using the tools4ncteachers website. My colleagues expressed that they enjoyed the activity and felt it helped students in processing and remembering the information. They also felt that the guidelines from the website in regards to questions, and misconceptions was a wonderful way to ensure, as a teacher, everything and everyone is being reached. Their one complaint/worry with these lessons from the website is the amount of preparation and materials needed in the activities- running into a problem of not having the time or resources. In regards to this specific lesson the complaint was the time it took for their students to do the activity- they felt it was not a good use of time to take a whole math day to do a lesson like this.
Personal Reflection: I personally really enjoyed doing this style of lesson during math time in the classroom. The information in the lesson plan and activity is involved and assists in ensuring you are touching on questions and misconceptions that can arise during learning. Students were enjoying the activity and helping each other creating rulers and measuring objects- the excitement of using their own ruler made the activity worth it. While the activity was long and did take a whole math day I found this type of lesson to be a great introduction lesson to standard measurement. One concern about this lesson I did have was doing it whole group was a lot of students to walk around and make sure everyone was performing correctly. I think doing the lesson whole group then the activity small group would be a better option.
Students: As a team after the lesson and activity was completed we created a survey to give students to gauge their involvement and engagement with this type of lesson plan. We gave them a quick and easy survey that had four parts of the lesson plan and students put a :) or :( depending on if they liked or did not like that section of the lesson. We then went over the surveys and had overall positive results. Students really enjoyed making the ruler and using their own ruler to measure things-the discussion wasn't there favorite activity as expected and the majority enjoyed the book. This survey was a good way for us to recognize that students really do enjoy the hands-on activity.
Colleagues: I then discussed with my colleagues how they felt about the lesson and activity along with further using the tools4ncteachers website. My colleagues expressed that they enjoyed the activity and felt it helped students in processing and remembering the information. They also felt that the guidelines from the website in regards to questions, and misconceptions was a wonderful way to ensure, as a teacher, everything and everyone is being reached. Their one complaint/worry with these lessons from the website is the amount of preparation and materials needed in the activities- running into a problem of not having the time or resources. In regards to this specific lesson the complaint was the time it took for their students to do the activity- they felt it was not a good use of time to take a whole math day to do a lesson like this.
Personal Reflection: I personally really enjoyed doing this style of lesson during math time in the classroom. The information in the lesson plan and activity is involved and assists in ensuring you are touching on questions and misconceptions that can arise during learning. Students were enjoying the activity and helping each other creating rulers and measuring objects- the excitement of using their own ruler made the activity worth it. While the activity was long and did take a whole math day I found this type of lesson to be a great introduction lesson to standard measurement. One concern about this lesson I did have was doing it whole group was a lot of students to walk around and make sure everyone was performing correctly. I think doing the lesson whole group then the activity small group would be a better option.
Improvements/Further Use: Our plan as a team is to continue using these clusters on the website in order to keep students engaged in authentic learning of math concepts. We also want to use the assessments found on the website and will be giving the measurement assessment soon. I personally learned that teaching does not have to be structured all the time. This activity had a book, discussion, cutting, gluing, and walking around the room for students- there were hiccups and a little chaos but in the end students learned and had fun with their learning which is what matters. As mentioned before I think in further use I will do some of the activities in a small group format and not whole group in order to ensure I am reaching every student as needed.