Chapter 4 and 5... And so, so, so late to the party

I vow I will never again move on the last day of school while pregnant! Even now, a full week later I can hardly believe I survived. It's been a long crazy week full of boxes, boxes, and more boxes. Attempting to unpack and move things while being yelled at for unpacking and moving things while pregnant. A sick 2 year-old daughter- fever spike, lukewarm baths, Tylenol, coughing fits. Then to top everything off... I got sick myself. Two full days in bed. 13+ hours of sleep each night. Barely able to hold a book, let alone read....and that, my friends is the story of how I am a full 2 chapters behind in the very book study I helped to organize. I apologize profusely but as many of you know, life is what it is. We roll with good and the not so good.

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The better news is that I have caught up on reading Chapter 4 and Chapter 5  and I am ready to post. I am working on getting through and hope to be caught up with Chapter 6 ASAP. Fingers crossed, of course. 

Here are the other wonderful posts written about these 2 chapters.

Chapter 4


Chapter 5

These are the fabulous blogs that hosted Chapter 5 over the past few days.



And now...finally, my post.

As many of you have written, each of these chapters is yet another " why didn't I think of that before" moment and Chapter 4 was no different for me. Questions! In math! Of course!! 

Increasing Comprehension by Asking Questions

Here are some things that struck out for me as I read:

- Sammons writes that "students become more engaged and learning is more rigorous" (page 116) when we teach them to ask questions

- I love the idea that the root of questions is quest!

- it is our job to encourage students to become mathematical text critics...how fun is that?

- I am interested in designing a lesson around the the 5 things students need to know about asking questions for mathematical comprehension (page 120)
- How fun would it be to track our spontaneous questions and the ones that result from reflection during a unit of study...hmmm, T-chart perhaps?
- I am excited to brainstorm with my class all the reasons that mathematicians ask questions
- On page 126 Sammons writes about valuing the questions posed by others in the math class and the importance of respecting each other's questions, I think this would be an important lesson and anchor chart to have in the classroom
- I have done a lot of work with students one the types of questions in literacy and science/social studies but again I never thought of doing the same in Math...duh!
- I wonder what a Math specific q-chart would look like? Would it look different?

My biggest "aha" from this chapter was the idea of a strategy lesson that is outside of a math concept lesson. What a great idea to incorporate into your guided math rotations....and a great way to assess your students based on the 4 categories of achievement.  This is definitely something I want to come back to and spend more time thinking about. 

Lastly, I can see so many ways of incorporating this strategy into my math journals. From having an ongoing page of thinking stems for questions, taking ideas from their math journal and sharing them on a Wonder Wall, to recording question webs in their math journals. So exciting!!!

The Importance of Visualizing Mathematical Ideas

My "aha" moments while reading:

- on page 152-153 Sammons talk about encouraging students to represent their math ideas in a way that makes sense to them, even if it is not conventional (I've done an activity that is similar to this called talking pictures, check it out here)
- I love the steps that will help students build their ability to create mental images, I think this will be a page I refer to again and again (page 154-155)
- it's always good to have a refresher on how to guide students through the steps of gradual release of responsibility and I appreciate that Sammons included it in this chapter on visualization, I especially like the last step of conducting a think-aloud individually with a student as part of a conference for assessment! What an "aha" moment! Why have I never done this?
- the Visualize, Draw and Share learning task described on page 162 sounds like a lot of fun for guided math groups, especially for those who may be struggling with a concept or conversely, students who are ready to be pushed a little farther

Lastly, I was very disappointed that I didn't do more poetry with my students this year and vowed to remedy that in the future. I really like the week-long plan set up by Sammons on page 167 and this I could adapt it so that it works within my Book of the Week lessons or even guided reading as well. Gotta love integration!

Whew.

I made it....just barely.