Part VII

Daily Reflection

08 March 2019

Academic Reflection

It was popcorn cylinders today. Preparation included printing out the labsheet and

purchasing popcorn for the activity. Ms. Dasanjh prepared the cylinders, in the interest of time

on a short day, and brought paper plates and rulers she had. Last, we numbered the sheets up to 6

for grouping purposes.

The kids really seemed to enjoy it, despite first period. I don’t know if there is anything

that first period really enjoys, though. Maybe they did enjoy it. They just don’t talk. It was a

short day, so we jumped right into the activity without a starter. After the first two periods, I

came in and said I will start when everyone is in their seats. That seemed to work rather well.

After that, I explained what we were doing—learning about volume, and specifically

about cylinders—and re-addressed the purpose of the pre-assessment. I did find it awkward when

I moved into addressing radius and diameter. I think I was expecting students to light up and

offer answers to the vocabulary questions, and that did not happen. Instead, I watched just a

smattering of kids, if more than one, remember what diameter and radius were. I am of the

opinion that the majority of them remember after going through this day, and I think I could have

used whiteboards to increase participation and engagement.

During the activity, with the exception of one group in the final period, the groups did not

need to be reminded to be on task. Some were having side conversations, but even then, at least

one kid was proceeding with the activity. The group that sat around and didn’t measure only

needed to be reminded once to go back on task. Overall, it was highly successful.

 Except for first period, every class made it to question 5 with time to spare. I taught the

area of a circle using squares made by the radius multiplied by pi. It was a developing process.

Again, it was awkward trying to teach something that I thought students should recognize almost

immediately. They did not, so I will have to do better next time by going more slowly and

making the instruction either more student-focused or at least more engaging with a video or

something. I got to rectangular prisms in one period, and they did not remember those either. I

successfully taught that, only because I had time, in just fourth period. We will have to see how

much of that sticks over the weekend, but I will take the time to do it on Monday.

Regarding classroom management, sixth period needed to return their labsheets to the

pile because they started changing their papers as soon as they found out that their group was

based on the number written on their sheets. I re-numbered them and handed them out one by

one. That sent a message to those students and they were on task for the rest of class. No

students, in any period, struggled today.

It was rather dirty after all the classes. I kept Luis and Brian after to clean up, and they

stayed after. I would not really say they cleaned up too much, but the popcorn was pretty close to

dust. I spent about four or five minutes cleaning up after classes were over. When I teach and use

this, I will be clear about the expectations of what cleaning up looks like.

Transitions were fine for the most part. The most difficult aspect was trying to get

students to listen to further instructions while doing group work. That is to be expected, and

when I teach I will have an attention-grabber. For this unit, I will introduce it on Monday by

using the lights. I will be assessing what they learned on Monday.

Classroom Management Reflection

 Incident # When? Who? What is the Consequence
behavior?
1 Moving to new Yan-Mario (3) Sitting with the I moved him to
seats with incorrect group; the room next
groups asking why it is door for 15
important to stay minutes to send
with correct the message that
group; sitting in this behavior is
the incorrect seat not going to fly.
after moving.

11 March 2019

Academic Reflection

Today will be shorter because of the amount of time I have to devote to this reflection. I

prepared for today by setting up eight stations around the room with household items that were

cylindrical. They each had a number as well as an additional sheet of paper for accelerated

activities. I forgot to set up expectations, so I typed those up really quickly before the bell rang.

I did not introduce turning on and off the lights to grab attention until fourth period, and it did

not go over well until I introduced it right after the Math Problem of the Day. I think the issue in

fourth and fifth was that it was in reaction to some poor behavior, so there was some push back. I

will have to see how well it goes when I introduce it in first and third periods. I suspect it will go

well.

Students in earlier classes picked up easily on the formula for the area of a circle and also

picked up quickly on the formula for the volume of a cylinder. At first, Jag and I were wondering

if it was due to scaffolding and perhaps interference by introducing the volume of a rectangular

prism. I eventually opted for reviewing the prism in fourth period onward, and perhaps fourth

period was so advanced that they were able to overcome that. But it seemed that third period was

confused where first period was not. It may all just come down to motivation. Transitions, as are
typical, became worse as the day went on. Fifth period was the worst to manage. Carol said it

was like herding cats. They just didn’t seem to want to do anything. Maybe we can attribute it to

Monday gloom. I did have the activity set for the end of class, after all. I did not find any

students to outright struggle, which is always good. We will be going over cylinders more

tomorrow by continuing the activity—beginning it for fifth period—and doing an online quiz

where students can compete against each other.

Classroom Management Reflection

Incident # When? Who? What is the Consequence

behavior?
1 Cylinder Isaiah (4) Stealing and Verbal Warning
Stations activity hiding another and Re-teach
student’s toy and Expectations
refusing to
acknowledge
guilt
1 Cylinder Dominick (7) Hitting another Verbal Warning
Stations activity student with
object supposed
to be used only
for the activity
2 Cylinder Dominick (7) Opening object Cool-Off Time
Stations activity contrary to
expectations

12 March 2019

Academic Reflection

Transitions were the story of the day. Students pulled out laptops at the start—if things

went well—then, assuming they logged into them all right, they returned to stations where their

groups were yesterday. This hardly went well at all. There were quite a few students who missed

on Monday who needed new places to go; students started at different times with different paces
without a timer going; and I failed to re-emphasize the formulae learned the previous day. As is

typical of my days, this grew worse as the day went on. When it did go well, they needed to turn

in their papers and/or I needed to remind them to do so. Then, once they were in front of their

computers, I handed out a new worksheet. Kahoot! went well each and every time. Perhaps it

was that I did not need to keep a quiet room or subjectively ensure every student was

participating. Once that was done, I handed out yet another sheet of paper for students to learn

the formula for cone. That always went smoothly.

Everything unraveled in 7th period. Even Kahoot! became a chore when nearly half the

class elected to do an assignment in the pod outside the room instead of the game. I called off the

stations activity after maybe three stations. I lost track of both the number, the timer, and, for the

most part, the class. The class was loud, students were not having conversations strictly about

math, and groups were jumbled. They absolutely need structure. As I mentioned earlier, once we

moved past the Kahoot! activity and I had called the kids back in, focus was re-established for

the cone lab. The kids clearly like learning, but they need something to spice it up after a long

day at school. If not, I get what I got today, which is a hard-to-handle class where I cannot assess

learning because I am busy answering questions, finding rulers, breaking up insult hurling, etc.

It is always hard to know what to anticipate because the classes always get more difficult

as the day goes on. But some things are constant. Kids forgot the formula for the area of a circle

despite re-learning it yesterday. They did not dislike the station activity, and they enjoyed

Kahoot! As far as classroom management went outside of the abysmal 7th period, students

responded well to the light technique, though they needed reminding. Most encouraging of all

was that they, with the exception of 7th period—and that may be the lack of the higher
performing students who elected to remove themselves from the warzone—know how to take

radius and height and calculate volume from those.

Because of my lack of time yesterday, I had to prepare the cone activity the morning of. I

have a hard time attributing any troubles to that, however, considering the cone activity went

extraordinarily well. When students get to see the math in live action, they become engrossed in

it. I would like to look for a sphere that I can drop in the same cylinder used today. I do not have

high hopes that I will be able to do that, but I will look. I had planned to use the rap and video,

but it is clear having actual labs are much better. That is something I will make sure to

implement in my own classroom as much as possible.

Classroom Management Reflection

Incident # When? Who? What is the Consequence

behavior?
3 Cylinder Dominick (7) Refusal to Reflection Form
Stations activity follow (He did not fill
directions: Kept out) / Cool-Off
picking up rulers Time
from stations
and walking
away with them
1 Transition Isaac (7) Verbal insults Verbal Warning
2 Transition Isaac (7) Verbal insults Cool-off
Time/Alternative
Assignment

14 March 2019

Academic Reflection

I came in an hour early to prepare a lesson that I had put off until then. I put together

what was left from my plan for yesterday—a day I missed due to sickness—and what I could

grab from my pre-planning. It worked, but this is obviously not optimal. I chose to put together
two activities that I had hoped to have had enough time to do both of so that the assignment of

homework would not seem totally Machiavellian. This worked well. Although there was some

moaning and groaning in regard to homework, especially when it was announced a few minutes

before the end of class, the students took it well. It was a pleasant day, all things considered.

Students did well to remember the formulas that had been taught. Having them written on

the whiteboard may have contributed quite a bit to that, but they came up with them on their

own, so reminding them of that, I feel, does not diminish their learning. The class was also easier

to manage. That may have been because I was sick, but students were paying attention and

contributing. Although today was heavier on direct instruction, I gave them whiteboards and

made them participate. That likely played a large factor. Students did have a hard time

understanding substituting height h with two times the radius 2r in the formula for sphere.

Because of my anxiousness to use the homework I had pre-planned to do, I may have rushed this

discovery. Although it is unfortunate my teaching of this unit was cut short by a day, I will be

able to use it to stretch out my teaching in the future so that I can spend more time on this

discovery while still being able to assign a meaningful homework assignment.

Speaking of the homework, most students, it seemed, elected to do the maze instead of

the lyrics. But I believe many more will be doing rap lyrics than it may have seemed at first.

More and more students seemed to brighten up to the idea as they asked if they could work with

partners. None seemed too anxious to perform, but if they are using their writing skills in tandem

with their logical skills, I don’t mind one bit.

Only a few students seem to be falling behind on substituting values. I am still not sure

how to rectify this, but I will talk with my mentor teacher to see what she thinks. I will be

anxious to see what her experience can offer me.

Classroom Management Reflection

Incident # When? Who? What is the Consequence

behavior?
1 Seatwork Tomias (7) Bullying another Reflection Form
student by (to be given
bringing up their during a more
GPA fun activity
tomorrow)
4 Whole Group Dominick (7) He stole the hall Referral to
pass, hid it, and Mentor Teacher
did this all while
not asking to
leave or use the
hall pass

15 March 2019

Review day helps teachers as much as it helps students. I learned two things today that I

do not believe I would have recognized without it: (1) many students mistakenly attach the

exponent from radius to the exponent of the unit; e.g. in calculating the volume of a cylinder,

where the formula is 𝑉 = 𝜋𝑟 2 ℎ, students will write an answer like 426km2 but on the same short

4
page calculate the volume of a sphere, where the formula is 𝑉 = 3 𝜋𝑟 3 , they will correctly write

an answer like 288.7in3. (2) Fifth period does not believe they know how to solve volume

equations. A distant third is that students have trouble when cylinders are turned on their side.

That is not so significant as the first two.

The former also helped me realize, upon reflection, that I have failed to teach students

about the meaning of the progression from units to square units to cubic units. I will need to

touch upon that Monday so that students understand the meaning of “inches cubed.”

It is perhaps ironic that I am frustrated by the latter. Fifth period is filled with kids I

would characterize as quick. I gave them homework that should have helped them memorize the
formulas and/or get the practice they need without placing a heavy burden on them. I would say

about 80% of my students did not complete their homework. Now, I need to make modifications

to this. I should have handed the paper out to every student and told them to write the lyrics on

the back if they wanted to do that. If they didn’t want to do that, then they have the maze to do

already in their hand. I feel a big contributor to the lack of immediate participation was my

mismanagement of assigning the work. I left way too much up to the students. While I want to

provide them a choice, I need to restrict it to a very simple A or B kind of choice.

In preparing for today, I had to maneuver around a re-teach assessment that began the

day. I felt that time could be shortened, but my mentor teacher was leading the class and

determined that was the appropriate amount of time they should be given. I do not know, given

the time we were able to use, how I could improve upon what happened today. I felt a review

was needed, and it is clear one was needed.

Students did well in transition, and the classroom management was no problem. I was not

teaching because my voice was gone and I do not have any more sick days. So, as far as

reflection, I do not have much to report. It is unfortunate that I made it 9 weeks without getting

sick and then got sick during my teacher work sample.

Classroom Management Reflection

Incident # When? Who? What is the Consequence

behavior?
1 Test Andres (6) Turning around Mentor teacher
and talking with had him do his
students behind test in the pod.
him, which
disrupted class.

18 March 2019
Academic Reflection

I was really missing in preparation today, and I chalk most of it up to experience. I worry

my first period must think that I am a terrible teacher because they always end up being my

guinea pigs. And I always find out I have been doing things very poorly. Today I introduced the

authentic assessment for the unit, and I had not had the forethought to put it up on the board. My

mentor teacher also recommended I provide a template. By third period after second period prep,

the project was already seeming rather easy. But to first period, they are confused as to what they

are doing because they became lost as I just droned on and on about the rubric and what to do.

Plus, they have no idea how to do it. Luckily, this was a day where changes could be made

immediately.

The same was true for instruction. First period has this habit of not saying very much, so

I take things into my own hands quite frequently if I haven’t planned for student-centered

activities. I had planned to briefly introduce composite volume and move onto the rubric for the

assessment. But that is enough for me to take over and for students to become disengaged. I

needed to find any way I can for students to be engaged by selecting them to come up to the

board while others are working or calling on them to read more often. So I did that, and again,

everything went well. Classroom management went very well, in fact. Aside from first period,

every class left the classroom in a positive way despite being introduced to a project.

My mentor teacher told me that my transitions are very quick and suggested that might be

due to my urgency to use time well. I slowed down today by reviewing what we discussed more

and making sure to explain connections. I also found it helpful to take time to break down what

would be done while I had students pass out materials.

 The issue remains with homework, however. The super-A students are all completing

their work just fine, but even B or lower A students have a hard time doing homework. I

provided students with a choice of what kind of homework to do and tried to make both options

sound appealing, but the mean score—because virtually nothing was turned in—is in the 20th

percentile. So by assigning homework, I tanked grades. I worry the same might happen with the

authentic assessment despite how easy it sounded to every period but first. It may be an issue

with demographics, so I will need to take into account the student population when considering

what homework to assign.

Classroom Management Reflection

No incidents to report.

19 March 2019

Academic Reflection

Surprisingly, many or most of the students did their part of the assessment. I had asked

them to measure their objects the night before so they would be ready to perform the calculations

in class today. Two students were able to finish it today, two days before the due date! Many

others turned in their homework as well. I noticed a lot were missing their names, and this helped

me realize another hole in my preparation for homework: I needed to give them a place to write

their name, otherwise they would forget.

Preparation was easy today. My unit was complete minus a few loose ends, and my

mentor teacher would be taking over as my time as a student teacher has come close to a close.

Students were on task, especially in the morning, and used their time wisely on the mini-quiz,
project time, and composite volume practices. I could do better to give it more structure, so I

could probably add time expectations next to my agendas.

Students are still looking at the board for volume formulas. They may have gotten used to

this and now use it as a crutch. What may happen is we erase it and they remember it just fine

out of habit. But it is still a bit concerning. I didn’t have the heart to assess them on the subject

without what they’ve seen the whole week, but I may need to do that to know that my methods

work. The only students that struggled across the whole unit were those that could not get past

the first step of substituting values. If they do not know what to do there, they cannot get

anywhere. We tried to teach that before getting to volume, but it seemed to confuse a lot of them

in the way it was taught. Perhaps we could spend more time on linear equations—and portraying

them in more realistic ways—to prepare them beforehand.

Volume is just memorization, and the students that do the work remember what to do.

And when they remember what to do, the algebra at the end comes more easily. I would like to

implement even more volume studies without using the worksheet like I did for composite

volume so that students get more hands-on experience. It seems when they were doing them that

way, at least for most and those that weren’t lazy, the equations became simple.

Classroom Management Reflection

Incident # When? Who? What is the Consequence

behavior?
5 Non- Dominick (7) Refusing to sit in OFFICE
instructional his seat properly REFERRAL: I
and defying had my mentor
authority. He teacher escort
first resisted not him.
laying down on
three chairs and
then resisted
reclining on said
chairs