INDC 4360: Fieldwork Observation Journals

Week 1:
This week, the two main topics the students learned about were Independent and
Dependent Variables as well as Additive Relationships. One thing that I really like about this
class is that my teacher, Mr. Graham has Synchronous and Asynchronous notes that he created
on Google Slides which allows me as well as all the other students to take notes along with him.
So I was both multitasking in observing the class as well as taking my own notes which I found
to be really cool. Since he has different periods, I was able to see the different dynamics and
modifications he does to the lesson as he goes along so that was fun to watch as well. As he
goes onto a different period, he adds new things that help the students and then he makes sure
to tell the previous periods that new thing in the next class period.
One of the things I learned was how to teach Independent and Dependent Variables and
Additive Relationships. One of the main things I noticed is that in his notes, he made sure to
provide multiple representations. So while going through the lesson, he provided word
problems, tables, and then graphs. He talked and worked with the students through each
representation which I think will be very beneficial for the students. Lastly, I was able to see and
learn how to connect new knowledge with prior knowledge. As Mr. Graham was teaching
additive relationships, he brought back 3rd grade math (using math tables) to show the students
that they are learning a process that they already have been doing. He also connects the
information into later grades. The students learned the equation y=a+x and he showed them
that as they advance and reach algebra, the equation builds up until you reach y=mx+b. By
doing this, he is building those connections and prepping the students for future math problems.
Overall, I feel like I really learned alot from my first week of observations. I went in
nervous because this was the first time that I did observations for a higher grade level and a
math class. After this week, I see that it is totally doable and it actually looks really fun. I have an
amazing teacher who really cares about teaching math and takes time to talk to his students,
gets to know them, and teaches them skills that apply to math and the real world. Continuing on
with these observations, I hope to continue to learn more and grab these skills that I know will
be beneficial for my future students.
 INDC 4360: Fieldwork Observation Journals

Week 2:
This week, I learned a lot about the struggles that come with having virtual class. For the
first part of the week, there were technical issues with TEAMS that did not allow me to observe
the class. One way that the teacher tried to make up for this is that he sent us the recordings of
the class which is a great solution if what happened to me had also happened to a student in his
class. With everything being online, the only way to really make things successful is just doing
what you can and being able to find those alternatives if something does not work. Other than
that, I was able to catch Thursday and Friday’s class live where the students learned about
Exponents and Order of Operations.
When learning about Exponents, I noticed that the teacher provided examples to help
students understand the concepts. For example, to explain how squaring a number works, he
had used geometry and drew a cube to visually show the students how that works. When he
taught the students that anything to the zero power is one, he made sure to create a chart and
give an example problem just to make sure that the students understood the background behind
it instead of just telling the students. My favorite lesson was Order of Operations. Mr. Graham
had started the lesson by giving the steps of how to bake and then had the students figure out
which was the correct order. The meaning behind this activity was that it showed the students
that there was no right or wrong way to order baking instructions. However in math, people
came together to create this order that needs to be followed. What was fascinating is that this
order is no longer called PEMDAS; what I grew up learning.The new process is now called
GEMDAS, the G standing for grouping. The teacher made sure to point out the reason for the
change; that there were other ways to group instead of just parentheses ( G → (), {}, [] ). The
problems in the notes seemed very daunting at first but as the lesson went on and they started
getting the hang of it, they eagerly answered the questions, volunteered to solve problems, and
even happily shared to the class their process.
Overall, this week was very interesting in terms of the technical issues but also seeing a
lesson in which I really enjoyed observing. I had a lot of fun seeing the students learn about
Order of Operations and seeing their confidence as they got the hang of it. Mr. Graham did a
great job in ensuring that the students had real world examples and enough practice problems
to help ensure that the students understood the concepts and were able to apply that
knowledge to solve their independent work. In my future class, I hope that I can help simplify
math and get students excited about learning math as much as I had fun learning in class that
day.
 INDC 4360: Fieldwork Observation Journals

Week 3:
This week, in the words of the teacher, the students are learning things that are slowly
transferring them into Algebra, the topics being Prime Factorization and Writing Expressions.
Talking about Algebra, I learned a little bit about the process of a 6th grader placing into Algebra
as a 7th grader. The requirements include taking the STAAR (optional this year), Imagine Math
problems, and the Interim Assessment, the latter two being activities that allow the teachers to
see the students skills and determine if they would succeed and be prepared for Algebra next
year.
When learning about writing expressions, the very first thing the teacher did was that he
had the students think about all the synonyms of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,
and equal. This was very essential for the lesson because this was vocabulary that the students
needed to know in order to solve the problems. Instead of just giving the students the
vocabulary, he instead had the students say the words that first came to mind.I liked this method
because it got the students to think and analyze the different ways they have seen addition,
subtraction, and etc. been said/phrased throughout their years of being in math. Mr. Graham
also showed the students all the extra resources that the students are provided in their notes.
He went over the supplemental and extended practice, key vocabulary (to help guide the
lessons), and a study guide to help the students prepare for the STAAR. I found this very neat
because it shows just how far the lesson has been thought out and how it provides multiple
resources to help the students if they are struggling and or providing extra material for those
who understand the lesson and want something more challenging.
Overall, this week helped show that slow progression of teaching students elements that
will be utilized and built upon more in the future grade levels. Mr. Graham mentioned that math
is constantly being built upon and at the moment, I am seeing a strong foundation being built for
students before they move on to 7th grade. I clearly see math from previous grades being
brought up, having 6th grade math elements be added on to it, and the teacher mentioning how
it will be used again in higher level math.
 INDC 4360: Fieldwork Observation Journals

Week 4:
This week, the teacher stated that the students were no longer going to be dealing with
simple math (like simple addition problems) and are now going to be dealing with algebra and
more advanced math. The two main topics for this week were Combining Like Terms and
Properties of Operations. As always, the teacher went over the synchronous and asynchronous
notes with the class and worked through a handful of examples before he let the students do
their independent work.
Something I found to be interesting is when Mr. Graham started teaching Combining Like
Terms, some student’s started to freak out a bit since it seemed very daunting to them. To me,
the work seemed very easy but I find myself tending to forget that I have been taught this stuff
already while these students are barely learning it now. However, if I think I know this stuff, I still
find myself learning new things which goes to show, we are always constantly learning new
things. When teaching Properties of Operations, the teacher told the students that what they are
doing is things they have already learned and do, just now they are adding a name to it. For
example, they know that any number plus zero will give you the same number but now they
know that that’s called the Identity Property of Addition. This was cool because it reinforces the
idea that math is a subject in which you are just building onto it.
Overall, this week I was able to see more of the students transition into algebra related
topics and how the students are reacting to that. Like I mentioned, they freaked out a bit but as
the week progressed, I saw the students easing into, understanding it, and seeing that it's just
building on to previously learned concepts.
 INDC 4360: Fieldwork Observation Journals

Week 5:
This was my last week of observations. It was interesting seeing the class dynamic because the
students were beginning to do STAAR review since their test is coming up on May 19. You could
see some of the teachers stress and he even said that he feels like he is running out of time. I
feel like that is usually how teaching is near the end of the school year: you got tests coming up
yet you still have so much material to cover before the year ends. Seeing how Mr. Graham is
dealing with it is very inspiring because he is still managing to get things done! Other than that,
this week the students learned about Distributive Properties and Equivalent Expressions.
For Distributive Property, one technique that I liked was that before he started the
lesson, he had students solve a couple problems the way they think it should be solved. Since
they recently learned about the Order of Operations, they solved it using that. Once they did
that, the teacher then showed them that there was another, more efficient way to solve it and
that was through the Distributive Property. Also, while describing this property, he used
analogies to help students relate and understand the concept better. The analogy he used was
that the number outside the parentheses is Amazon and he has to deliver packages to everyone
inside the parentheses (the numbers inside). This was very helpful because the idea of
distribution can be tricky at first so using an example that most students are familiar with
definitely helps students visualize and better remember the process. For Equivalent
Expressions, I saw that he made sure to incorporate different versions of a problem. So, the
student learned how to see if the expressions were equivalent as well as how to write it verbally
and using manipulatives (virtual base ten blocks). In both lessons, the teacher made sure that
there was enough resources to help ensure that the student was understanding the lesson.
Throughout this entire fieldwork experience, I was glad to be able to see how a math
class operates and the strategies teachers use to help make math more understandable,
engaging, and fun. It takes a lot to make math understandable, even more so to make it
engaging and relatable to the students. Mr. Graham did a great job doing all this and I definitely
learned a lot of things that I can not wait to incorporate into my own classroom.