The most wonderful words a teacher can hear are any phrase that expresses joy in learning. Yesterday morning as we began math I heard one of my students exclaim, "I love math drills." (And there was truly no sarcasm in her voice.) I was grinning from ear to ear as they wrote their drills.
Math drills are a daily part of math in my classroom. I believe that knowing the basic facts automatically makes a huge difference in how students feel about and achieve in math later on. I want my student to have a chance to love math in a way I never did, until I started to teach it and really understand the beauty of the patterns in mathematical structures. So, we drill. They have a goal to reach a class average of 70/100 in order to 'graduate' from the addition drills. We celebrate with a popcorn party!
When the time is up, students exchange papers and we mark the work. Then we calculate our class average together. Yesterday, TJS was very proud of his highest score yet and asked to lead the class in finding the average. So, he wrote the scores on the chalkboard, led the class through adding 6 2-digit numbers and then used my calculator to find the average. First, they did this on their own! Second, their average was 63/100!
They were grinning from ear to ear now. I was so proud of them that we called the principal down to our classroom to show him our progress; 11/100 on their first drill in September and 63/100 on November 20. He was appropriately full of praise for their hard work and we continued with our math lesson.
It was an awesome morning!
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1 comment:
Its so good to read your blog and to see what's happening. I had dropped out of sight for awhile - since the beginning of Advent at least and even before that. Going through one of those periods of life with a lot of reflection and just feeling that blogging and sharing myself with anyone is too much.
Anyhow, I am back in the limited social scene having figured out some parts of my life anew and have now had the pleasure to touch base with you and LK. I am so sorry I missed his birthday!
Anyhow, I may actually blog again - I had decided against it for some time being in a mood of self preservation and selfishness. Its unlike me as I am usually very open! I love the pictures you sent and I was surprised by how bright, clean and cheerful the school looks. It looks like a great sanctuary to learn in.
VS
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