In this teaching profession, I have grown accustomed to working without any recognition because when all is said and done, my job is really not about me! It is about equipping the youth for future success. That being said, it is always nice to get a little recognition or “Good job” ever so often!
Well the other day, I was notified that I would be receiving an award for my students’ achievement and growth on the Achievement Network (ANET) benchmark assessments. Once the event started, we were notified that out of over 1,000 teachers, between 20 and 30 teachers were being recognized at this event for our students’ growth. What an honor!
Superb Student Tests from ANET #1The ANET AwardThe PowerPoint from Award Ceremony
Before the Thanksgiving break, I created a project for my students. They were asked to plan a large Thanksgiving dinner for their family. They would first need to decide who they would invite. Then, they were asked to plan out what they wanted to cook. Afterwards, they were asked to figure how much of each item they would need to be able to feed their entire guest list. They would then need to go grocery shopping for their ingredients and see how much it would cost them. After cooking the meal (by cutting out magazine images), they would need to set the table for the feast!
All students took part in this project and enjoyed the entire process. They were delighted to see their work posted in the hallway, and many were amazed at how much a Thanksgiving dinner can run. Many of my advanced students chose to “cook” more food than required, which allowed them to do additional calculations. One of the highlights for me was when one student said, “Ms. Payne, that was not math. That was fun!”
At the end of our unit of measuring and drawing angles, students were asked to create a Christmas tree or Christmas present by following a few directions and using a protractor. I created 3 versions of this project for 3 levels of students: basic, intermediate, and advanced. The advanced students created the Christmas present, which did not have all of their steps identified. They enjoyed doing this project so much that most of them asked to do the intermediate project when they were finished. One student asked to do this project in detention, which I allowed him to do, and none of the students felt like this was doing “Math.”
When I create culminating projects or unit-wrap-up activities, I try to ensure that I am making the content accessible to all of our students whether or not they have an IEP. I know the levels that my students function at, and I like to make sure that I give everyone a baseline and add more rigor and complexity for my advanced students.
As a project to do in the month of February and in an effort to prepare students to move from finding equivalent fractions to recognizing fractions as tenths, hundredths, and their decimal equivalence, I created a Black History Timeline Project. Students were put in teams of 3 and asked to create a number line from 0 to 3 wholes with tenths and hundredths labeled. The end product would be a timeline of major events that involved and impacted blacks in America from the early 1600’s up until the Civil War. To do this project, students needed to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers, multiply fractions, add fractions, and make equivalent fractions. They were then given several event cards with various fractions that they needed to get to a denominator of 100 and then place them on their number lines. After they had placed all of their events down, they were asked to identify 2 events that they felt had the greatest impact on Blacks in America, and explain why. Images from the project are displayed below, but the project can be downloaded here.
Finished ProductStudents’ response to what they were thankful forClose-up of timeline eventsStudents working together to create equivalent fractions with a denominator of 100Students correcting their work
