Alison’s 260 Weblog

This week was full of up and downs as far as feeling useful in the classroom.  One Wed. I was able to work with half of the class on a math project using geoboards.  It was a fun lesson where the students each had a board and created 4 different types of rectangles or squares using one rubber band.  When they were finished with one they would draw it on their worksheet and then write about it counting the number of rows, dots in each row, and dots all together.  The activity overall went well.  There were many setbacks throughout the time because students were very cramped on the table we were working on and were constantly talking to one another as well as fidgeting with their supplies and making sure they weren’t being put with the other students’ stuff.  One student in particular liked to not listen to my directions and then ask a question that pertained to what I just said.  This was frustrating and I found myself reminding myself to have patience and try to emphasize the importance of paying attention.  I was not able to finish the activity because the students went to 2 different specials back to back and then we didn’t work with it on Thursday morning so I am not sure how the end of the lesson went with the group.  I enjoyed being given the chance to work with a group and teach them something and hope for another opportunity like this one so I can try to work with better time management and focusing the students attention on my directions.