This blog began in Room 52 at AMG Junior and Senior Public School in 2011.
This site has followed me to a few schools since then and now joined the roster of retired blogs in the social media universe. The journey and reflection will continue in different and exciting spaces.
Room 52 remains one of the most significant places of teaching and learning for me and grateful to the students and staff who supported me there. Thank you.
I learned how to do some combined video and audio work on the Promethean Board.
This was a final summary, done by a couple of students, and narrated by me, of long division.
In the second video I made a mistake and said "12 divided by 34" but I should have said "34 divided by 12."
Spelling: - place all 16 list words in alphabetical order - write each word 3 times - use 8 words from the list and create 5 sentences History: - open book test postponed until Tuesday IEP: - second page 5 of IEP (two copies were printed) should be signed and returned IPRC/High School placement forms: - should be signed and returned as soon as possible
** Math Study sheets were due today. Only 2 or 3 students completed them, at home, for homework. A number of them did it during some work time in class. I am glad that they used the time to complete it, but I think it is important for the students to be develop a greater sense of responsibility for the work they are assigned.
Some students didn't even complete a Study Sheet. This is worth 5 marks on the final test. All Study Sheets will be returned to the students with comments and feedback and an in depth review will happen in class before the test.**
We had a very interesting discussion around the following Community Circle question. The question required some more explanation and changing because the wording was not gender neutral (the use of "guys") and the class coming to the realization that no person is good or bad, but choices or action may be considered bad or good.
I did some filming and if I have some time, may edit a small collection of responses together.
A collection of torn collages continues to grow. There are still a few students who need to complete this project. Here is a sample of the collection we have so far:
The last of the Lance as Armstrong presenters went today. All marks were returned to the students, so you may ask your son or daughter how they did.
Joseba Beloki (former competitor)
Niall Farrell (blogger who felt betrayed by Lance Armstrong)
Lance Armstrong's brother (very disappointed)
A "believer" in Lance Armstrong (#1 fan)
Representative of Nike (who dropped Lance Armstrong after the confession)
I forgot to post this information regarding courses for students who may be interested in First Aid or babysitting training:
For homework, this weekend are the following items:
- Study sheet for Long Division (pp. 141-144) The sheets will be handed in on Monday, returned on Tuesday before Wednesday's test - Open book History test (textbook + jot notes may be used) based on pp. 156-192 The test will be multiple choice and short answer questions
Here are some final review images of the division we have been doing, along with sample drawings of the Base 10 method for solving the questions:
It was also my intention to send the IEPs home yesterday, but I forgot. They will be going home today. You will have to sign a copy of "page 5" and return it to Room 52. Thanks.
Homework: - p. 145 Math sheet - Kiara, Kadeem, Ellis, Kortnee to present on Lance Armstrong drama
I am going to post an image of a long division approach to dividing and then draw in how the same question can be done using Base 10 materials.
I will then post a video of Brian working on a similar long division question but only using Base 10 materials to solve it. I am very proud of his efforts and willingness to solve it, even though he initially found it frustrating.
HOMEWORK: Lance Armstrong presentations for Zachary and Kiara
Lance Armstrong rehearsals for Kadeem, Kortnee, and Ellis
The presentations for our Reading Comprehension/Character Chair portion of the Lance Armstrong took place today. Here are some photos of the presenters just before they began:
Member of United States Anti Doping Agency
Dr. Garcia (lost his license to practice medicine)
District Attorney arguing for Lance Armstrong's ban
Lance Armstrong (looking happy...not too sure why)
The one and only Oprah Winfrey discusses her interview with Lance Armstrong
A disappointed fan reads on behalf of all former Lance Armstrong fans
Luke Armstrong (Lance Armstrong's son)
former cycling teammate, Bradley Wiggins
LIVESTRONG board member: Candace Aaron
Luke Armstrong looking dejected
I managed to catch the tail end of Ariane's strong performance as Oprah Winfrey. Here it is:
I was trying to calculate when I would return to the rather challenging topic of long division (challenging for some, not all). I decided to blend in the use of manipulatives in explaining long division. To summarize the connection, I am going to show a slide that I prepared for the class:
Now, I will show some of the students in action applying the logic behind this slide and the lesson:
There are 13 one cubes in this photo. Before they were exchanged, 10 of those one cubes was a solid "10". Notice that in both groups, there is an equal number of Base 10 materials. The one stray cube is the remainder from the division question.
John did a really good thing and found himself helping a number of other groups in the class who were having difficulty
As we begin to close out this unit of Math, I will apply some of the skills learned from using manipulatives to the last portion of the Math we will be working on on Thursday.
The pencil sharpener was broken and fixed, by me, just before the March Break. I took a photo of the inside of it:
Deciding to fix it, rather than toss it out, reminds me of what we need to do sometimes when things become difficult or don't seem to work. We need to slow down, not to be too quick to throw away things that seem broken, look at them from another point of view, and attempt to problem solve. While problems won't always be solved, taking another look is better than giving up on it.
I want to continue reviewing and practicing our sentence work. I have posted this before, but here is Monique's homework from a few weeks ago. All of her samples were correct:
A great deal of time was spent on preparing for tomorrow's presentation on the Lance Armstrong saga. I was very impressed with the preparation and effort the class put into the rehearsals today. Using the "character chair" brainstorm, we discussed how the presentations will be graded:
HOMEWORK: Add more to your drafts, if needed, and practice your lines.
This will be a bit of a slow start to the morning, but it will be ushered in with a Community Circle activity to get the brain active.
In the afternoon, I refreshed the memories of the students in class on our Lance Armstrong, Reading and Drama exercise. I shared my script with the class in my role as Ben Johnson for this activity:
A grading scheme will be set up based on our class brainstorm:
- an additional set of clips from Youtube on the Lance Armstrong saga
For tonight's homework, the students should have a draft of the script ready to present to the class on Wednesday.
Information about developments in the animation and Black History Month research project can be found on the website amgfun.blogspot.ca
Even if you are just beginning the project, all of the information can be found on this site.
If I do not update the blog before the end of the day, have a safe and enjoyable March Break. Be safe, read each day for at least 30 minutes, and relax.
I meant to add the proper clip of the Ben Johnson steroid scandal from 1988. I meant to include the clip for the movie 9.79, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2012.
Next to the Lance Armstrong confession, this is probably one the biggest stories in Sport's history. Even to this day, the issue of whether or not Ben Johnson is guilty is still debated. He did take performance enhancing drugs, but I also believe that he was sabotaged in Seoul, Korea in 1988.
On a different note, we will be watching this film today. This was an award winning, animated film that I think the class will enjoy.
Brainstorm on your "Lance Armstrong" character in your journal.
To assist the class with setting this up, I decided to play the role of Ben Johnson. I believe I posted a video to give a bit of a background around the steroid scandal he was involved with in 1988. The video I originally posted was incorrect and I will post the one that relates to the scandal.
Ben Johnson was mentioned in the article that the students had to read on Lance Armstrong, in case you're wondering why I am mentioning him.
So, here is the brainstorm I did about the Seoul Olympics:
From there, I did a rough copy of what I was going to say, once I was "in character":
This performance will not happen until after March Break.
The information from the articles we have read and discussions we are having in class are the backbone of this project. As I have mentioned, I want to see how the students comprehend the material in the article by assuming the role of a character related to the story. Discussions on this will continue tomorrow.
A number of students are doing a great job and continuing to work on the research project for History. They are using the blog very well to follow the assignment, which allows me to give them feedback on the research they are doing. A number of students have not started! The information for the project is posted on the Library blog (you may have to look through a couple of postings to see it). This blog is linked off the main page of this blog.
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