Starting a Learning Journey

Most of the first 3 months of school I have been underwater.  Grading, copying, setting up, managing, going to meetings requires about 12 hours a day. I am a new teacher.  Speaking to and hearing about new teachers, this is perfectly normal.  I am not sure how being underwater (or working 12 hours a day) is normal, but I am hoping to bob up for air during winter break. In the mean time I will just keep swimming with all the other first year teachers.

I am teaching 7th grade math, science, and a math support class. Foremost on my mind is math, always. Our district simultaneously adopted a new curriculum and switched to the Common Core standards for math.  We are using CMP3 (Connected Mathematics Project). While this book is probably the best I have seen to encourage student thought, sometimes I find it disconnected with the Common Core standards.

We are getting ready to start Unit 3:Stretching and Shrinking, which seems to be more in line with the standards and I am excited about that because I can prepare student for the content they are supposed to be learning while using our adopted curriculum (a life preserver in my ocean.)

I am trying something I read about called a Learning Journeys from  a site called Growth Mindset Maths. A learning journey shows the students the pathway through the unit with different skills at each level. They are to self assess where they are in the unit at various times. I spend the greater part of Saturday making a learning journey for this unit.  Unit 3 Learning Journey. I have been disappointed to find that many of my students have trouble with basic skills such as multiplying, dividing, and especially fractions and decimals. My stage 1 shows all the prerequisites for the unit. I also have students who will definitely need to be challenged.  I included a stage 5 that goes beyond the unit. I am developing resources to supplement each of the outlier stages. The inner stages will be addressed during our classroom time.

Some concerns I have about the learning journey include: Students may not take it seriously and simply mark off concepts even if they have not mastered them. Students will honestly not be able to see where they are and know whether they understand or not. I will not be able to track student progress effectively. This will add extra time to my already drowning schedule.

Potential benefits include: Students will take ownership of their learning. They will be able to self assess and work towards well defined mini goals. Students will be working on the correct level of work. I will be able to effectively differentiate in class.

My goal with this blog is to chart my own journey for the rest of the year. I realize I need to be reflecting on each lesson or I will end the year without a solid understanding of what went well. Starting this blog is my first mini goal!