External+Supports+Through+Math+Journals

Submitted / created by: Alison Vail Resources: list of prepared questions * Materials: student journals made or purchased Time: 5-25 minutes ( depending upon the lesson) Standard: Self Awareness Student demonstrates awareness of his/her external supports. “I am aware of the supports I have around me.” Grade Level-5/6 Subject Area: Math- generic Activity: journaling. Math journals may be used for a variety of purposes. It is convenient for students to make them and they are less cumbersome to collect and read than a notebook. It is reasonable to ask for a single page to submit with each journal session but keeping an ongoing journal is often more helpful to assess progress. The students should have access to them during math lessons and are collected when appropriate. They may be used for various prompts or questions and contain responses as well as student work examples for assessment. The responses offer teachers a window into students’ ability, understanding, frustrations and fears. Background: It is often necessary to help students recognize how much assistance they need while learning a skill without the support of the classroom and where they may find the help. Asking questions of students to record in their journals may guide the teacher as to how independent a student is when assigning homework practice as well as offer a student the opportunity to consider how comfortable he/she is with the lesson and what to do when it becomes challenging. The more often students are asked to record the easier and less time consuming it becomes. Procedure/Questions : Following a lesson concerning a new skill being taught ask the students to record their comfort level with the new material. This can be stated in the form of questions or a rubric. An example of a rubric might look like this: I am confident with this skill and could; • teach my friend this skill (write down one tip you could offer) • work with a friend to practice this skill (I can offer help with…, but need ..) • ask a friend to help me with this skill (I am really stuck on this ) This style of checking is a quick way to determine who is in need and how you might help pair students up in class to work together.

Questions you might consider while offering students more opportunity to respond. •If you get stuck while practicing math at home what help is available for you? • Where do you go to find help when you are doing your homework? • Who do you ask when you have a math question? • How long do you usually spend on a difficult homework assignment before asking for help? Do you keep at it or stop and wait until you get back to class? Some ideas you might offer a student could be; • ask a parent or older sibling • use the appropriate math book for resource • call a friend • use the internet • other In responding to the above question students should clearly identify the source of help and how/when they could ask. For example asking an older sibling may be comfortable for the student and in turn the student might be able to repay her sibling with a favor such as covering a chore for them. Students may need help identifying a math book to use for help. This may be a math dictionary, or text. This option will not always be helpful. Also using the internet may be helpful if the student has had the opportunity to use it in the past and is comfortable with it as a resource. Goals: Students will identify at least three resources available and comfortable to them. For teachers to understand what each student’s comfort level with skills and finding support on their own. Assessment: Reading the journal entries will offer the teacher an understanding of how confident the students are at independent practice of the skill as well as how confident they are at finding assistance.