Keeping Kids Focused in Math

Today I spent first period in math with the Yellow Class. I was able to go over the homework from last night and today's warm-up with them which was a serious relief because I need a lot of practice with teaching math. Although I was comfortable with the material, I felt really frazzled and uncomfortable because I was teaching while keeping an extremely close eye on everything that happens in the classroom continues to be a difficult adjustment for me.

After the warm-up, the objective for the day was introduced which involved simplifying fractions and writing equivalent fractions. As soon as she said the word, "fraction," there was a general moan from the class and a few cries of "I HATE FRACTIONS!" I feel like this is a common sentiment across elementary students because fractions are difficult to conceptualize and master. I also feel like math instruction can be pretty boring and combining a boring lesson with difficult material is never good. This really motivated me to come up with an engaging and relevant lesson for when I teach Least Common Multiples in a few weeks. I hope to be able to find some way to present the necessary information without boring them to tears or overwhelming them.

I have seen some great ideas to help keep kids focused in this classroom. One of those is the use of post-it notes in the students' math notes journals. Each student is given a post-it note to write vocabulary words and their definitions on so that they stand out. I think this is fabulous and really gives students guidance as to where they should be looking when they study and review the material. Unfortunately, she has decided that bright or dark colors are inappropriate and has started passing out WHITE post-its... If they're going to write on white post-its to stick on white paper, then what is the purpose?!

Another idea she shared with me today was the use of team folders. Each folder is pre-loaded with all of the materials that the students will need for the day so that instructional time is not spent on distributing papers and supplies. I loved this idea and it seemed to really work today. This means a little extra planning time for the teacher, but the amount of time that can be spent on passing out papers and the distractions that students can become involved in while you do it can be very frustrating.