Setting Goals: Instrumental and Missional Thinking
Six month goal
My six month goal centers on increasing student engagement through authentic, meaningful student-to-student interaction. Two of my colleagues recently attended a conference that centered on student engagement through movement and creative activities. For example, Sage-N-Scribe and Mix-N-Match activities offer opportunities for students to interact in ways that get behind mathematical thinking – their own and their classmates’ – in order to deepen student understanding. In the case of Mix-N-Match, the opportunity to move about the room and work with a variety of partners stimulates engagement and provides students various types of thinking to which they may not have otherwise been exposed. Recently, I implemented an activity that was developed (but shelved) several years ago. In the Rationals Review Race, students used white boards and teammate support to better understand how to simplify rational expressions. Movement around the room, a fringe benefit, broke up the monotony of having to sit still for 50 minutes. Creating and finding more activities like these will serve as an alternative to drill-and-kill handouts that offer a low ceiling in fostering higher order thinking skills.
Five year goal
Identifying a host of activities and implementing technology for the sake of deepening mathematical reasoning are two of my five year goals related to increasing student motivation to learn mathematics. While I have not made time this year to flip my classroom, I feel that this could pay dividends in the future; within five years, it’s realistic to say that my classroom, to some extent, will be flipped. Finding activities like Sage-N-Scribe, Mix-N-Match and Systems of Equations CSI Clue to add to my repertoire will elevate student motivation and deepen understanding.
My six month goal centers on increasing student engagement through authentic, meaningful student-to-student interaction. Two of my colleagues recently attended a conference that centered on student engagement through movement and creative activities. For example, Sage-N-Scribe and Mix-N-Match activities offer opportunities for students to interact in ways that get behind mathematical thinking – their own and their classmates’ – in order to deepen student understanding. In the case of Mix-N-Match, the opportunity to move about the room and work with a variety of partners stimulates engagement and provides students various types of thinking to which they may not have otherwise been exposed. Recently, I implemented an activity that was developed (but shelved) several years ago. In the Rationals Review Race, students used white boards and teammate support to better understand how to simplify rational expressions. Movement around the room, a fringe benefit, broke up the monotony of having to sit still for 50 minutes. Creating and finding more activities like these will serve as an alternative to drill-and-kill handouts that offer a low ceiling in fostering higher order thinking skills.
Five year goal
Identifying a host of activities and implementing technology for the sake of deepening mathematical reasoning are two of my five year goals related to increasing student motivation to learn mathematics. While I have not made time this year to flip my classroom, I feel that this could pay dividends in the future; within five years, it’s realistic to say that my classroom, to some extent, will be flipped. Finding activities like Sage-N-Scribe, Mix-N-Match and Systems of Equations CSI Clue to add to my repertoire will elevate student motivation and deepen understanding.
