Introduction to Text Set

After getting halfway through this semester, I realized how much I have learned in such little time. I have learned so much about how to teach or go about certain things to acquire the most out of it. Things that I thought I had mastered, I had to think about in a completely different way. It was my Arithmetic class for Middle Grades Teachers that made me question so many ideas I thought I already knew. There was one unit that particularly confused me, and when I came across it in the standards I knew it would be helpful to make a text set on. The standard MGSE6.NS1, under the category number systems, states that students should be able to apply and extend their previous understanding of multiplication and division to divide fractions by fractions. Just hearing that phrase first without understanding it sounds sort of confusing. It took me a lot of practice to fully be able to grasp this concept, so it surprised me that it was under the 6^th grade standards. Just by learning this all over again, I have seen so many different perspectives and ways to solve these problems. It gives me an advantage seeing others techniques so I have multiple means of representation when teaching my students. A text set on this standard would be very beneficial to a lot of math teachers in my opinion. Having a good basis, and understanding of an intricate concept like this as a 6^th grader will allow students to get ahead of their learning. As teachers, we should be prepared to give students different examples until they are able to really understand and apply the material.

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Coding Text Reflection Post

Text Coding may not be exactly what it sounds like, at the same time it can mean exactly what it sounds like. This strategy was a way for students to interact with their readings, and comprehend more. To add, it was fairly easy to understand from a learning perspective, which helped when we were teaching it to the class. Originally, my partner and I were supposed to talk about the Vocabulary Predictions strategy, but I wanted to this one instead for the sole purpose of being able to use it in Math classrooms. I was nervous about presenting, but as we began things just started to flow which made me feel a lot better. I realized that this strategy is very useful in the classroom because it solves the common problem of kids not actually reading what they're assigned. We, as teachers though, still have to be careful, and make sure their markings actually mean something. I liked this strategy because of its ability to work in all different subject, in different ways. It can be used for poetry, boring history readings, an article about cells, or even long word problems. I have actually seen this strategy being used at the middle school we visit. There’s all kinds of codes they use for their texts to help students get the most out of their readings. It can be questionable though, as to when we would code our text. In my opinion, I would start coding just as I begin reading, but others may read through it in its entirety, and then choose to go back and code. Whichever technique students end up using, it is better than just simply reading without comprehending any of the words. Overall, this lesson had some road bumps, but we managed to get everything done. I enjoyed having this experience of being teacher for 20 minutes. For me, it just confirmed that I chose the right profession to go into.

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