As I read through What Should I Do? Confronting Dilemmas of Teaching in Urban Schools book, I realized that the problems that I was facing on an everyday basis weren’t just my problem, but it’s typical of other teachers as well. I also realized that these problems weren’t specific to neither my school nor my district, but they’re generally similar dilemmas of teaching in an urban district. As I read through the book, I told myself not to panic when I come across dilemmas through my ImagineIT project, but be proactive by turning dilemmas as learning moments.
During the first phase of my ImagineIT project implementation with my students, I have learned that my students are able to move faster than I anticipated. However, due to achievement gap, there is a time gap in when my students complete their work. In order to provide equal access to work, I need to come up with activities for those groups who finish early.
As I move forward for my next “phase” of the ImagineIT, there are several changes I would make to my current work. 1. I plan on integrating more of the idea “math is everywhere” to my students by integrating Quickfire Challenges to my students of creating math problems in the real world. 2. I also plan on having my students use more technology and innovative minds besides just the Code Studio work that they’ve done so far. 3. In order to keep my students accountable, I plan on integrating Google Classroom for students to submit their answers individually. 4. I want my students to share and discuss their work to a larger audience (whole class or within grade level). Currently, my students only share their work with their partners and with one other partner group that sits at the same table. I want to eventually have students have online discussion of their work and learning via Google Classroom.
My students have completed Stage 3 of 20 of Code Studio. They just began the start of the work in understanding coding in Algebra, how to navigate Code Studio, and have begun to connect their mathematical understanding of order of operation and functions that they learn in Algebra to coding. They will also learn to write equations as they move further along in the program. At the end of the Code unit, my students will learn that Algebra is used in coding, to create images, animations, and games. I’m excited for the challenge that I will face, the changes that I’ll make to my teaching, and the “messy” learning that will happen in my classroom!
During the first phase of my ImagineIT project implementation with my students, I have learned that my students are able to move faster than I anticipated. However, due to achievement gap, there is a time gap in when my students complete their work. In order to provide equal access to work, I need to come up with activities for those groups who finish early.
As I move forward for my next “phase” of the ImagineIT, there are several changes I would make to my current work. 1. I plan on integrating more of the idea “math is everywhere” to my students by integrating Quickfire Challenges to my students of creating math problems in the real world. 2. I also plan on having my students use more technology and innovative minds besides just the Code Studio work that they’ve done so far. 3. In order to keep my students accountable, I plan on integrating Google Classroom for students to submit their answers individually. 4. I want my students to share and discuss their work to a larger audience (whole class or within grade level). Currently, my students only share their work with their partners and with one other partner group that sits at the same table. I want to eventually have students have online discussion of their work and learning via Google Classroom.
My students have completed Stage 3 of 20 of Code Studio. They just began the start of the work in understanding coding in Algebra, how to navigate Code Studio, and have begun to connect their mathematical understanding of order of operation and functions that they learn in Algebra to coding. They will also learn to write equations as they move further along in the program. At the end of the Code unit, my students will learn that Algebra is used in coding, to create images, animations, and games. I’m excited for the challenge that I will face, the changes that I’ll make to my teaching, and the “messy” learning that will happen in my classroom!