Vertical Alignment Reflection
I learned a lot from this project. We were able to see how everything was aligned from grade 2 through grade 5. The concepts were similar throughout, and majority of the projects began with the domain of either Base 10 or Algebraic Thinking. These started each year at the first quarter because they contain the most fundamental concepts students will need to understand as they move along. Geometry ended up in the fourth quarter for most of the lesson plans as well because solving geometry problems incorporates all the other domains. For 5th grade, they can use decimal fractions, fractions, and whole numbers to do geometry. Other grades focus on addition and subtraction, multiplying whole numbers, and beginning with fractions which are all also incorporated into the domain of geometry. Students begin measuring in the early years and these skills are applied to solving geometry problems as well.
We learned the importance of scaffolding in this class and making sure students understand one concept before moving on to the next. This project showed us why that is so important. You can't move on to another concept that requires students to know what was just taught if they don't understand the first. Students will fall behind and because they are not confident in what they are doing or are unsure of what concepts they need to apply to a certain problem, they will lose interest in math. When I was in grade school, the rate we understood concepts was not taken into consideration. We were taught formulas and in exactly what situations to apply them, but we were never taught the concept as a whole. I was never asked questions aside from "why don't you understand this?" and it was not positive for boosting confidence in mathematics. That question also did not help me learn it only made me frustrated.
I learned that by asking students questions to make them engaged and using models throughout every unit taught and every domain addressed that there should be modeling tasks and activities to engage the students. These activities should be ones that they explore and solve on their own. I first worked with modeling in mathematics my freshman year of college when I was in a kindergarten classroom and they used manipulative tools to add and subtract. It was incredible to me what the students were able to do and discover with manipulative tools and how they could apply that knowledge to bigger concepts such as solving word problems or using repeated reasoning to find the missing number in an addition or subtraction problem.
All teachers should know what they need to be teaching that year, but they shouldn't only be thinking of what they want their students to accomplish. I came to the realization that we must review what has been taught in the past to keep that information in their minds so they don't lose understanding of the concepts. I also learned that while you are teaching students, you need to think about the future and what they are going to be learning in future grades. Everything they learn in one grade will be applied to the next and each concept still builds up, so students must have an understanding of each concept taught.
We learned the importance of scaffolding in this class and making sure students understand one concept before moving on to the next. This project showed us why that is so important. You can't move on to another concept that requires students to know what was just taught if they don't understand the first. Students will fall behind and because they are not confident in what they are doing or are unsure of what concepts they need to apply to a certain problem, they will lose interest in math. When I was in grade school, the rate we understood concepts was not taken into consideration. We were taught formulas and in exactly what situations to apply them, but we were never taught the concept as a whole. I was never asked questions aside from "why don't you understand this?" and it was not positive for boosting confidence in mathematics. That question also did not help me learn it only made me frustrated.
I learned that by asking students questions to make them engaged and using models throughout every unit taught and every domain addressed that there should be modeling tasks and activities to engage the students. These activities should be ones that they explore and solve on their own. I first worked with modeling in mathematics my freshman year of college when I was in a kindergarten classroom and they used manipulative tools to add and subtract. It was incredible to me what the students were able to do and discover with manipulative tools and how they could apply that knowledge to bigger concepts such as solving word problems or using repeated reasoning to find the missing number in an addition or subtraction problem.
All teachers should know what they need to be teaching that year, but they shouldn't only be thinking of what they want their students to accomplish. I came to the realization that we must review what has been taught in the past to keep that information in their minds so they don't lose understanding of the concepts. I also learned that while you are teaching students, you need to think about the future and what they are going to be learning in future grades. Everything they learn in one grade will be applied to the next and each concept still builds up, so students must have an understanding of each concept taught.
You should say more about the growth of the content standards - from lower grades through the upper grades.
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