Everything to Cover for your Middle or High School Open House -- From Personal All the Way Down to Procedures
Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be all that stressful. We all know to dress well, speak clearly and be cordial. All of these little the details can still make us feel a little anxious. But with some planning and preparation, Open Houses and Parents Night can be nothing but a good time.
Prep Your Talking Points
The first thing you’ll want to do is lay out is your talking points. Think about all of the most important aspects of your classroom and how you want them to be conveyed.
Consider the Doodle Approach
You can explain to the parents what Doodle Notes are and share their benefits, and then they can see how they work first hand.
The files are great for sharing with students on the first day as well. Instead of a boring expectation sheet, hand these out and let them give it a try! They’ll be introduced to the doodle note method and … BONUS… will remember your classroom rules REALLY well!
Hopefully, both your students and their parents will respond well to these as you kick off the school year. Parent Night and Open Houses really should be a fun and exciting time for everyone. After all, it is the big kick off to the new school year. A new year full of getting to know each other, learning, fun and excitement. Do you have any tried and true tips for great Parent Nights? We’d love to hear some of your advice in the comments below! Enter your email here to get more ideas, resources, updates, and more from Math Giraffe: To Read Next:
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8/1/2017 3 Comments Teaching Math with CREATIVITY!The Neuroscience Behind the Creative Brain
More than 1,000 brains went under analysis at the University of Utah and they found no evidence to support this. The results showed that all of the participants were using their entire brain equally (source), concluding that our left brain-right brain ideas are mostly just a myth. This shows that creative brains aren’t just housed in the right side of our cranium. There’s so much more that happens to us when our brains are ignited with creativity.
If you read this blog frequently, you already know that using both hemispheres together is the way to go, inside and outside of the classroom. Crossing the corpus callosum engages the full brain to increase focus, memory, creativity, problem solving skills, and more. (see these posts for more on that):
What is a creative brain?
Genius is often most associated with having this type of brain. But does that mean that only creative brains can be genius and good at all things? What exactly does it mean to have these types of neuroconnections? Early psychologist and researcher, Frank X. Barron decided to try and tackle these questions in a historical study at the University of California - Berkeley campus. Here were some of his findings: ● IQ alone could not explain the creative spark ● Creativity uses a host of intellectual, emotional, motivational and moral characteristics ● A preference for complexity and ambiguity ● An unusually high tolerance for disorder and disarray ● Ability to extract order from chaos ● Willingness to take risks Barron realized that creative brains had a mixed bag of traits, he concluded, “both more primitive and more cultured, more destructive and more constructive, occasionally crazier and yet adamantly saner, than the average person” (source). So, what is the neuroscience behind this creative brain? There are many facets to creativity and that’s why it is a process that utilizes your entire brain. Another psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, spent more than 3 decades studying it. He concluded “If I had to express in one word what makes their personalities different from others, it’s complexity. They show tendencies of thought and action that in most people are segregated. They contain contradictory extremes; instead of being an ‘individual,’ each of them is a ‘multitude.’” Different neural networks are activated when different tasks are being completed. However, a more creative brain accesses each one a little differently.
The Large Scale Neural Networks:
Executive Attention Network Since it's recruited when the brain requires attention that is highly focused, this network is most likely active when concentrating on complex problem solving, listening to a challenging lecture, or heavy reasoning (most math classes!) Imagination Network This network is involved in using personal past experiences to create mental simulations, thinking about the future and general imagination of possible scenarios that occur in daily life. Also, it is used in social cognition when we’re trying to assess what someone else is thinking. Salience Network We need to constantly monitor the external events of our lives with our steady internal stream of consciousness. Depending on what information is the most salient to solving the task at hand, this network takes the reigns.
The way these networks interact can help us understand creative cognition. They will activate and deactivate according to the needs of the task. So, if you’re trying to create a painting it might be best to let your mind wander a bit. This means deactivating your Executive Network and letting your Imagination Network take center stage. Then once you have your ideas, you’ll need to access your focus to take these ideas and bring them to to reality. And the Salience Network helps us do exactly that.
This effect is similar to the effect that coloring, doodling, and sketching while learning a new math concept can offer. Strategies like doodle notes and other visual note-taking methods help student brains to shift between these networks. We can activate neurons from each category to increase the brain’s effectiveness and give student creativity a boost.
This was actually reflected in recent research on jazz musicians and their ability to create such wondrous improvisational music. It’s what neuroscientists like to call a flow state.
Of course this is just a tip to the iceberg of understanding the depth of our creative cognitive abilities. It’s still good to know that our creativity has better roots than just one side of our brain. It takes both sides of brain, working together in networks to have creative thought.
These thoughts can not only help us create literature and art, but it can also be used to come up with creative solutions to problems.
And sometimes, those same creative minds lead us to the most fundamental discoveries in geometry, physics, and more. This is why we should not hesitate to teach math creatively! Allow students to tap into the different levels of thinking. Check out these resources that cross the two hemispheres of the brain and incorporate these neural networks to maximize creativity, learning, and retention (click the images for links):
If you're interested in learning more about teaching math in a creative, brain-friendly way, enter your email address below for articles, updates, teaching materials, and more.
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Calculators in Math Class: Tips for Storing & Managing Your Classroom Set
Tips for class set management (TIP #5 is my favorite!)
1. Use an engraving tool instead of stickers - Stickers can be removed and get worn out. Creating serial numbers with engraving tools work better in the long run.
2. Assign numbers to the calculator and student - Once your calculators have ID’s, assign each one to a student in a class. It will be their calculator for the year.
Then, by number, establish responsibility with the student through a written contract - Sometimes students just aren’t aware of responsibility. They often think things are at their disposal without any question. Having them sign a contract of responsibility will help make their accountability real.
3. Store them in a safe space - Have a bin or even a clear shoe storage door rack to keep them in. Have the student put them back in the pocket as soon as they are done. It’s easy to keep track of what calculator is missing. Lock them all up at the end of the day or if you’re away from your classroom.
Click the image below to download a set of printable number cards to tuck inside the pockets.
4. Count after each class - Instead of counting at the end of the day, count them at the end of each class. It’s easier than running around to find each period’s “student #14” at the end of the day to see whose is missing.
5. Ask for batteries as school supplies - Batteries are expensive. It’s not a bad idea to have students contribute to the batteries for the year.
Knowing when to use calculators in the classroom is also key.
Students are almost always more excited about lessons when some sort of technology is involved, including calculators. That’s why they can be a powerful motivator in the classroom. Not only do students engage more readily, it helps them visualize concepts and ideas better as well. Set aside specific class time to learn how to use the new tools that you are sharing with them. Be sure your students walk through the features of the calculator. Don't assume they've all used this model before! ● Scientific calculators are introduced in lower level math - Include a lesson where you show your students how to use this calculator. Check out these lesson plan ideas from the Virginia Mathematics Standards of Learning. ● Graphing calculators are used for higher level classes - Higher math will often require and benefit from the use of graphing calculators. However, they are only helpful if you know how to use them. That’s why it’s important to touch on the basics of how to use one. Bright Hub Education has some good lesson plans you can build upon to do just that. What about having students use them for tests? One of the first things you’ll hear a student say in a class when you won’t let them use a calculator is, “Well, in the real world I’ll always have a calculator to use. So why can’t I use one now?” And not only is that not exactly true, it’s no excuse or replacement for knowing how to do it on your own. That being said, it’s not a bad idea to allow a calculator for certain parts of the exam. Because in real world applications and entry exams, a lot of time calculators are allowed. (Yes, they always have their phones – but sometimes we want to test a thinking process or have students prove their grasp of a concept and not allow them to use a resource to help during the assessment process.)
Basic rules for calculator use during tests:
If you decided a calculator can be used, it’s best to let it only be used on part of the exam. Make it a two part exam where the student does the first part without a calculator. Then once it is turned in, they receive their calculator and the second half of the exam. Also, as you know, graphing calculators have storage capabilities. Meaning that formulas and other information that is not allowed as a given for the test could be stored. So, either you will need to use your classroom set (which is cleared before a test) or make sure that all students clear their data before being able to take the exam. This will deter any cheating or passing of answers from one class to the next. However, I always have a rule in my own classes that if a student can write a program (on their own!) within their own graphing calculator to perform an operation, then they may use it. For example, I feel that if they can show me that they understood the quadratic formula well enough to create a program that can do it for them, then they should be all good to go with plugging in and using it, too! When and how you want to use a calculator in your classroom is always up to you. There are always going to benefits and drawbacks for using this tool when it comes to mathematics. Stick to your gut feeling on whether or not kids should be using a calculator at any specific time, and don't give in to whining! How do you use calculators in your class? We’d love to hear some more ideas about how you manage them in your classroom. For more ideas, strategies, tips, updates, and resources, enter your email to subscribe to Math Giraffe: To Read Next: |
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