Good Evening! During the past few weeks of my graduate program, my mentor and I have had to choose a “focus area” to take notes on and improve. We decided to focus on the idea of mathematical discourse. In an inquiry-based math classroom, mathematical discourse is the very foundation. If students can not communicate their mathematical ideas, observations, and strategies, orally… Read more →
On Assessment…
Welcome Back! Recently most of my posts have revolved around things that my MTF and I are working on improving, this week I decide to reflect on something that is going well: assessment. While it can be hard to know where your students are at, and even harder to collect evidence of student learning, I believe my MTF and I have… Read more →
What is Practice?
Hello! Today’s blog is devoted to the idea of practice. When I say practice, I am referring to the idea of “drill and practice”, that is, doing many similar problems in a row to develop procedural fluency. My placement has recently switched over to the Interactive Mathematics Program curriculum, which is a heavily problem-based mathematics curriculum. While this curriculum has… Read more →
Small Group vs. Whole Class Discussions
Good Evening! You might have noticed that this blog post is a little early. This is because I will be out of town this weekend and I wanted to make an earlier entry instead of a late one. A question that has been on my mind (and my MTF’s mind) lately is the balance between small group and whole class discussions.… Read more →
Routine vs. Variety
Happy Friday! Today, as my MTF and I were reflecting on the days’ lessons, we were torn on a decision we had to make. Our classes have been low energy lately, and we have not been getting much out of the small group or whole class discussions. We know that we need to make some sort of change to the… Read more →
Observations
Happy Friday Everyone! This week, as part of my graduate program, I spent all day Tuesday and Thursday observing other teachers. On Tuesday I observed teachers from my host school, and on Thursday I spent the day at another high school that is participating in the program. It was interesting and refreshing to see other classrooms, and I have pages… Read more →
Grading
Good Evening! Grading has to be one of the most hated (but also, most misunderstood) aspects of teaching. I hear from multiple non-education folks that teaching is an easy 7:30-2:00 job, but grading can have teachers pulling “all-nighters” just like their students. Inside the world of education, grading is a highly controversial issue, with overarching questions such as what should go… Read more →
The First Day(s)…
Hey There! (It looks like I forgot to make a new post after the first day of school, so this post will discuss the first few days). The first day of school was on a Wednesday, but I was at the high school Monday and Tuesday for faculty meetings, training, and planning. I met a lot of faculty and staff,… Read more →
Summer Work
Today marks the end of my first sit-down class at UMASS. Earlier in the summer I completed an online EDUC PSYCH course, but the past week I had a full time course that met Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm at UMASS. It was an immersive and intimate course, the six of us Teaching Fellows (TFs) and our six Mentor Teaching Fellows (MTFs). In sort of… Read more →
A Little Background…
Hello! My name is Joey Grabowski. I am currently a Teaching Fellow with the Supporting STEM Teaching and Learning Through Communities II (S2TLC-II) program at UMASS Amherst. I was born and raised in Granby, MA where I attended Granby Jr./Sr. High School. In fact, it was my 8th grade teacher that inspired me to join this field. From there I… Read more →