A Successful SDAIE Strategy

A successful SDAIE strategy that I have seen is Think-Pair-Share - When asked to consider an idea or answer a question, students write their ideas on paper (think). Each student turns to another student nearby and reads or tells his or her own responses (pair, share). This is an oral exchange, not a reading of each other's papers. I have seen this in practically every classroom that I have been in. it is effective because it is quick and gets the ideas straightened out concisely. It gives each student a chance to test their ideas and correct them if they are incorrect. Then the lesson moves on.

Literacy Survey

Literacy Survey

 

1. When doing your math homework, do you read the chapter?

              (Circle one)        YES            NO

RESULTS: 25.7% said YES

                  74.3% said NO

2. If you answered YES to question 1, do you comprehend the material? Rate comprehension.

                (Circle one)            Low    1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   High

3. If you answered YES to question 1, do you feel that the reading has helped you to become a better mathematician?

               (Circle one)       YES            NO

RESULTS: 75% said YES

                  25% said NO 

 

4. If you answered NO to question 1, please indicate why not.

 

             a. you don’t feel it’s necessary because you understand the problems.

             b. you don’t have time to read the chapter.

             c. math text books don’t make sense to you, they are boring, or hard to read.

             d. some other reason. Please specify:              

I don’t read my math textbook because: ____________________________________________________

RESULTS: 60% chose a.

                  17% chose b.

                  23% chose c.

5. Which type of material do you enjoy reading? Please indicate.

            Fantasy, Non Fiction, Technical Manuals, Textbooks, etc….

I like to read: __________________________________________________________________________

 

 

6. On this scale, indicate how much you enjoy or dislike reading.

                 (Circle one)         Can’t stand it   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10    Can’t get enough

 

Thank you for your time J

 

 

 

Reflection:

I thought it was very interesting that most of the students who marked that they did not read their math textbook also marked that they did not need to because they felt as though they already knew the material. I can’t wait to see their quiz or the results to see if this information is true. I find it interesting how the students were pretty much all over the chart on whether or not they enjoyed reading in general, but most were somewhat in the middle. I think that for the future, this survey will help me to find ways to encourage the students to read their textbooks.

Social Injustice in School

In this photo there is a student who is eating his lunch alone in the back of the school.

I remember being alone at lunch wandering the halls acting as though I had something important to do. I would end up clear across campus by the parking lot sitting alone wanting for the bell to ring. I felt so scared and unwanted. Iwould wish I could have been invisible, or even dead. Questions I asked myself were: Why didn’t anyone want to be my friend? Why was I so unlikeable?

As a teacher this social injustice is hard to remedy. You can’t force other people to hang out with a student who is alone. You can offer to have that student come in for lunch, but usually that doesn’t work out because they need real peers, not some old teacher trying to relate to them.