I recently joined a program in my school district titled, "Math Rocks." It's a
community of district math teachers collaborating together to decide how to help our
students become more successful math students through building professional relationships
and being curious teacher-learners. On our first day, we were assigned the task of
creating a blog and writing a blog post.
Here's the prompt: What is one
thing that happens in your
classroom that makes it distinctly yours? It can be something you do that is unique in your
school… It can be something more amorphous… However you want to interpret the
question! Whatever!
One of my hallmarks is using math journals in the classroom. Over the years, it has provided me with the most concrete evidence of where my students are in their thinking and their understanding of the skills and content on which we are working. Journals also make great assessment tools and provide concrete evidence for student data meetings.
I wrote a post about how I use journals in the classroom last fall. Check it out here.
I don't think the importance of journals and student writing can be emphasized enough. There is so much power in giving students the opportunity to record their thinking. Not only does the act of recording help them understand the concept better, it also serves as a record of what they were thinking so they can go back and reflect on it later. Thank you for sharing!
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