Making a mathematic connection

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I do hope you all have had a great week, and plan to have a wonderful Easter break. As I thought about what to discuss this week, I realized that mathematics should be the topic. To start this off right, how many of you know how to do LogRhythms? Do you even know what it looks like or the steps/rules you will need to know to solve the problem? (See picture below)  I would not be surprised if a few of you could not answer this question. To be honest before this semester I had no clue what a LogRhythm was or how to get the answer, but thanks to good background knowledge and a great teacher I can now solve most LogRhythm problems with ease.

Nowadays all schools and districts want teachers to incorporate mathematics and science into all of their lessons. Shouldn't be difficult right? Unfortunately that is not always the case. In fact most people, educators or non-educators, do not even know how to get their children or students to understand different math concepts. So, naturally I thought it was interesting to find an article about what it takes to help develop a child's mathematics cognition. The article talks about how parents can treat math skills just like they do reading skills, and working with their children or students to continuously build on prior knowledge to develop their understanding of mathematics. It continues to talk about how scientists are doing research to learn more about how they can fill the "gap" that students develop in math over a course of time as well as how to better educate students to reach their level of understanding. 

As current or future educators how does this make you feel? What can you do differently to help your child or student to increase their math skills and continue to build on prior knowledge? Is there anything you think would enhance the "real-life" connections between math and the students personal life? How do you feel about the article? Think about these questions and let's talk about it. 

Until next time darlings, 

April N. Avery

Get up and get OUT of that chair

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

First let me say welcome back after Spring Break. I do hope everyone was safe and enjoyed the small mid-semester break we each had. I'm not sure about everyone else but this week has been super hectic for me. Working twenty-five hours at my job plus doing all of the homework assignments that were given has really worn me out. Despite being tired from all the work I had to complete this week I stumbled upon a really great article about movement in the classroom.

The article talks about how when students are actively involved in the lesson with their bodies they are able to retain the information and make a better connection to the information. It goes into detail about how teachers and educators can improve their students understanding when they have the students get out of their seats to actively play a part in the lesson. This is a great idea in my opinion. I can remember being excited when I didn't have to sit in my seat for the entire class period in both elementary and higher education. It was those lessons that I can remember the most from my childhood education. For example my high school physics teacher constantly made us participate in a variety of lessons to give us a better understanding; as displayed below I am being used a weight on top of the box for one of his examples.

Not only did every student end up understanding the lesson, but we also had fun while doing it. We were able to retain the information that was given and also apply it to our own personal experiences. The article mentioned goes into detail about why getting students out of their seats is so important to education today. There are a plethora amount of benefits to having your students actively involved in the lessons, but one of the greatest benefits is the fact that when pupils are not constantly sitting in their seats they actually remember, understand, and process new information better. As future and current educators, isn't that the purpose? We want students to retain all the information we throw at them and be able to apply it in several aspects of their life. 

So, to all my readers I have a few questions to ask. Do you think having kids get out of their seat in the classroom would make a difference to their level of understanding? What are some creative ways you can include body movement into a lesson plan? Can you recall a school memory where you were actively participating in a teachers lesson? Finally, do you think you would have remembered some information more clearly if you had been active in the class lesson? 

Until next time darlings, 

April N. Avery

Who said P.E. was just for recreation?

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I hope you all have had a fabulous week! Can you believe it is already over? At the beginning of the week I stumbled upon a video of our First Lady Michelle Obama dancing with Jimmy Fallon to promote her Let's Move Campaign (video posted at the end). It was adorable, and really made me want to get up and move.

So, later on this week when I was reading an article about P.E. teachers starting to incorporate different subjects into the students play time I thought it was brilliant. It made perfect sense to have students play games where they can review their vocabulary words, place value, history lessons, and etc. That's why it slightly irritated me when I seen that some parents did not think including other subjects in the P.E. classroom is beneficial to their students. It allows students to have a better...

The way I see it, is if students are playing games that touch basis or relate to what they are learning in other classes/subjects then those moments allow for a child's understanding to be enriched. It also might strike an interest for students who do not normally actively participate in the classroom to go above and beyond to "win" the game or be the "first to finish" when doing activities related to other subjects during P.E. time. The parents were arguing that by making students continue to do "work" the teachers are going to stifle their general interest in school. This is another problem for me because as a future educator I think using math, english, or another subject to play physical games with in P.E. class is going to be more beneficial for the students overall understanding of the material.

Of course, including different subjects into P.E. time is not the best for every single student but for the most part it probably is. By allowing students to play games and learn at the same time that is fun and in my mind it's effective teaching. When students enjoy what they are doing they are more successful and confident individuals. I honestly believe that combining physical play with different subjects will help students grasp the many concepts covered, bring normally shy students out of their shell, and enhance overall student participation in their learning both in the "regular" classroom as well as in P.E. class.

How do you feel about this? Would you be angry if your child's gym teacher was including different subjects into "play time"? Let's hear some feedback.

Until next time,

April Avery


Here is the video I mentioned above, check it out.