This One Time...

Our objective for reflections this week was to tell a story. Sometimes you just can't expect the unexpected!

I studied abroad in Valladolid, Spain during the spring semester of 2007. During our Spring Break, a friend and I traveled to Naples, Italy because it was "the most beautiful city ever" as stated by several friends. After visiting Pompeii (awesome!) we boarded the metro train to get back to our hostel. We had to switch trains and that went smoothly... until we noticed it was going the wrong direction. We weren't concerned because we had experience with the Light Rail in Minneapolis so we knew that at the end of the line it would just reverse and come back. WRONG. Instead, we found ourselves riding along the coast of Italy, past the volcano we had seen hours earlier. Picture two 20-year-old girls, who don't speak Italian, who don't have passports or much money (because we had just planned to hike at Mt. Vesuvius and come right back), and who are freaked out! Luckily, there was one man who spoke English on our train and told us just to get off at the next stop and get on whatever train is heading "back to Naples"- yup, we weren't in Naples anymore. We did as we were told and joined a random family since it was now getting dark. We loaded the first train we saw going back to Naples and quickly realized this wasn't your average metro train; it was a long-distance passenger train. Our wimpy metro tickets definitely wouldn't work on this train! The train was very full so we just stood near the door. As the doors were closing, a young man jumped on the train and dropped a large black duffle bag by our feet. In the next moments an older man began pounding on the door from the outside. My friend and I quickly wandered to find a seat. The next thing we knew the train had been turned off and police officers swarmed the train. My friend and I were now as scared as we had ever been in our lives! We didn't have valid tickets, a passport, or any money. Our professors had warned us of the very strict transportation laws of Italy- we could have certainly gone to jail if we were found without tickets or a passport! Luckily, a young couple sat near us and tried their best to keep us calm with their broken English. They were doing a good job until I heard commotion behind me and turned to look. The young man tapped my leg and said, "Don't watch. They are dealing with the bandits." I had my one and only experience with Bandits. Italian bandits. Awesome. Thankfully, we made it back to our hostel in one piece. We didn't even explore "beautiful" Naples because we were so scarred from the night before. That was a story that my parents didn't hear until after I returned to Minnesota :)

Come on, Routine

I am still waiting for a normal week to happen for my guided math routine. It looks like NEXT week will finally be the week! Woohoo! I was able to get another day in today and it went pretty well. We are still working out some of the "kinks" with my parent volunteers and I realized today that it doesn't work when they show up late- our schedule is very tight. I am going to prepare some spare activities for students to work on if we end up waiting on our volunteers again. I am definitely learning new things each day we do our guided math :)

After attending the SMU Fall Conference, I thought about what changes I could make to my current action research in my classroom. The part of the conference that stuck out to me was the emphasis on zeal throughout the day. To be honest, I haven't given that virtue a whole lot of thought. It seems like I have been drawn to other virtues more during our time working with St. Mary's. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that zeal is actually an integral part of my classroom and I may not even notice it anymore. I try to inspire my students to find love in their learning through enthusiasm as often as possible. This week I continue to show my own excitement in our material and model that behavior for my students. We have fun learning new things each and every day.

It's Official! Week One...

This week is my first official week of guided math. Our very first day was cut short due to a last-minute visit from the firefighters for Fire Safety Week. I was a little irked at first but then realized how great it was for our stamina building. I had mentioned that working hard for that last hour the day can be challenging. I worked through half of the rotations Monday and did my other half of rotations today. It was great! Tomorrow will be our first four rotations sessions. I have been very impressed with how well the partners do their activities/games together... and so quietly :) The students are so excited to come to the back table and work with me. I also get to connect with them on a more personal level than I usually do in whole group settings.

This week I read an article called What Does Good Math Instruction Look Like? from the September/October 2007 edition of Principal magazine. It was interesting that at our staff meeting this morning we talked about how we are pushing to design curriculums that are more focused yet deeper, rather than wide and shallow. This article's tagline mentioned a similar guide for schools. I also connected with the notion that students can develop their mathematical skills even further when working in pairs or a group. I can certainly see that happening, especially in the pairs, during our first few days of guided math. They have made up their own rules to the game to make it more challenging or to focus on a specific aspect of the day. It is fun to see!

What I'm Feeling...

For this week's blog, I am choosing the "What are you feeling?" prompt. I am feeling a span of emotions when it comes to my progress with the action research. Some great, some not-so-great.

1.) Excited: The more I talk about it with students, colleages, and other MEd learners, the more excited I am to jump in with both feet! I anticipate the small group interactions to help students develop their math skills more than they have with the traditional whole group instruction.

2.) Nervous: Next week will be when I officially begin our full guided math instruction. With my class discussions my students sound ready and I sound ready. In the back of my mind I still feel unprepared and have questions floating around. What if the rotations flop? What if my results don't show the improvement I expect? What if I can't keep reliable parent volunteers?

3.) Frustrated: I have had to gently apply the brakes to my timeline due to the lack of parent interest to help with our time. Parents were begging to volunteer the first week of school and now that I'm ready only one person has stepped forward to help.  I hope this parent can be consistent with our schedule. If not, I will have a 'fall-back' station but staying in our routine will make the program that much more successful. 

So recap....really excited and a bit nervous and frustrated. I'm happy to report that I am still feeling very positive despite the small hiccups I have had over the past week or so. Stay tuned next week when things will be underway!