Amazing Teaching MOment
Bio: Jillian Onque began teaching in the Memphis City School System before relocating to the Chicago Public School System in 2008. She earned her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education from the University of Memphis in 2004 and her Master’s in Middle School Math Education from DePaul University in 2012. Jillian is passionate about instilling the love of learning, specifically learning about math, to middle school students. As a developing professional, Jillian serves as the lead middle school math teacher and an instructional leadership team member at Grimes School. She also sits on a number of district and professional committees -- Teach Plus, Teacher Advocacy Committee, and the Leading With Algebra Initiative to name a few.
Narrative of Amazing Teaching Moment: Algebra Speed Dating
I have always been keenly aware that the review before the lesson before an assessment was crucial for students to make sure they really “understood” the lesson. I struggled to find a fun and engaging way to present review sessions in my class. I searched the internet and “borrowed” the idea of modeling my review lesson after Speed Dating. The students sat face to face in their desks with a white board and a marker. I created the problems beforehand and displayed them on the screen. I intentionally designed problems that would test for the specific concepts that I knew that I would be assessing them on tomorrow. I displayed the algebraic problem on the screen. The students had 20-30 seconds to solve the problems on their white boards. I walked around and observed where the students were struggling. After time was called, the students showed their whiteboard to their partner as a I displayed the answer on the board. If one of the students had an incorrect answer, the other student had to find their mistake and show them how to correct their problem. If both students had the same answer but solved the problem in different ways, the students had to explain their way and thinking to their partner. They were given 45 seconds for this part. I was able to easily see who understood the concepts and who was still struggling with their conceptual understanding. After the 45 seconds, they moved on a circle to the left.
From this point, I tailored my next steps before assessing them. I retaught small groups of students that had similar misunderstandings. This enabled them to get the help they needed in the specific way in which they needed it.
At first, the students had a difficult time with “timed” piece. They were used to working slowly and taking their time. I told them that the new wave of assessments were timed and that they needed to become comfortable with working under time constraints. With much apprehension and hesitation, they rose to the occasion.The students really enjoyed the activity and I loved being able to see and hear their algebraic and conceptual understanding. For me, it was powerful to see how this simple activity fully engaged every student and allowed me to “watch” them as they were in action and quickly assess their understanding.
Hashtags: #algebraspeeddating, #middleschoolmath, #timedmath, #algebra, #assessment, #mathreview
I have always been keenly aware that the review before the lesson before an assessment was crucial for students to make sure they really “understood” the lesson. I struggled to find a fun and engaging way to present review sessions in my class. I searched the internet and “borrowed” the idea of modeling my review lesson after Speed Dating. The students sat face to face in their desks with a white board and a marker. I created the problems beforehand and displayed them on the screen. I intentionally designed problems that would test for the specific concepts that I knew that I would be assessing them on tomorrow. I displayed the algebraic problem on the screen. The students had 20-30 seconds to solve the problems on their white boards. I walked around and observed where the students were struggling. After time was called, the students showed their whiteboard to their partner as a I displayed the answer on the board. If one of the students had an incorrect answer, the other student had to find their mistake and show them how to correct their problem. If both students had the same answer but solved the problem in different ways, the students had to explain their way and thinking to their partner. They were given 45 seconds for this part. I was able to easily see who understood the concepts and who was still struggling with their conceptual understanding. After the 45 seconds, they moved on a circle to the left.
From this point, I tailored my next steps before assessing them. I retaught small groups of students that had similar misunderstandings. This enabled them to get the help they needed in the specific way in which they needed it.
At first, the students had a difficult time with “timed” piece. They were used to working slowly and taking their time. I told them that the new wave of assessments were timed and that they needed to become comfortable with working under time constraints. With much apprehension and hesitation, they rose to the occasion.The students really enjoyed the activity and I loved being able to see and hear their algebraic and conceptual understanding. For me, it was powerful to see how this simple activity fully engaged every student and allowed me to “watch” them as they were in action and quickly assess their understanding.
Hashtags: #algebraspeeddating, #middleschoolmath, #timedmath, #algebra, #assessment, #mathreview
Big 5 Themes of Group Pi's Amazing STEM Lesson
1. Real World Connections- students applying their classroom knowledge to a situation that they may encounter in their everyday life.
2. Student engagement- sparks student curiosity through inquiry based activities that allows them to discover new content.
3. Interdisciplinary- see the overarching connections between different subject areas by completing a project that integrates various disciplines.
4. Multi-modal Activities - lessons which allow learners to move around, create, construct, and observe in order to explore, including their environment outside the classroom. Meets the need for non-traditional learning styles and student engagement.
5. TPACK- Merging our pedagogy and content knowledge expertise to re-purpose a piece of technology that can transform a traditional approach to the content area.