Past projects 2
Exploring and Communicating Math (for ELL, SpEd, and SIFE populations)
Funded Jul 17, 2017The year has only just begun, and already your donations are making an impact on my classroom. The incoming 9th Grade, all low level ELL's started out cautiously, but with materials that help them to see math differently and communicate it in more than just words, they are already opening up.
Just last week, we used the SET games and markers for students to learn how to make observations about patterns and structures - skills that make problem-solving easier. You can see the students making conjectures with markers, and playing the SET game itself in the photos I have posted.
The students feel empowered because with just simple vocabulary of numbers and operations (and some specific vocabulary for certain activities like SET), as well as materials to express their thinking visually, they can engage and enjoy the process of struggle to find solutions and make important connections.
Now that we have begun the course experiencing and acting upon positive math classroom norms, we will begin to move into our content units for the year. Group and project work is emphasized at our school, which means many materials donated will always be in use. The colored pencils will also be employed in developing their notebooks visually with color-coding to improve their literacy and review of topics covered in class.
Again, thank you for these key contributions to our classroom, and giving my ELL, SpEd and SIFE students a chance to find success in expressing their mathematical ideas. Having tools that allow them to persevere will lead to improved growth as we make our students college- and career-ready!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pesola
This classroom project was brought to life by Sergey Brin Family Foundation and 4 other donors.Math Communication Resources
Funded Sep 7, 2015Thank you again for your generous contribution to my classroom. Two months into the year, I can see this project having a great impact especially in my lowest level classroom. Just this week, with my students feeling confident in the rules and expectations of their new classroom, we had an excellent learning experience using the individual whiteboards and markers.
My English Language Learners (ELL) and Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) have just started actual Common Core Algebra 1 topics this week, after a long project developing their basic pre-algebra skills. On Thursday we had an exploration into the structure of algebraic expressions, and the students were actively engaged in a matching exercise with their partners. For the one unmatched diagram, they needed to create their own algebraic expression on the individual whiteboards, and I had 100% engagement in the activity, with very good results. I wish I had taken a picture of them during the activity, but you can see their whiteboards after the fact in the photo gallery. They were very excited to be finding math so accessible, and to be able to communicate without the stumblings of language issues.
Most of the photos I have to show were from the first week of school, and you can see that students were less enthusiastic, although they were engaged. At first, everything seemed overwhelming to them, and they could not see an end to their struggles with English language and their low math skills. While they were complying, it was difficult to get them invested. Now, they have seen progress and feel better able to communicate and access the mathematics, and the majority enjoy the opportunity to express their ideas especially using the whiteboards.
My goal going forwards is to continue to engage the students in rich math tasks that require students to collaborate in problem-solving, asking questions and justifying their ideas. The whiteboards will act as a formative assessment method in which they can communicate final solutions or key ideas their team develops.
It is gratifying to see how many students now feel that they can communicate in mathematics and tie concepts together, when the story was so different just two short months ago. We are moving forward together, in many ways thanks to this project.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Pesola