Ben Charleston AEMS Math

Today was my last day at AEMS. Today we did not do much math, we mostly just played kahoots to see if the kids could beat me. The whole experience of helping at AEMS has been rewarding for me. I have learned so many things about teaching and helping students. These experiences will help me in my life, even if I do not choose to be a teacher. Being able to relate to and connect with others is skill that is useful in pretty much any situation. I went into this experience with the expectation that it would get a bit repetitive after a few days,a however, I quickly realized that each day presented its own set of challenges. Finally, the most rewarding part of the experience was the relationships I built with the kids. I will remember these relationships for awhile and I’m sure the kids will to. Hours today: 3.5 Total hours: 55.5

Today was my second to last day at AEMS. Today the the sixth grade class worked with ratios embedded in word problems. The sixth graders also worked with problem where two ratios were being compared and one had a missing part, and the students had to find out what number could go into the missing part to make the ratios equivalent. The students did pretty well with this and they seemed to have a solid understanding of all the problems. Working with ratios is important because in addition to ratios being necessary for high school math, ratios are essential for cooking, and if someone doesn't understand ratios, they could struggle when they try to cook. In the eighth grade class, the students learned how to use substitution to solve a system of equations. While the students did not get much practice, they seemed to understand the topic pretty well. IN the algebra one class, the students learned how to factor using the box method. THis method is useful when the leading coefficient (a

This week I learned how to successfully teach a lesson and do an activity with the class. The class that I did this with was the algebra one class because I have spent the most time with this group and I know all of the students really well. There was definitely a learning curve to making a presentation that accurately portrayed what I wanted to say in a way that would be easy for students to understand. There were lots of things that I did not think needed to be explained, but, in reality, they did. This week was probably my favorite week working at AEMS thus far. This week in all the classes the students seemed to feel more comfortable asking me questions. Due to the increase in questions, there were some that I could not answer in a way for the students to understand. In these situations, Michelle explains the problem to the student. While these moments are rare, I learn a lot every time it happens because, as I have come to realize, teaching a topic is a lot different than learnin

Today was another good day at AEMS. Today the sixth grade students started to work on topics related to decimals. For me, this was one of the hardest topics in middle school because the decimals can go on for a really long time, and it can be hard to keep track of the number. However, with a little guidance, the students were successful in working with decimals. In the eighth grade class, the students continued to work on solving systems of equations using elimination. The students are doing well with this, however, they do occasionally mess up the signs of the numbers. In the algebra one class, the students learned how to factor when there is a number in front of the “x” squared term. The students did well with this considering it is a hard topic to master. Hours today: 3.5 Total hours: 48.5

Today was another normal day at AEMS. In the sixth grade class, the students did an activity about ratios with fruit punch. Each mixture of fruit punch had a different ratio of water to powder, which created a different taste. THis taught the students that it is important to follow recipes because if you do not, the end product could taste bad. In the eighth grade class the students worked in groups to practice solving systems of equations using elimination. The students worked really well today and they remained focused for the entire class. In the algebra one class I did my activity on solving polynomials. This activity resembled the game “Clue” and the students seemed to enjoy it. The experience of teaching a lesson and then doing an activity was very fun for me. Hours today: 3.5 Total hours: 45

Today at AEMS was a pretty normal day. In the sixth grade class the students finished an activity and then did some practice problems. After completing the practice problems, they did some work with decimals, which they will learn more about later. In the first eighth grade class, the students continued to practice solving systems of equations by elimination. The students did well, and in my opinion solving by elimination is the easiest and most efficient way to solve an equation. Finally, in the algebra one class, I taught my lesson on factoring. The lesson went well, and I think the students learned something. Tomorrow I have an activity for them to do regarding factoring, which I think is fun. Hours today: 3.5 Total hours: 41.5

Today at AEMS, I returned to my normal schedule of attending three math classes. In the sixth grade class, the students learned how to simplify ratios. This process is relatively easy and the students grasped the concept really well. In the first eighth grade class, the students did a worksheet where the answers to the problems corresponded with letters which made a phrase. THe students found this activity fun, and they got a lot of review on solving equations. Tomorrow these students will learn how to solve systems of equations by elimination which is much more efficient than graphing. In the Algebra one class, we played another kahoot to reinforce adding, subtracting, and ,multiplying polynomials. All of this practice is necessary because polynomials are used at all levels of math, and knowing the rules of polynomials is essential. Today I also continued working on my lesson that I will teach Wednesday and Thursday. Hours today: 3.5 Total Hours: 38

This week was an interesting week for me. There was only four days of academic classes because the school held share day on Friday. This week I learned more about the students and how they learn, and I feel I am ready to teach a lesson next week. I have started creating my lesson, and I hope to teach it this week around the middle of the week. This week, during share day, I also learned how to play field hockey. Playing field hockey was the last thing I expected to do when I decided to do my senior project at the elementary school. However, field hockey turned out to be a lot of fun. When we played field hockey I got to see a different side of the students. When people are just sitting in a classroom, they present themselves much differently than when they are doing something they enjoy. It was cool for me to see the students in a different way because they are much more than just students. This week I continued to enjoy helping out at the elementary school. I thought it would be bori

Today I began preparing my lesson on factoring to teach to the Algebra one students. To do this I had to download the smart board software, which took a very long time. Then I had to create the lesson, which I thought would be easy because I pretty much knew what I wanted to do. However, the smart board software did not work great from me, and I had trouble formatting things which made this simple task rather time consuming. Then, I looked for an activity to do with the students regarding factoring. I found a cool activity which incorporates factoring into the game of “clue” which should be fun for the students. Now I am almost done with my lesson, and i plan to go over it with Michelle in the coming days. Hours today: 2.5 Total hours: 34.5

Today at AEMS was share day, and members of the Andover community came in and shared something they were passionate about. I was in a group that was learning how to play field hockey. I had never played field hockey before, and I was not sure what to expect. We learned some basic skills in the classroom (because it was raining outside). After learning these skills we played some team building games until the gym opened up for us to play a game. These games were fun and interesting for me because I had never played them before. Once we finally got to the gym, we split up into two teams of four and played a game. The game was fun, and most of the kids picked up the game pretty quickly. Hours today: 2 Total hours: 32

Today at AEMS the students did a lot of practice work on their chromebooks using programs such as ixl and kahoot. In the sixth grade class, the students did work on their chromebooks regarding ratios. The students did well, however, when the questions changed to word problems, the students began to struggle a little bit. In the first eighth grade class the students finished a worksheet and then did ixl work. The kids are still working on solving systems of equations, and they are getting good at it. The kids are also getting more comfortable using desmos, an online graphing calculator, which is good because some topics in high school math require a graphing calculator. In the algebra one class, the students did a kahoot, and the teacher and I participated in the game as well. I got second, behind the teacher, and most questions I got wrong were because I answered too quickly. It was fun to see the students try to answer quickly while still getting the right answer because it showed th

Today at AEMS it was bike to school day, and the first class was delayed a few minutes to allow all students to arrive to school. In the first class of the day, the sixth graders continued their work with ratios with a practice worksheet. The students did well with this worksheet, and the students had very few questions and they were getting the right answers. In the next class of the day, the eighth graders completed a worksheet on graphing systems of equations to find the solution. Today these students were also introduced to desmos, which is an online graphing calculator. Desmos can be used as a tool for students to check their work, when they do not know the answer to a question. Finally, in the algebra one class the students did a worksheet on multiplying polynomials. With the problems, most of the questions the students had were about combining like terms, and not the multiplying of the polynomials, which I thought was interesting. Hours today: 3.5 Total hours: 26.5

Today at AEMS, the schedule returned to normal, and I had three regular math classes. In the first class of the day, the sixth graders moved from mixed number and fractions to ratios which are very similar. The students handled the new concepts well, and the only mistake they made was sometimes messing up the order of the ratio. In the second class of the day, the eighth grade students continued with graphing systems of equations to find the solution. The students are doing well with this, however, when the equation is not presented in the y=mx+b form, they sometimes struggle. In the last class of the day, the algebra one kids started learning how to multiply polynomials. This is a relatively easy process, and the students did a good job. The only mistake the students occasionally made was not correctly adding the exponents when the multiplied. Hours today: 3.5 Total hours: 23

Today the elementary school had a science fair for the sixth and seventh graders, and the eighth graders had a field trip. So, instead of going to class I went to the science fair for about an hour and thirty minutes. There were a lot of interesting projects, and it was cool to see students present a project that they were passionate about. One of the projects that was interesting was a demonstration about time and space which explained the characteristics of a black hole. Another project that was cool was a project about the falcon 9 SpaceX rocket which explained the design of the rocket and some facts about the rocket. After the science fair, I went back to the classroom to plan out my activity for next week. My plan is to do my activity on next Tuesday on factoring, an interesting and important topic in math. I look forward to doing my activity and hopefully helping students learn in the process. Hours today: 3.5 Total hours: 19.5

This week I learned a lot about how learning styles differ from student to student, but also from grade to grade. For example, the students in sixth grade required much more explanation to understand a topic than the two eighth grade classes. This was not surprising to me because I think maturity helps a lot when it comes to math because as a person gets older, they begin to get more comfortable with numbers. This week I also realized that as a student I have probably asked hundreds of questions that I would have known the answer to if I looked in the notes or in the textbook. There were times when students could have answered their own questions, but I did not mind helping these students because I know I have asked many questions, especially in math, that I could’ve answered myself. This week, I liked what I did every day. I really like helping the kids not just answer a question, but gain an understanding of a topic. When I was helping a student and they finally truly understood the

Today at AEMS I got a break from doing math, and only about 30 minutes of my time was spent doing math related activities. Last night, the school had an art show, so there was a lot of cleaning up to be done. In the first class of the day, the students collected the paper that was holding the artwork. Then, at the end of the block, we began to take the artwork off the pieces of paper. This was very tedious, but with many people helping it did not take too long. In the last block of the day, we finished putting the desks and the tables back in their positions. After the room was back in order, we did a few questions with the Algebra one kids. Overall, even though I did not do much math, today was fun and enjoyable for me. Hours today: 3.5 Total hours: 16

Today I went to the elementary school a bit earlier, and I did more work the night before, which I hope to continue. In the first class of the day the students got the test back that they took yesterday, and they had an opportunity to do corrections. Most of the mistakes the students made were simple and they were able to fix them easily. Some of the mistakes were harder for the students to recognize, however, once they realize their mistake, it was easy for them to fix. The process of correcting silly mistakes taught the students to be more careful and check over their work before turning in a test. In the second class of the day, the students had a lesson about graphing equations to find the solution(s) to a system of equations. The students seemed to grasp this concept pretty easily, and they were able to complete a worksheet without  much trouble. Finally, the Algebra class continued their work with adding and subtracting polynomials with a worksheet that forced them to apply thei

Today was not the most interesting day at AEMS. In the first block, the sixth graders were taking a test, so there was not much for me to help with. In the second block, the class was more of a lecture class, so I could not help much here either. However, it is important for me to sit in on these lessons to ensure that I am helping students in the right way. Since I learned these topics in a slightly different way, I need to learn how to teach in the same way as the lessons and textbook. In the last block of the day, the Algebra block, the class did some practice problems with polynomial subtraction. This is a hard topic because students often forget to distribute the negative to the second polynomial, which causes problems. Overall, I was impressed with how the students did the practice problems, as they made very few mistakes. While today was not the most interesting, it was fun and I look forward to the days to come! Hours today: 3 Total hours: 9