Peek -a -boo

Today, I was able to drop into classrooms on the upstairs floor to catch a glimpse of good instruction in action.  Here's what I saw as I peeked...

    

Getting kids thinking with their brains and bodies...  In the above pics, you can see the variety of skill and knowledge levels.  The first picture shows a completed plot diagram with a student who feels confident in her choices; the second picture shows the messy processes that often accompany learning and figuring it out as we go; the third picture shows a student making revisions to her work as she realizes errors.

More kinesthetic learning... Here is an example of the co-teaching method, parallel teaching, where students are divided into two groups.  Both groups are studying integers, but they are going about it in different ways.  Pictures one and two show students adding/subtracting integers by walking the number line.  Picture three shows students working with chips designated as plus and minus to learn how numbers cancel one another.

Using Google Forms for student work... Above you can see the teacher's computer with the results of student answers provided in two different ways.  Picture one gives a graph of student responses for a big-picture view.  Picture two gives the detailed responses from each student.

Translating English to Hebrew... In this picture, students write in English and observe the translation of those words into Hebrew.  This authentic activity gives students the chance to develop their own understandings of 

the Hebrew language, including the right to left orientation and the different characters.

Putting learning into their own words... In this picture, a student is consolidating the learning she's had in math by putting it into her own words.  What's noteworthy is that students were looking at examples of problems in order to determine the rule for themselves.  Good thinking!

Reflection in action... In picture one, essential questions posted in the room are used to guide instruction and get students to make connections in their learning.  In picture two, students have identified how their Flyertime lesson fits with our core values.