Before I teach math to middle schoolers, what should I do?
July 5, 2017 12:54 PM Subscribe
Unless I've done badly on my final certification exam, I'll be certified to teach Math to middle schoolers in NYC by September 1st. What should I do between now and then to prepare?
This was me a few months ago. And good news! There's a public middle school that expressed that they want to hire me, once the certifications are done. But I don't do well with a lot of unstructured free time, so I'm looking for advice from current teachers:
--In terms of physical materials, what should I be gathering on the expectation that it's something the school won't provide me?
--I don't know for sure which grades I'll have. A mix of 7th and 8th is likely, but the school itself has different "academies" for students based on interests. So I can't prepare lesson plans this far in advance... but should I?
--What should I know or learn about before classes start, especially the sort of things not covered in a M.Ed. program? What online resources do you find essential?
Two things I don't want: 1) No sarcastic answers like "Kiss your social life goodbye" or "Give up on being as effective as they expect". I've heard them already. 2) PLEASE don't drop a dozen different titles of pedagogy books or authors on me without context, and say I "must" read them before Day 1. I have a part-time job until my cert kicks in over the summer, and I'm trying to pack for a move as well, so my reading time is reduced.
One thing I would appreciate: If you're a MeFite and a teacher, especially of math and especially^2 an NYC teacher, I would like to be in contact with you. MeMail me if you're OK with being consulted or socialized with every now and then.
This was me a few months ago. And good news! There's a public middle school that expressed that they want to hire me, once the certifications are done. But I don't do well with a lot of unstructured free time, so I'm looking for advice from current teachers:
--In terms of physical materials, what should I be gathering on the expectation that it's something the school won't provide me?
--I don't know for sure which grades I'll have. A mix of 7th and 8th is likely, but the school itself has different "academies" for students based on interests. So I can't prepare lesson plans this far in advance... but should I?
--What should I know or learn about before classes start, especially the sort of things not covered in a M.Ed. program? What online resources do you find essential?
Two things I don't want: 1) No sarcastic answers like "Kiss your social life goodbye" or "Give up on being as effective as they expect". I've heard them already. 2) PLEASE don't drop a dozen different titles of pedagogy books or authors on me without context, and say I "must" read them before Day 1. I have a part-time job until my cert kicks in over the summer, and I'm trying to pack for a move as well, so my reading time is reduced.
One thing I would appreciate: If you're a MeFite and a teacher, especially of math and especially^2 an NYC teacher, I would like to be in contact with you. MeMail me if you're OK with being consulted or socialized with every now and then.
Best answer: Spend some time browsing these smart and inspiring teacher blogs: http://blog.mrmeyer.com (math specific and still going)
https://www.teachingquality.org/blogs/billferriter (stopped last year but still worth browsing the archives)
http://blogush.edublogs.org/author/pbogush/ (ditto)
Classroom management is definitely something to get sorted out early on, but it's not really 'fun' or inspiring to prep for, whereas Dan Meyer's stuff is really cool...
posted by chr1sb0y at 2:10 PM on July 5, 2017
https://www.teachingquality.org/blogs/billferriter (stopped last year but still worth browsing the archives)
http://blogush.edublogs.org/author/pbogush/ (ditto)
Classroom management is definitely something to get sorted out early on, but it's not really 'fun' or inspiring to prep for, whereas Dan Meyer's stuff is really cool...
posted by chr1sb0y at 2:10 PM on July 5, 2017
Best answer: Seconding crunchy potato about researching classroom management and organization as your top priority. Consider googling and/or browsing through books about "responsive classroom," especially the book First Six Weeks of School. Come up with a rough outline of a week's worth of plans that you can have ready to use, or discard later, as you find out more about your exact situation. You don't have to know the content you're going to be teaching yet; just think about introductions, routines, expectations, syllabi, setting up LMS, pre-assessments, maybe a few "getting to know you" activities, etc.
Other ideas:
- Browse teacherspayteachers.com.
- Find out if you're going to use a learning management system like Google Classroom, and familiarize yourself with it.
- Find out what the standards of learning are for the grades you think you might teach and read them. Find out if there are standardized tests at those grade levels and if so, see if you can look at released tests. These resources are often available on the state department of education's website.
- Find out how teachers are evaluated - this may be on your state or county's department of ed site. Start thinking about how you're going to meet those goals, create those artifacts, or whatever you need to do to be evaluated well.
- Are you going to have a provisional or standard license? Do you have any certs or classes or other requirements you have to add within a certain timeframe in order to move to the next level of license? If you have to have a certain number of continuing education credits to maintain or renew your license, it's not too early to start thinking about how you might fulfill those credits and to find out whether your state/county/school will reimburse tuition.
- Think about how you're going to assess student learning and handle grading and progress reports.
- Find out what technology resources the students will have access to (like one-to-one iPads or laptops, for example), and start researching/brainstorming how you will integrate tech into your teaching and management system. What tech will YOU have access to as a teacher?
- Find out how and when you will know exactly what you're teaching, what your schedule will be like, what your classroom will be like, what materials and resources are available to you, and who you can connect with in advance as a mentor. Once you're hired, your administrator should be able to help you answer these questions, although they may not finalize some of these elements until closer to the start of the school year. But it never hurts to ask!
posted by the thought-fox at 2:30 PM on July 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Other ideas:
- Browse teacherspayteachers.com.
- Find out if you're going to use a learning management system like Google Classroom, and familiarize yourself with it.
- Find out what the standards of learning are for the grades you think you might teach and read them. Find out if there are standardized tests at those grade levels and if so, see if you can look at released tests. These resources are often available on the state department of education's website.
- Find out how teachers are evaluated - this may be on your state or county's department of ed site. Start thinking about how you're going to meet those goals, create those artifacts, or whatever you need to do to be evaluated well.
- Are you going to have a provisional or standard license? Do you have any certs or classes or other requirements you have to add within a certain timeframe in order to move to the next level of license? If you have to have a certain number of continuing education credits to maintain or renew your license, it's not too early to start thinking about how you might fulfill those credits and to find out whether your state/county/school will reimburse tuition.
- Think about how you're going to assess student learning and handle grading and progress reports.
- Find out what technology resources the students will have access to (like one-to-one iPads or laptops, for example), and start researching/brainstorming how you will integrate tech into your teaching and management system. What tech will YOU have access to as a teacher?
- Find out how and when you will know exactly what you're teaching, what your schedule will be like, what your classroom will be like, what materials and resources are available to you, and who you can connect with in advance as a mentor. Once you're hired, your administrator should be able to help you answer these questions, although they may not finalize some of these elements until closer to the start of the school year. But it never hurts to ask!
posted by the thought-fox at 2:30 PM on July 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Unit planning.
I know you're not quite sure what you're going to teach. But maybe there are a few units common in all the academies? Or maybe you'll find out before the start of the year? Or maybe if you asked they could tell you early?
I am a math teacher and math coach. The single best prep you can do, in my opinion, is unit planning. It's the kind of thing that makes a HUGE difference, but that gets lots in the day-to-day business.
Take a unit (if your curriculum isn't divided into units, take a month-long chunk). Read everything you can to understand what the kids are expected to know by the end, and what have learned before. Don't assume they will remember what they did before, though. Try to identify "big ideas" and difficulty areas. This gets easier over time. Look for links, connections between ideas, things that are separated in the textbook but are really the same thing. DO LOTS OF PROBLEMS from the textbook. If they're VERY easy for you, just do the hardest ones from each section. You want everything to be very easy for you before you teach it. You're trying hard to get a really good understanding of the math you have to teach, what there is to learn, what doing it feels like, and so on.
Then count out how many days you have for the unit. Subtract 10-20% (because there will be assemblies and fire drills and some things will take you longer than you expected) and divide everything up into that many days.
Also make a list of "fun stuff" you can find. There is lots of fun stuff that directly teaches curriculum outcomes... don't waste your time on fun stuff that's only tangentially related (unless it's only like 2 minutes). My textbooks actually have decent games in the teacher's manual (with blackline masters to photocopy) - you don't need to reinvent the wheel your first year!
For each day, try to articulate REALLY CLEARLY what want the kids to learn. This sounds trivial but is actually super difficult. Put in on a calendar.
Figure out where you can plan the fun stuff, which days will be in each section of the textbook, when you'll review.
Make a final test or assessment. If you still have time (ha!) make any quizzes/assignments. Make some short, quick formative assessments so you can keep track of how kids are doing. Don't plan on grading these last ones.
Unit planning is a LOT of work. But even though many things will not go according to plan, especially your first year, unit planning will make you a MUCH better math teacher. And the good news is that every little makes a big difference!!
posted by MangoNews at 2:30 PM on July 5, 2017 [6 favorites]
I know you're not quite sure what you're going to teach. But maybe there are a few units common in all the academies? Or maybe you'll find out before the start of the year? Or maybe if you asked they could tell you early?
I am a math teacher and math coach. The single best prep you can do, in my opinion, is unit planning. It's the kind of thing that makes a HUGE difference, but that gets lots in the day-to-day business.
Take a unit (if your curriculum isn't divided into units, take a month-long chunk). Read everything you can to understand what the kids are expected to know by the end, and what have learned before. Don't assume they will remember what they did before, though. Try to identify "big ideas" and difficulty areas. This gets easier over time. Look for links, connections between ideas, things that are separated in the textbook but are really the same thing. DO LOTS OF PROBLEMS from the textbook. If they're VERY easy for you, just do the hardest ones from each section. You want everything to be very easy for you before you teach it. You're trying hard to get a really good understanding of the math you have to teach, what there is to learn, what doing it feels like, and so on.
Then count out how many days you have for the unit. Subtract 10-20% (because there will be assemblies and fire drills and some things will take you longer than you expected) and divide everything up into that many days.
Also make a list of "fun stuff" you can find. There is lots of fun stuff that directly teaches curriculum outcomes... don't waste your time on fun stuff that's only tangentially related (unless it's only like 2 minutes). My textbooks actually have decent games in the teacher's manual (with blackline masters to photocopy) - you don't need to reinvent the wheel your first year!
For each day, try to articulate REALLY CLEARLY what want the kids to learn. This sounds trivial but is actually super difficult. Put in on a calendar.
Figure out where you can plan the fun stuff, which days will be in each section of the textbook, when you'll review.
Make a final test or assessment. If you still have time (ha!) make any quizzes/assignments. Make some short, quick formative assessments so you can keep track of how kids are doing. Don't plan on grading these last ones.
Unit planning is a LOT of work. But even though many things will not go according to plan, especially your first year, unit planning will make you a MUCH better math teacher. And the good news is that every little makes a big difference!!
posted by MangoNews at 2:30 PM on July 5, 2017 [6 favorites]
Middle school teacher here. If you have not yet read The First Days of School you should do so immediately. Really.
posted by gnutron at 5:54 PM on July 5, 2017
posted by gnutron at 5:54 PM on July 5, 2017
Best answer: I've taught middle school for several years, and public school for 13 years. I taught math for about a year and a half of that. It's late, but I've got some random thoughts for you.
Classroom management will be the most difficult thing. Middle schoolers do things that irritate you and each other, and teaching them how to respond to each other with empathy is the most important thing they can possibly learn in your classroom. Whatever you want your students to do, reinforce the shit out of that behaviour. I use ClassCraft and my middle schoolers loved it SOOOOO much. They would do anything I asked for a bit more XP. It's free, and takes some time to set up, but it's SO worth it.
Expect that they will have trouble with basic skills like multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, etc. This will make their work so much harder. The things that made my class most successful were finding fun ways to get kids interested in math concepts. YouTube is a great way to start - Vi Hart is one great example of this. The more fun it is, the more kids will learn. Get really familiar with Kahoot and other game-based learning programs. Not only are they fun, but it will reinforce the knowledge they are gaining in class. I literally use the same Kahoot every day at the end of class for an exit ticket. Kids get TONS of practice this way, and it's always fun. Start the year with kahoots on multiplication and build from there. Oh, and these already exist. Don't make your own - someone has done that for you. New teachers don't need to reinvent the wheel. You have a hard enough job already!
Do a lot of self-reflection and if you are naturally prone to anger, start working on that shit NOW. Figure out how to feel frustrated, but show only outer calm and kindness (I'm still working on this one!).
I'm NOT a fan of First Days of School for many reasons, but there is something there that's really important: making routines for how class starts and ends. The most important thing is relationships and building a space where kids feel safe. You're asking them to do something they find really difficult, and you're asking them to be okay making mistakes.
Not only am I happy to talk to you, but I can help put you in touch with people who teach middle school or high school math like a fucking boss. I know some people in NY State who teach, and can probably find someone in your area who can help you out. The best teachers are the ones who open their door and Google Drive to you and help you figure it out. Helping new teachers is often my favourite part of the year.
My gmail is in my profile (my username at gmail) and you can find me on Twitter. Oh, and get on Twitter if you aren't already. It's a great way to find resources and meet other teachers. You probably will not need much for your classroom, but do bring some stuff that shows your students who you are. Posters or art, pictures on your desk, a few knick-knacks. Then leave a ton of space on the walls to let students post projects or work. One fun activity at the start of the year is to have everyone decorate a paper outline of a brain - they fill it with everything important to them and explain how their brain works best in school. This is often really illuminating too. But posting these shows your kids that this isn't YOUR classroom. It's also THEIRS.
Oh, and if you want a unit I teach on Growth Mindset and the teen brain, let me know. I find it helpful when reframing the self-image of students who haven't been successful in school and helping them understand what's happening inside their heads.
Lastly, you're going to fuck up this year. Everyone fucks up their first year. But be willing to own that and acknowledge it to your students. That will go a long way with them. They will respect you and learn that making mistakes doesn't mean you're stupid or that you weren't trying. And NEVER pretend to know something you don't. I use the "I don't know! Will you look it up and tell me what you found?" answering strategy, and it's awesome. I learn a ton that way.
posted by guster4lovers at 2:09 AM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
Classroom management will be the most difficult thing. Middle schoolers do things that irritate you and each other, and teaching them how to respond to each other with empathy is the most important thing they can possibly learn in your classroom. Whatever you want your students to do, reinforce the shit out of that behaviour. I use ClassCraft and my middle schoolers loved it SOOOOO much. They would do anything I asked for a bit more XP. It's free, and takes some time to set up, but it's SO worth it.
Expect that they will have trouble with basic skills like multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, etc. This will make their work so much harder. The things that made my class most successful were finding fun ways to get kids interested in math concepts. YouTube is a great way to start - Vi Hart is one great example of this. The more fun it is, the more kids will learn. Get really familiar with Kahoot and other game-based learning programs. Not only are they fun, but it will reinforce the knowledge they are gaining in class. I literally use the same Kahoot every day at the end of class for an exit ticket. Kids get TONS of practice this way, and it's always fun. Start the year with kahoots on multiplication and build from there. Oh, and these already exist. Don't make your own - someone has done that for you. New teachers don't need to reinvent the wheel. You have a hard enough job already!
Do a lot of self-reflection and if you are naturally prone to anger, start working on that shit NOW. Figure out how to feel frustrated, but show only outer calm and kindness (I'm still working on this one!).
I'm NOT a fan of First Days of School for many reasons, but there is something there that's really important: making routines for how class starts and ends. The most important thing is relationships and building a space where kids feel safe. You're asking them to do something they find really difficult, and you're asking them to be okay making mistakes.
Not only am I happy to talk to you, but I can help put you in touch with people who teach middle school or high school math like a fucking boss. I know some people in NY State who teach, and can probably find someone in your area who can help you out. The best teachers are the ones who open their door and Google Drive to you and help you figure it out. Helping new teachers is often my favourite part of the year.
My gmail is in my profile (my username at gmail) and you can find me on Twitter. Oh, and get on Twitter if you aren't already. It's a great way to find resources and meet other teachers. You probably will not need much for your classroom, but do bring some stuff that shows your students who you are. Posters or art, pictures on your desk, a few knick-knacks. Then leave a ton of space on the walls to let students post projects or work. One fun activity at the start of the year is to have everyone decorate a paper outline of a brain - they fill it with everything important to them and explain how their brain works best in school. This is often really illuminating too. But posting these shows your kids that this isn't YOUR classroom. It's also THEIRS.
Oh, and if you want a unit I teach on Growth Mindset and the teen brain, let me know. I find it helpful when reframing the self-image of students who haven't been successful in school and helping them understand what's happening inside their heads.
Lastly, you're going to fuck up this year. Everyone fucks up their first year. But be willing to own that and acknowledge it to your students. That will go a long way with them. They will respect you and learn that making mistakes doesn't mean you're stupid or that you weren't trying. And NEVER pretend to know something you don't. I use the "I don't know! Will you look it up and tell me what you found?" answering strategy, and it's awesome. I learn a ton that way.
posted by guster4lovers at 2:09 AM on July 6, 2017 [2 favorites]
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posted by crunchy potato at 1:25 PM on July 5, 2017 [3 favorites]