For my TPA I taught a unit on quilts. We were at the tail-end of our geometry unit so I was able to look at my last quiz as a pre-assessment for if they are able to use shapes to fill a space. My lessons started with what a quilt is then we turned our attention to making our own. We talked about patterns and what a "unit" is when working with quilt patterns. We made a quilt square (unit) and repeated it to fill a quilt. From there, we analyzed our quilts for new shapes that we saw in them and discussed how the only original shapes we used were right triangles and squares to create them. My unit finished with an assessment where the students had to find shapes on 2 quilts, trace one unit from a finished quilt, and use either a drawing or a sentence to explain the relationship between a square and a triangle.
I think my lessons went really well. I was very comfortable with the material and I had great flip charts to use throughout. My favorite part of filming my lessons was how in-tune to the camera my students were. They were really focused on being quiet when the camera was in the room and everytime someone started to talk a student would shout SHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! WE'RE BEING FILMED!!!!!! That being said, the camera wasn't a huge distraction for the kids, if anything it kept them more on task.
Maybe you need to have the camera in your room more often! That could be the key you and Ms. P have been looking for to keep your chatty class on task :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on your TPA. The focus of your lessons was challenging, but appropriate given that you had just studied geometry. Learning to make quilt squares was a logical application opportunity for students to use their new knowledge in an authentic context.
Have you analyzed your post assessment yet to see how well students were able to identify shapes in a quilt square? That's the exciting (and sometimes humbling) part of teaching, and it's this analysis section of the TPA where scorers spend a lot of time to determine how well a teacher candidate can describe results and make plans for instructional intervention/next steps.
I'm thinking the kids must have produced some work that was "display worthy". Am I right? When I visit next week, will I see a bulletin board dedicated to quilts? Just curious . . .
Julie,
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really fun way to end a math unit. I bet the kids really enjoyed the opportunity to let their creativity shine through--I know that as a reluctant mathematician, I would've enjoyedthis lesson series.
I'm wondering how you used the quilts, was this a wrap up of the geometry unit to reinforce concepts previously taught, or were you using it to introduce the concept of a geometric unit.
Did most of the students seem to master this concept? Was this something you were looking for masteryon or will it be a concept you continue to revisit?Also how didyou comeup with the idea, it's so cool, was it part of the curriculum or some really great resource I should know about;-)?
Julie,
ReplyDeleteThis lesson sounds really interesting. I am also wondering where you came up with your idea. I really like that you made your math lesson a hands on activity and showed students how math is everywhere in their lives. Even in the blankets some many have at home! I also liked how you linked subject areas. You connected math and art together and when I was reading this I was also thinking about how maybe social studies could have linked in. A short lesson on how quilts started or what countries they originated in. I really don't know much about quilts, but it would be fun to learn. How did your students respond to this activity? Do you do a lot of art in math throughout the year?