Reflection #3 September 27, 2013 Sarah Sadegian 1276925 Throughout the Hogan (2008) article she compares the

differences that a learning environment can make on a childs performance. I would consider Nora an average student who put effort into daily classroom activities and did not cause any mischief in the classroom. Hogan (2008) describes that Nora simply performed the roles and followed the scripts available to her in these two different contexts (p. 109). The article stressed the importance of the learning environment on how it can have drastic impacts on a student. Nora went from being considered a genius in math to likes to work alone, nice and hardworking (p.108). With such a wide range of learners, how do we highlight the abilities of all our students and create a learning environment where they can all feel successful? This is one of the hardest concepts that I struggled with in both of my practicums. You have 25 students and you wish that each one of them would understand everything and excel in mathematics. I struggled trying to meet each one of their learning needs and provide them with instruction at their level. I ultimately split the learners up into three groups: high achieving math learners, average math learners, and below average math learners. I designed my lessons with all in mind and created specific material for each group as well I had fun math concept related worksheets at the back of the classroom. I had even had extra review for any students who wanted to participate and had scaffolded worksheets. The biggest tip I learned about differentiating to meet the needs of all my students was to always be prepared. We cannot always predict how long certain activities will take, or how long certain concepts may take to learn. Being prepared allows you to be ready for whatever may happen in the classroom and foster the best learning environment possible.

Lambertus, Keene, & Coats (2009/2010) introduce a mathematics activity that was designed for a group of diverse learners. Lambertus, Keene, & Coats specify (2009/2010) the class was diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity (p. 260). This sounds like the average classroom that most of us will teach in. The wanted poster activity seems as though it is a fantastic meaningful activity that all teachers wish they had in their everyday lesson plans. We strive to create these types of lesson and it is unfortunate that they are more time consuming than just following the text book and worksheets provided that go along with the text book. Can you describe an activity that you taught that was extremely meaningful and effective and really stood out to you and your students as a stellar math lesson? Probably one of my favorite activities that I taught was in my grade 5 APT classroom. I was teaching the measurement unit and wanted to create an activity that was fun and engaging for the students. They didnt really view math as fun and I was desperate to help them show how fun math can be. I wanted to share my passion of math with them. I found the idea on the BC website and modified the activity to suit the needs of my learning activity. After creating the activity and gathering the necessary resources I created a useable rubric. The activity was titled dream backyard and the students were to create their dream backyard using a few specific parameters. The students had a blast and they were learning an abundance of math. It was such an exciting feeling when my students were asking me when is math or are we working on our backyards today. I think that these activities that we create and implement in the classroom are worth all the time we put into them. We want students to enjoy math and feel success and that is not always easy.