Post date: Aug 12, 2014 6:41:15 PM
Well, here I am in my room getting ready for the first day of school. I have learned a lot from last year's flipped classroom. I have decided to make a big change in my classroom seating structure. I want to have the students get a feeling similar to that of a study group in college. I remember being up at a white board in a small study group room in the library with two to four other classmates and working on problems together. Each of us would take turns writing on the chalk/white board per problem and discuss how to solve it. I had the thought of changing my class to get that feeling at the end of last year. I discussed it with my principal and she agreed to purchase some white board easels for my classroom. I originally wanted to put whiteboards on all my walls, but the permanency of that was not appealing to my principal. I am excited to start this year with a new approach and a new layout. I know the students might be shocked at first, but I am hoping that they get used to the amount of discussion that will take place in my classroom. It is my vision and goal that students are actively doing, discussing, or interacting with mathematics every minute they are in my classroom. Sometimes it will be listening attentively, but that will be limited. "Learn by doing" was the motto of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, my alma mater. This is the motto that I want to have in my mathematics classes everyday this year. Wish me luck!