I'm a Teacher!

It's been a long time coming. After two vacations overseas and scraping around for extra money to pay for the remainder of my licensing exams, I passed the final licensing test AND got a job as a 6th grade teacher in Warren Township in less than a week! Sixth grade is completely different compared to second and fourth grade, and that difference is adolescence, which I do not miss in the slightest. As 6th grade teacher, I teach math, science, and social studies to less than sixty students, which sounds like a lot, but it's really not, especially when that number is divided between two 6th grade classrooms.

When I first started teaching, I got a little worried when I saw that the first unit was over ratios. Ratios are a difficult concept for students to grasp, especially when coming back to school from a two month vacation. As a superhero by night, I spent some time doing my own research to make ratios fun and engaging, with the hopes that students would be able to retain that information. Solution=Bring Your Own Ratio!

I gave the kids the entire week to bring a ratio from home. It had to be school appropriate and could not be anything related to food. If they wanted to, they could draw their ratio, if they weren't as artistic as their fellow teacher. By the end of the week, I was in awe of the creative mindsets these kids had. There was everything from dice to pictures of random things.

For the lesson, the kids had to fill out a chart with their ratio, how it was written three different ways, and three equivalent ratios. Afterwards, they shared their ratio with a partner and the partners would write the ratio and the alternatives on a chart. Because I wanted everyone to have an experience sharing ideas and collaborating with each other, they got to trade ratios ten different times.

The activity was a hit among the classes, and I have more ideas up my sleeve for the next post.

Until next time,

Miss Fox