Day 84: Deb Lairson, Intervention Teacher

Front Porch Reflections

Hi everyone!  I am a teacher at Ridgewood Elementary.  I am friends with Mr. Higginbotham and he told me all about this blog last summer.   I was really excited about the opportunity to share new learning, so I told him that I would post on the blog.  Here it is!!!  :) 

            When I think about learning, I think about so many different things.  I learn something new almost every day.  Most of the time, learning feels great!  Sometimes though, learning is tough.  That’s when the learning happens the hard way…  When you learn something the hard way, it does not always feel so good. 

            I love to learn by watching things on YouTube!  I learned how to install a new light in my daughter’s bedroom.  When I was done, I was so excited!  I did it all by myself!  I was able to learn how to do something without a professional nearby.  My teacher was a man on a video.  I felt so accomplished, that I decided to give it another try. 

            The paint on my front porch is beginning to peel away from being there for a long time in all kinds of weather.  I got on youtube and looked up “How to repaint peeling trim on a house”.  Sure enough, there were many videos to watch.   I watched three and felt like I was ready.  I went to Home Depot to get the things I would need.  Then I prepared my things and got started.  I was using a tool to peel away the old paint and it was working just like the man on the video said it would…  until I went a little too far and left a gash in the woodwork.  :(  I was very sad.  I learned a very important lesson though.  

            I am still working on my project, but I am approaching it in a very different way.  I didn’t just learn how to take old, chipping paint off of the trim.  I learned that you have to do it slowly and carefully.  You can’t rush.  I may have learned it the hard way, but I still learned.  :) 

            Remember that when you are frustrated with something that you are trying to learn.  It might not always feel good, but when you learn it, it is worth all of the hard work. 

Deb Lairson is an Intervention Teacher at Ridgewood Elementary in Hilliard, Ohio.   

 

Day 74: Roger, 5th Grade Student

Fractions Were the Worst Thing in My Life.

"I couldn't get anything right.  I didn't understand it.  It was confusing.  I felt like I would never catch up and that I failed myself."

Many of us can relate to the feelings Roger, a 5th grade student in Mrs. Humm's class, felt about fractions.  When we don't understand something, it can affect us in different ways.  If we know it is important to understand something, yet find ourselves constantly not "getting it", it can make us feel very defeated as learners.  This is where persistence pays off.

Roger worked with Mrs. Humm to keep at it when it came to understanding fractions.  "Mrs. Humm found a way to make it easier.  [For example], I always thought you had to subtract the denominators from each other.  Like 1/5 - 2/10 would be 1/5.  She said not to subtract the denominator and that cleared up everything.  That one thing opened the door for me."  After that, Roger felt confident about the work he was doing with fractions.

Lessons like these stick with us as we continue to grow as learners because we proved it to ourselves that we can set goals for ourselves and achieve these goals.

Day 71: Reflecting on Math

Doing my taxes helped me understand kids who sometimes struggle with math.

I don't know what got into me.  One beautiful, cold January morning, I decided to begin working on filing my income taxes.  I didn't know it would take me 5 solid hours, which made me regret even starting on the task.  However, I found myself thinking the same thought  the entire time: This must be what kids feel like when they don't get math.

I can't count how many times I was frustrated and didn't know what to do next.  I crumpled paper, grumbled, and got up just to get away from the problem.  Midway through, I began to keep track of all of the things I had to do just to get through my math problem:

• Got up/moved around
• crumpled paper
• bent paper clips
• worked out math on scrap paper
• asked a question on Google
• looked up two forms on the IRS website
• talked to my wife 
• played Angry Birds online
• searched for child care documents
• used a calculator
• got a drink of water
• ate lunch
• took a break by checking Google News 
• reorganized personal files

Looking back at the list shows me that I like to have the chance to get away from the problem to give my brain a break and that I needed lots of tools to complete the task (one other tool I didn't mention was that I used an online tax prep service to "tutor" me through all of this).

When I think about my experience, I started to think, "This is probably the same way kids are feeling sometimes."  Also, look back at all of the things I needed just to be successful on my math problem.  It helped me understand just how important it is to give kids access to tools and allow them enough time to be successful with their math problems.