Tell About an Opportunity You Had to Work With a Small Group

I have continued with the 5th grade classes, and have been able to work with 2 groups of students.  In the past couple weeks, I was able to work with them in math, with order of operations (PEMDAS), as well as rounding numbers.  In these groups, there has been the obvious students who remember the things that are taught, and naturally do well.  Then, there are others who struggle, even to pay attention, to learn the concept.

While helping the children in these groups, Mrs. S would give the students a math problem, and they would need to come up with the correct answer.  There were a couple times where I could tell that she was frustrated, because multiple students would be chatting with a neighbor, or they simply were staring out into space, clearly not focusing on the problem.  The children have recess before math, so I'm not sure if it was the timing, or if they are just unwilling to learn at the moment.  I would help a few of the children that were obviously struggling, and try to make them understand the concept of rounding numbers up or down, as well as what order they were supposed to complete a math problem like 2*3+7(4-1)+2=?  The teachers had put together a fun little video and song to help the kids remember PEMDAS, and for some, it stuck in their brain, but for others, they still need it written out with the definitions of what each letter means in the acronym.

I was a bit surprised that they were already learning the order of operations in 5th grade.  I don't think I learned it until 6th grade, but these kids are already tackling this concept.  It's so rewarding for the kids who are doing well in the math section, and it's a lot of fun to watch them become so excited about what they have learned.  Mrs. S lets the kids come up to the board and show their work on how they solved the problem.  She'll ask the students what their answers were, and let them come up to the board and show her what they did.  I think this method is extremely helpful for the students and the teacher.  The students learn from one another, and the teacher also learns which students are struggling and where, and which ones almost have the concept but are unsure about a single part.

Schools are so different today than they were in the 60's.  Now, we have many children of different race in the classroom, and they come from all different kinds of backgrounds.  I've been given the chance to work with whites, Hispanic, black, Asian, etc.  I think these kids have a great understanding of where they come from, who they are, and what they want to be.  I see them play with other children on the playground at recess, and the slightest thought of something like that happening in 1960 was inconceivable.  I'm so thankful for the changes that we have made as a society within the span of 50 years.  It's incredible to see the leaps and bounds we have made for children in public schools.