My New Idea: Collaborative Team Daily Reflections

For the last two years I have taught 8th Grade Math and 8th Grade Math Support.  Both of these classes have been two totally separate periods and had their own beginning of class and end of class routines.

8th Grade Math
8th Grade Math students worked collaboratively in teams.  In their teams they completed a daily warm-up "Solve It, PROVE It".  The periods were only 50 minutes and there was never time to spare.  I had the students working until 2 minutes before the bell.  The Resource Monitor had just enough time to get the team's homework and return all of the team's supplies before the bell rang.

Math Support
Math Support students worked independently and used 1:1 iPads.  When they came into class they got their assigned iPad, signed into Showbie and completed a daily warm-up "A Blast From the Past". Because all of the students had to return their iPads at the end of class, I had the students complete a "Ticket Out the Door" Writing Reflection every day.  This would ensure that the students would all be returning their iPads at different times, depending on how long it took them to type their written response.

Blocked Math Periods
This year we are going to blocked math periods, which is essentially two periods altogether. This is awesome because time has always been my enemy.   I know that my classroom structure in Math 8 worked, so other than some new ideas and a few tweaks I want to continue doing the same thing I did last year.  I also know that what I did in Math Support was super effective.  So I am basically going to merge the two periods together into one blocked math period.

It is super important to me that this blocked math period to runs seamlessly. Think of it like Part One of my blocked period which will be my Math 8 structure (teams), and Part Two of my blocked math period which will be my Math Support structure (independent). Both parts of my blocked period this year will have a name.  I will refer to these names in class and when I blog.  Part One of my blocked math will simply be Math 8, and Part Two of my blocked math will now be called iMath (independent Math). I love it because it is a play on the fact that students use iPads, and this is the more independent part of their mathematics learning.

I have a lot of new ideas that I will be trying out and incorporating this year in my Math 8 and in my iMath sections of my blocked math period.  I needed to think of a way to seamlessly transition from Math 8 to iMath.  So I came up with this new idea; My Team Daily Reflection.

At the end of Math 8 (Part One of the block), each team will complete a "Team Reflection".  The Resource Monitor-Recorder/Reporter for the day will be responsible for facilitating this "Team Reflection".  After the team has completed their "Team Reflection", they will get their assigned iPads and start with iMath (Part Two of the block).

This is a new idea, and I know I will tweak it throughout the year, and come up with new ideas for prompts. This is just the start of my new idea. I am hoping my idea will be of use to you in your classroom or inspire an idea for your classroom.

My New Team Daily Reflections
After each example of my Team Daily Reflections I am including a link to the PDF and Word Files.   Feel free to download and use or modify to fit your classroom needs.  :o)

Here are examples of my new idea my Team Daily Reflections (Version One):

Download Links: One Word Team Reflection - PDF File ~ Word File

Download Links: Math Practices Team Reflection -  PDF File ~ Word File

Download Links:  Show What You Know Team Reflection - PDF File ~ Word File

Download Links:  Tweet This Team Reflection - PDF File ~ Word File

Download Links: Team Work Team Reflection - PDF File ~ Word File

Here is a zip file with all of the fonts I used.  You should download this if you are using any of the word files... :o)

Download Link:  Fonts I Used Zip File

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.  Hopefully my ideas gave you inspiration for your classroom.  :o)