Morgan Byrd
Breakthrough Atlanta
Georgia Tech

So it is now week three at Breakthrough Atlanta and I cannot believe how fast it has gone by! It seems like day one was just yesterday. In seventh grade math we have covered so much material in such a little amount of time. In the first two weeks we tackled integers, the distributive property, PEMDAS/order of operations, fractions, greatest common factor and least common multiple. For week three we began exponents, prime and composite numbers, and prime factorization. The remainder of this week will be a mini review for their mid semester quiz in order to track their progress thus far.

It is amazing how much I have learned about my kids and their different types of learning styles in the first two weeks. For family four math, I realize that many of the kids don’t like taking notes not because they are lazy, but because they just don’t know how to take good, effective notes. To try and help them develop this skill, in my classroom I give them a handout with notes on that day’s concept. In order to ensure that they are engaged I leave blanks scattered all throughout so that they must pay attention and we fill them out together as we go along with the lesson. Each day I give them a little less on the notes sheet with space for them to write, so they can develop this crucial skill. The improvements in my students' homework scores and participation by doing this simple change have been absolutely drastic! They now have something concrete to take home with them and who knew how helpful it would be.

The other thing I have learned about my kids is that they love the whiteboards! If they get to write on the whiteboard in class, then they consider it a good day. We were all seventh graders once and know how hard it can be to sit in a chair and focus all day so to get them out of their chairs and moving around a little bit (and so they don’t fall asleep on me…) I try and get all of my students to go up to the whiteboard and solve a problem. It may be in the first five minutes on the Do Now activity or we may make it a contest or race covering what we learned that day. No matter the activity, I have learned this method is great for my kids. They are more motivated and excited when they get this opportunity and the only way to make these math concepts stick in their heads is by working problems. As my teacher always said “practice makes permanent” and I continue to follow this saying everyday in my classroom. They may hate the homework and in class assignments but with this hard work I have already seen great improvements in all of my students and that is the most rewarding thing for me, as their teacher.