Week+1

= **Week 1 Reflections ** =

Day 1 – Bell Work and Getting the Class’ Attention
**I was worried coming in to the first class because I know that I've forgotten a lot of high school math, however, I found the atmosphere of the class to be positive and encouraging albeit quick-paced. I really like the idea of bell work. I think if the questions are well-thought out then it would serve as a great classroom management tool and could spark students’ curiosity. I had never considered how I would get a class’ attention before hearing different strategies from people here. I think my go-to strategy would be to say “let’s get started” (enthusiastically, of course). If that strategy doesn’t work with a particular class/a particular day I would next try waiting out the noise. I think I would feel silly trying the “if you can hear me, clap your hands” method in a grade 11 or 12 classroom, however, I have found that method to be effective in the classes here. ** **﻿September 1, 2010 ** **Day 2 – Motivation & Competition** **I thought that today's lesson on motivation was really interesting! I'm going to have to be very careful about when and how I use rewards in the classroom.** **I had actually heard of a study that relates to rewards some time ago. I don't remember who the study was by only that they found that kids who were rewarded for taking piano lessons were less likely to play the piano in the future.** **I searched for Alfie Kohn in Google and discovered that he actually has a very comprehensive website.** **[]** **[] -At the end of this article he gives ideas on what to do instead of always saying "good job". I found it useful because I'm guilty of saying "good job" a lot and I want to acknowledge that the person has done something positive but was at a loss for ideas.**

**I was surprised by how negatively competition is viewed. I had thought that competition between teams would be beneficial to the students but Robin pointed out that the weaker students are just left behind. This had never happened to me in an academic setting but I can recall in my first year of university playing recreational intramural volleyball with my floor. Toward the end of the game it was my turn but we were losing and since it was assumed that I was not as good of a player as some of the other people my “teammates” requested that I sit out so that we could get a point. I wasn’t even given a chance! The result was that I never went back for a game.** **However, I do still believe that competition can be a great motivator for some students but I think that you have to be very careful about having competitions with defined winners and loser. There could be multiple mini-competitions so that each student can win. Or there could be competitions for different parts of the competition, in math it could be the most creative solution, quickest, most relatable to real life, etc. **

**I'm really looking forward to learning more about these topics and how they apply in the classroom!**