Teaching Science or Mathematics Effectively Using Technology When Roaming

1. Teaching Science or Mathematics Effectively Using Technology When Roaming Laura Headley, NBCT Science and Mathematics Teacher, Andrew Jackson Middle School

2. Time Management • Plan for one hour of uninterrupted time per day to complete your tasks. • If your class is forty seven minutes plan for sixty minutes of instruction including guided practice. • Teaching requires a lot of paper work, planning time, patience, understanding, and empathy. • Do not procrastinate– remember it is much better to be on top of your workload than to have your workload on top of you!

3. Organization • Being organized is important. An organized class gives a message that the teacher is competent and well prepared. • How to organize when teaching from a cart? • Check roll using a blank spreadsheet of your class and a seating chart generated from . Do not wait to log on to the computer in another teacher’s room. It takes too long. Send a list of absences to the attendance clerk via courier. The first five minutes of a class makes or breaks the class. You do not have time to sit behind a computer and log on.

4. Organization • Present your lesson using power point and let the steps of the problems come in with animation to keep the students attention. • The first slide of the power point should be a problem of the day as a bell ringer. This gives the first five minutes structure as you check attendance. • Collection of papers for the roaming teacher is a challenge. Provide a folder for each class which is color coded. Select a student to collect the papers and place them in the folder. Check off the homework or quiz papers daily from the folder and enter the marks into a spreadsheet. Return the papers in the same class period if possible. At the latest return the papers the next day. The longer you keep the papers on the “cart” the greater the chance of losing student work.

5. Organization • Collection of papers for the roaming teacher is a challenge. Provide a folder for each class which is color coded. Select a student to collect the papers and place them in the folder. Check off the homework or quiz papers daily from the folder and enter the marks into a spreadsheet. Return the papers in the same class period if possible. At the latest return the papers the next day. The longer you keep the papers on the “cart” the greater the chance of losing student work.

6. Presentation of the lesson • Use technology to present the lesson not only using a power point but also enrich the lesson with websites from the internet. Almost every math and science topic for middle school is already done for you online. Search the internet for a lesson appropriate to the standards you are teaching and have the website listed as a favorite in the class rooms where you are teaching.

7. Presentation of the lesson • Roaming teachers are not always welcome to use another teacher’s blackboard or white board. Avoid the confrontation. Use the document camera to check homework or demonstrate how solve problems.

8. Presentation of the lesson • Sometimes the best way to teach mathematics or science is with manipulative tools. • How does one organize the tools? • Use tubs to keep your tools together. Before school every morning list the materials needed and make sure the appropriate tubs are on the cart. • Assign a student to pass the tools to the class and have the same student responsible for collection of the tools. Give that student the leeway to remind you that class will be ending soon, and the tools must be collected.

9. What does the teacher need on the cart? • Just like any other teacher be prepared to help a student in need. • Bandages • Paper • Pencils and erasers • Stapler • Tape • Tissues • Planner for emergencies

10. When is the roaming teacher free to move from class to class? • No students may be left unsupervised. The roaming teacher must remain in the classroom until another teacher arrives. • This puts responsibility on the entire staff to return to their classroom before the end of their planning period.

11. What is the responsibility of teachers who do not roam but must leave their classrooms during their planning period? • Have a class set of textbooks available for the roaming teacher. • Leave your computer up and running. Do not lock your computer. • Leave some board space available for the roaming teacher. When teaching mathematics sometimes it is necessary to send a student to the board. Working in front of their peers is a tremendous motivation to do the work correctly.

12. Communicating with Parents • Use edline to post assignments, projects, field trips, or materials which could be donated from home to make labs go more smoothly. • Post your grades frequently and export at least once a week. Mathematics teachers really should take several grades a week. • Be careful with email. Before you send, go back and read what you have written. Only send when the email is professional, factual, and written in such manner that you would not be upset to read it posted in the Florida Today. Email from Brevard Public Schools is public domain.

13. Roaming teachers can be successful. • When procedures are established, materials are available, and technology is integrated into the curriculum, lessons flow smoothly and the whole environment is safe, orderly and inviting.