What Does a Typical Class Period Look Like?

Typical Class Period (50 minutes)

·        Do Now (5-10 minutes)

·         Review/Questions from Previous Night’s Assignment (0-10 minutes)

·         Lesson/Discussion of New Concept(s) (20-25 minutes)

·         Group/Independent Practice (10-20 minutes)

Do Now

The “Do Now” portion of the class period is when you come in and get yourself ready to learn.  This means you have all of the required materials and get started on the warm-up problems.  There will be a set of warm-up problems each day that should take you about five minutes to complete.  If you do not know how to do a particular problem, you need to consult a neighbor (not Mr. Johnson).  After roughly five minutes we will discuss the problems as a whole group.  This part of the class period is arguably the most important because it gets our minds ready to learn math.

Review/Questions from Previous Night’s Assignment

More often than not, there will be an assignment given.  We will always go over the previous day’s assignment in class during this time.  You will be able to ask questions, or we will go over specific problems that stumped most of the group.   This will be discussion based (like most of the class), rather than me simply telling you how to do it.

Lesson/Discussion of New Concept(s)

We will cover anywhere from 1-4 new concepts each week.  This portion of the class period will often take the longest, since we are learning something that is mostly new.  There will be times where I am lecturing (not too often), where you will be discussing within a small group, and where we will be problem solving as a whole group.  I am the teacher, but I like to think of myself as more of a facilitator for you learning from self-discovery and each other.  You NEED to be an active participant during this portion of the class in order to be successful.  The concepts we will be learning are from the Minnesota State Standards for 8^th Grade Mathematics (2007).

Group/Independent Practice

Like I stated earlier, there will more often than not be an assignment given.  If it is not an assignment that is due the next day, it will at least be an in-class activity.  Bottom line, there will always be something given for you to complete to show your understanding of the concept.  Sometimes you will work as a small group, while others you will be working independently.  This time will also be a chance for you to ask me questions if you do not fully understand.  If you use your time wisely, you should rarely have more than 15 minutes of homework each night.