Our Students Do Not Know Arabic Anymore

I was really shocked today! As I was teaching my fifth graders the decimal numbers, they started to question about the difference between the decimal point and the comma. When I explained for them that the former is for English decimal numbers and that the latter is for Arabic decimal numbers, they started to ask me about how to write Arabic numbers. As it is already known, today the students in our schools learn Math and Science in English starting from grade one. What was most shocking to me is that most of my students, if not all, did not know how to write the numbers in Arabic! They did not even know which one was number 5 and which was the zero. They were also unable to recognize the difference between number 2 and number 6... I felt really bad that we are getting away from our native language! I remember when I was a kid, I used to take Math and Science in Arabic till I reached grade 5, and I started taking subjects in English afterwards. I think this was better for us as Arab students because in this way, I believe, our students would learn at least the basics of their mother language.

A Lesson Plan Using the Concept Attainment Model

Concept Attainment Model

Subject: Mathematics

Grade Level: 5

Title: Prime VS Composite Numbers

Date: December 29/2017

Time: 50 minutes

Identifying the Topic: Prime Numbers

Focus: This lesson will focus on what makes a number prime and what makes it composite.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, students will be:

ü  introduced to prime numbers

ü  able to differentiate between composite numbers and prime numbers

Required Prior Knowledge:

  ü The division process

  ü Divisibility rules

Examples and Non Examples:

List the examples and the non-examples in a table as follows:

YES	NO
3	4
7	8
13	10
5	9
2	15
19	22

Procedures:

   1.     Introduction: Introduce the students by telling them that the lesson is going to be discussed in a different way. Tell them that the teacher is going to give examples and non-examples about a secret concept that they would guess. (5 minutes)

   2.     Presentation of Data: the teacher will draw the YES/NO table on the board and students will start to guess the differences in order to reach the required concept. The teacher will not fill all the table in one shot. (10 minutes)  

   3.     Generating Hypotheses: Students would first think about the even and odd numbers. The teacher will then put the number “9” in the NO column and “2” in the YES column.  (10 minutes)

   4.     The Analysis Cycle: Students would eliminate the even/odd assumption. (5 minutes)  

   5.     Closure: After providing so many examples, the students will think together in pairs until they notice that the numbers in the YES column are only divisible by 1 and themselves. The teacher then tells them that those numbers are called the prime numbers. (10 minutes)

Assessment: (15 minutes)

Divide the students into pairs and give them numbers to apply the division rules and the division process on them to know which numbers are prime and which are not.

Webinar -> Giving Meaning to Test Scores

Objectives of the webinar: the webinar talked about
1- how technology changed assessment;
2- interpreting, integrating and acting on results;
3- factors affecting reliability and validity;
4-What the future holds.

• Why do we assess?

In education, measurement provides feedback. It allows for a better understanding of what students know and what they are ready to learn next.

• Assessment goals:

Classroom and large scale assessments help all students learn and succeed in school by making as clear as possible to them, their teachers and other education stakeholders:

- The nature of their accomplishments
- The progress of their learning

• Assessment does not stand alone 

• Assessment delivery:

          - Computer-adaptive tests (CATs)

          -Stealth assessments 

          -Performance tasks

• Integrated and continued assessment: everything counts 

•  Classroom assessment practices should provide consistent, dependable, and appropriate information that supports sound interpretations and decisions about each student's knowledge and skills. 

• Different aspects of reliability: 

• Evidence of validity:

  

• Factors that affect reliability:

        - Students variation from occasion to occasion

        - Different test taking population 

        - Item quality

        - Insufficient samples of items 

        - Any change to the test (shorter, longer...) 

        - Variation in the testing condition

        - Unexpected events (fire alarms...) 

• Factors that affect validity:

         - Population different than intended

         - nonstandard administration

         - Scores used for a purpose different than intended

         - Irregularities

         - Accommodation or modification not implemented for identified students 

• The future

Assessment will be integrated more fully with learning activities 

And remember! Technology should support teachers, not supplant them. 

Downfalls

It’s not all good times. Some days my students are just too much to handle. Here are a few quick examples that come to mind. My first day teaching brought on protests by the students because they didn’t want me to even be there. Students even gave me fake names out of sheer disrespect. Fighting frequently ensues after exams are returned. One student threatened me with her father because I asked her to leave class. Some days the students are so disruptive I can barely get through a sentence, let alone an entire lecture. You would think the classroom had turned into a barnyard. Some show no respect and scream, cry, and even beg for mercy if I attempt to ask them to leave. Even worse was the time I got reprimanded after a student was caught messing with a window during class. My fiancé has been upset with all the “unacceptable” things that keep on happening and has practically begged me to quit. Bottom line is: I love those children way too much to walk out on them and I will continue to support them no matter what.

A Video about Dyslexia

How to Deal with Dyslexic Students in your Classroom

Before talking about the solutions for dyslexic students, I want to remind teachers that dyslexia is not a low level of intelligence as many think. Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty where the student finds difficulties with reading, spelling, writing and sometimes speaking. The brain of people with Dyslexia has trouble recognizing or processing certain types of information. This includes matching letter sounds and symbols and blending them together to make words. Here are some strategies and techniques for teachers to apply with dyslexic students according to Alli. R. (2017). 

Taping lectures rather than writing notes, and listening to books on tape rather than reading them.

Using flash cards.

• Using computer software to check spelling and grammar.

• Providing multi-sensory experiences for students related to each book that they read, such as using stories and coloring pages.
  

• Choosing rhyming books and activities with high repetition of words and phrases.

References: Alli, R. (2017). If Your Child Has Dyslexia: Tips for Parents.WebMD. 1. Revealed from
https://www.webmd.com/children/helping-children-with-dyslexia#1 

Some of my Drawings

My Experience in Teaching

Three months ago, OMEC called me to work as a Math teacher for grades 5 and 7 in the place of another teacher who left the school. I was happy that I had the chance to teach and have some experience so I agreed. I started teaching in January. But I found it hard to start teaching in the middle of the school year. Students were used to the previous teacher and grade 5 were sad at the beginning that they had a new teacher. Many times when I do something, they used to complain and tell me what the previous teacher used to do. By the time, students started to like me and now they never mention the previous teacher. When I had two months of teaching, the students made the second term exam. I was very happy and proud of the result because more than half of my students improved and got better scores than the first term. But I still have the problem of managing the classroom. I have tried different methods to manage my classroom but they did not work for many reasons; maybe because I am a young teacher, and I didn't teach them from the beginning of the year, and each class has around 30 students. But I never gave up, I'm still trying different strategies to attract all the students' attentions and reduce the noise in the classroom. Hopefully, I get a better result with the time and all of my students improve. 

Should education strive for changing society? Or should it try to maintain our social and cultural norms?

       To me, I think education is for both, to maintain our good traditions, but to eliminate the bad ones at the same time. Bhoje (2015) says: “Education is a stabilizer of social order, conservator of culture, an instrument of change and social reconstruction.” In my opinion, education aims to educate people to the right way, and the right way sometimes is to be like your culture, but sometimes not. In some cases, the right way is to change even if all the people around you are against you. Like the “Idol of the Tribe”, we should have the courage to stop doing things that we do only because all the people do, but we are not convinced with. Education should make us able to decide what is good and what is bad, what is pleasant and what is evil, what is beneficial and what is harmful, and then go to the best side that suits both, me and the people around me. So, according to the situation, education should make us choose what is more suitable, Confucius’s or Kierkegaard’s ideas? If I find, according to my education and thinking, that my parents are right, I can obey them and be like them, as Confucius says. But if I find that my parents are wrong, then I should follow what Kierkegaard says and have my own life and decisions.

       The good traditions that I have mentioned meant the ones that keep us united together, that strengthen our relationships and encourage the love and cooperation between people without necessarily being benefited from. For example, sharing both, joys and sorrows with people, helping others whenever they need help, have a strong relationship with our neighbors, saluting…  

       While, by the bad traditions that should be eliminated, I meant the traditions that don’t make sense. There are some traditions that people still do nowadays without knowing the reason behind them or the purpose of them. They just do them because they get used to them. And sometimes when people are asked about the reason behind such traditions, they answer “I don’t know, but my mother and grandmother used to do so” for example. Throwing water after someone leaving to a far distance, putting the shoes of someone died in front of the houses’ doors, throwing the tooth to the sun when ripped, are some examples. Moreover, in my country, all the costs of a wedding should be paid by the man only, including the wedding party, the house and its furniture and so many other things. In my opinion, if the wife or her parents’ financial situation is good, they must help the groom by affording some costs. On the other hand, some people borrow money to make a luxurious wedding. But what is that for? So people wouldn’t criticize? One should be satisfied with what he has and do what he is able to do.

       Moreover, I think education, in both East and West, had changed the social life through technology. Education lead to technology, and technology reduced the social interactions between people, even in families. Two years old children nowadays are having electronic devices. Children are preferring to stay hours playing games on their devices rather than going outside and playing with their friends. This is making them less socialized. I have been tutoring a grade 7 girl for 3 years. Although she is very polite, she never salutes me or any of my family members when she comes to my house to take a lesson. The other day, when she came, she passed in front of my brother in law and did not salute, so he said to her “good morning” in English and Arabic and Frances to make fun with her and make her salutes, and I asked her to reply, but still she never replied and she did not even look at him, she only smiled.

      

       As a conclusion, both, eastern and western cultures have their advantages and disadvantages. We should try as much as possible to know which are the advantages of both sides and benefit from them in our educational systems and in our lives.

Graduation Day

My graduation day was one of the most wonderful and cherished days of my life. No matter how much successes I've achieved through my learning journey, that day had it’s own unique feeling. In addition, the graduation was during the summer vacation of 2017. I had three occasions in quick succession that summer; my graduation; my sister's wedding; and my engagement. Three of my siblings and my fiancé who all live outside Lebanon were here with me. Also I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics with honors. I was so proud and happy that I did not want that day to be over. My graduation day was on 7/7/2017. I love that date because it adds more uniqueness to that day. I'm also so happy now because I will be graduating with Teaching Diploma in Education this year in July 2018. P.S. My wedding will be in July 2018 too!