For
my problem of practice, I chose to work on how I use my math manipulatives in
the classroom. Whenever I would pull out the manipulatives before, my students
would play and build with them, instead of completing the math assignment. It
was becoming a very large frustration in my teaching. For my project, I decided
to design some math kits for my students. Not only did the kits contain the
manipulatives, but they also contained index
cards for the students to use
while I am up teaching the lesson. I realized that the students needed a
physical place to put their items while they were following along in the math
lesson.
Empathize
During this portion, I worked with
my co-teacher in observing her classroom. I was able to sit through a lesson as
a student, without having my students up talking and getting my help. In this
situation I was able to see what it felt like being a 5-year-old, waiting for
others in the classroom to get it together to move on with the lesson. If it
was taking too long, or I understood what to do, I would finish my work
quickly, while those other children were still trying to get it together. I
began to see just how easily distracted I could get, while also understanding
how easily distracted a child could get.
Define
Define mode really let me ask the
questions that I may not have noticed were needing to be asked. It was hard to
see that every question had an answer that could be linked to another question.
In asking myself these questions I began to see links of what needed to be
worked on with the students. The following are the questions I asked myself
while starting this project.
Why
I think my students play with manipulatives instead of following instructions is
because use to playing with toys all the time.
Why do I think
they are used to playing with toys all the time is because they are 5 years old and come from homes where parents don't necessarily interact with them in
educational ways.
Why do I think
parents don't interact with their child in educational ways is because the
students test below grade level and don't show a constant understanding of
basic skills.
Why do students
test below grade level and don't show a constant understanding of basic skills
is because parents are not working with their child at home.
Why are parents
not working with their child at home is because they are working families, who
may have more than one job, and may not be home when their child is doing
homework, allowing the child to play all the time.
Ideate
The ideate phase was my favorite
part of the problem of practice. I tend to get overwhelmed with things at times
and have to walk away from things. I never realized just how much the
incubation period helped with the design process of this phase. Jotting down
what I was thinking of and walking away from it, helped me to realize that I
had more questions to ask before moving on. I was no longer stuck on just basic
questions, but was getting into more in depth thinking of my process. Since
beginning of this design, and learning about this process, I began to do it
more consciously in my writing and the other processes. It allowed for me to
come up with more ideas and things to change to help the process.
I also enjoyed being able to
brainstorm with my co teacher. While we do this a lot throughout our week, I
like being able to get a second opinion and help on subject matters. Being able
to sit there and just list ideas of things to do was also interesting. She has
come up with some fun and different activities for the students to do while
participating in a class activity.
Prototype
Creating a prototype was a hard
process for me. I was stuck on a specific idea of building a prototype and felt
that it needed to be perfect the first time around. But it never had to be,
because a prototype is just a test type. I had to get over that to be able to
understand that it was not going to look perfect or be ready to go the first
time out. It was a difficult concept for me to wrap my head around at first.
Once I began to put together the prototype things went more smoothly. I started
with just using clear bags, and making copies of index cards for the kits. I
chose topics that we cover in kindergarten that tend to use a lot of
manipulative work. Once I had an idea of what one kit was able to look like, I created
a few more to use with my test group.
Test
For a moment during the testing phase, I thought about
testing my whole class and getting opinions. I then realized I wouldn’t get
results like I wanted because some students would see it as a game, while
others would be racing through it. I chose 5 students in my class all from
varying math levels of low to high. I went through the process of letting them
look at the kits, interact with the kits, and then give feedback. While at
first the students saw everything as perfect, once I pointed out a flaw that I
saw, they went on to being more comfortable explaining things. They even gave
me ideas of ways to make it easier for the students who are struggling readers.
It was a very informative run, and allowed me to begin creating new kits for
the students next year to use at the beginning of the year.
Through this
whole process I learned that designing is not a one step or one minded idea. I
am so used to hearing about how a designer came up with this or that, but for
it truly to be a design, it needs to be a team collaboration at points. You
also need to think about who you are truly designing for. In teaching, we
design things for students, who are all at varying age levels, abilities, and
understanding of a process. We need to be able to learn how to take all of that
information and come up with something that is meant to benefit them. The whole process interested me to the point
that I was sharing what I was learning with my co-workers in staff meetings
because I saw it beneficial for us to use as a school with some of the problems
that we are having.
I learned that as a designer myself, I need to get over the
fact that I want everything to be perfect and work perfectly the first time
out. In order to really go through the process, I need to be able to test, and
fix things based on what I am creating. It was hard for me to grasp that
concept at first. I also learned not only about the incubation period, but also
how beneficial it is to the thought process. You really can come up with new
ideas just by jotting things down, clearing your head, and going back to them
later. It allowed for me as a designer to come up with even more ideas and
thoughts in the process.
