Last year I discovered the best way for me to put name plates on my kiddos' desks - VELCRO. I laminate and velcro them to the desk. This way the kiddos can rip them off and take them to small group math activities and centers with them. Last year they used their number lines a LOT.
Back to Fred Jones. First of all, has anyone read this book before? What's up with making it oblong and heavy as hell so it's near impossible to read unless it's on a table? I hate that! I'm trying to read this sucker in bed - very tricky - and then today to make it even harder on myself, I tried to read it balanced on a floatie in the pool. So yeah, I should get props for that one. (Gee Fred, you couldn't make the book triangular and weigh as much as an anvil? Phew! We lucked out there!)
So last time I talked about Fred, it was chapter 3 or whatever and he was talking about WORK ETHIC and said this can be installed by actually checking the student's work as they did it and giving them atta boys. HOWEVER, as I progress, I'm finding out that you can OVER DO IT and create learned helplessness. So he mentions to "praise, prompt, and leave" to avoid helpless handraisers and to use VIPs (visual instruction plans) for everything you teach. So if you're teaching addition with carrying, you would make a VIP that shows each step and each new part is a different color - and they're numbered. So instead of "tutoring" helpless handraisers, you can simply walk up, see where they're at, point to the VIP and say, "Next, do step #4," and move on.
I remember making VIPs when I taught middle school. They really do work. A little time consuming to make but definitely worth it. And they actually ACCELERATE learning! Give it a try. If you don't know what I'm talking about, the (gigantic, heavy, pain-in-the-butt-to-hold) book is called "Fred Jones Tools for Teaching." Check it out. Good stuff.
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