6. Submit a Log

Student Interview I used the Vocabulary LINCing Routine with my daughter, Grace.  She is a 7th grade student.  We used her ELA vocabulary words. She answered a few interview questions for me.  

1.  Did the LINCing Routine help you remember your vocabulary words:  "Drawing the pictures and writing the story helped me the most."
2. How did you do on your vocabulary test?  "I got 100%."
3. What didn't you like about the LINCing Routine?  "It was awkward to do with my mom at first." 

Reflection-  Choosing academic vocabulary can be challenging.  I want to expose students to words they will encounter in lessons yet keep in mind how they will generalize those words into daily conversation to solidify learning.  

What went well was the strategy was found to be very useful for our staff.  Especially one of our Training and Consultation staff communicated that he has dyslexia.  He found the strategy very useful and wished he had this as a student as he struggled with remembering vocabulary.  However he has a strength when linked to a picture.  Linking vocabulary and pictures he stated would have greatly assisted him in his career.  As well he has extensive knowledge in working with children with autism and mentioned this would have greatly assisted his students to recall vocabulary in the regular education classrooms. 

A struggle is always finding a opportunity to model and get student feedback, fortunately Dana and I were afforded an opportunity to complete this as part of our staff meeting. 

What I will do next time to to give the students more control to come up with their own examples as well as use this routine with my own son when he is learning vocabulary terms.  The adjustment is really student control the reminding word sounding similar, I thought Valence and Balance sounded alike so I was unsure of this feedback of how to modify.  Unless the first sound has to be the same?      

As someone who has worked through various SIM implementations, the LINC routine was definitely the most challenging for me so far.  Most of that has to do with the group of students I currently work with since about 3/4 of them are ELL students who have been in the country for a year or less with minimal (but growing) English and around a 3rd grade education coming into Algebra 1.  As a result, it was a challenge to see the effectiveness of the LINCing routine for these students. Many students may have come to have a basic understanding of the vocab term but when it was paired with a non-math word there was major confusion about how we went from equations to talking about a pope on a slope.  While the links and connections made between words was beneficial for some special education students, I think it is very important to be aware of the population that is using the routine before implementing it so that it can be most effective.

I was uncomfortable doing this activity at first although I see the benefits of using it now that I have done it multiple times. The students thought it was challenging coming up with some of the reminding words but the more we did it the easier it became. Some students became engrossed in the picture portion and had to be asked to move on and others had a difficult time starting that because they felt hat their drawings weren't good enough. After reassuring them it would not be graded or shared, they were able to move forward. 

When I first started to use this, I was uncomfortable with the process.  As my groups switched, I found myself getting use to the format.  As we moved along in our use of this, I enjoyed allowing the students to create their own stories. 
When we did one as a whole group, it was easy to review but I found it to just be a memorization activity.  When the students were allowed to create their own individual ones, they could recite it back to me more readily. 

As we moved through the time of using this, I discovered that we did not need to do all the words.  The group as a whole would pick the words that they wanted to do and that they needed help remembering. 

When the students realized that it was to benefit them and no one would be grading their drawings or grammar, they relaxed and did a better job.

What went well?
- The lincing tables worked well as a review for students to recall previously learned math vocabulary/concepts. The special education students were able to remember the vocabulary words, reminder words and the stories to help them obtain correct answers for their tests and quizzes. 

What was challenging?
- Lincing tables rely heavily on language and we have 12 students who speak Spanish as their first language. Many of these students are level 1 ELL students who have very little experience with the English language. I am not sure that the lincing routine was very helpful for them because they do not know very much English. Vocabulary is extremely important but the ELL students benefit more from focusing on the process and practice rather than memorizing vocabulary words and definitions. 

Next time
- I will attempt to come up with reminding words and stories that are relevant for all students regardless of their language. This is extremely difficult but I think that the more I implement the lincing routine the more I can make adjustments to meet the needs of all students. 

Reflection based on feedback from SIM Professional:
•After receiving feedback from my implementation video for the LINCing table about exponent laws, there are a few things to clarify •I failed to introduce the routine prior to starting my recording. My students have been using this routine throughout middle school and many times throughout the entire school year. We were using this as a review before the students took a quiz. We have lost a lot of instructional time due to inclement weather so I wanted to make sure we were spending as much time as possible on the routine and the quiz after the routine. •I failed to record the supervised practice and review for this video. The LINC was implemented as the review for students to recall important information. After the LINC was implemented, students took a quiz. •After spending all week on practicing these exponent laws the students did very well on the quiz. I believe the LINC was a great way for students to recall the important definitions and processes for simplifying expressions with exponents.