Zoom In- Do you see what I see?
Can you find a special spot on my bathroom wall? What if I highlight it?
Look closely... Do you see it? On the right is a puppy with a ball in his mouth. He is looking at what my husband believes in a troll and while I can understand that, I usually see a pig.
What's the big idea?
There is one thing that I knew before reading these chapters on recognizing and forming patterns. Patterns are all around us. Patterns are a part of our lives every day even when we do not realize it. I think patterns are one of my favorite things.
During math lessons, I often ask my students to recognize patterns to figure out which number would come next in a given number sequence. Math is a very obvious place to find patterns. I also try to draw attention to the rhyming patterns when we are reading a story or poem. Sometimes these patterns are obvious, other times there is more thinking involved to discern the necessary pattern. “Recognizing patterns sometimes requires a certain amount of tolerance for dawdling and play” is an important awareness pointed out by Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein (114). I think that it is sometimes difficult as teachers to allow our students extra time for play and discovery when we have so much material to cover. However, I find it important to allow these explorations for patterns to take place even if it means a lesson uses more time than originally intended.
As important as I find the recognition of patterns, I often ignore the possibility of allowing students to create their own patterns. When we form our own patterns, it is often in an effort to imitate what we are already studying. Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein draw attention to the fact that being allowed to make your own patterns is a lot more fun than memorizing the patterns of someone else (135). It is also more valuable. I find this to be true in the sense that students are more likely to remember something that they created as opposed to remembering something they read in a textbook.
An activity that I would like to do with my students is go on a “pattern/picture walk” around the school, looking for patterns in the tiles or hidden pictures in the paint. I think this would get them into the mindset of thinking more deeply about what they see. We have previously discussed observing and this activity would also help them to sharpen their observational skills.
I also believe that an important discovery for students is that “learning to create patterns is therefore one of the keys to innovating in every discipline” (132). It is not enough to find a pattern, but to learn to create one as well. During our “pattern/picture walk”, we could look for something that we could make into a pattern such as assigning different colors to tiles that are all the same color to create our own array. When discussing tessellations, each student can create their own tessellation on a sheet of paper using a created shape and any colors they choose.
Patterns are fascinating and I think people are drawn to patterns even without realizing it. Our eyes like to see things in an organized fashion. Teaching students to better recognize and form their own patterns would be a beneficial skill. It is an important skill to learn early on (132).
During math lessons, I often ask my students to recognize patterns to figure out which number would come next in a given number sequence. Math is a very obvious place to find patterns. I also try to draw attention to the rhyming patterns when we are reading a story or poem. Sometimes these patterns are obvious, other times there is more thinking involved to discern the necessary pattern. “Recognizing patterns sometimes requires a certain amount of tolerance for dawdling and play” is an important awareness pointed out by Robert and Michèle Root-Bernstein (114). I think that it is sometimes difficult as teachers to allow our students extra time for play and discovery when we have so much material to cover. However, I find it important to allow these explorations for patterns to take place even if it means a lesson uses more time than originally intended.
As important as I find the recognition of patterns, I often ignore the possibility of allowing students to create their own patterns. When we form our own patterns, it is often in an effort to imitate what we are already studying. Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein draw attention to the fact that being allowed to make your own patterns is a lot more fun than memorizing the patterns of someone else (135). It is also more valuable. I find this to be true in the sense that students are more likely to remember something that they created as opposed to remembering something they read in a textbook.
An activity that I would like to do with my students is go on a “pattern/picture walk” around the school, looking for patterns in the tiles or hidden pictures in the paint. I think this would get them into the mindset of thinking more deeply about what they see. We have previously discussed observing and this activity would also help them to sharpen their observational skills.
I also believe that an important discovery for students is that “learning to create patterns is therefore one of the keys to innovating in every discipline” (132). It is not enough to find a pattern, but to learn to create one as well. During our “pattern/picture walk”, we could look for something that we could make into a pattern such as assigning different colors to tiles that are all the same color to create our own array. When discussing tessellations, each student can create their own tessellation on a sheet of paper using a created shape and any colors they choose.
Patterns are fascinating and I think people are drawn to patterns even without realizing it. Our eyes like to see things in an organized fashion. Teaching students to better recognize and form their own patterns would be a beneficial skill. It is an important skill to learn early on (132).
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
Existing Pattern
Let’s take the three basic parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, and verbs. When using all three in a single sentence, a typical pattern would be adjective, noun, verb. For example: The brown dog ran. This helps students to form proper sentences that give details (what the dog looked like, what the dog was doing, etc).
New Pattern
Poetry is an exception to many rules of the English language. Using a poetic format, students can mix up the more traditional order of words and end up with something like this: Ran did the dog that was brown. It displays the same idea, but the words are in a different order. The students are still using nouns, adjectives, and verbs, but they are also learning that not everything follows the basic rules of English.
Let’s take the three basic parts of speech: nouns, adjectives, and verbs. When using all three in a single sentence, a typical pattern would be adjective, noun, verb. For example: The brown dog ran. This helps students to form proper sentences that give details (what the dog looked like, what the dog was doing, etc).
New Pattern
Poetry is an exception to many rules of the English language. Using a poetic format, students can mix up the more traditional order of words and end up with something like this: Ran did the dog that was brown. It displays the same idea, but the words are in a different order. The students are still using nouns, adjectives, and verbs, but they are also learning that not everything follows the basic rules of English.