Algebra 1 Concept Map

I am excited to be teaching Algebra 1 again this year. It's been about 6 years (more?). I have other classes, too, but this is the one that I haven't taught for a while, so I am a new person and hopefully I can bring all the new things I've learned in the last while to the little kidlets. I was at PCMI this summer, and one of the key take-aways I will be using in class is more and more frequent reflections on just about everything. The kids should be processing their information and recalling it frequently. I know this is nothing new, but I want to make a conscious effort this year for this.

Also, I love how my AP Calculus AB and APCS concept maps turned out to work in the last 2 years, so I will be handing out this concept map to my students in Algebra 1 this year:

Here is a link if you so choose.

Mindfulness in the Classroom

I just finished a teacher training for Mindfulness at a great place in town, and I am eager to bring it back to each of my classes. In addition to actually practicing mindfulness with classes all week, we discussed the benefits of the practice and why it's so vital to bring it to our students. You can do a google search on benefits, but a few that stood out to me:

* Increases grey matter in your mind.
* Increases compassion.
* Eases stress and anxiety.
* Boosts cognitive function.
* Allows you to focus more.

We also watched a 14:27 minute TEDx talk called, "Why Aren't We Teaching You Mindfulness" with AnnMarie Rossi. I recommend it highly for her arguments as to why this practice is so useful in anyone's life. 

I need to reflect on how I can consistently bring this practice into my classroom. I have a few ideas that I need to flesh out. If you do a search on how to bring mindfulness into your classroom, you can find way more than I know about. Here are some of my ideas:

First, I have just made my First Day Homework assignment. I can't spell school without homework. Here are the front and back pages of it, and HERE is a link to a download.

I also want to do something about test anxiety. I feel like before the first test, I can hand out a "fake" "challenging" test, and we can walk through a mindfulness exercise observing their feelings and body reactions and talk about strategies to focus.

I feel like I also want to incorporate small links or reminders in my homework calendar on certain days that will link the willing kids to various strategies and such regarding mindfulness. 

My final idea so far is to some days stand by the door (or always have a "stress bucket") for the students to drop their stress into (the bucket or my cupped hand) when they leave my class for me to carry or hold for them, since I won't feel their stress like they do, and they can "unburden" themselves to get ready for the next part of their day. 

And let the year begin .....

Almost April

Oy! As with every year, you wonder where the time has gone. This year has been quite different though because of Andrew dying at the start of the year, and then me muddling through the following 7 or so months, putting on my professional face, sometimes hitting the mark, sometimes phoning it in, most times somewhere in the middle.

I am so fortunate that at my school, the students roll with it and adjust and there aren't the extra added headaches of discipline and administration woes.  I am also fortunate that I do enjoy my students. They are funny and caring and entertaining and a great distraction for when I need them to be. 

I haven't had the energy or time to create many new activities. I have 6 preps and an over-addled mind, so I haven't been posting much. Yay Life!

But here are some things that I find successful this year. 

Last summer, I went to many workshops, and in a few I was always so frustrated when I or someone else asked a question and then the presenter answered, but they didn't really answer the intended question. The situation also then went on that either the asker didn't pursue it or the presenter quickly went on to something else. This stuck with me, so that now, this year, every time a student asks a question, I answer it, and then I immediately follow up with, "did I answer your question?". I then gauge the situation. There are times when I didn't answer it as intended, so then that gives me a chance to try again. 

The next thing I am loving is the increased use of peer editing/checking. I am using it in both CS classes and in DE and IED (the engineering classes). First of all, it lets students see how others are handling the problem. Second of all, it fixes the minor bugs so that when I grade something, it's more correct. My colleague and I did make an adjustment, though, with our freshmen IED class. We found that students were blindly signing off on something that may or may not have been correct. We added the extra incentive that if you sign off and it is not correct, 1% is taken of your grade. This seems to have an effect of more careful checking. 

Third thing is that I am trying harder to actually talk non-math/school topics with the students more often than comes up when they initiate (which was my MO before). Now I will start a conversation with a student if they are sitting in my class hanging out or doing corrections or whatever. I have had some great talks with students just because of this initiative. I have learned some funny and sad and exciting things. It helps school feel more close knit to me. 

I am curious what next year will bring and if my mind will be more in the game. I traveled solo to Barcelona this past spring break and it was all sorts of amazing and sad and exhilarating. I am going to PCMI this summer, so that should be exciting and recharging of my math brain. I have also bought a new smaller house and will be moving soon from the memory-laden house I lived in with my husband since June 2003. So this summer will be one for changes. 

Happy New Year 2016

What does one do when they're bored over Holiday Break? They make up new worksheets for students to do on that first day back to school. Our day on January 5 will have super short classes, so after looking at their finals, they won't have much time to do math. But I can't stand just sitting there, so this is what I've created. Don't know how it will work, and it hasn't been road tested yet. My inspiration was a brilliant.org thing on facebook. Here's a link to the file.