Radian Technique

Last year my kids struggled with visualizing the placement of radian angles in standard position. They either had to convert (say 7 pi / 6) into degrees and then draw the angle accurately, or they just shook their heads at the crazy things their teacher asked them to do.

Over the summer my retired teacher friend mentioned that he used to teach the pi/6 and pi/3 parts by having them look at the clock and noticing that (say) from 3 to 9 (moving counter clockwise as a positive angle does) there are 30 minutes. Break that into 6 parts. They notice that's on "the hours" 2, 1, 12, 11, 10. Then the kids go back to their unit circle and place dots all around signifying the "hours" and those are the pi/6 separations. Then they go from there. Similarly, from 3 to 9 counterclockwise (a full pi), if we want to break it into 3 parts (pi / 3), that's every 10 minutes.

I had great success on Wednesday with them accurately placing the angles without converting. Woot. Woot. Hopefully, it'll stick in their heads better this year.

I also didn't do a great job last year with having them memorize thoroughly (and "get") sine and cosine of any multiple of 45 degrees or 30 / 60 degrees. They still had to work at it without immediately being able to answer. This year, I'm going to laminate page size unit circles. Then everyone gets laminated 30-60-90 and 45-45-90 triangles that have the side lengths and angles in degrees and radians on both sides and that fit nicely on the circle. Then we'll do an activity where they will place the reference triangles on the circle for various angles I give them. Hopefully, this will allow them to later on picture in their heads the height/placement of the reference triangle and quickly be able to recreate sin 135 or cos 5pi/6. We'll see.

Start of the Year

Right now after 10 days of school, I finally can place student names with faces (if they're in their seats in their period). Soon, hopefully, I'll even recognize and name all of them in the halls (out of context).

My homework policy of having them correct their work in a different color in class (I grade on completeness), was taking too long (15 minutes or so sometimes), and I was rushed and couldn't get through the current lesson. I figured out that they were dawdling and taking forever to get out their homework after the bell rang, and then they were talking too much and joking with their friends (some of them), but then we had to wait for everyone to be done. So. I have now brought in a timer, and when the bell rings I told them I won't remind them to get out their homework, I'll just start the timer and have the answers on the overhead. After 5 minutes I'll turn it off and take questions for at most 5 minutes. Any unanswered questions, they can write on their homework, and I'll answer it there. They are partly graded on their complete "grading", so hopefully this will be successful.

I'm still getting to know the kids and their abilities. I know I have some very bright ones, so I'll have to find more time in the day (hmph) to find extra challenging problems for them.
Anyone have any extra time they'd like to pass my way? I know we all just sit around and daydream most of the day.

Growing Pains

My class sizes in order are: 31, 19, 30, 24, 28. In my first class I already have chatters that just WON'T BE QUIET. I've done seat changes, I've done the stern teacher look, I've waited patiently. Today, I think there will be some field trips outside the door (either for a discussion, or maybe I'll just leave them there). In my 3rd class (gee, it happens to be the 2 largest classes) one of the problems is that they all know each other and have had math class with each other forever, AND it's right after lunch and they're hyped up on FDNVs (an acronym I just saw sprinkled all over a memo indicating that Texas will no longer allow the selling of FDNVs for fundraising during school hours .... "foods of diminished nutritional value").

I love my last period class - sweet hard-working slightly-goofy kids. What a nice way to end the day. I also am quietly thankful that 2 of my duty stations are completely hassle-free, and I can get work done while I'm monitoring hallway doors.

In other news, it's starting again/already where someone who has had me before is now in another teacher's math class, and it's just too ________, and it's not _______, and they wish _________ (fill in the blanks). Invariably as the year goes on, they get used to the new teacher and actually like it and all complaining is forgotten, so now I just have to reassure them and mention that they have to get along with and learn how to be successful in a variety of teacher's classes.

Math Autobiographies

At the start of every year, I have my students write a math autobiography: tell me about yourself, tell me about good/bad experiences with math, tell me about good/bad ... effective/ineffective experiences in any previous class (no teacher names), etc. I like this because I learn something about the kids, and I learn about what their take is on how they learn best.

This year I learned some interesting things. I have an 11th grader who has moved around various countries and has been homeschooled up to this year and is a wee bit apprehensive about public schools. I have a girl originally from Jamaica who is tired of being stereotyped and has some strong words to say about how people treat each other. I have a creative child who put her autobiography in the form of a fairy tale. I have a student who wants to enter the air force and got his first ride in an aerobatic (or jet??) plane this summer. I have a few students who are brand new to our school. I have (already!) a pregnant student. And as usual, I have funny, fun, studious, laid back, intense, happy, apprehensive, unique students.

Already Behind

Sheesh, 2 days into school, and my to-do list never seems to be completely accomplished. Oh yea, and then there's the actual prep for "teaching". I guess it's all the initial set up of the year: organizing the online grade book, starting your lesson plans, setting up the room, teaching the students your procedures, learning all their names, striving to remember your 4 extra duties and when you're supposed to be when, waking up at 4:30am every day from bad dreams and then not falling back asleep, getting all the proper furniture in your classroom, so that you're not tripping over computer wires or overhead wires, etc.

Then I never cease to be amazed at how frequently my first impressions of a student are way off. For example, a girl that I thought yesterday was a "toughie" and "sullen" turns out on the 2nd day to be the sweetest quietest mild-mannered girl with a "tough" exterior. I guess that's a good example of waiting and seeing and being able to be nicely surprised by all the nice kids I'll meet.

Inservice Week Over

Our first week back at work is over, and I think I have a pretty good start on things this year. We have 5 new (out of 20) math teachers, and I'm wondering if we'll ever level off. I've already seen some of my kids who are working away on a project at school, and I've seen a ton of other friendly faces. That's one of the nicer aspects of going back, seeing work friends that you don't see over the summer.

Here's a picture of the wedding cake my husband and I made for my sister-in-law. Pretty snazzy if I do toot my own horn (or really my husband's horn since he did the constructing while I made the royal icing and rolled out the marzipan and put on the flowers and such ... and of course helped make the EXTREMELY delicious fruitcake base that even the Americans liked).

It's modeled after a Mayan Temple since she's an anthropologist and studies bones found in/near them. We found cool chocolate rocks to sprinkle around the base. We (he!) used a toothpick to put creases in the shape of stones in the icing. And voila! A wedding cake.

whew. But not WHEW! yet

It's practically the last day of "teacher" summer as Tuesday (tomorrow) is our first day of inservice (lasting a week) before we start back with the kiddies. For about the last week or so we've been inundated with my husband's family that have come for his sister's wedding (which was yesterday, so most of the chores are over). ... I don't care how nice people are, it's still challenging to have houseguests for a bazillion days. Currently there are a total of 7 people sleeping at our house. Okay, I say "sleeping" but that doesn't include a certain someone who seems to be getting up at 3am and not falling back to sleep and is looking forward to having bags under her eyes for the start of school.

And this wedding thing. It was nice and all, but I still feel it's uncomfortable to be a voyeur at a pretty private-seeming (at least to me) moment. All these emotions are out on the table and the future bride and groom are getting choked up and professing all sorts of love for each other and it feels invasive to me.

On a funny note, my husband's brother's girlfriend is a hoot, and she also wanted to see if she could fry an egg on the sidewalk (this being steamy hot Texas to a Canadian). We cracked an egg on the pavement in front of our house. I didn't feel it was a terribly hot day (98F or so), and it was cloudy at the time, so it felt cooler. The egg white ran and basically disappeared. The yoke did "cook" after about an hour or so, and there were then all these attractive (fire?) ants feasting on the buffet. Our laziness (or something) has the egg still out there 2 days later, and most of the yolk is gone. Yum.

Summer Reading

Every summer I reread all or parts of each of these books to refresh my aging memory on the kind of teacher I want to be.

"How to Talk So Kids Can Learn" Faber & Mazlish (ISBN 0-684-82472-8)
This is a great book on how to interact more successfully with students (well really anyone) and to make them (and you) better people.

"Tools for Teaching" Fred Jones (ISBN 0-9650263-0-2)
I love his methods on discipline. Here's just one thing that sticks in my head: no means no. So if you say no the first time and then the student/child keeps pestering you or whining and you finally give in, then you're teaching them to whine again in the future. But if you're consistent with your "no", that works out better in the long run. He also has a section on body language of the students and their compliance and such. I don't use all his methods, but several things have helped me.

Three David R. Johnson books: "Every Minute Counts", "Making Minutes Count Even More", and "Motivation Counts".
They're all math related, and he has great ideas on how to ask questions, collect homework, structure a class, etc.

This year at an airport bookstore of all places I found "Fish for Schools". I was excited because I'd heard of it before. It's basically a structure for living that's based on 4 concepts the authors developed by watching the Pike's Place Fish Market workers. I like their ideas, and I was eager to see how this book could help, but alas, it seemed to be just an advertising to get their school video package. I wouldn't have minded, but it was really pricey. Still, the book had some great ideas and teacher stories.

I also skim through "The First Days of School" by the Wongs to remind myself of (for example) what 7 things (7? ... better start skimming) students want to know on the first day of class, etc.

Any other teaching book recommendations out there?

Note Taking / Using Your Notes

I'm batting an idea around my head about actually teaching "note using" skills this year in all my classes. It seems to me that a majority (or at least too many to be comfortable) of my students don't know how to use their notes once they get home. They seem to be just humoring me by "taking notes" and then don't really see the point of them later (or their book for that matter).

I've not fleshed everything out completely yet (all ideas are welcome), but here's what I've come up with so far. Every so often during a class (10 minutes? 5 minutes?), I'll pause the class and ask them to quickly scan over what they've written and then put a noticeable star or mark near things that they need clarification on or more time to think on. Time seems to be in short demand in class, and there are those students who don't need the extra time, so I don't know if I'll spend too much time in class going over every concern. I also want them to become self sufficient and confident in their skills of figuring things out on their own, so maybe I won't address concerns.

Then I'll discuss or teach them how to use their notes when they're at home doing homework. ... Maybe a poster up in class (and give them a copy) as a constant reminder:

"How to do homework"
1. scan over class notes to refresh your memory
2. spend time figuring out the starred/confusing sections (ponder / look in book / call a friend / go on line)
3. start your homework (with header: page #, problem #s, date, topic(?)). attempt every problem.
4. for those you do not know how to do, make a start / look for examples in book/notes, write down specific reasons you got stuck
5. in class as we are going over answers, IN A DIFFERENT COLOR, put a check by correct answers, indicate wrong problems and write down the answer. Make sure to ask someone (me / groupmate / friend) for help on the ones you didn't understand.
6. later on make sure you go over incorrect ones and find out how to do it (friend / notes / book)

Hopefully, this will grab some extra students and make them more successful. I think when I check homework, their points will be based on: attempt, in class corrections, header.

Nightmares

TMI alert.

It hasn't happened lately, but who's to say it won't again. Invariably when I have to get up at night to pee, you know, that mind-ping-pong: "but I'm tired. but I'm uncomfortable. but I don't wanna get up. but you'd better" feeling, right when I wake up, I realize I've had another "pee nightmare". Maybe I'm not the only one.

The dreams often occur in public restrooms and one or more of several things occur. Either there are no doors on any stalls, or there are doors, but the bowls are filled to the brim, so that you would not want to sit down, or there's no paper, or there are a lot of people in the bathroom and one or more of the previous things occur. Or there's the dreaded "dippage": somehow a piece of your clothing gets dipped in an unflushed toilet.

I guess that's my mind's way of waking me up and prodding me to take measures.

Calculus Workshop Ideas

I just returned from my weeklong workshop, and now I feel more secure in teaching BC this year. Except it won't be strictly BC, I think, because of numbers, I may have a "stacked" class of mixed AB / BC students together. Maybe I'm being totally unrealistic, but it was either that or no BC, and I wanted the challenge for the kids (and me) that signed up for it.

The workshop teacher was mostly a lecture type of teacher, and she commented that since BC goes at such a fast pace, she doesn't feel she has time for explorations or "fun" activities or such. So in that sense I didn't get any "fun" ideas directly from the workshop. I did get some teaching-mechanics ideas from her.

She seemed to like Staedtler MEDIUM nonpermanent pens for her overhead. She found them at art supply stores, and I liked the fact that you could buy individual ones. Purple, here I come.

She also had a teeny water bottle (3" high?) with paper towels nearby, to clean parts of her slides instead of using her fingers all the time.

When a kid asks something she didn't know, she said, "I don't know. I haven't thought about it. What do you think?" And that seems to get good discussions going.

On the overhead, do scratch work on the side in a different color to keep everyone on the same level and the "not so quick" students will have a point of reference instead of not asking and feeling stupid.

Her homework policy is to walk around the room for a quick check and chat with the students (with grades given and such). The main thing about that (instead of collecting it) she feels is that they have to look her in the eye and tell her they didn't do the homework, and she felt this got more of them to do it. Also, it builds a sense of community and the kids felt acknowledged.

I thought of having an activity or several activities where the kids analyze a multiple choice question. I found that last year, the kids all thought the MC questions were easy because they found their answer and moved on. It didn't occur to me to ever teach this skill that the test makers know what types of mistakes they make and will have such answers. So my activity is for them to do one problem and circle an answer. Then give the right answer. Then they have to go analyze the other choices and literally figure out what types of mistakes would have gotten that answer. With this hopefully they'll build an awareness of checking work and being careful on MC tests.

I'm thinking of having a suggestion box up front for various comments students want to make but don't have time for in class. There'll be a template of what's acceptable/needed ... mainly date, period, and maybe name, and comment. Maybe I can also have a Whole Foods kind of wall where comments are displayed and responses shown.

Some (rough) poster ideas of ones I want to make and display in my room:
"What do you do when no one is watching? Do the right thing."
"Get more sleep"

Summer Activities

How lucky am I? Today we're going to Canada for a week to visit my husband's family, and from there I'm coming back to go to a week-long calculus workshop. And THEN the traveling is done for the summer. Whew. Then we get to continue on our quest of "making a wedding cake that doesn't embarrass us".

My husband's sister is getting married (another mixed marriage - Canadian to American), and apparently, the tradition is for someone in her family to make a wedding cake (fruitcake base). Yeah, yeah, I know, but we actually have a great recipe from their grandmother. It's dark, and you smother it in brandy (you keep "feeding" it for a long time after it's done). And it keeps forever - apparently, all that pickling does it good. And maybe we say it's tasty because after eating it, we are slightly tipsy, and think it's tasty.

What we're practicing is the shape and the icing (type and technique) and the decorations around it. So we're eating a lot of practice cakes, and inviting people over to share in the calories of our trials. We've had 4 run throughs (hmmm, maybe that's why my clothes are getting snug), and I think this last one is really close.

Inevitable Europe Pictures

(Later Note: Ackh! Apparently, I am not savvy on all the ins & outs of picture linking. Thanks to Heidi, I can mention that you can click on the beautiful rectangles to see the pictures ... out of order, of course.)

We had a boatload of fun in Europe and have almost completely returned to normal life. Now it's time to bore our friends and family with pictures. Here are five that sum things up.

If I do it right, the first one is of the Tower of London. We spent about 4 hours in there exploring all the parts and reading all the information. I was fascinated by the torture information and the fact that the Tower of London was mainly a residence. The second picture is a main :) reason for going to London: scones & clotted cream for me and fish & chips for my husband.

The 3rd picture is at the Grand Place in Brussels. This is a large square and there happened to be a free concert that night of Pagliacci. We had walked ALL day and could only take standing for an hour at the opera. It was in Italian with electronic subtitle boards in Dutch and French. Bon.

The 4th picture is of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It is/was Rembrandt's 400th birthday this year and they were having a special exhibit. We tried 3 times to get in and never quite managed it. The first time they were closed because some crazy person threw acid on a picture and damaged it, and the museum had to deal with that. The second time the line was long, so we thought we'd go back later. Later, the line was longer, but we stood for about 30 minutes and were 1/2 way through the line. We flaked out, and a funny thing happened. A woman was riding by on her bike with her kid in the cart on the bike and was talking to her kid and said, "we should tell them (the queuers) 'it's not worth it'". Hmmm. We did finally see a nice Rembrandt exhibit at the airport on the way out. The last picture is of a representative canal in Amsterdam. Apparently, there are more canals there than in Venice. Okay, travel show over.

Two+ NYC Experiences

I visited my friend in NYC when I was up north (with the Yankees ar ar), and we saw, "Mama Mia". I was so looking forward to it, but it just didn't do it for me. It didn't help that I had a bonus singer in the form of a little girl behind me who knew ALL the lyrics and could belt them out loudly. It also didn't help that I started feeling my 40+ years, and all the young kiddies in the cast (20+) looked like babies. BABIES.

We also went to to Josie's (I think it was), this eclectic healthy food frou-frou restaurant up on 74th and Amsterdam. Delicious food. Pricey, but I guess that's NYC. When we went in, the hostess scanned us up and down and proceeded to sit us in the back near a noisy table and the kitchen area. My mild-mannered friend asked if we could have a less noisy table, and we were shown to a nice window seat. Now maybe it's just my interpretation of "good" and "bad" tables, but why don't they fill up all the "good" tables on a first-come-first-serve basis? Too weird.

My next weird experience was on the train going back to NJ. Oh my goodness did we have some loud gangster rival groups in our car yelling and threatening to fight and being all kinds of noisy. You just wanted to muffle them. Then the other people in the car got into it and started yelling, "Jerry. Jerry. Jerry." Blach. It basically settled down one stop before I got off. Whew, blessed silence.

Parent Visit

I'm off to the northeast tomorrow to visit friends, and when I get back, my dad is coming to visit for 4 days with his girlfriend (a word that definitely sounds funny when applied to a 72 year old). Holy cow, I just realized he's older than I'd thought about lately. He usually seems so young.

Anyhow, this will be an awkward visit (like all of them). I love my dad, and I know he loves me, but we never have more than a handful of words to say to each other. Oh goody, now there'll be another witness to the awkwardness. Hopefully, she's a talker, and I can have my husband as a buffer, and with those extra 2 people, maybe there'll be enough conversation to make us seem like normal people.

Yeesh, and that Sunday is Father's Day. Okay, now I have to plan something, ... horrible daughter that I am.

Teacher Pay

I was just watching TV while making dinner, and there was a "Union" ad on. It had 4-6 different smiling people saying things like, "I like my union because ...", and then they all proceeded to say bad things in the vein of fatcat union bosses lining their pockets, money going to politicians the workers don't support, huge union dues that cut into paychecks etc. Oh my goodness! Is that why there is effectively no teachers' union in Texas - the anti-union people have worked their magic?

All I know is that in NJ we had a strong union, and as a teacher I felt more respect than I feel in Texas (I took about a $14,000/yr pay cut as a teacher moving from NJ to TX). In NJ, any extra duties were compensated. In TX "what do you mean you won't perform this yet-another duty for free? it's not about you, it's about the kids!". Somehow they make you feel like a money grubber for even thinking about pay.

Ew, see it's already seeped into my pores because I now DO feel like a money grubber. A poorly paid money grubber.

Exercising

I guess I forgot that "teaching" requires a ton of standing and rushing around the halls making copies and standing and walking at your duty stations and such. Shockingly, in the summer when you're on your duff, if you eat the same amount of food, you gain weight. Who knew?

Okay, new plan, walk in the mornings and walk at night (less skin cancer potential, and less Texas summer heat issues). I'm still going to yoga 6 times a week, so that's good, but that apparently does not make up for sitting around all day. All this energy stressing about weight and health. You think THAT'D burn calories.

I'm not a total slug, though, I'm finishing a quilt (finally) that I started too long ago to mention. I made a skirt. I'm still practicing cake decorating (yea, more food to eat/not eat).

Fun Facts

Here are some things I came across while surfing the internet (which I'm doing way too much of). Now I haven't verified them, yet, but EVERYONE knows that anything you read must be true, right ahem?

The longest living cells in the body are brain cells which can live an entire lifetime.
Porcupines float in water.
The human body has enough fat to produce 7 bars of soap.
The elephant is the only animal with 4 knees.
Frogs sometimes eat enough fireflies that they themselves glow.
Because heat expands the metal, the Eiffel Tower always leans away from the sun.

Today I must do some gardening to get me outside instead of inside reading and doing puzzles and napping all day (though I have been going to yoga every day). I loved yesterday's teacher. You know those people that just glow from within? That was her. She just exuded honesty and beauty and knowledge.

Hello Summer

A most excellent start to the summer: 6 rented movies (5 were great), 1 matinee, sleeping at least 8 hours a night, a math party, a dinner party, starting in on my stack of novels, time, time, and more free time. I also get to go visit friends in the northeast, AND go to London, Brussels, Amsterdam, AND go to a BC Calculus workshop, AND make a wedding cake with my husband for his sister's August wedding in Texas. Yea. Let the fun begin (continue)

Things I've learned so far:
1. Royal icing tastes terrible
2. Your secret design based on your sister-in-law's profession, is not that secret
3. Butter flavored crisco in a buttercream frosting is not as bad as I thought it'd be (I HATE margarine)
4. People make fun of a fruitcake for a wedding ... even though it's a Canadian tradition and even though we really do have a great recipe handed down from a grandmother (I'm a picky American eater, and I think it's delicious) .... but whatever.

Guilt Tactics

Today was the last day of school for teachers, to finish up administrative chores and check out. Usually it ends with a faculty meeting where the principal gets up and gives a "go us" speech and says goodbye to any faculty that's leaving. Today there was an extra 1.5 hours devoted to something else.

We had 217 juniors (out of about 400 or so .... dang, that's a LARGE %) who did not pass at least one of the 4 subject areas of our exit exam. Oh my. Our principal thought she'd try something new this summer (I started getting a bad feeling) where she'd dole out the names to the 150 or so faculty to be mentors - mentors that called the kids at least a couple of times to remind them of tutoring available over the summer and of tests dates. She "knew" not every faculty would step up to the plate, so maybe those who knew the kids and had already formed a relationship with them would take 3 or so kids.

Well, she started calling out names of students and teachers raised their hands to mentor them. And on and on and on. Intermittently, she would interject with comments like "our school is made up of people / individuals", "this test is what we're about", "our kids have to pass this test". I kept waiting for names of kids I knew. None came. Then I started obsessing that I wasn't choosing anyone. Then I started to feel resentful that I should be manipulated into picking someone. Then I started not actively choosing students.

After the last name was called, here was her zinger, "and for the people who didn't choose a student, I want to thank you, because we don't want anyone to volunteer and not have their heart in it and to drop the ball and not call the student". Is it just me or was that saying one thing and meaning another? I HATE that kind of manipulation. It's so offensive. We bust our butts all year coming in early in the morning, leaving late at night, tutoring practically every day after school. Tons of people were volunteering. Why not honor that and end it on a good note instead of calling to fact that there were people who did not volunteer for this ONE task. It's like I see her panning the room and committing to memory the nonvolunteers .... okay HERE are the people on my poop-list for next year. Great. Have a terrific summer.