Words

A student was recounting to me her "horrible, awful, very bad day" of a few days ago and just generally venting about things. One incident that happened was that a counselor had given her a key to the teacher copy room to go retrieve something. Now at our school we have a variety of hall wanderers and kids skipping class and not being where they are supposed to be, so it's easy to get into the habit of treating every students you see outside of class during the day as someone who's "doing something wrong" since they're not in class. This student is not that type at all, but she got flustered when a teacher started giving her the 3rd degree about why she had a key and who's was it and what was she doing there. And I guess he said some off the cuff remarks to her.

As she was recounting this to me, she said, "you know, teachers should know the power of their words to students - whether they're good words or bad, they greatly affect us. Maybe you guys don't know how much".

It also helped remind me not to treat every student I see in the halls as "criminals". I've put on more of a concerned air (where are you supposed to be, sweetie?) as opposed to a police air (where's your pass!?!). This has led to some interesting short conversations with kids:

- my teacher kicked me out of class because I smiled and she thought I was being disrespectful.

- I was kicked out of TMC because I had my head down, and the teacher said, "Robert, put your head up", and I didn't respond because my name is not Robert, and the other kids laughed, and the teacher thought I was being fresh.

- I have to go to the school store to buy "female supplies" but I don't have money, and I can't find my sister, and the next period teacher won't let me be late because she's mean.

- (in response to my question of "what's so interesting to look at out there" to a boy who was in the halls just staring out the window at the lunch time crowd) "girls", he said bashfully.

Perceptions

Beginning about last week I started to notice that I was unnecessarily stressing myself out about everything.
- Things to be graded? What? They must be done RIGHT NOW.
- Certain students not doing well (even though they're not coming in for tutoring or doing their homework)? What can I do? It's MY issue.
- More duties that eat into my prep periods? Why I'll just wake up extra early and do my work at home.
- Dust bunnies moving in with us at home? Grumpily clean house instead of napping or sleeping.

Then all my dust bunnies must have been in alignment, because I read about BRFWA, which I remember as "barf"-"waaaaaaa" (as in how I can make myself feel), which stands for
Breathe, Relax, Feel, Watch, Allow. .... That and my new mantra, "I'll do what I can do, and that's all that I can do" (not to let myself off the hook, since I still work hard, but to cut myself a break). ... riggggggghhhhht, let's see how long this inner peace will last (1 day and counting).

Sayings & Young Students

The other day a student and I were discussing teacher salaries, and he was mentioning that teachers don't get paid nearly enough, and that I probably don't earn much. I responded (thinking of how it seems to not be getting any better), "yea, it's all going to pot". He got a disbelieving look on his face, and after I understood his confusion, I explained the meaning of the saying. ... Now whenever he sees me, he teases me on how I spend my paycheck.

Another student was semi-grumpy because I wouldn't let him leave class to go to the other side of the campus to get his math notebook. After some grumbling about how life was unfair, he looked at me and said with a stern voice, "ENGLISH Rocks".

Differentiation: part 2 (3? 4?)

In my AB/BC stacked AP calculus class, I have a wiiiiiiiiidddddddeeeee range of abilities. The same holds true for my 2nd AB class. I've tried various things, but the "lower" end stays at the lower end. I just finished grading and handing back the latest test, and the "low" scores were still low. I'm talking about 4 kids out of 19 in one class and 6 out of 28 in the 2nd class. The others are fine. So I threw it back at the class and asked them to write suggestions on how to make sure EVERYONE understands every topic. I got great feedback.

Some student ideas:
* have study buddies in class. after a day or so of instruction, have a practice day where lower and higher students are paired up.
* don't teach the "tricky" stuff in class, just go over the basics so we get a good grasp.
* for homework, also include varying levels of difficulty from basic skills to AP level type questions.

Monday Blues...

You know it's time for seat changes when every 4th sentence out of your mouth is, "Shhhhhh".
You know it's time to reteach a topic when most of the students got that type of problem wrong on the test.
You know it's time for an ethics discussion when after you hand a test back, a student asks why she got one problem wrong ... and you can see the erasure marks and "revisions" on her test from her freshly updated answer.
You know the school tardy policy is not working when a pack of 15 kids are cutting and roaming the halls yelling and disrupting your class.

It was one of those days. Monday and raining and in the October slump.

Expectations

I love my tap dance teacher. She's the ultimate professional who cares about her craft, and she expects the best from us. Me? I'm usually just happy I get the steps and can remember them and string them together when the music comes on. Her? She keeps "harping" at us: "it's not a drill, folks. Dance. Listen to the rhythm. Listen to each other. Don't fake it. ....". She has high expectations for us, and I appreciate that and want to do better.

Of course, then I think about my teaching. I have kids that are happy just to pass my class. This would be perfectly acceptable for them. I have to keep remembering to "harp" at them: "you can do better. THINK. Do your homework. 70? You can get an 80 ... a 90. Put out more effort. Come for tutoring."

On another note. Usually this year, I make all my handouts either by cutting and pasting from various resources, or by hand. When I get something typed up, I'm excited to share. I have a trigonometry "shifting, period, amplitude" type sheet for sine and cosine graphs all "perty-like" that uses Winplot for my graphs. If anyone wants a copy, please send me e-mail: math_mambo@yahoo.com.

"Favorite Class"

It's hard to bypass the following question gracefully:

"Ms. Cookie, are we your favorite class?"

Some of them ARE actually my favorite class, or the favorite class of that day, or year, or such, but I'd never tell them either way, so I say,

"Yes. You are my favorite 3rd period class. This year. In this room." That seems to get us all past the topic.

I do have to say, that I LOVE my last period class of the day. Today I had to "sneak" out about 3 minutes early to make a mandatory meeting across town that started 15 minutes after my school day ended (that then happened to be canceled after I got there!). I left them with my student aide, and I was completely comfortable knowing that they wouldn't be "bad". They're good kids and goofy and sweet, and they try hard, and it's just a nice way to end the day.

A Funny

I was walking around my precalculus class while they were graphing y = arcsin x, and I was trying to inject a bit of humor into the lesson. I didn't know where I was going with the joke, but it turns out I didn't have to.

Me: Knock Knock
Class: Who's There
Me: Radians
One Girl: Go Away

Different Perspectives

Some history: In one of my first few years of teaching, I was at an upscale school where the challenging courses were actually challenging. A student in my geometry honors class was debating whether or not to switch to an easier track, and she decided to stay in class. She struggled all year, and I believe ended up with a C. At the end of that year I had the students write a letter to my next year's students telling them various things - what to expect, what to do to succeed, what to study harder than they think they should, etc. The students also put in their own comments on other things. (I would give these letters to the students at the start of the next school year). Well, this one girl in her letter mentioned that she was really happy she had stayed in the class because it proved to her that she could do something challenging. So even though she didn't get a "good" grade, she felt she was successful in this endeavor. This stuck in my mind.

This year I have a couple of students that were debating early in the year whether or not to stay in precalculus preAP. They were struggling and had/have low algebra 2 skills. I told them that I can't tell them what to do, but that as seniors, if they skip a year of math, it will be extra hard the following year in college to get back into it. They both decided to stay. One is doing fine and is coming in for tutoring. The other is still struggling with basic concepts. This morning his mother sent me e-mail basically saying, "I'm sorry he decided to stay in the class as it looks like the rest of the year will be a struggle filled with low grades". That made me sad for her and for him. I wrote back to her about how it would be extra hard the following year in college for math placement exams if he missed a year of math. I suggested tutoring for algebra 2 skills, and she asked for names, so hopefully they'll follow through.

Feeling Bad, but not THAT Bad

In Texas, football is BIG. Football, football, football. Last Thursday night, our school team had a game against a town rival. Apparently, the team members don't get home until after midnight or so. So when they came into my math class on Thursday and looked at the homework board, some of them cried, "homework?! on a game night?!". Part of me feels bad for them, but the other part of me says, no, learn to balance your priorities. There's no way I'm going to not give them an extra opportunity to practice their skills because of football.

On Friday, I had a lot of sleepy kids. Some had stayed up doing homework. Some players did not turn in their homework. So am I doing them a service or a disservice if I allow them to turn it in late without penalty? I didn't mention it to them, but if/when I get their late homework on Monday, I'll have to think on this.

Progress but not Perfection

I've been "teaching" related rates in my BC calculus class for the last 3 days, and I did change it up from last year since I saw the struggles they had with the topic. I made some improvements, but I guess there's still more to make. Finally today after watching my mixed level class stare back at me for 2 days with a wide variety of looks, from, "yea, yea, I get it already", to "great! another topic I can struggle with to add to my ever-growing pile", to "related whats? related whos?", I had an epiphany.

As they walked into class, I moved the "yea, yeas" to the back (about 1/2 the class of 19) to quietly work on old AP exam questions on related rates. My other 1/2 I moved right up front by me, and I handed out a sheet with 4 problems. I left BIG space between the problems, and under each I had 4 categories: Picture, List of variables, Equation, Solve. I walked them through each, gradually weaning them off, and then I had to cover my eyes from all the light bulbs going off by the 3rd problem with "ohhhhhh! is THAT how you do it" looks.

As one kid said, "why didn't we do this in the first place?" Why indeed. I had to be honest with him and say, "well it's a learning process for all of us. I'm also learning what works with you all".

Spaghetti Sine Curves

I heard of a great way to get the graph of y = sin x to "stick" in students' heads, so today I tried it out. You're supposed to link the graph of the function to its value on the unit circle. Most sites I searched had the students either gluing the spaghetti lengths to the paper (too messy for me), or had the students use protractors to get exact angle measurements around the unit circle to use (not necessary and too time consuming in my opinion). So, I made up my own sheet.

I taught it for 3 periods, and by the last period :) I liked how it ran. For the first 2 periods I verbally gave instructions, and then pointed to the instructions on the back and had them "make sure you follow the instructions carefully". It seemed like I mostly wasted my breath because they still had questions, and it seemed like too many kids were zoning out with the "ach, there's the teacher blabbing again. I can tune out until we have to do something" face.

I also feel I lost an opportunity for the students to learn how to read math .... and read lots of words and follow them without giving up. For the 3rd period, I just started them on their way by mentioning the instructions. I gave a little spiel about how reading math is not like reading a novel or magazine. They worked beautifully. I also used a little trick I read on someone else's blog. I kept reiterating, "the instructions are VERY clear and EASY to understand". Tee Hee.

Their graphs turned out great. If anyone wants a copy send e-mail, and I'll pass it along. Or download it here.
math_mambo@yahoo.com

Skills

I was taken aback this week. Four students have been diligently coming in for tutoring for the past few weeks, and I wanted to let their parents know how hard they've been working. Before school started I bought these pretty marble "stock" cards from the scrapbook section at Michael's. My idea was to make postcards out of them for quick notes to parents.

While 3 of the boys were in for a "retest", I got a card for each and drew a line down the middle "postcard" style and asked them one by one to address them to their parents. The first boy wrote the address first and then their names and left out the city, state and zip entirely. The second boy wrote the correct information but 90 degrees rotated. The 3rd boy did it perfectly. The next day when the 4th was in for tutoring, I asked him to address the postcard, and I prompted him with "name" first, then street address. Then he asked me if he had to put down the city and state. I asked him if he would have known what to do if I hadn't told him, and he said no.

Hmmmm, this was just a skill I thought everyone had, but I guess if you've never written a letter, then how would you know? I learned when I went away to summer camp as a kid. I do remember messing up in the following way, though, so I'll get off my letter-addressing-high-horse. At home my parents sent and received letters from relatives in other countries, so there was always "air mail" written somewhere on the front. So when I went to camp 3 hours away from home and wrote home, I also wrote "air mail".

Insomniac Math Teacher Thoughts

Whew! I finally got that last riddle, though I'm not sure if I like my husband's hint. I thought and thought and couldn't get it, and I broke down and asked for a hint after a few days and asked how he got it. (we'd already established the first letter and the last 3 letters of the "singular" word). He said, well I was thinking of you, and the word came to me. Hmmmm, is that in a good way?

Then this morning I couldn't sleep, and I thought of this variation of an oldie:
You have an unmarked 5 cup container and an unmarked 9 cup container and unlimited water and a sink. Using only these containers and being able to fill up and pour out in the sink, how could you measure out exactly: 1C, 2C, 3C, ...., 12C, 13C, and 14C?

Mastering Skills

I did something in all my classes on Friday that I think I'll do periodically. Everyone got a half sheet (to turn in at the end of the period) that said basically:
What "skill" are you struggling with currently?
What did you do in class to make progress on your knowledge?
Who (besides me) did you get help from?
What specifically are you going to do this weekend to deepen your understanding?
How will you show progress to me next week?
What would you like to tell me?

Most kids worked hard (some chose to goof off, of course). I had many verbal and written comments about how this session helped. For my calculus classes, I had "reteaching" sheets written out for 3 topics (all I could come up with on my short time schedule from when I had this idea to when I implemented it). These sheets had worked out examples and then practice problems with answers on the bottom of the page.

Riddle posed by one student this week (and I'm still working on the answer), but I thought I'd share: What word is plural, but when you add an "s" to the end becomes singular?

A Giggle & a Quandary

I'm going to have a "word wall" for calculus, and I've never had one before, so it's going up a wee bit at a time. Apparently, they're all the rage in English (ahem, language arts) classes. Well, it's going pretty slowly, and I had my student aide be artsy with the words. She got one word done: "derivative", and I thought I'd put it up instead of waiting for all the other words to be done. The next day in calculus class, I proudly pointed to what was going to be the word wall, and the students said, upon looking at the one word up there, "oh! is that the "word" on your word wall?".

I have yet to think of an effective response to students who claim: I knew all the stuff in class and when I did homework, I just choked on the test. .... or .... I understand perfectly well in class, but then when I get home, I don't know how to do things. ... or ... I just don't "test" well.

I want to say, that well, then you really DON'T understand and you're just fooling yourself. I have to think of a constructive way of saying that. I also question effective study habits. Or effective note/text reading and processing.

Reviewing Angst

Since I've started teaching older students (ones that I picture closer to college age than middle school age), I've become more reluctant to use a whole class period to review material for an upcoming assessment. My thinking is that I warn them a week in advance. I tell them what will be covered. I expect them to study at home and ask me questions if they have them. I've even started NOT handing out review sheets for them to do at home. Right. Apparently, I live in an ideal world where everything goes as it should, and all students are well-rested and don't work jobs and do their homework consistently, etc.

I still feel a time crunch and want to use class time for practice and new material. But on the other hand, I can think of a "review" day as just an extra practice day. I could even think of a "review sheet" with answers provided as extra practice. I wouldn't even have to refer to the sheet unless a student was proactive and asked questions about it. Maybe that's what I'll do in the future. Provide practice/review sheets with answers a few days before the test. ..... I still think of it as enabling, but maybe that's MY problem.

Homework Checking System

I started to leave this as a comment of my last post, but then it seemed to be getting to long (who's the babbler?).

Hi Dan,

On an ideal day I have the homework answers on the overhead (which I turn on before the class starts for the early arrivers). The minute the bell rings, I set the 5 minute timer, and they have until the beeps to correct their papers in a different color. I grade on completion because I think homework is their time to practice. I also walk around during this time to make sure no one is blatantly copying only. I also grade on work shown and header (name, date, page and problem #s listed, corrections, attempt of all problems).

During the 5 minutes, they can also ask each other or me questions. Then I turn off the overhead, and ask for more questions. I answer the popular questions (5 more minutes). If I don't cover their particular question another 5 minutes, I tell them to mark their questions very visibly on their papers, and I'll answer them when I'm checking their papers later (out of class in any pockets of time I find).

I have my student aid (or me) stamp the papers in some goofy rubber stamp. This way later on if I've accidently marked them a zero, they can prove they've turned in their paper. And visa versa, if they claim they had already turned in their papers, I can check for a stamp. I also go through each paper and check for my list of homework musts (see above) and enter the grades.

It's been the case lately that MOST of the time it doesn't take the full 10 minutes. This has been a great improvement over the BT (before timer) days when they dawdled getting out their materials and talking to their friends and then "wait! wait! I'm not finished correcting" while everyone else was politely and patiently waiting because they had done what they were supposed to do. The timer seems to focus them and curb their overchatting, and they're motivated to correct since they know they're graded on corrections.

I don't know if it's an ideal system (I still spend too much cherished time carefully going over the papers for header, attempt, questions, and maybe I'm not catching all the copying), but it seems to work best for me so far. I also figure that if someone is not using the system correctly (copying, etc), they'll pay for it on tests and such when they don't know the material.

Changing Impressions

School has been in session for 3 weeks now, and I find it interesting how my impressions change as I get to know the kids. For the first week it's all a frenzy, and I'm a bit overwhelmed with all these new faces in class that I don't know. I already start to form some impressions (chatty, lazy, depressed, good-natured...) some right and some way off base.

Then the second week comes along and I get a better sense of the kids, and I know most (or all) of their names. They're more comfortable, and hence some are more chatty in class. I keep meaning to change seats (and I have some) but I need to wait until the 4th week when I can remove some extra desks from my class. (In hind sight, I could have just left the seats but not assigned anyone to them).

Now after 3 weeks have passed, I *almost* have my classroom the way I want it. I had a day or 2 where I could walk around most of the period to help the students while they practiced on a "puzzle" sheet of trig problems (How do you make chicken napoleon? Use only the bony parts! ar ar ar ... thanks pizzazz company). I have my homework correcting system in place (with the timer it takes at most 8 minutes or so after I answer questions).

Grades are due tomorrow, so I'm now in a frenzy of checking homework I've collected and such. With all this, I'm still not fully applying some of the teaching knowledge I wanted to test out yet. Soon. Soon.

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.