I started thinking about this when a *way* former student (2001-2002 school year) "friended" me on Facebook yesterday. I immediately knew who he was and what class he was in and what year and most all of the other students in that class.
Then I started thinking that this wouldn't be true with many other students and classes. Sure, some stand out and I can remember their names and faces, but ... let's see, roughly 12 years times an average of 6 classes times roughly 25 kids per class (and by "roughly" I mean I'm blotting out the recent years of 38, 40, 36, .... and 25 is easy to multiply by ... and I'm ignoring the fact that I had some students for more than one class) ... so ... 1800 students????? Is that right? Holy Moly.
So, I'm guessing it's a good bet that I wouldn't remember the bulk of them. And, I've been "attempt friended" recently by recent grads, and it feels weird, and I ignore it and move on. But back to the student in question. He's graduated from college now I guess and is working in a tech field. ...
Here are the reasons this class was memorable. It was a gifted & talented class of juniors, and they were smart as a whip. They started out kind of wary of me and the class, and were resistant, but we grew on each other. I would just throw the most obscure problems at them and put on my "game face" of "what? of COURSE I expect you to solve this .... what? you don't think you can?" and then I'd wait, and sure enough, they would come back with answers. It was also one of my smaller classes ... 14 or so. We also had a ton of laughs together over the silliest things. And ... well, after that year was over, right before their senior year started, one of the nicest, sweetest, kindest, most honorable girls from that class (and from the school) died in a car wreck on a rainy night. I'm choking up just thinking about it, and it happened, what, 7 years ago. Boy did I cry during her memorial. Their senior year was a bit more somber because of that, and the valedictorian was a girl in my former class, and her graduation speech wove that event in through her talk and about how it altered her thoughts and actions of that year.
I'm guessing that the most traumatic things are the most memorable. Like when you try to remember your earliest memory from childhood, and invariable it seems to be of some injury or something scary that happened. ...
Anyway, it's nice to see/hear about the kids that are now "adults" and having their next part of their lives. ... Maybe if I stay in one school long enough, I'll have the kids of my current kids?! Yeesh. Or at my advanced years ... maybe I'd be in dentures and Depends by then and too old to terrorize the little kiddies any more.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
"69"
Argh! The dreaded number for a high school teacher. And what is it, that if you just make a problem up on the fly ... out of the infinite possible results that could come out, THIS one does.
Anyway, at my "new" school (when will I stop starting a sentence with that?), the kids are pretty well-behaved, and I don't really have many situations where I either inwardly or outwardly roll my eyes at their adolescent-ness. In one class, I have some 2 girls that are classified for special ed because of learning disabilities. Once or twice in the past when I'm making up problems on the fly, to "engage" them more in the process, I ask generally, "what is your favorite number?", and the first one to call one out, gets that number in the current part of the problem. This one particular girl shouted out as her favorite number, "69" amongst the other one digit numbers I was hearing. I didn't make a big deal of it then and just moved on, but I thought at home about an effective way I could address it.
In the past it was boys that did it, and I would just roll my eyes in front of the class and say, "high school boys!" and move on. Here .... girl yelling out .... weird. I couldn't get a grasp on whether she was doing it for effect or if she actually knew what it meant or was just cognizent of the fact that it got a reaction. Anyhow ... it happened again today, and I was ready. I turned to her and said, "you need to stop calling out this number. You probably don't realize it, but you are making yourself out to be a person you REALLY don't want to be mistaken for." or something to that effect and moved on. ... Let's see if this works in the future.
Anyway, at my "new" school (when will I stop starting a sentence with that?), the kids are pretty well-behaved, and I don't really have many situations where I either inwardly or outwardly roll my eyes at their adolescent-ness. In one class, I have some 2 girls that are classified for special ed because of learning disabilities. Once or twice in the past when I'm making up problems on the fly, to "engage" them more in the process, I ask generally, "what is your favorite number?", and the first one to call one out, gets that number in the current part of the problem. This one particular girl shouted out as her favorite number, "69" amongst the other one digit numbers I was hearing. I didn't make a big deal of it then and just moved on, but I thought at home about an effective way I could address it.
In the past it was boys that did it, and I would just roll my eyes in front of the class and say, "high school boys!" and move on. Here .... girl yelling out .... weird. I couldn't get a grasp on whether she was doing it for effect or if she actually knew what it meant or was just cognizent of the fact that it got a reaction. Anyhow ... it happened again today, and I was ready. I turned to her and said, "you need to stop calling out this number. You probably don't realize it, but you are making yourself out to be a person you REALLY don't want to be mistaken for." or something to that effect and moved on. ... Let's see if this works in the future.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
New Kid on the Block
Blach! I think last Thursday and Friday were the 1st 2 days in a row that I had a completely good day. All the other days have been filled with either snippy looks from certain students because I dared move their seats, or second guessing myself because all the other teachers seem to be clicking and I'm not chatting with them, or rush rush rushing to get all my things ready to teach my 3 different preps and not feeling as prepared as I'd like to be and semi-winging it. And just general "blahness".
On Thursday I decided to kill my students with kindness. Instead of just scanning their homework for completeness, I wrote little notes on them ... something positive: "great work", "you really get it", "your handwriting is so neat and easy to read", that sort of thing. That was in my snippy student class with the seat changes. Well, miracle of miracles, we had a good day together. They actually worked and laughed at my lame jokes, and nary a snippy look passed.
Then another teacher sat down with me and we mapped out the algebra course we're teaching and that was good and I felt like I belonged. Then I actually had time to think things through about how I'd teach a concept (the dreaded "5-2(x-3)" type of situation where they DON'T want to distribute the negative (or subtraction) in front of the 2.
Then there was teenage girl drama on Friday, and I happened to walk in on it, and I think I was part of their solution. This was with a group of friends that were clashing, and some of the girls were my snippy students, so maybe we've made progress towards forming a better relationship.
So, WooHoo, I'm on the up part of the inevitable rollercoaster.
On Thursday I decided to kill my students with kindness. Instead of just scanning their homework for completeness, I wrote little notes on them ... something positive: "great work", "you really get it", "your handwriting is so neat and easy to read", that sort of thing. That was in my snippy student class with the seat changes. Well, miracle of miracles, we had a good day together. They actually worked and laughed at my lame jokes, and nary a snippy look passed.
Then another teacher sat down with me and we mapped out the algebra course we're teaching and that was good and I felt like I belonged. Then I actually had time to think things through about how I'd teach a concept (the dreaded "5-2(x-3)" type of situation where they DON'T want to distribute the negative (or subtraction) in front of the 2.
Then there was teenage girl drama on Friday, and I happened to walk in on it, and I think I was part of their solution. This was with a group of friends that were clashing, and some of the girls were my snippy students, so maybe we've made progress towards forming a better relationship.
So, WooHoo, I'm on the up part of the inevitable rollercoaster.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Absent Students on Test Day
I got my first taste on how things work at my new school in the cases where kids are absent on a test day. In my old school after I'd been there a while, I found what the culture of the school was and what it would take for the kids to finally make up a test (so that a week or so hasn't passed and they then finally meander in after school to make it up). I announced firmly at the start of school and frequently after that (right before test day) that if they were absent during a test, then I would put them in the hall the next class and they would finish/take the test. This stopped people from being spontaneously sick during test day. It also stopped people from taking forever and 2 days to make it up.
Well, at my new school, I just gave my first test. To be fair, a ton of kids have been out with the flu and such. So basically I had about 2 kids per class that missed a test over the span of 2 block days. Hmmm, I was told the kids were pretty good about coming in and being proactive about taking care of business. Supposedly, they were to come to me of their own initiative and make up the tests. Did not happen. Then the next class day I asked them separately when they could come in after school. Hmmm, mumble mumble. Still did not come in. Finally, I entered a 0 in the electronic gradebook for the absentees' test columns, and it brought their averages WAY down.
Our students and their parents have access to the gradebook. The advisory classes were also to check grades today. And magically, 3 students showed up after school today to make up their tests without any extra prompting from me. Coincidence? Well, either that, or I don't have to keep nagging. If they choose to keep the zero, okay. .... Well, what if later on after TOO much time passes, THEN they want to make it up. I guess I'll wait and see what happens to see if I'll change my strategy.
On another note. One of my classes was getting TOO chatty, and I was crabby in class because of it. New seating today. Poof! Quiet class (for now!) and poof poof: happy teacher that could actually crack some jokes because she wasn't monitoring their rude behavior. I even threw in some off-topic math that they actually found cool (who knew). I was making up problems and asking for numbers, at one point someone called "6". Then I had to say, "you know, 6 is a perfect number". Then went on to tell them what the definition of a perfect number is. Then shockingly (I guess it shouldn't be, but remember, this was my trouble class), they started to wonder out loud about other numbers and their perfectness. Ahhhh, I'll take this one bright spot with this class as it was our best time together since the start of school. Hopefully, it will happen more often.
Well, at my new school, I just gave my first test. To be fair, a ton of kids have been out with the flu and such. So basically I had about 2 kids per class that missed a test over the span of 2 block days. Hmmm, I was told the kids were pretty good about coming in and being proactive about taking care of business. Supposedly, they were to come to me of their own initiative and make up the tests. Did not happen. Then the next class day I asked them separately when they could come in after school. Hmmm, mumble mumble. Still did not come in. Finally, I entered a 0 in the electronic gradebook for the absentees' test columns, and it brought their averages WAY down.
Our students and their parents have access to the gradebook. The advisory classes were also to check grades today. And magically, 3 students showed up after school today to make up their tests without any extra prompting from me. Coincidence? Well, either that, or I don't have to keep nagging. If they choose to keep the zero, okay. .... Well, what if later on after TOO much time passes, THEN they want to make it up. I guess I'll wait and see what happens to see if I'll change my strategy.
On another note. One of my classes was getting TOO chatty, and I was crabby in class because of it. New seating today. Poof! Quiet class (for now!) and poof poof: happy teacher that could actually crack some jokes because she wasn't monitoring their rude behavior. I even threw in some off-topic math that they actually found cool (who knew). I was making up problems and asking for numbers, at one point someone called "6". Then I had to say, "you know, 6 is a perfect number". Then went on to tell them what the definition of a perfect number is. Then shockingly (I guess it shouldn't be, but remember, this was my trouble class), they started to wonder out loud about other numbers and their perfectness. Ahhhh, I'll take this one bright spot with this class as it was our best time together since the start of school. Hopefully, it will happen more often.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Algebra 1 Surprises
This is only the 2nd year I've taught algebra 1 as a one-year course (in New Jersey we had a slower paced 2 year course of which 1 taught the 1st year). Recently, some interesting things have come to my attention that I'll be aware of the next time I teach it.
We've just started "baby graphing" ... I give them an equation, and x values, and then they find the y values and plot the points. They're still at the stage where they don't know if they should connect the points or not. When I prompted them on a linear graph as to whether they should connect them or not, I got "yes because they go up at a constant rate" or "yes, they follow a pattern". We'll fix that later. But here are some more immediate things that I need to address.
On the 2nd day we were doing this, I then did NOT give them x values. Oh HOLD THE PHONE! What should we do???? Oh no!!! We got that straightened out with the "rule of thumb" (then I had to tell them the origin of that phrase). Then here's the problem, sometimes I had given them a preset grid, and OH NO, the points they chose did not fit. They didn't figure out that they could change the scale, or NOT plot that particular point. So ... new buggaboos that I'm learning to address in the course of this unit.
Then, here's the more interesting one. I saw with alarming frequency that apparently, 10 divided by 20 is 2. I know. Who knew?! Then I realized, they did not know that if they saw "10 div 20" (where the div is the division sign) that that was the same as 10/20 or 20 into 10 (under the long division symbol). They didn't know what went where.
And finally, I'll have to come up with a clever way to make stick that if you're given: y = -x^2, and you plug in x=3, then that's NOT (-3)(-3). or similarly, if you plug in x=-5, then that's not (--5)^2 or 25. I'm thinking "x box": put a box around the x physically and follow PEMDAS. ... Another teacher today said that a student of hers suggested, "oh! y=-x^2 can just be written as y = 0 - x^2". Then they would follow PEMDAS more easily. Maybe I should try that.
We've just started "baby graphing" ... I give them an equation, and x values, and then they find the y values and plot the points. They're still at the stage where they don't know if they should connect the points or not. When I prompted them on a linear graph as to whether they should connect them or not, I got "yes because they go up at a constant rate" or "yes, they follow a pattern". We'll fix that later. But here are some more immediate things that I need to address.
On the 2nd day we were doing this, I then did NOT give them x values. Oh HOLD THE PHONE! What should we do???? Oh no!!! We got that straightened out with the "rule of thumb" (then I had to tell them the origin of that phrase). Then here's the problem, sometimes I had given them a preset grid, and OH NO, the points they chose did not fit. They didn't figure out that they could change the scale, or NOT plot that particular point. So ... new buggaboos that I'm learning to address in the course of this unit.
Then, here's the more interesting one. I saw with alarming frequency that apparently, 10 divided by 20 is 2. I know. Who knew?! Then I realized, they did not know that if they saw "10 div 20" (where the div is the division sign) that that was the same as 10/20 or 20 into 10 (under the long division symbol). They didn't know what went where.
And finally, I'll have to come up with a clever way to make stick that if you're given: y = -x^2, and you plug in x=3, then that's NOT (-3)(-3). or similarly, if you plug in x=-5, then that's not (--5)^2 or 25. I'm thinking "x box": put a box around the x physically and follow PEMDAS. ... Another teacher today said that a student of hers suggested, "oh! y=-x^2 can just be written as y = 0 - x^2". Then they would follow PEMDAS more easily. Maybe I should try that.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Sitting at Tables
This is the 1st time in my teaching career that the students sit 4 at a table. I've always had desks that have been arranged in groups of 4 (facing forward). Now the kids are 2 on each side facing each other, and the tables are angled towards the front, so that everyone can see the board.
Well, this past week I gave my 1st quizzes, and I was pondering what to do about wandering eyes. I didn't have enough time to make a big table divider, and doing nothing didn't sit well with me since I can't monitor all students at all times. So I remembered what I'd heard about manila folders propped up in front of each student.
I was passing out the folders to my 9th graders, and some of them started to act offended. I don't know if it was a show or real offense, but the comments were, "we haven't done this since the 6th grade", "this is so childish", etc. Hmph. I've SEEN 9th grade eyes wandering. I presented it as, "humor me. This is so I don't wrongly accuse you of cheating, and it makes me feel better." But seriously, the seats/papers are too close together to not have issues. I wonder what other people do? I guess I'll ask at my school.
Well, this past week I gave my 1st quizzes, and I was pondering what to do about wandering eyes. I didn't have enough time to make a big table divider, and doing nothing didn't sit well with me since I can't monitor all students at all times. So I remembered what I'd heard about manila folders propped up in front of each student.
I was passing out the folders to my 9th graders, and some of them started to act offended. I don't know if it was a show or real offense, but the comments were, "we haven't done this since the 6th grade", "this is so childish", etc. Hmph. I've SEEN 9th grade eyes wandering. I presented it as, "humor me. This is so I don't wrongly accuse you of cheating, and it makes me feel better." But seriously, the seats/papers are too close together to not have issues. I wonder what other people do? I guess I'll ask at my school.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Answer Banks
Still loving the new school, but not loving the last minute scrambling to get everything together. Guess I'll figure it out soon (or it will be June and a moot point). The school philosophy sort of discourages the use of textbooks for homework problems, and we're to create our own thing. I'm fine with that because mostly that's what I do, but this year with basically 3 classes to get materials ready for, it's a challenge.
Anyway, wa wa wa. What I am pleased about is how my algebra 1 homeworks are going. I know when I'm learning something new, I like to have immediate feedback on my correctness. At the same time, if I'm a high school student that may quickly look at the answer without struggling with the problem first, that wouldn't benefit me. Therefore, I've been giving about 10 problems per homework and then putting an extra box on the bottom of the sheet with all the answers in mixed order. So they have to do all problems and cross them all off and will know soon if something is amiss.
I had feedback today as I was handing out the next assignment. One girl looked at the sheet and whooped, "YES! Thank you for the answer bank!".
I guess for algebra (not the line graphing) it'll be pretty easy to keep this up, but the geometry ... hmmmm, will have to think about it.
Anyway, wa wa wa. What I am pleased about is how my algebra 1 homeworks are going. I know when I'm learning something new, I like to have immediate feedback on my correctness. At the same time, if I'm a high school student that may quickly look at the answer without struggling with the problem first, that wouldn't benefit me. Therefore, I've been giving about 10 problems per homework and then putting an extra box on the bottom of the sheet with all the answers in mixed order. So they have to do all problems and cross them all off and will know soon if something is amiss.
I had feedback today as I was handing out the next assignment. One girl looked at the sheet and whooped, "YES! Thank you for the answer bank!".
I guess for algebra (not the line graphing) it'll be pretty easy to keep this up, but the geometry ... hmmmm, will have to think about it.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Psychology of Pricing
I had an epiphany the other day about how much each homework was worth. In our grading program we can assign different weights for different types of things: homework, tests, projects, etc. I have a totally independent category for homework and it was worth 25% of their total grade. Now since this is the only type of object in this category, it doesn't matter what each homework is worth if they're all worth the same: each 2 points, each 100 points, etc. It all comes out in the wash. My homeworks were worth 2 points each, and I deducted points (or partial points) as needed, so you could still earn 100% or 80% or so on on an assignment.
I don't know why the 2 points always worked for me. Maybe I fell prey to the psychology of pricing, too, and subconsciously I thought that tests were where you really showed your stuff, so those were worth 40 or 50 points or what have you, so the homeworks should be worth 2 points.
Anyway, at my new school, all the 9th grade classes have to have the same percentages: 45% homework/classwork and 55% tests/projects. There was some extra wording about deducting 5 points for various homework infractions, and so being new on the block and wanting to at least try things the way everyone else is doing them, I'm deciding this year to have each homework be worth 100 points. Again it shouldn't matter because it's in its own category.
So here was my epiphany. In my old school maybe part of the reason why kids were lacksadaisical about turning in their homework was because, "hey, it's only worth 2 points. no biggie if I don't turn it in." When in reality, it was a big deal because those 0's started to add up. I'm wondering if they would have had a different attitude if I'd assigned each homework 2000 points, just to mess with their minds or to get them to think about how the math all works out.
In other news, how's my new school going? Well, I think all the staff I've encountered have come from a different planet: the planet of graciousness and kindness and hard work. Oh my goodness, I can't tell you how many nice e-mails or cards or words I've gotten from other staff just to welcome me (and other new teachers, I'm sure) and check to see if I'm okay and to see if I have any questions or need anything. I'm so blessed this year. WootWoot.
I don't know why the 2 points always worked for me. Maybe I fell prey to the psychology of pricing, too, and subconsciously I thought that tests were where you really showed your stuff, so those were worth 40 or 50 points or what have you, so the homeworks should be worth 2 points.
Anyway, at my new school, all the 9th grade classes have to have the same percentages: 45% homework/classwork and 55% tests/projects. There was some extra wording about deducting 5 points for various homework infractions, and so being new on the block and wanting to at least try things the way everyone else is doing them, I'm deciding this year to have each homework be worth 100 points. Again it shouldn't matter because it's in its own category.
So here was my epiphany. In my old school maybe part of the reason why kids were lacksadaisical about turning in their homework was because, "hey, it's only worth 2 points. no biggie if I don't turn it in." When in reality, it was a big deal because those 0's started to add up. I'm wondering if they would have had a different attitude if I'd assigned each homework 2000 points, just to mess with their minds or to get them to think about how the math all works out.
In other news, how's my new school going? Well, I think all the staff I've encountered have come from a different planet: the planet of graciousness and kindness and hard work. Oh my goodness, I can't tell you how many nice e-mails or cards or words I've gotten from other staff just to welcome me (and other new teachers, I'm sure) and check to see if I'm okay and to see if I have any questions or need anything. I'm so blessed this year. WootWoot.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Creating Your Own Thing
In this crazy week of prepping for the start of school, I've been in a few situations where I keep thinking about the book "Why We Teach", well really about one essay in particular. The teacher described her growing up years and the need for her to find her own voice and opinions. She got to the point where she didn't want to have a discussion with others or listen to other people's opinions on something before she had a chance to digest things and form her own opinion or method of doing something. Otherwise, she felt that she was just going along with the crowd or that her thoughts would either be stifled or not formed or swayed by what others thought.
So I periodically thought about this as I was coming up with a syllabus or a first day activity or how to decorate my room or procedures I want to put into place. Maybe it's not a "la la la la I don't hear you" type of situation where I think "it's my way or the highway, baby", but more of a reminder to think my own thoughts, then gather other opinions, then go back and reflect about how I think things should be done that carry my personality stamp.
Here's one new idea I'm trying, and who knows if it'll work. For the past many years I have taken a picture of each group of students on the 1st day of school and during that 1st class I had them fill out a seating chart AND print their names on a small sticky note. Then that 1st night I go print the pictures, and with double-sided tape I put their sticky notes on their picture. This helps me learn their names, and I also put all the pictures up in the room. They love to look at them at odd times during the semester.
Because I've seen that they SO love to go up and glance at all the pictures and discuss things and point certain things out (ooh, I just realized one reason why ... this helps them also to see who everyone is). Anyway, because of this, I'm going to ask them to bring in a favorite picture of themselves that 1st week (that I'll return to them later), and I'll use the awesome stikki clips to put them up as a border around either the blackboard or a bulletin board.
So I periodically thought about this as I was coming up with a syllabus or a first day activity or how to decorate my room or procedures I want to put into place. Maybe it's not a "la la la la I don't hear you" type of situation where I think "it's my way or the highway, baby", but more of a reminder to think my own thoughts, then gather other opinions, then go back and reflect about how I think things should be done that carry my personality stamp.
Here's one new idea I'm trying, and who knows if it'll work. For the past many years I have taken a picture of each group of students on the 1st day of school and during that 1st class I had them fill out a seating chart AND print their names on a small sticky note. Then that 1st night I go print the pictures, and with double-sided tape I put their sticky notes on their picture. This helps me learn their names, and I also put all the pictures up in the room. They love to look at them at odd times during the semester.
Because I've seen that they SO love to go up and glance at all the pictures and discuss things and point certain things out (ooh, I just realized one reason why ... this helps them also to see who everyone is). Anyway, because of this, I'm going to ask them to bring in a favorite picture of themselves that 1st week (that I'll return to them later), and I'll use the awesome stikki clips to put them up as a border around either the blackboard or a bulletin board.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
New Toy
I was recently at training and learned about fun ways to present information such as:
A Movie I Made (I see a side job forming)
I could see it getting old, but it's a nice thing to throw in the mix.
I've also met amazing people at my new school. It's only been open for 2 years, so they're still inventing who they are and what they are capable of doing. They seem genuine and smart and committed. BUT.
Information Overload. I'm totally at the stage of, "I'll never remember to do all this", and "Argh, what if I screw up, and they secretly shake their heads at the mistake they made hiring me", and "Oh My GOD, I'll never be ready come Monday". You know, the usual jitters (and don't forget: they have only HOW MANY copiers? What, no work/eating/microwave room?, etc.)
I'm teaching 4 different preps this year ... well, 3.5 (one is a type of study hall). And I've agreed to be some sort of team leader and occasional yoga instructor. I must be woozy from lack of sleep. Must. Learn. To. Say. No. I practiced a bit today when an afternoon robotics team leader position presented itself: no. Whew! Go me. Baby steps.
A Movie I Made (I see a side job forming)
I could see it getting old, but it's a nice thing to throw in the mix.
I've also met amazing people at my new school. It's only been open for 2 years, so they're still inventing who they are and what they are capable of doing. They seem genuine and smart and committed. BUT.
Information Overload. I'm totally at the stage of, "I'll never remember to do all this", and "Argh, what if I screw up, and they secretly shake their heads at the mistake they made hiring me", and "Oh My GOD, I'll never be ready come Monday". You know, the usual jitters (and don't forget: they have only HOW MANY copiers? What, no work/eating/microwave room?, etc.)
I'm teaching 4 different preps this year ... well, 3.5 (one is a type of study hall). And I've agreed to be some sort of team leader and occasional yoga instructor. I must be woozy from lack of sleep. Must. Learn. To. Say. No. I practiced a bit today when an afternoon robotics team leader position presented itself: no. Whew! Go me. Baby steps.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Words to Ponder and Chew Over
I recently came across a chart that contained these comparisons, while I was searching various high school websites. (hmmm, the formatting is wonky, but ...)
Comparing Solution Building with Problem Solving
Solution Building vs. Problem Solving
Ooh, 7 makes me wince because in some of my classes, that's what I did sometimes. Off the top of my head: if students were having continual problems understanding, I would tell myself that I was ALWAYS available after school and they had every opportunity to come to tutoring. Yet every year, there are kids who for a variety of reasons don't come to tutoring and STILL fail to understand various topics. Maybe I need to enhance my toolbox of skills so that more kids understand more topics in class or have different avenues of seeking help other than coming to my tutoring.
Anyway, more stuff to reflect on.
Comparing Solution Building with Problem Solving
Solution Building vs. Problem Solving
1. "How did you do that?" vs. "Why did you do that?"
2. Focus on the future without the problem vs. Emphasis on past with the problem
3. Solution talk vs. Problem talk
4. Attention on what is working vs. Attention on what is wrong
5. Student is capable. vs. Student is flawed.
6. Teacher skilled at "not knowing." vs. Teacher is "all knowing."
7. If it works, do more of it. vs. Just keep using what you think should work until it, hopefully, does.
8. Change is inevitable. vs. People cannot change.
This resonated with me and it's been popping in and out of my mind for the last few days. If I scan down the list, this past year I could count 5 of the 8 where I was more focused on what was wrong at my school than just rotating my thinking and concentrating on what I could change or fix or be a part of making better.Ooh, 7 makes me wince because in some of my classes, that's what I did sometimes. Off the top of my head: if students were having continual problems understanding, I would tell myself that I was ALWAYS available after school and they had every opportunity to come to tutoring. Yet every year, there are kids who for a variety of reasons don't come to tutoring and STILL fail to understand various topics. Maybe I need to enhance my toolbox of skills so that more kids understand more topics in class or have different avenues of seeking help other than coming to my tutoring.
Anyway, more stuff to reflect on.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Learned & Reaffirmed Things
After a slew of math workshops all crammed together in one summer, I can generate a list of things I've either learned or relearned from my experiences:
1. Your math text is NOT your curriculum. Not for what you should teach, not for how you should teach, not for why you should teach something.
2. Every workshop seems to have the same set of characters (other than perfect people like me ... cough cough):
- the know-it-all that has to shout out all the answers quickly just to show they know things.
- the on-the-sly-constant texter
- the nary-a-peeper
- the challenged learner that asks TONS of questions
- the I-know-this-&-am-too-cool-to-REALLY-process-what-you're-saying person who will probably be unpleasantly surprised when they have to actually apply this current knowledge next year.
3. I'm set in my ways. Before my 1st out of town workshop, I was stressing, "oh no, I won't have my favorite tea, my vegetarian food, my own bed, ..." waa waa waa. I *mostly* had a change of attitude and used it as an opportunity to try new things ...... mostly.
4. I love my new school-provided laptop. When I was getting homesick, I could stream our local NPR station, and I could Skype my husband, and I could send e-mail and impatiently wait for replies to feel connected to friends.
5. "yelp.com" is a great new asset in my traveling life. I could just type in a city and "thai restaurant" or "breakfast" and get tons of opinions to scroll through to find places to go.
6. "mathforum.org" has a section called "math tools" and you can enter the subject you teach and the topic you're interested in, and it returns a list of resources for you to browse through to use: applets, calculator tasks, worksheets.
1. Your math text is NOT your curriculum. Not for what you should teach, not for how you should teach, not for why you should teach something.
2. Every workshop seems to have the same set of characters (other than perfect people like me ... cough cough):
- the know-it-all that has to shout out all the answers quickly just to show they know things.
- the on-the-sly-constant texter
- the nary-a-peeper
- the challenged learner that asks TONS of questions
- the I-know-this-&-am-too-cool-to-REALLY-process-what-you're-saying person who will probably be unpleasantly surprised when they have to actually apply this current knowledge next year.
3. I'm set in my ways. Before my 1st out of town workshop, I was stressing, "oh no, I won't have my favorite tea, my vegetarian food, my own bed, ..." waa waa waa. I *mostly* had a change of attitude and used it as an opportunity to try new things ...... mostly.
4. I love my new school-provided laptop. When I was getting homesick, I could stream our local NPR station, and I could Skype my husband, and I could send e-mail and impatiently wait for replies to feel connected to friends.
5. "yelp.com" is a great new asset in my traveling life. I could just type in a city and "thai restaurant" or "breakfast" and get tons of opinions to scroll through to find places to go.
6. "mathforum.org" has a section called "math tools" and you can enter the subject you teach and the topic you're interested in, and it returns a list of resources for you to browse through to use: applets, calculator tasks, worksheets.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Even Better Calculator Trick
We explored a "different ways of payment" problem and learned a new calculator trick to boot. Suppose plan A gives you $20 the 1st day and increases your salary by $1 per day. Suppose plan B gives you $0.01 the 1st day and doubles your salary every day.
Calculator:
{1, 20, 0.01} (to represent 1st day, plan A, plan B)
ENTER
{ANS(1)+1,ANS(2)+1,ANS(3)*2}
ENTER, ENTER, ENTER, ..... to keep seeing current day, plan A, plan B updates.
Nice. And sandwiched between 2 nice pictures of a recent trip.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Ooh Cool Calculator Skill
Today at my math workshop, I learned some new-to-me calculator skills that I believe I'll use this year.
Let's say you want to compare 2 functions at various values. They don't need to be, but for ease sake here I'll assume the x values are integers, and the y values linear, say some geometric patterns where x represents the pattern number, and y represents the number of sides. In the main window type:
{1, 3, 7} and ENTER
This would mean: 1=1st pattern, 3=#sides for one shape in 1st pattern, and 7=#sides for 2nd shape in 1st pattern.
Then TYPE/GET
ANS + {1, 2, 6} and ENTER
This would mean you're adding 1 to the 1st number (1) in list, adding 2 to the 2nd number (3) in list, and adding 6 to the 3rd number (7) in list.
Now you can keep hitting ENTER, and you have a nice way of visualizing what pattern number you're at without keeping track of how many times you pushed ENTER, and what the 2 other functions are, so this list would look like:
{1,3,7}
{2,5,13}
{3,7,19}
{4,9,25}, etc.
Second skill: you know how sometimes you're populating L1 and L2 where L1 is just integers and L2 is some function of the integers? Well, in the past, I would just go to L1 and physically type in 1,2,3,4,5,... then type in the equation at the header of L2. Well. In your main window you can easily populate L1 by:
seq(x,x,1,100,1)--> L1
I guess it would only be quicker this way for large amounts of integers. "seq" is found under LIST>OPS.
The first value is your expression/function,
the 2nd value is the variable,
the 3rd value is where you want to start,
the 4th value is where you want to end, and
the 5th value is what you want to increment the input by.
Now the ironic thing would be if I "learned" this in the past, and just don't remember it because I haven't used it.
Let's say you want to compare 2 functions at various values. They don't need to be, but for ease sake here I'll assume the x values are integers, and the y values linear, say some geometric patterns where x represents the pattern number, and y represents the number of sides. In the main window type:
{1, 3, 7} and ENTER
This would mean: 1=1st pattern, 3=#sides for one shape in 1st pattern, and 7=#sides for 2nd shape in 1st pattern.
Then TYPE/GET
ANS + {1, 2, 6} and ENTER
This would mean you're adding 1 to the 1st number (1) in list, adding 2 to the 2nd number (3) in list, and adding 6 to the 3rd number (7) in list.
Now you can keep hitting ENTER, and you have a nice way of visualizing what pattern number you're at without keeping track of how many times you pushed ENTER, and what the 2 other functions are, so this list would look like:
{1,3,7}
{2,5,13}
{3,7,19}
{4,9,25}, etc.
Second skill: you know how sometimes you're populating L1 and L2 where L1 is just integers and L2 is some function of the integers? Well, in the past, I would just go to L1 and physically type in 1,2,3,4,5,... then type in the equation at the header of L2. Well. In your main window you can easily populate L1 by:
seq(x,x,1,100,1)--> L1
I guess it would only be quicker this way for large amounts of integers. "seq" is found under LIST>OPS.
The first value is your expression/function,
the 2nd value is the variable,
the 3rd value is where you want to start,
the 4th value is where you want to end, and
the 5th value is what you want to increment the input by.
Now the ironic thing would be if I "learned" this in the past, and just don't remember it because I haven't used it.
Monday, July 20, 2009
preAP math ideas
I'm at a week-long workshop for "experienced" preAP math teachers (for nonTexans, preAP is like an honors course or the higher level math students). After the 1st day, I already have some good ideas on what to do differently next year. In my school district, we have to get re-professionally-developed in preAP techniques every 5 years. At first I was thinking, hmph, I do so much other professional development on my own, this is not needed. Oh contraire. Even though I've taught calculus and precalculus, it is apparently still needed and useful.
Today our instructor did various things using calculus and statistics AP questions as the basis. But. The way he did it was very useful. We worked through a calculus problem. Then we brainstormed on earlier class skills it addresses. He showed concrete ideas on how to modify the problems to address alg, geo, alg2, precal.
But what I really came away with were the LOAD of things I could do with statistics and why it's useful. For example, at the end of the day, he had a sheet with a cm ruler on it, and we all measured our hand span from outer index finger to outer pinkie finger. We got that list in L1 on the calculator. Here are some of the things we did with it besides calculate mean, range, Q1, Q3,...:
1. What if the ruler on the page had a mistake, and we were 2 cm off, so we had to subtract 2 cm from each data point. Without using your calculator, discuss what that would do to the: mean, range, median, ...
2. What if instead of cm, we wanted inches. How would you change data? What would this now do to mean, range, ...
3. What if instead of the largest span we had, that person was replaced with (name some local basketball player who's tall with BIG hand span) ... and we put in a large reasonable number. What would this now do to ....
4. What if for our data of spans that ranged from 16.5 cm to 21.5 cm, someone got a mean of 15 cm. Discuss why this is reasonable or not reasonable.
There were a ton more good ideas. I liked it because it made us think and it would make the kids think and it was in context they could understand and it had them manipulating formulas and thinking about meanings (throughout the day).
Today our instructor did various things using calculus and statistics AP questions as the basis. But. The way he did it was very useful. We worked through a calculus problem. Then we brainstormed on earlier class skills it addresses. He showed concrete ideas on how to modify the problems to address alg, geo, alg2, precal.
But what I really came away with were the LOAD of things I could do with statistics and why it's useful. For example, at the end of the day, he had a sheet with a cm ruler on it, and we all measured our hand span from outer index finger to outer pinkie finger. We got that list in L1 on the calculator. Here are some of the things we did with it besides calculate mean, range, Q1, Q3,...:
1. What if the ruler on the page had a mistake, and we were 2 cm off, so we had to subtract 2 cm from each data point. Without using your calculator, discuss what that would do to the: mean, range, median, ...
2. What if instead of cm, we wanted inches. How would you change data? What would this now do to mean, range, ...
3. What if instead of the largest span we had, that person was replaced with (name some local basketball player who's tall with BIG hand span) ... and we put in a large reasonable number. What would this now do to ....
4. What if for our data of spans that ranged from 16.5 cm to 21.5 cm, someone got a mean of 15 cm. Discuss why this is reasonable or not reasonable.
There were a ton more good ideas. I liked it because it made us think and it would make the kids think and it was in context they could understand and it had them manipulating formulas and thinking about meanings (throughout the day).
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Real Life Math (as opposed to the fake kind)
We're going on multiple longer-than-a-week trips this summer, lucky us, and our outside Texas plants are begging for dribbles of water. We decided to put a timer on a drip irrigation system, and then we wouldn't have to worry about coming back to an Adam's Family set of plants.
I was hooking up the 1 gal/hour drippers to each pot, and doing the math. I usually water them every two days with a huge dollop from a pitcher. Hmmm, how many dollops in a gallon? How many minutes every other day to equal a dollop? I guess I'll see if I did my math right when I come back to either a lush plantation or a brown oasis.
I was hooking up the 1 gal/hour drippers to each pot, and doing the math. I usually water them every two days with a huge dollop from a pitcher. Hmmm, how many dollops in a gallon? How many minutes every other day to equal a dollop? I guess I'll see if I did my math right when I come back to either a lush plantation or a brown oasis.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Student Teacher Interactions
My 2-week training is over, and now all that's left to do is practice, practice, practice and map out what I'll teach when. It was put on by these folks, and everything was so professional and well-thought-out. I also know from other teachers who teach the curriculum that you are well-supported throughout the year.
For 2 weeks I was in a class with 16 other varied-ability people - lots of time for reflection on how teachers respond to students and how different students handle their learning. Two people had their hands in the air basically the whole time - asking for tons of help and being a little gun-shy of exploring on their own. I'm wondering if there was something non-demeaning the teachers could have done to make them more self-sufficient. Maybe something along the lines of, "I'm confident that you can figure out the answer. Try 3 things first to see what happens and then I'll help you." or "Here's a hint, explore it for 3 minutes and then ask me." Instead, every time they went over to help them on the program, the teachers would take the mouse in their hands and solve the problem. To me that just kept the people helpless.
Another 2 students had already had a lot of exposure to the program, so something that would take me all night of homework to figure out, they finished during class. They weren't rude or bragging about it, but it was clear that was what was happening. But. By the 3rd day of our 2-week workshop, the teachers would frequently make comments such as, "I bet R. has it finished and has improved on it.", or "I bet C. has already figured out how to do that.", etc. As a student, that got annoying to hear. I'm thinking it wasn't helpful to either R. or C. because maybe they felt singled out, and the other students (me included) would feel that much slower. Then I started wondering if I did that in my class. I'd better stop it if I did/do.
Okay, one workshop down, 4 to go. Mwa ha ha ha.
For 2 weeks I was in a class with 16 other varied-ability people - lots of time for reflection on how teachers respond to students and how different students handle their learning. Two people had their hands in the air basically the whole time - asking for tons of help and being a little gun-shy of exploring on their own. I'm wondering if there was something non-demeaning the teachers could have done to make them more self-sufficient. Maybe something along the lines of, "I'm confident that you can figure out the answer. Try 3 things first to see what happens and then I'll help you." or "Here's a hint, explore it for 3 minutes and then ask me." Instead, every time they went over to help them on the program, the teachers would take the mouse in their hands and solve the problem. To me that just kept the people helpless.
Another 2 students had already had a lot of exposure to the program, so something that would take me all night of homework to figure out, they finished during class. They weren't rude or bragging about it, but it was clear that was what was happening. But. By the 3rd day of our 2-week workshop, the teachers would frequently make comments such as, "I bet R. has it finished and has improved on it.", or "I bet C. has already figured out how to do that.", etc. As a student, that got annoying to hear. I'm thinking it wasn't helpful to either R. or C. because maybe they felt singled out, and the other students (me included) would feel that much slower. Then I started wondering if I did that in my class. I'd better stop it if I did/do.
Okay, one workshop down, 4 to go. Mwa ha ha ha.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
My New Love Affair
Dear Webcam,I love you. Today we started a "reverse engineering" project (don't ask), and you came through for me by easily allowing instant digital photos needed for our engineering notebook. Contrary to what your lens tells you, this is NOT a gun. It's a tape dispenser that we are to improve in some way. Thus, the inspecting and analyzing and taking apart and sketching and improving and drawing. Because of you, my technical toolbag has grown.
I also like your friend, Skype. We are concurrently working on a virtual project with other students in Ohio, Colorado, and South Carolina. Fancy Schmancy new skills.
I had to tell my husband about us. He now suggested I should reverse engineer the vacuum cleaner that keeps breaking because of SOMEONE'S long hair that keeps tripping up the inner workings. Good luck on that account.
Love,
Me (click click strike a pose)
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Core Set of Knowledge
I'm currently at an engineering teaching workshop (ooh, math teacher teaching engineering) with many other teachers from all sorts of disciplines - math, english, science, computer languages, ... and during lunch or breaks or in the course of our training I have had various conversations with many people.
During one conversation, I was talking to a middle-school math teacher who was mentioning that she was helping out her science-teaching friend with one piece of their homework that involved plotting points on the coordinate plane. The other teacher was having trouble with the negative y-axis. During another conversation, I was helping my table partner figure out how to put one dimension from the paper (a radius length) into the computer which demanded a diameter length. I thought she was having trouble reading where the paper number was located on the busy drawing, so I pointed out the radius number, and waited for her to convert it to the diameter length. She blankly stared at me. We finally got her to the point of doubling the length, but I was astounded that she didn't know this basic D=2R fact.
This got me to thinking of what I assumed was basic adult math knowledge regardless of your job. I got on my high horse and was scared of what I was seeing. Then I flipped it around and wondered what science teachers would assume I should know, or what english teachers assumed I should know, etc. Maybe I'm one of those people who cause others to inwardly raise their eyebrows and say, "you don't know THAT?!?!"
I went to dinner with another participant who's a biology teacher and asked her what she thought was an example of what I should know as core science facts. She thought a while and said: what are the functions of different body parts (liver, kidney, pancreas) ... as one of her questions. Eek, eyebrow raising.
Sooooo, hmmm, I assume some math adults should know/retain-from-schooling:
basic circle, square, rectangle facts
plotting points
... so I started that list and then thought: why should they know that (for what purpose)? why did I think they should know that (because I thought those were "easy" to remember and basic)? Maybe it's more of a case of "I'm surprised they don't remember those facts .... like I'd be surprised if they didn't remember how to add, subtract, etc.".
During one conversation, I was talking to a middle-school math teacher who was mentioning that she was helping out her science-teaching friend with one piece of their homework that involved plotting points on the coordinate plane. The other teacher was having trouble with the negative y-axis. During another conversation, I was helping my table partner figure out how to put one dimension from the paper (a radius length) into the computer which demanded a diameter length. I thought she was having trouble reading where the paper number was located on the busy drawing, so I pointed out the radius number, and waited for her to convert it to the diameter length. She blankly stared at me. We finally got her to the point of doubling the length, but I was astounded that she didn't know this basic D=2R fact.
This got me to thinking of what I assumed was basic adult math knowledge regardless of your job. I got on my high horse and was scared of what I was seeing. Then I flipped it around and wondered what science teachers would assume I should know, or what english teachers assumed I should know, etc. Maybe I'm one of those people who cause others to inwardly raise their eyebrows and say, "you don't know THAT?!?!"
I went to dinner with another participant who's a biology teacher and asked her what she thought was an example of what I should know as core science facts. She thought a while and said: what are the functions of different body parts (liver, kidney, pancreas) ... as one of her questions. Eek, eyebrow raising.
Sooooo, hmmm, I assume some math adults should know/retain-from-schooling:
basic circle, square, rectangle facts
plotting points
... so I started that list and then thought: why should they know that (for what purpose)? why did I think they should know that (because I thought those were "easy" to remember and basic)? Maybe it's more of a case of "I'm surprised they don't remember those facts .... like I'd be surprised if they didn't remember how to add, subtract, etc.".
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Engineering Education Workshop
On Saturday I went to a free workshop about teaching engineering. It was pretty cool. We got to experiment on how to create "penguin houses" out of various materials for ice-cube-penguins to keep them from melting in 20 minutes of a heat-lamp-induced stay (conduction, convection, radiation) while keeping under a $200 budget. We got to build boats out of aluminum foil to see how many would fit before the boat sank (bouyancy). We got to create lunar landers out of cardboard and straws and index cards and such to land from shoulder height without jarring the astronauts (marshmallows) out of their shuttle (cup). ... and other activities.
It was a fun day and showed me what I DON'T know about engineering, and what I want to explore more about. By the way, our group's penguin house cost $2000 and only preserved 6g out of 10g of ice (whereas others cost less than $200 and preserved anywhere from 8g to 9.1g). Go us. But the presenter did NOT have to make a face when she read our results out loud.
I liked the concepts. Most seemed to assume you were teaching science or had the freedom to use up lots of time to do these things. So now, as a math teacher, I have to see how I can break these lessons up into smaller chunks to wedge into a packed curriculum. I do think the activities were worthwhile, now I have to see how to incorporate them into algebra 1 and geometry.
I did see one geometry connection. When we were making our lunar lander, our accordian shaped index-card "legs" kept flaying out. Then I recalled that triangle shapes are sturdy, so we fashioned some extra supports that used this geometry fact ... of course it didn't prevent our marshmallow astronauts from bouncing boisterously out of the cups to their sure death on the moon.
I did like their continued stressing of the fact that your 1st attempt was not it. As an engineer, you learn from your mistakes and go back to the drawing board to rethink and recreate.
I also liked the talk related to NASA and "Design Squad". There are videos of the DS show you can stream and discuss. It's broken down into chapters (she said), so you can show snippets. NASA has a ton of free resources for teachers. Also, there are video profiles (Pro Files) of engineers (on DS site) that show cool things they do and non-stereotyped people who work as engineers.
Whew! Stuff to think about.
It was a fun day and showed me what I DON'T know about engineering, and what I want to explore more about. By the way, our group's penguin house cost $2000 and only preserved 6g out of 10g of ice (whereas others cost less than $200 and preserved anywhere from 8g to 9.1g). Go us. But the presenter did NOT have to make a face when she read our results out loud.
I liked the concepts. Most seemed to assume you were teaching science or had the freedom to use up lots of time to do these things. So now, as a math teacher, I have to see how I can break these lessons up into smaller chunks to wedge into a packed curriculum. I do think the activities were worthwhile, now I have to see how to incorporate them into algebra 1 and geometry.
I did see one geometry connection. When we were making our lunar lander, our accordian shaped index-card "legs" kept flaying out. Then I recalled that triangle shapes are sturdy, so we fashioned some extra supports that used this geometry fact ... of course it didn't prevent our marshmallow astronauts from bouncing boisterously out of the cups to their sure death on the moon.
I did like their continued stressing of the fact that your 1st attempt was not it. As an engineer, you learn from your mistakes and go back to the drawing board to rethink and recreate.
I also liked the talk related to NASA and "Design Squad". There are videos of the DS show you can stream and discuss. It's broken down into chapters (she said), so you can show snippets. NASA has a ton of free resources for teachers. Also, there are video profiles (Pro Files) of engineers (on DS site) that show cool things they do and non-stereotyped people who work as engineers.
Whew! Stuff to think about.
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