Algebra 1 Eclipse Day 1 Activity

It's one day before the little kidlets come back. I am excited to be teaching Algebra 1 again this year, and my teaching friend and I have come up with an in-class activity that reviews the coordinate plane, symmetry, reflecting, and has an eclipse theme. We are hoping that our pinhole glasses will show us which students' graphing skills are eclipsed by faulty memory. Hah! They will be doing this sheet while we are doing first-day administrative tasks, and we will collect at the end.

We saw that last year, some of the 9th graders were a wee bit shaky on their (x, y) knowledge (and fractions and integer operations and .....). Hoo boy! Hello scaffolding and reviewing. 

You can find the sheet HERE. 

 

 

Truths I Want to Remember This Year

I have had a great summer. It's been a mix of awesome PD (art in non art classrooms, LOGO CS training, BLEND training (a CANVAS-type LMS we are using this year)), lots of sleep (who knew you could look/feel so healthy and well rested from more than 6 hours of sleep a night), kickboxing (punching and kicking the sh*t out of bags AND with wraps and gloves!), breakfasts out, friends, fun, life. I am also eager to get back into the swing of teaching soon. Kids show up August 21st. This year I will be teaching Algebra 1, Digital Electronics, AP Calculus AB, and AP Computer Science A. Woot! Down to 4 preps. 

My awesome teacher friend and I had a blast teaching Algebra 1 last year to 9th graders (I am still in that honeymoon stage of thinking they are precious and hilarious ... check in with me in June to see if I am at the 7-year-itch-divorce-stage yet) and are excited to go another round this year. I think we are going to do a mix of CPM-type stuff and Bootstrap Algebra. Should be a fun ride. 

Though my PD was phenomenal, there was one presenter that rubbed me the wrong way sometimes. But I guess, as with all things, that comes from me experiencing life through my experiences and my lens. He was a college professor. He had this habit of assuming we did not know anything. For example, I overheard him trying to help another teacher out through a programming problem in Scratch (a programming tool). He basically proceeded to basically tell her how to teach and explain why he was helping her the way he was. "So you see, if you link things to what the students know from previous experience, it will stick better" ..... was one of his statements. Of course this is true, but him basically assuming we don't know how to teach ... unpalatable. 

Anyway, this got me to thinking if I ever do this in some sense with my students. I feel that what you think inside about who you are talking to, shines through in how you talk to students (people), so even if you think your intentions are not known, they probably are, no matter what words you use or how discrete you think you are being. So that is one truth I want to continually remind myself of this year. Treat everyone as a genius and work from there. Assume nothing.

My next truth is that "tinkering is powerful/useful/necessary/fun". I have had the privilege of delving into engineering teaching and CS teaching. My M.O. for both have been to mostly say to the kids, "you will figure it out" or "play around with it and see what happens". I want them to not shy away from exploring just because they are passively waiting for someone else to give them the answers. That is not empowering. That is not a good life skill. Of course I guide them and check in on their path, but I do NOT want to be "that" teacher that says, "so here is how you do this". Then the poor little humans just think that they need some expert to always be there to show them the way. Not true. Even if they don't at first always solve their problems on their own, eventually, they have the gumption to at least try various things and not be afraid of failing or making mistakes (gasp! the horror!).

My last truth is that "they are not finished products". Just because they are a certain way today or this year or in high school, does not necessarily mean that they will always be that way. Also, "it takes a village", so any words of wisdom imparted to them may not at the time seem to help, but, mark my words, they could potentially think about them and use them and adapt in the future. 

Here is how I know that is true. I was not always the best student. Sure, I got A's and B's, but I did the bare minimum to maintain that. I never went above and beyond. I was not the smartest kid in class in any of the schools I went to. I probably complained too much (reference to a remark a 10th grade teacher made to me that I still remember to this day). I may have cheated (making no claims here), I probably was a jerk to my friends. But here were the circumstances of me at that time. My parents, though they did the best with what they knew, also complained, also tried to bilk the system, also potentially did not act in the best human way possible. Am I blaming them? No, just indicating what I was around and what I knew. 

I grew up. I moved away. I met other people and saw how they lived and what their values were. I became a better person. I even went on to get a PhD in Computational and Applied Math (still not the smartest person in my program .... but stubborn and determined). I worked for 2 years in industry, did not think I was contributing in a good way to society and did not want to spend my days that way, and decided I wanted to teach, and here I am, starting my 21st year and loving it. So I know from experience that the person I was in ES, MS, and HS is totally not the person I am today. I met wonderful people that showed me what it meant to be a good and compassionate and ethical human (not that I am this all the time, but I know what it looks like and I strive for it). 

So I will try to keep these three truths in the forefront of my brain as I interact with the students this year.

I think my Algebra teacher/friend and I have worked out what we want as our first HW assignment. We were having breakfast out (yay! .... or was it nachos and drinks?), and we talked about how there were so many broken people walking around. They "seemed" normal, but maybe on the inside they were hurting in some sense and just needed more friend/human love. We thought of the care labels you see on clothes, and thought that humans should come with care labels. Thus THIS activity:

 

 

 

Calculus Volume of Revolution Project May 2017

A while ago (2 years? 3?) I did a lantern volumes of revolution project after the AP Calculus AB exam. I liked it, but I wanted to do something different this year. I have come up with the following (rough draft!) project to do with my students. I will try it out after the exam this week. Good Luck to us all!

They will be creating a 1/2 revolved item and mounting it on a sheet. Then they will brainstorm about what it looks like: a ballgown? a bell? something else? Then they will be researching tidbits about that object to display, along with their volume calculations.

Here is a rough idea of my vision of the project:

 Here is a link to the file. I've gone all high tech and included links to videos.

Things I've "Learned" From Being a Widow

Note 1: There is some math content embedded at the bottom, so scroll through the beginning parts if that's what you are looking for.

Note 2: Someone dies, and there is no purpose, and it is not a learning opportunity, and there is no reason, so that is why I put the "learned" as it is.

My husband of 20+ years died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 53 last school year, one week into school. These days, any time I think back to last school year, I don't know how I muddled through, or more accurately, I don't remember lots of things that happened. I guess I know how I muddled through, you just go through the motions each day, concentrating on keeping your mind occupied and making lists of things you need to do, and you just mindlessly do it. In fact that is how I muddled through: keeping my mind occupied with chores, so I wouldn't have to think of the horror that was my circumstances.

It seems obvious once I write the following, and it's still unreal to me, but the fact is that I am a different person now.  I guess, how can you not be when something so traumatic happens in your life. I used to be a more bubbly and easily-cheerful person. I used to think that everything would always work out (since it seemed to for me). I took tons of things for granted because I was sure they would always be there. My first thought NEVER was (as it is now) that you could die soon, so you better soak up all the goodness that is in your situation. Also, what I spend my energy on these days has changed. Thus, why I blog way less.

And then all this seems like I am probably walking around moping and sad sack all the time and raining on others' parades. No. In fact, today for example, I had lunch with a friend, and my stomach hurt from all the laughing we did. This has happened many times in the last 20 months. I cherish these moments more now since I know that quite possibly later something could trigger an Andrew memory, and I will be a sobbing mess for a bit. In fact, the other day, I couldn't figure out why he was so suddenly on my mind that day as nothing in particular reminded me of our life together. Then it hit me. I was having one of THOSE weeks where I was so school/life stressed out, that I just needed him to hold me and pet my head and reassure me that things were going to be okay. I wanted not to be an adult for a bit and to be taken care of in that loving way. 

So that is one thing I am more conscious of, being grateful for the many great moments in my life. Another thing is that you have to really listen to what people are saying to you, regardless of the words that are coming out of their mouths. 90% of the times when I mention I am a widow to someone in a conversation, it just goes on and the person glides over that fact, like I had just mentioned that I had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. My tone is not crying and sad when I mention it, but it is a horrific thing, and it is not an every-day occurrence. I didn't realize how much it bugged me until one day I was in my favorite co-op grocery store near school and mentioned it to a worker as we were chatting. I was ready to continue the conversation, and then he stopped and said, "wait", and got up from where he was sitting stocking something and came over and hugged me. I almost started crying because of his generosity and humanity. That's the person I want to be. The one that processes things someone says no matter their tone, and makes sure to acknowledge their pain or their joy and celebrate or commiserate with them. 

There are many other things I now know, but I think those are two life skills that everyone should embrace and practice regularly.

Now onto the math. I have 5 preps this year, and one things that is kicking my (time) butt is Algebra 1 for grade-level students. The awesome teacher who is teaching one of our 3 sections and I are constantly creating new worksheets and figuring out the right recipe to engage them and to make things stick in their heads. We most definitely don't always get it right, but I am proud at some of the things we have come up with. 

I think we taught factoring and quadratics effectively. After we taught the multiplying of binomials, we explored and made connections:

 

Next, instead of just saying "here is how you factor", we made it into a challenge on that same sheet with some "skeleton notes" that had them figure out numbers that went in the slots. We seem to have less students complaining about not knowing how to factor, so there is that. HERE is a link to this file.

Then, of course, we taught solving by factoring. I liked the fact that we had them explore on the graphing calculator and make the immediate connection to x-intercepts and reinforced the fact that y = 0 at these solutions, and kept asking out loud, "what would you plug in to make y equal to zero". Since we are also on a time crunch for the state test (Thank you, Texas, for shoving more topics down to Algebra 1), we also tossed in some parabola terms on this sheet as we went over it (vertex, axis of symmetry). A side note, we got in the habit of putting "name" and "date" on our worksheets in different languages. So that's why that is in Navajo. HERE is a link to the packet. Ackh, also, we noticed a typo on all the "e" problems. That should be "y = ...."

 

Next year, sadly, I don't think I will be teaching Algebra 1. I have loved it, and the 9th graders are so fun to harass and talk with, even though they are squirrelly little puppies with non-developed study skills. And, rumor has it I will be down to 4 preps. Woot! 

Algebra 1 Concept Map

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

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

Here is a link if you so choose.

Mindfulness in the Classroom

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And let the year begin .....

Almost April

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year 2016

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

Related Rates take 1,353,577

This is TOTALLY going to be the year that I teach Related Rates *so* well, that the students will wonder what all the fuss is about its difficulty. Right? At least it keeps me busy picking apart and analyzing what they are struggling with and trying to address all issues. 

I started with a flipped lesson just showing applets of related rates. The next class I had planned was walking through these notes:

Then we would do some back and forth translating between words and math expressions. We would also practice implicit differentiation of formulas that now do not involve x and y, but A and r and t and h and the like.

Mother Nature had her say on Friday in Texas, and our school was on Tornado Watch Lockdown and classes were shortened of time. We got through 1/2 this sheet. 

But I am keeping my fingers crossed. This. Is. My. Year.

Nine Weeks In....

Time (as always) flies and before you know it, there are only 2 weeks left in the 2nd 6 weeks. Thank goodness I've taught all of my preps in one form or the other before, so I can pull some dusty memories from my brain and then adjust what and how I do things instead of starting from scratch.

Here are some things I've changed and liked so far this year (or have done before and tweaked and am on the road to liking):

* Answer Banks! Heavens bless the answer banks. The students get immediate feedback and are willing to work harder on the problem. Of course, this is barring any teacher mistakes, ahem. They are used to the *few* mistakes I make, and my rationalization is that it makes them think a wee bit more carefully to justify their answers before they check with me. Then the NEXT year's class will think I'm SOOOO perfect (once I fix the mistakes) and .... who am I fooling, there will be new worksheets and fresh new exciting mistakes.

* Peer Checking! In my project-based classes, I have jumped on the peer checking band-wagon I observed in an English class once. For every step of their projects, they have to get another student to check the part and make sure it is correct before they get me to sign off on it. We have a discussion on why this job is important and how you don't want to let the check-ee down. It also gets kids to talk to each other and to see how others do things. I make it so that they can't ask the same person to check everything. I also like to break the projects down to little parts, and sometimes I grade the little parts, so that their WHOLE grade is not dependent on JUST the final product but on the process.

* Writing and Justification questions! Oh my was I in for a surprise when I asked some "gimme" questions on a calculus exam (or so I thought). What it "gimme"-ed to me was the fact that even though the kids MAY be able to get the right # answer, they did not have a deep understanding of the meaning of things or how things fit together. Oy. I have started the slow process of adding such questions to their homework assignments. This I hope will further their deep(er) understanding.

* Taking time to just enjoy the kids and all their goofiness. My 9th grade IED class during the last block of the day is basically a room full of little wriggly puppies that bounce around and have joy in their eyes and just want to be scratched behind the ears. I love them. They are a salve to my hurting heart. I make sure to keep a nice voice and humor when I redirect them for the 9,999th time each class to get back to work. They do get their work done, but I am so used to the 11th and 12th graders who are just so much more low energy and quiet. It's a nice mix of kids of all kinds in all my classes.

* Focusing on being present. With 6 preps to plan and 31 recommendations to write and yoga to teach and NHS duties and PLTW duties and after-school duties and spanish class homework and ...... well, you've been there. I just put my blinders on and for the most part just concentrate on this day or this block or this span of time. So far I haven't dropped too many balls. I'm also nicely distracted during the week. I also remember that in all the previous years, everything always seems to get done one way or the other, and I will not stress too much about it. Deep breathes and just doing my best.

* Time for fun. I make sure I have things to look forward to outside of school. I am loving my Spanish class, and one day will be fluent and travel to all sorts of Spanish-speaking countries. My art class is awesome. I get to work on what I want and the time flies. I am also doing the Kayla Itsines exercise program and am on week 20 and LOVE it and am seeing some body changes. I also binge shop for books and see movies and LOVE all of the sudoku books by djape. Then there are the puzzle and game apps on my iPad. ...

Okay, super proud of my art class so far, here are two exercises I did:

(copied from a pinterest picture)

(unfinished 1/2 my face copied from a black and white iPad selfie)

Life Update...

(Wedding Day, New Jersey, 11/4/94)

Periodically, I realize that I haven't been blogging much. I am participating in the #teach180 tags on twitter, and that seems to be as much as I can handle for the moment.

The school year started out semi-great on August 24th. Sure I had 6 preps, but I had an awesome teacher friend that was teaching 2 of the preps with me (precalculus and Intro. to Engineering Design) and keeping me on track with planning and resources. Life was good. Then came Friday, 8/28/15. I was getting ready for my last class of the day and just starting them up, when our security officer came to my room to mention that I was needed in the office. Life has not been the same since. 

I was informed that my husband had died in a plane crash when he was practicing for the New York Air Show. He loved flying. He was great at flying. He was an awesome person. His plane broke while he was doing aerobatics. That weekend is still surreal. People came over off and on. A dear friend from DC came down to stay with me in TX for 9 days. His brother and family came from Canada as did my dad from California. I continued working that next week, so that I would have a break from the overwhelming nature of everything. Also, as teachers know, it is more work to be absent and make sub plans and copies and such than just to go in and dive in. Plus, did I mention the distractions and wonderful people I get to hang out with?

The time since then has been a blur and a balance of processing the horror and sadness and mixed emotions of how nice and compassionate and giving and loving everyone has been to me. And in addition, balancing school and doing right by my students. I'm so thankful I love my job and have people looking out for me and students being extra gentle and loving. I'm also thankful for friends that check in and let me ramble about the latest detail that I have to take care of to transfer things out of his name to my name.

I imagine it will be a long journey of getting used to this new reality. Maybe you never get used to it, you just live it. Andrew, I miss you.

 

Our trip to San Malo last spring break.

Trig Match Up Activity

My awesome coworker and I made up a trig matching activity. I know it's not a novel idea, but here is another resource for precalculus teachers to solidify angles in standard position. You can find the file HERE. 

 Via our internet math community, I learned that it's easier to leave one of the pages uncut (the pink sheet here), and then the students can place the matching cut up green and gold cards on the page. Before, I used to cut up all three, and then that took up too much space on the student tables. Thank you virtual PD friends for the great tip.

My buddy and I also decided to break up the teaching into 2 class periods with degrees one day and the dreaded radians along with their devilish friends, FRACTIONS (duhn DUHN duhhhhhhn) for the next day. Hopefully, this will allow the fraction/radian goodness to seep into their resisting minds more readily.

I didn't share the word document because it seems to mess up when you download it via box.net (or maybe I'm wrong). If you want the word document to play around with, send e-mail. 

Another thing I like about this is that we didn't use all special angles. We also didn't indicate which was up or down on the pink sheet, so that stumped some kids and they had to think and justify the direction. Yay math.

SOC Life Lessons

I saw "Straight Outta Compton" last night as a pre-HS-kids-are-coming-monday-so-soak-up-the-end-of-summer treat, and I can say it's the best movie I've seen all summer year. 

Disclaimer, hope you are sitting down for this shocking piece of information, but I'm a 50 year old whitey and I don't know my rap music history/musicians/themes. And yet, still the best movie.

Here are some life skills that were phenomenally shown in SOC:

• Just because someone seems like they know what's good for you and how you should live your life, that doesn't mean they are right, even if they love you.
• Friends are important. If they screw up and hurt you, be willing to get past it and keep them close.
• People in power that don't do the work are so tricky in finding ways to make money off of your hard work.
• If you have a passion and talent, pursue it in some form, not just to make money, but to live your life fully.
• Movies are teaching tools and don't have to be preachy to teach(y). (like I said, I knew nothing going in, but I can discuss Dr. Dre and NWA and such with you now without a deer in the headlights look.)
•  Be willing to stick to your guns about what's right and wrong.
• Even potty mouths (long live potty mouths) have something important to say.
• The path you are on now is not necessarily your path for the rest of your life.
• There are many ways of changing the world.

 
 

Calculator Contract

I am fortunate enough to teach at a small school and only have about 30 or so calculus students every year, so that I can hand out TI-nspire calculators for the year for their work. This has been happening for about 4 years, and I was a little lax the first year and a couple got stolen or "lost". Then the next year, one student brought one back all wide eyed and just stated that it stopped working. Finally, like the slow person I am, I mentioned MORE strongly from then on that they were responsible for them and owed the school money if they were damaged or lost. One student actually did end up paying for one. 

This year, I want to make it more official (sheesh, I am really slow), and have them sign a contract at the beginning of the year. Here is what I came up with. Hopefully, there won't be any incidents.

First Day Precalculus 2015

And so it begins again. Next week we go back for teacher/school work, and on August 24th the little kidlets come and join us. I'm not doing so well on having an "Epic Last Week of Summer", or maybe I am just thinking about it the wrong way. 

* I tried to find matinees to see. Eh, seen all the movies I wanted to. 
* I thought about going out to lunch, but I have delicious recipes I tried at home (Hello Sizzling Vegetarian Fajita Salad ala Chevy's recipe, and thank you Google search for an Apple Chipotle Salad Dressing recipe). 
* I thought about shopping for back to school clothes, but I decided to alter 2 dresses I already have at home (again thank you Google for showing me the how-to's and benefits of lengthening a dress that has shrunk to "slutty proportions" in the dryer .... Who wants to see too much "older lady" leg?).

So I'm at home, finishing (finished) my Python edX online course, doing my exercises (thank you, Kayla Itsines), and thinking of new first day activities. Here's what I have come up with for Precalculus.

 

.........  and the back page: ............

 My goal is not to have them come up with some definitive answer, but rather to think about the problem and discuss it with each other and see what they think they need to do and to know how to check for reasonableness and units. I'm expecting a lot of false starts (yay!) and miscalculations and restarts and discussion and thinking. Hopefully, it's intriguing enough to want to try things out. I know that I played around with it some.

APCS Concept Map

For the same reasons I specified in this post, I've created a concept map for my APCS class this coming year. I'm excited about teaching it again (after a year break), and hopefully, I can garner enough interest to have the class again in 2 years. We are a small HS, our kids are overbooked, and we all have to work for getting our elective classes to make each year.

Here is the file if you want to modify or use it. 

First Day Homework 2015

I've been reflecting on kindness this summer just for the world in general and for my classes more specifically. I remember when I've been feeling out of sorts and how that may come across as grumpy or "female doggy" or such, but what I really was was sad and on those occasions when someone was kind to me in some way that went a long way in making my day better. 

I also happened across the book, Everyday Kindness by Stephanie Dowrick, and am enjoying reading it so far (uh oh, death knell for my liking the book if my history of book praising has anything to do with it).

Anyway, I would like to hang a big sign with the saying:  

Sprinkle Kindness Like Confetti 

outside my classroom, and I had the idea of the students creating little 3"x3" squares with ideas, you know, like confetti! Then I would pixelate using this alphabet:

Here is my handout that I will print on a variety of light colors of paper, and here are the first and second pages that the kids will get.

Voices in Your Head

We’ve all been there and will probably be there again, and if this doesn’t describe you, then I would sincerely like to know your secrets. I’m talking about that mean and defeated little voice inside your head that has the tendency to take any awesome accomplishment of another teacher or a perceived failing of yours and then start a non-ending dialog about it to make you feel bad.

I don’t know a long-term solution (if you do, PLEASE share), but I thought some guided meditations and humor might help alleviate some of the stress of the moment.

Situation: So-and-so had an awesome idea/task/accomplishment (again!) via school/twitter/blog.

Close your eyes and take a nice long deep breath and hold for a beat right before you exhale.

Picture that teacher being praised by everyone.

Take a deep breath.

Maybe it’s not too late to switch careers since you obviously are just taking up space.

Deep breath.

Your puppy likes you.

One last deep breath and open your eyes.

Situation: So-and-so got on your last nerve in class and you are now frazzled.

Close your eyes and take a nice long deep breath and hold for a beat right before you exhale.

The NERVE of that kid. I KNOW they got up this morning wondering, “How can I be most annoying today?”

Take a deep breath.

They succeeded. Kudos to them!

Take a deeper breath all the way down to your pinky toes.

At least you have no nerves left for anyone else to stomp on.

One last deep breath and open your eyes.

Situation: Your class just bombed and you may have to reteach later.

Close your eyes and take a nice long deep breath and hold for a beat right before you exhale.

Holy Cow! What were you thinking?

Take a deep deep deep breath.

On the plus side, you make other teachers look good. There is that!

Make sure your deep breaths reach all the way to the tips of your fingers.

And you are lining the pockets of future therapists of the traumatized children to rehash this experience.

One last deep breath and open your eyes.

Math In Real Life

I think that part of a life skills course should include the following: In any social situation you are in, find what percentage of the present people YOU are, and then make sure you are trying your hardest to only hog that percentage of the conversation without giving quiet space for others to participate if they so choose. Also, use your inside voice. 

That is my summer blogging contribution. 

I have been to 2 workshops so far this summer, one for Digital Electronics and one for APCS. I am currently at the AP Annual Conference. They have all taught me things or enlightened me on things in one way or the other. 

For example, I had students last year in various classes indicate that they felt stupid. That should never happen. I don't know that I did much more than reassure them that they were not stupid, but I didn't prove deeper to find out how to shift their perceptions. 

This came up in my DE training. No one was stupid, but there were some teachers that were rushing through the curriculum and being very vocal and thus there were other teachers who were going at an appropriate pace but who felt stupid because of the inevitable comparison. I need to reflect on how to alleviate this situation when it happens in my classes. I also need to scaffold more or provide more scaffolding available for various learners and to make sure the kids take advantage of this. It is not a race. 

Calculus Concept Map

This past semester, I did an online course related to this (link):

and I learned things I will use in my math classes. Of course I waited until the last minute to finish the course and was then furiously reading/skimming the online tests (since I had done the physical copy reading but had to click things for credit) before the district mandated deadline, but I digress. 

I highly recommend it (not the last minute stuff, but the book). Unlike some other PD that speaks a good game of, "oh yes, you can use this for any school subject. Math? Of course!" and then proceeds to not provide useful examples of ideas or validation that it has been used effectively in math, this book actually had genuine math examples of various HS subjects.

One of the sections involved Top-Down Topic Webs. Quotes:

"Teaching students to organize ideas in a systematic, visual graph improves their ability to remember what they read."

"Many students become overwhelmed by too much information, focus excessively on details, and lose sight of the big picture when they read."

"Students often have difficulty connecting material taught from day to day and week to week."

This all is confirmed by me when I recall various things my kids said about calculus:

"Oh, why didn't they just call the class derivatives and integrals?"

"Wait, I get mixed up on the difference between ...."

So with all this in mind, I created a Concept Map for AP Calculus AB:

 
 I'm sure I will edit it somehow, but for now I'm happy with it. I plan on handing it out the first week and continually referring back to it, so the students always have a clear idea of the big picture. Now maybe I'm the last person on this knowledge boat and maybe everyone is already doing this. If so, then it is a well-kept tidbit, and I don't know the secret hand-shake.