I really like my school schedule this year. I have 2 Precalc classes in the morning, then my Algebra 2's and Algebra 1 in the afternoon. What's really nice is that I teach 1st period, have my conference period, then teach 3rd period, then have my tutoring and lunch. Makes for a pretty easy morning, and my afternoon's full so it flies by pretty quickly. What's bad, though, is that I really have trouble working during my plan period 2nd period. For whatever reason, I just can't sit and grade.... Right now I have a class of Algebra 2 quizzes from yesterday staring at me. I know it won't take long to get them done, but I really don't want to do it. Not a good thing to happen when it's still September!
The Barbie Bungee activity was a success all around. The kids enjoyed it, did well, and only a few Barbies crashed when we went outside to test predictions. I had several kids comment on their papers that they had fun and wish we could do more activities like that. :) I borrowed a flip camera from the media center and took some video of my classes working. Here's one of the precalc videos (did one for each class) and the Algebra 2 video (2 classes merged into one video).
Algebra 2:
Precalc:
I uploaded them to teachertube and posted on our class blogs so the kids/parents could watch. I also posted one of them on the ning that we use at school - got some brownie points! Now I guess the pressure's on to find other activities to do with the kids... but I like that pressure. :)
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Diigo Updates (weekly)
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
New blogs to read!
I found a few new* blogs recently that look very promising... (in no particular order!)
1. I Hope This Old Train Breaks Down from Mimi in El Salvador
2. Long Tails of \int_e^r est from CalcDave in Tennessee
3. Without Geometry, Life is Pointless from Avery in California (love the name of the blog!)
4. The Space Between the Numbers from someone (couldn't find a name anywhere... anyone know?)
*By no means are these necessarily new blogs. Just new to me.
1. I Hope This Old Train Breaks Down from Mimi in El Salvador
2. Long Tails of \int_e^r est from CalcDave in Tennessee
3. Without Geometry, Life is Pointless from Avery in California (love the name of the blog!)
4. The Space Between the Numbers from someone (couldn't find a name anywhere... anyone know?)
*By no means are these necessarily new blogs. Just new to me.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
And the equation is. . .
I don't get why students have so much trouble writing equations of lines. It's not just my kids, is it?
Yesterday in Algebra 2 we talked about three forms of a line (slope-intercept, standard, and point-slope). If it were up to me, I'd just do slope-intercept, but standard can be nice when we graph. Especially when it comes to linear programming.
I know the kids have seen these before (at least in Algebra 1, and I'm pretty sure in geometry, too) and yet the memory level is soooo low. Instead of doing a plain ol' worksheet today on reviewing them, I made it more of a collaborative activity. I got the kids in groups of 5 (had them pick a piece of paper from A - E) and then each group was given 6 index cards with different problems on them. Some of the problems said to write the equation in standard form, some said slope-intercept. They spent time in their groups working on each problem with support (hopefully) from each other. During the last 5 - 10 minutes of class I gave them a card with the answers on it. I think some kids got their problems figured out doing this... we'll see!
Don't you just love those graphing index cards? I found them at Staples (thanks to @druinok, who posted about them here) and got myself a couple of packs. These are the 3 x 5s, but I also got a pack of 4 x 6s. I'm thinking that these would be something good to use when we get to trig equations in Precalc.
Yesterday in Algebra 2 we talked about three forms of a line (slope-intercept, standard, and point-slope). If it were up to me, I'd just do slope-intercept, but standard can be nice when we graph. Especially when it comes to linear programming.
Don't you just love those graphing index cards? I found them at Staples (thanks to @druinok, who posted about them here) and got myself a couple of packs. These are the 3 x 5s, but I also got a pack of 4 x 6s. I'm thinking that these would be something good to use when we get to trig equations in Precalc.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
three days, two subs
My little girl woke me up at 4 this morning with a temperature of 102. My husband doesn't get sick time with his job, so it's always on me to make arrangements when the kids are sick. These are the worst possible kind of days off - the ones you can't plan for!
I immediately put in for a sub (we have a neato new way to do it online so I didn't have to wait for a decent hour to make a phone call) and tried to think what I could get the kids to do today without me. It actually worked out well that because I was out on Monday for the STEM conference my seating charts are still sitting on top of my desk at school. Normally they'd be hidden in a filing cabinet or not even current.
Precalc was pretty easy - I gave them a list of book assignments for the chapter, so they are to move on on their own. It should be a review (Inverse Functions) but I guess we'll see about that when I get back tomorrow!
Algebra 2 was the toughest; we just had a test yesterday and are in between topics. I have the next chapter laid out by day and was going to give them a copy of my plan today.... guess I'll need to go change some dates! I ended up some of the "practice for the next chapter" problems and then a little activity about plotting real-type data to determine if it's discrete or continuous. I think they can handle it.
Algebra 1 was the easiest; I already had a review sheet ready for them - we're having a test on Friday. Staying home today actually gives me some time to get a review game of some sort ready for them for tomorrow.
The funniest thing is that I immediately went to my textbook websites to figure out assignments and such at 4 this morning. In getting my girl socks and a drink and a tissue a few minutes ago I noticed that all of my teacher editions are stacked on a side table in the family room. I can only plead that it was super duper early and I was too tired to think about that.... and it also shows me that my dependence on the hard-copies of the books is obviously waning. I'm obviously comfortable with accessing my resources online!
Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow. Otherwise, I may have to call in the reserves (in-laws).
I immediately put in for a sub (we have a neato new way to do it online so I didn't have to wait for a decent hour to make a phone call) and tried to think what I could get the kids to do today without me. It actually worked out well that because I was out on Monday for the STEM conference my seating charts are still sitting on top of my desk at school. Normally they'd be hidden in a filing cabinet or not even current.
Precalc was pretty easy - I gave them a list of book assignments for the chapter, so they are to move on on their own. It should be a review (Inverse Functions) but I guess we'll see about that when I get back tomorrow!
Algebra 2 was the toughest; we just had a test yesterday and are in between topics. I have the next chapter laid out by day and was going to give them a copy of my plan today.... guess I'll need to go change some dates! I ended up some of the "practice for the next chapter" problems and then a little activity about plotting real-type data to determine if it's discrete or continuous. I think they can handle it.
Algebra 1 was the easiest; I already had a review sheet ready for them - we're having a test on Friday. Staying home today actually gives me some time to get a review game of some sort ready for them for tomorrow.
The funniest thing is that I immediately went to my textbook websites to figure out assignments and such at 4 this morning. In getting my girl socks and a drink and a tissue a few minutes ago I noticed that all of my teacher editions are stacked on a side table in the family room. I can only plead that it was super duper early and I was too tired to think about that.... and it also shows me that my dependence on the hard-copies of the books is obviously waning. I'm obviously comfortable with accessing my resources online!
Hopefully she'll be better tomorrow. Otherwise, I may have to call in the reserves (in-laws).
Sunday, September 12, 2010
My Algebra 1 kids taught me lattice multiplication the other day. I'd seen it before but never understood it. I gave my tablet to a girl during class and said, "Teach me." It took her a little convincing to make her believe me, but then she did it.
This is my old-school version of multiplication on the left with Kaitlin's lattice multiplication on the right. I was skeptical that it would always work, but in breaking down what goes where and what gets combined with what, it does work. The sad thing is that the kids don't really get why it works. Lattice multiplication doesn't show the place values that you're using - at least in such an obvious way, I guess.
Oh well. I'm just happy that they can multiply! (On paper. I'd like to keep the other kind of multiplication out of the classroom. Though I did find out last week that I have a student expecting sometime this year.)
This is my old-school version of multiplication on the left with Kaitlin's lattice multiplication on the right. I was skeptical that it would always work, but in breaking down what goes where and what gets combined with what, it does work. The sad thing is that the kids don't really get why it works. Lattice multiplication doesn't show the place values that you're using - at least in such an obvious way, I guess.
Oh well. I'm just happy that they can multiply! (On paper. I'd like to keep the other kind of multiplication out of the classroom. Though I did find out last week that I have a student expecting sometime this year.)
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