James Blogging

Math in real life

2008-09-02T06:48:00.000-07:00

I have heard from a couple of students that have sent out emails asking different professions about when they are going to have to use math. I have not received too many yet but this is an email that I got from a student about his project which gives me more hope that this project might have some success.
I AM SOOOOOOO EXCITED, I GOT A REPLY FROM THE TROOPER, AND HE SAID THAT HE WOULD LIKE TO COME TO OUR SCHOOL AND TALK TO US ABOUT HOW HE USES MATH EVERYDAY. I THINK THIS WOULD BE VALUABLE FOR OUR CLASS TO LEARN FROM A TROOPER. WHEN I READ THE EMAIL FROM HIM I TACKLED MY FRIEND IN EXCITEMENT, NEARLY SENDING HIM TO THE ER. I SHOUTED FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES, THEN WROTE TO YOU. I CAN COORIDINATE WITH THE TROOPER, HE GAVE ME HIS CELL PHONE, AND I CAN CALL HIM TO ARRANGE A DATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A COOL ASSIGNEMENT, YOU ROCK!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that there are more students that have similar reactions to this project and I will continue to post information about all this as I get it. I am going to attempt to get this visit set up so that this trooper can come and speak to my class and maybe some other classes as well.

Algebra effort

2008-08-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

I am seeing more and more that there is a growing seperation of the number of students that are working hard and not working hard. It seems that there are students who are prefectly okay with not understanding what they are doing and spend a lot of time at night writing stuff down on paper to have the illusion that they understand. What can I do for a student that does not want to put an effort into learning math? Most of these students are in Algebra 1 where they are building a foundation for all their future math classes. I guess this is start of the year frustration and I am hoping that I can change some habits that they have devoloped in the past. Have these tricks worked in the past to get these students by?

Why math?

2008-08-25T08:44:00.000-07:00

I decided to start the year with a new project for all of my math classes. This project is an attempt to answer the eternal question with math, "When am I going to use this?" I asked all the students to pick a profession that they are interested in pursuing. Then we developed an introductory paragraph for every student to email out to a person that works in that profession. Here is the paragraph and questions that my classes and fellow teachers came up with:

Hello, my name is your full name here, from Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado. I am currently taking Algebra 2, and we are trying to discover some real world applications to mathematics. I am hoping that you can share some of your experiences to enlighten my fellow students and me on why math is important. I would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to answer the following questions.
1. How do you use math in your profession? Outside of your profession?
2. Are there any experiences – academic or otherwise - that particularly helped you learn and apply math in your profession?
3. What specific advice would you give to someone thinking about entering your profession if they want to help prepare themselves in the best possible way?
4. Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently as a learner?
5. Please add any additional comments or questions that you feel you would like to share.
Thank you for your time,
Your name here

I am hoping the students will come up with a variety of ways to make some contacts and get answers to these questions from professionals who are currectly working in the field. I am not sure how this will turn out but we will see. Once I have compiled enough responses, I am going to create a wiki page to share everything.

Get involved in the conversation

2008-02-23T10:29:00.000-08:00

I am sitting at an education conference at my high school with teachers from all over the state. I am looking forward to the roundtable discussion where I will have the opportunity to sit down with other teacher in math and science to discuss different options for my classroom. Why am I not doing this more often? I need to discuss more often with more people and take advantage of the internet in order to do this. I need to make this a bigger part of my education. This might be a goal for next year.

student focus

2008-01-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

On the last day of the semester, we were reviewing for finals in my Algebra 2 classes. The previous day, there was a lot of talking and little work getting done. I allowed my classes to listen to their idods in class while they were working. I was amazed to find out that the music helped them focus on their work. I always thought that the music would be distracting to the students while they are focusing on their work and the opposite is true. They worked much better with music. I have decided that my classes will be allowed to listen to their music in class during the time that they are working individually on assignments. It seems to be working so far.

group work

2007-11-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

I have noticed that when I have the students in my class work in group or with partners and I tell them that it is a quiz or test, you cannot stop them from asking questions. When we are in class going over the same things as a homework assignment, only a few of the students are asking questions. Maybe I need to have them turn in one homework assignment that would be counted as a quiz. I still think that we are covering too broad a range of topics in all of our math classes and we really need to find out what the essential learning are for math and really develop some real life learning from those lessons. There is too much going on and there never seems to be an end goal of purpose in mind for math for these students. Too many of them believe that they are never going to use math again in their lives and since teenagers know all, you are unable to convince them of anything else.

Vision...

2007-10-24T12:44:00.000-07:00

We began a discussion in our small 21c group last week that really got me thinking about vision. We were asked to think about something that we could change in the school that would really make us proud and to think about what the school will look like in 5 years. We were discussing a lot of positive changes but I think that we are at the point where we are in need of a more drastic change in order to adapt our school for the future. We need to make better use of technology in all of our classes (me included). I think that means that every student and staff member needs to have a laptop with Internet access at all times. I also think that these students will better be able to meet their full potential if they are not forced to be in a classroom for a set amount of time each day. When the school was started a group of educators came up with the variable schedule which was a revolutionary way for high school students to learn. Now I think it is time for a more open learning environment where students are able to spend the amount of time necessary to learn the material that they need to learn. Why does a student who is great at math but struggles in English need to spend the same amount of time in both classes? Would that student be better off learning the math in a shorter amount of time and then be able to go to work with an English teacher on things that they are struggling with? I propose that there is a way to make the learning environment at Arapahoe more open so that students can learn the things that they need according to what their needs are and not according to a bell.

math in life

2007-09-27T09:23:00.001-07:00

It seems that every time I meet with some of my colleagues in the school and see some of the applications that they are bringing to their students in class, it makes me reflect on the math that I teach. I always hear students and parents talk about when am I going to use this. I look at some of the curriculum and wonder the same thing myself. It makes me think, what should we be teaching? Are there subjects that should be taught to students that would be more applicable to what they are going to see in their future? Should we focus more math on applications like home mortgages, credit card interest, taxes and other things that you might not learn in school? I need to figure out how math is going to affect these kids in their future if it does not include an engineering degree. I guess that my question becomes an interpretation of the students question: Why do I teach this?

In class homework

2007-09-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

I have been using the internet to post the homework assignments for this semester. I have been trying to update the site early in the day. I have noticed that some of the students are beginning the homework in class while I am still going over the section. This happened last year and the students that were doing it were some of my higher achieving kids. This year I have students doing this in class and I looked up a previous grade and they have struggled in math. I am trying to figure out if it is better for me to keep the student involved in class or let the students struggle through it on there own and miss some of what we are doing in class. These students seem to be doing okay so far but what habits are they getting into that will affect their learning later on?

High school math - 8/13

2007-08-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

I spent a lot of time travelling and meeting new people this summer. It was a busy summer. I do remember one conversation that I had with a gentleman about teaching math in high school. His comment was that most people do not use high school math after they get out of school. Is this true? I know that a lot of the math that is learned in school would be more applicable to an engineer, but is it useful to a person who is working in a non-math related field? If high school math is giving exposure to students to try to push them into the fields that are math related, then should we be teaching something else to the "non-math" students? How could a math curriculum be changed to have more relevance to the real world? I have been questioning the need for all the things that are being taught to our students in the math curriculum and I wonder how much of what they learn is going to be used beyond the classroom walls. What else can be done in a classroom setting that can teach problem-solving, logic, reasoning, attention to detail, etc. that are learned from a math class without having to teach topics that might only be applicable to a future engineer?

2/23 - standardized tests

2007-02-23T11:48:00.000-08:00

I found an article on Yahoo about the value of standardized tests and the fact the some schools are now teaching to the test. I thought it was kind of interesting so I thought I would share the link to the article. Are we teaching these students how to get through the hoops to finish school or are we teaching them how to think and eventually become productive members of society?

1/16-digging out

2007-01-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

I realize when I look back at last semester that I spent most if not all of it in a rut. I am in my 5th year of teaching and I think that I just went through the motions and did not put a lot of effort into improving myself as a teacher. I also do not remember having a lot of fun last semester. It wasn't awful but it was boring to me which meant that I am sure it was boring for the students. I do not know how to get myself out of this rut, but I need to try to find a way so that I can enjoy all the things that I liked about the job for the last four years. I think the attitude of the kids has been adding to my struggles. It seems that more and more I am having to answer the question "Why do I need this" and I have been unable to come up with a good answer. Maybe this is something that we need to address as a department before next year because this quesion in not going away.

observation

2006-12-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been a month since I have done this. I got a chance to visit Mr. Escue's Russian History class on a day that he was giving a test. Most might think this would be a bad day to observe because he is not teaching that day, but this was no ordinary test. I can only think of a few sentences that Rob said during the entire test but there was a lot of interesting information that was being presented. He used a fishbowl to assess the students learning and all the students were involved in the conversation the entire time. They rotated in and out of the middle sharing their thoughts, listening and debating ideas. All the students came prepared with written notes for the class and you could tell that they all had put some work into preparing their responses. This was a great way to get the students talking and sharing ideas and I am sure that all of them would prefer to be tested like this all the time. Talking with Rob, he said that this format has brought up some new and interesting ideas from students that he has not heard before. It was very impressive to see the fishbowl in action and how smoothly it ran in Rob's class.

11/17-quizzes

2006-11-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

I did not realize how long it has been since I had last done this. I guess that I have been fighting through the last couple of weeks, looking for a break. It has gotten a bit chaotic and it seems to have caught up to me recently. I did try something new in class yesterday. It seemed to me that students have been struggling and going through the mations of being students and not trying to learn anything, especially my freshmen. I decided to give them a little quiz over what we have been talking about in class. The worked with partners and I had one student who struggled more thoughout the semester get out a piece of paper and a pencil. Their patner was a student who has been doing better throughout the year could not write during the quiz but had to help talk through the problem with the pair. Many of the students responded that this method of testing did cause them to talk more but others were upset that they could not just take control and write out the answers. Maybe it was a little more frustrating for some, but others loved the fact that they did not have to write. It seemed to accomplish the goal which was to get them talking about how to solve the problems, now I am interested to seem how they performed.

10/13 - homework

2006-10-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

I have been writing the homework assignment on the board at the start of class. Some students will come to class and write it in their planners before class starts. The question that I have been having is that some of the students will start on the homework when I start going over the lesson. This just decreases participation during the lesson and then some of them have extra time at the end of class with nothing to do. I have started to ask these kids when they are done to assist others who might have questions. I feel that if these kids can get through the homework during class on their own (mostly with a partner to ask questions to) that it should not be a bad thing. I guess that what I am struggling with is how to get the other kids that need help to ask questions while the others are asking in small groups.

10/10-insight

2006-10-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my sister this weekend who happens to be a high school senior in Las Vegas. She is not the best student, but she is looking to graduate this spring. It is nice to talk with her because she is completly honest to me about what she is doing in school. I was talking to her about my classes and her classes and there was one comment that stuck with me. She said that she likes it when a teacher stands at the front of the class and talks because that gives her time to text her friends on her cell phone. I had a junior in one of my freshmen Algebra classes tell me that he has a much harder time zoning out this year because we are working in groups everyday. Once we let the students do more of the work in learning, I think it will be more beneficial to all parties involved.

10/10 - Algebra 2

2006-10-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

I have been reviewing in my Algebra 2 classes to get ready for a test and I was talking to one of the groups. There was a girl that said math was her favorite class (sarcastically). She then said that she likes math more this year because she is not as frustrated as she was in the past. I asked her why and her response was that I explained things better in class then in the past. I told her that this is the least amount of explaination that I have done in five years of teaching. She was convinced that I just explain things better, but I am convinced that she is getting a better understanding because of working in groups everyday. She is getting more of her questions answered in a small group that is allowing for more individualized learning. I am convinced that this is not an isolated incident and that most of my Algebra 2 students are seeing better results from working in groups.

9/21-struggling student

2006-09-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

I had a student that is struggling in my Algebra 2 class come in to talk with me after school. She said that in the past she has always received good grades in math classes but is struggling with a C/D this semester. As I began to talk with her, she said that she has never done well on tests, but her grade was always good because she had good homework and participation grades to bring her grade up. She said that she usually has an easy time with the problems that look exactly like the ones we did in class and she struggles when the problems look a little different. It seems to me that she has gotten into the habit of only computing math and does not like to think about how to solve the problem. She has been successful at being a plug and solve student that has done well by being a good student. I hate to say this because I do not like to see students dislike math, but it makes me think that I am doing something right by finally making this student struggle through problems. I hope that we can figure out how to get this student to be successful, but she needs to problem solve to get there.

9/13 - Why math?

2006-09-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

Late last night, I was thinking about how I can try to get through to my students that math is going to be an important part of their learning for their future. So many of them see math as useless in the real world and part of that comes from a public perception that it is okay to be bad at math. Many of these kids hear their parents say that they are bad at math and the kids see their parents as being successful. I was trying to think of some way to get through to them besides just me giving examples. I thought there might be a way that I could send out a mass email (chain letter) to everyone that I know that asks people to go to a website or blog and post any ways that they see math is important in their jobs or lives. I do not know the best way to do this but I though with the technology we have today I might be able to get people from all over to tell their side of it instead of just hearing it from their math teacher. I have to look into the best way to get this done. I think if I can come up with a convincing letter to send out, that I might get some help with convincing the students that what they are learning is important even if they never factor expressions in their jobs. It is getting harder to tell these students that Algebra is important when I know that most of them will not use this math in their careers.

9/8 - students as teachers

2006-09-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

I found out that many of my students do not understand fractions. I tried to use the kids in the class to help me teach. I put together 6 problems on operations with fractions. I told all the kids that anyone that gets a 6 out of 6 will not have homework for the weekend which was practice problems on fractions. All the students that got a 6 out of 6, were responsible for helping the other students in the class. This worked really well in my 1st hour, not as well in 3rd hour. I think that any kids that needed clarifying questions got them answered, but there were a few kids that need extra help. It was nice to see the students trying to help each other and I think that the students that were teaching, liked being the expert in class.

8/31 - back to school night

2006-08-31T11:47:00.000-07:00

I was a little worried about some comments that I might get on back to school night. I now have my classroom set up where all the students are sitting in a group of four every day so that they can ask questions to each other. I have had the students work together in the past where parents have commented that their kids should be learning from the expert, not another kid. Last night, every person that I talked to seemed to really like the idea that the students were working together on a regular basis to get questions answered. There was not a single parent that had anything negative to say. I wonder if this will change into an excuse once they start taking more quizzes and test. I think that I am still fighting with many of the kids to feel comfortable to ask questions to each other. My upper classmen are starting to catch on for the most part, but my freshmen do not seem to fully grasp the concept of working together for understanding. They are still at the point where they are more interested in getting or giving the right answer and not asking why or how that answer happened.

8/22 - properties

2006-08-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

I was trying to think of another way that I caould teach all the properties that are introduced at the start of our Algebra 2 book. The students have seen most of the properties before but might not remember examples and names. I decided that I would try to have the students teach each other. I wrote out an example of 15 different properties and cut them out individually. I gave each student a different property that they had to define from the book. I had the students put their books away and go around to other students in the class and ask them to explain their property. The students seemed to do pretty well and not have many questions on the meaning of the properties, but I think my biggest problem was the students were rushed for time to complete all the properties. They started to copy them down instead of verbalizing them. It seemed to work and all the students were involved in the process. I will definately considering doing this more when there are multiple definition or properties that have to be covered.

8/17-first day

2006-08-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

I am changing my grading in my Algebra classes this year. All the algebra teachers decided that all of us are going to give 3 common assessments throughout the year. They will all be cumulative and tests will be given to all algebra students. The grading for the semester will be as follows:
Participation 15%
Practice 15%
Assessments 20%
Review Test 1 15%
Review Test 2 15%
Final 20%
I decided today that I will allow all the students to make up any work on their assessments in order to better understand why they are missing problems. I am hoping that this will help students to better understand the work that we are doing in class and they will show how much they understand when they take the common assessments. All the studnets in class were happy to hear this and all said they would take advantage of this. How many actually will?

8/8 - book review

2006-08-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

I read a book called "Algebra for Everyone" and found some interesting information that applied to all classes. There was a study done at Cal Berkley about the success of calculus students. They found that the number one factor in the success of the students was their participation in study groups. This helped to justify the changes that I made in my classes last year where I had students spend a lot more time working together with other students. Another item that I pulled from the book was giving group rewards for tests that are taken individually. It said that students could be put into group to study for a test and if every student in the group reaches a certain level on a test then the group receives bonus points. Another point seen throughout the book is the fact that students need to see more real world examples in math classes in order to achieve the buy-in from students and create more critical thinking in all math classes. This is a quick read that I think can have information for any subject.

6/26 - TIE

2006-06-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

This past week I was able to attend the Technology in Education conference in Copper. Overall, I think that it was a great experience to see some of the new technologies that are being implemented into schools. I was surprised in how little some of the teachers knew and also how far ahead some schools already were. The biggest surprise was when I was sitting with a group of math teachers and they were stuggling with some of the operations in the graphing calculator. I thought that I was far behind the curve, but I was trying to show the other teachers how to use them. I think that a lot of the schools that I heard about that were far ahead of the curve were small school. They were schools that had every student with a graphing calculator and laptop, or at least a school set for every student. I know that they are on the right track and we need to figure out ways to make this happen for all schools so that No Child is Left Behind. I did not leave the conference feeling that I knew much more about any one area but I did leave with a lot of resources and ideas that I can try to implement to improve my class for my students.

5/30-end of the semester

2006-05-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

I think that this has been one of the most effective semesters that I have had in four years of teaching. This is especially ture with my Advanced Algebra classes. I think that a majority of the students had a better understanding of the materials that we were covering because they were able to get specific questions answered by their peers each day. The students also were able to use a variety of methods for assessment that showed their understanding of the materials. In the past, I have used assessments as a means to make the students understand the material before the test, put pressure on them to prepare for test and show how well they know it on their own. The grades on these tests have declined in the three years that I have done it this way. This year I did not worry as much about the grade and the pressure of a test and I tried to allow the students to learn along the way and find different ways that they can be successful on the material besides one test on their own. The sruggles that I had this semester was having the same types of successes in my freshmen classes. The students in that class would not ask as many questions and seemed that they had more trouble adjusting to working with partners. The testing did provide opportunities for them to show an understanding, make corrections and realize more of their mistakes that they were making on tests. I would like to continue to give a variety of testing strategies but I need to figure out how to be more productive with all of my classes during the partner time. I am happy with most of the changes that I have implemented this semester and I am eager to continue to adapt my class to make my students more successful throughout the years.

5/15

2006-05-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

I tried yet another way to assess the students in a non-traditional manner. I could see that some students were still struggling with some steps in graphing parabolas. A quiz or test usually forces them into asking the questions that they need answered. I gave them three problems to do but I did them one at a time. The first one, they were able to work with partners to get through the problem. I then gave them the answer to this problem so that they knew if they did it right and could ask their partner for help if the did not. I then had them work individually on the next problem but they could use their notes and anything that they wrote down from working with their partners. The last problem, they had to work on their own without any notes to get through the problem. It seemed that the students asked a lot of questions that allowed them to progress to the point that they could get through the problem on their own. All of the problems had the same number of points (which I might consider changing in the future). It was a last minute decision, but I think it worked well.

5/9

2006-05-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

End of the year frustrations are setting in to my classes. I have been talking to my Advanced Algebra classes about this latest unit that we are doing. I have tried to show them applications of where they are going to use the math, but it has not seemed to make much of a difference. I gave them a quiz that many of them failed. I talked with them after because they have not been doing as well in their groups asking questions and staying on task. Many of the students have forgotten what has been working for them so far this semester. They are struggling to understand the material that we are talking about but can not see the connection with the lack of effort and questions to reach an understanding. I feel that I cannot (nor want) to hold their hands for the rest of the semester to make sure that they finish strong. I will continue to warn them and encourage them to stay on the righ track but I do not want to turn in to a babysitter. I want them to learn the material but at this point I feel like the students that are doing the work have an understanding. With the other students, I feel that I could spend the rest of the summer doing this same stuff and they might never ask a question. I do not want to hold up the other students to suffer because some of the students have decided not to work at the end of the year.

Cinco de Mayo

2006-05-05T13:54:00.000-07:00

I worked with the internet in class a bunch today. I was talking about earthquakes in Advanced Algebra and I used information online to look maore into the practical side. I had a student that asked about the largest earthquake and he was able to do a search for the class to show where and when the earthquake happened. In Algebra, I was talking about parabolas and I fould some online applications on a website. One of the applications was talking about a large reflective building in the Pyrenees Mountains. They were wondering what the building was used for so I had one of the students search the internet. She was able to find that the building used the mirrors to produce a large solar furnace for energy. The internet helped the students get more involved in the lesson today and I need to find more ways to use it.

5/2

2006-05-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

I gave my Advanced Algebra students a quiz over one section out of the book that we spent about 3 days working on in class. This was the worst grade for most of the students in class. They have stopped asking questions on their homework and are content going through the motions of writing things down to get the homework done. Since spring break, they have been on coast with their learning. The things that have been working most of the semester is not working now because the students perception is that school is over for the year. How do we keep the effort and learning consistant throughout the year?

4/21

2006-04-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

I had a student come in for extra help on her math yesterday that confirmed that some of the changes that happened in class are beneficial. She said that she has always struggled in math and was never any good at it. I have been trying to tell students all semester that many of the mistakes that they make are careless math errors that do not determine whether they know the current material. She took the last test and before she turned it in to be graded, she was able to make 4-5 corrections of careless errors and improve her grade. She has come to the realization that she has a good understanding of the current math topics but struggles through the steps of the problems. We have done many things in class to try to learn how to correct careless mistakes and she is a good example of working through those problems. This has given her a skill that will help her be successful any time that she needs to get through steps to solve a problem.

4/14

2006-04-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

I did a project with my algebra students last semester regarding math on the internet. Each student had to create a project about benefits of a math website to their current class. I was not sure how many of the students remember the project, but today I was reminded. I had a student who missed class on Wednesday so she missed new material that was on the test today. I asked her to get some help so that she could complete those problems on the test. She told me that she was going to look at her book this weekend and try to go online to get her questios answered and then come in on Monday to finish the test. I hope that she finds some useful information. I was excited that she came up with the idea to look online because that was the goal of the project from last semester.

4/9

2006-04-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

Questions have come up in the math office about what the best way is to handling cheating on quizzes and tests. It seems that more teachers are almost afraid to confront students about cheating because it always comes to our word against theirs and parents are increasingly supporting their children. I think that the parents are becoming more defensive because they do not want to see their kids grade dramatically affected by a case of cheating. Students are cheating because they are wooried about a grade so we take away points which will further increase their fear of getting a bad grade. Why do we eqate cheating to points and not focus on the problem of cheating. Parents will can and complain about their kid getting a zero for cheating and not even discuss the problem that their kids cheated. Is there a better way to handle cheating in the classroom and what do you think it could be?

4/5 - goals

2006-04-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Students are working with partners every day in all of my classes. I believe that they are gaining a better understanding of the materials that we cover in class because they are getting more individual questions answered. This is working better in my Advanced Algebra classes than it is with my freshman classes. I have varied the assessments in my classes to allow students to work together or use their notes. I have also given tests back for the students to make corrections on the test before it was graded and students were able to correct some careless mistakes by taking time to look back at their test. The partner tests create a lot of discussion about the problems as they are working.
I have had both students and parents comment that they have a better understanding of what is being missed on quizzes and tests because I have been grading careless mistakes different from understanding mistakes. I also allowed students to correct one of their own tests in class and the response was that they really could understand exactly what they got wrong on every problem. The participation has increased in class and I have stopped taking points each week. I think that it forced the students into participating and they are more comfortable raising their hands. I have not allowed all students to come in and make up points, but I have talked to some of the struggling students to come in for a better understanding.

3/29

2006-03-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

Here is some more information from the students on the last self graded test. All the students said that they had a better understand because every problem they missed, they had to go through the problem and find out what they missed. Most of the tests that they have gotten back in the past, the students look at the grade that is on the top of the paper and do not spend much if any time going back over the test to find out what they missed. What a great idea for the students to learn from their own mistakes.

3/21

2006-03-21T12:59:00.000-08:00

Another test and another effort to change the norm. I had a test in my Algebra class last Monday. On Friday, I told the students that I was going to pass the test back to them to make corrections on it. Many of the students were able to find their own mistakes without me showing what they missed. I then allowed the students to work with a partner to try to make some further corrections on their test. The students did all the corrections in red pen so that I could see how many changes they made after the initial testing period. I then let the students grade their own tests. We determined as a class that each problem was going to worth 3 points and they would mark each problem where they missed and how many points off they deserve. I looked back over the tests to see how well the students graded their test and I only had to make a few corrections. The scores ranged from a 51% to a 101% and most students agreed that their score represented the amount of knowledge from Ch 9. All students agreed that they had a better understanding of the material after working on the test in that way.

3/16

2006-03-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

I was reading a post on the Fischbowl and also reading me emails about the homework assignments when I came across an article that Pat Wilson sent to me. It is about the attitude and lack of effort of our students. It got me thinking about all the work that all of us are putting into this class to try and become better teachers. I am just wondering what our students are going to do in respnse. Here is a link to the article that my give more insight: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060308/oplede08.art.htm#
I am wondering how many of you agree with this article. If you do, how does this make you feel about all the work that we are doing to get better?

3/7

2006-03-07T11:54:00.000-08:00

I talked with my Advanced Algebra classes about their thoughts of how the class was working for them. In my first hour, they wanted to return to a more traditional approach where they could ask me questions at the start of the hour about their homework. The compromise was made that they would work with partners on M,W and F and I would answer questions on T and R during the week. I did suggest that if there were some students that wanted to ask their partners about questions, they should feel they can do this at anytime. I talked with my second hour about the same thing and there was a unanimous decision to continue running class the same way by working with partners every day. Each class strongly believed that it would work best for them if the class was able to adapt. I hope that each class can be successful in their own ways.

3/6 conferences

2006-03-06T15:22:00.001-08:00

I heard a lot of positive feedback from parents about some of the changes in class this semester. They seemed to like that their students were getting much more individual attention from other students in the class. Many of the parents also liked the comments on the grades that showed missing assignements and careless mistakes on tests. I did hear from a couple of parents that were not too happy with students learning from other students. They were very understanding of why I implemented the policy and even thought it was a good idea, but just asked that I work with their child a little more because they were more comfortable hearing it from a teacher. All in all it was good to hear some positive feedback that some of the changes might actually be working.

2/24

2006-02-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

I had a conversation with my Advanced Algebra classes about assessments. The last test I gave a in-class portion and a take home. The students did much better on the take home portion, not surprising. I asked why. Their response was that they feel rushed in class and most of the added pressure of a test is because of time constraints. Most said that they did not even use their notes that much on the take home part of the test. I asked how they would change their in class tests. I had each class come up with what they wanted the test to look like. How many problems, what types, and how to grade it. The said they would rather have fewer problems worth more points so they have time to go over answers. I shorten my test from last year and many of the students are having some time to review their answers before they turn it in for grading. We will see if this helps. Who knew that you can ask the students to come up with a test that will show what they know from advanced algebra not to show how many careless mistakes they can make when they rush through a test.

2/21 - goals

2006-02-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

Here are the goals that I wrote up before last meeting but I am finally posting them.

v I will more actively involve my students in their learning of the topics in math class.

Ø I will have the students work with a partner everyday to answer questions that they have about previous lessons and the current lesson.

Ø I will allow students to work together on problems in class to discuss the steps needed to get to an answer.

Ø I will vary assessments with additional materials available to the students like open note, partner tests, open book, etc.

v I will increase the communication of the understanding of each student through more effective grading practices.

Ø In my Advanced Algebra classes, I will grade all quizzes and tests with grades for the current material that we are covering and a separate grade for careless mistakes.

Ø I will grade participation in class to increase the communication with students in class every day.

Ø I will allow students to make up points on their quizzes and tests by coming in to the math office to gain a better understanding of the material.

2/15

2006-02-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

I had the students in my Advanced Algebra class take a two part test yesterday. They did 13 problems in class and then had 7 problems as a take home. Today I had them work with a partner to go over their tests and I passed back the in class portion. As I was walking around, one pair of girls that have struggled with math in the past said that they are understanding it so much better by discussing problems. I had a student come up after class and say, "I finally understand what I am doing." He said he struggled on the in class portion, had a better understanding on the take home and finally got it working in class. It sounds like things are working well. I hope all the students will continue to see success.

2/9

2006-02-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

It has been too long since I have posted. I realize that I still have not posted my goals which I have written down, but need to blog. I changed my participation grade for each week. I am now giving each student a 10 out of 15 for the week that they can keep or lose while they are working with their partners. The other 5 points are earned throughout the week by asking questions in class, doing problems on the board, or keeping track of points for the day. I have 2 copies of the seating chart laminated and 2 students keep track of who participates for that day. The students who have the seating charts get 3 points for the day, doing a problem on the board gets 2 points, and raising your hand in class gets 1 point. It seems to be working well and I like that students are keeping track of their points for the week.

1/27

2006-01-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

I gave my Advanced Algebra classes a 5 question pop quiz today that covered what we have been talking about all week. They took most of the hour to do the 5 problems and some did now get finished. They were working with partners the whole time and asking a lot of questions. I talked with them at the end of the hour to discuss why they are asking more questions when they know it is a quiz and not on their homework. I asked them to change their focus onto learning each day instead of knowing for a test. I asked them to be more effective each day in class in exchange for me not collecting their quiz for a grade. All of the students got questions answered during class and I hope that my point came across that their learning is more important than their grade. We will see.

1/23

2006-01-23T08:41:00.000-08:00

I talked with my advanced algebra classes on Friday about the way the class is structured. They all seemed to enjoy the fact that they were working with partners each day to answer homework questions. They were able to get more individual questions answered in that time and they were not wasting there time going over the same question as a class. I wonder why I did not try this before. Too much control. I like the students taking control of their own learning and they seem to as well. I hope this continues to work.

1/18

2006-01-18T14:11:00.000-08:00

I have seen that most of the students have taken advantage of the time at the beginning of class to get their questions answered by their classmates. I talked with my students about their first quiz to see how well this is working. Many of the students then felt a sense of urgency to ask more questions. Why do they ask more questions when they know there is an assessment the next day? How can I get those few students that are doing this to focus more on questioning every day? I think I will talk with my students on Friday to see what they think.

1/17

2006-01-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

I talked with the students about their expectations and most of them came up with ideas that I have done in class before. I am giving them a lot more opportunity to help each other through problems during class. I have all the students pair up with different partners eaach day and they work with these partners all class period. I find that most of the students are asking each other good questions and they are leaving that time with a good understanding of the material. I am spending less time on the board answering questions and more time working with students individually. It has even helped with students who miss class. They are about to work with another student at the start of class to explain what they missed. They work with the same student for the entire hour so they have someone to ask questions to as they come up during the lesson. So far so good.

1/11

2006-01-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

I spent the first day of class asking students how they would like to see the class work for them this semester. I am going to try to have the students pair up each day so they can work together to sovle problems. The grade for the week is going to be based on homework and participation. I also had them write a paper on why colleges are requiring Advanced Algebra now. This helped them to think about the fact that math helps with problem solving skills. They also brought up that society is more competative and colleges are increasing their requirements to get the best students they can.

12/19

2005-12-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

I have been struggling with how I want to change the way my class is run next semester and how to grade. I have been thinking a lot about this because I am trying to put together classroom expectations to go to the copy room. Then I thought, why not let the students create these on the first day of class. I am also thinking of creating a blog for the class to discuss what and how they are learning in the classroom and changes that might help their learning. I think that my classroom has to change to be more successful, I am just not exactly sure yet what all those changes look like.

12/15

2005-12-15T12:46:00.000-08:00

I wonder how successful I would be if I had my students work in groups every day. I was thinking that I could have some homework problems, quizzes and tests where the grade would be based on 1 member of the team. Ideally this would have the students work together to make sure that everyone in the group knows what they are doing. The groups would need to stay around 2-4 people to be useful. If we are creating learning communities in our school for teachers to collaborate on ideas, why not try the same thing with students?

12/9

2005-12-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

I was able to use the new projector in my room to show the students the website glencoe.com. This is the company that makes the book that we use in class. The site has quizzes from every section of the book and tests from every chapter. I think it could be a useful tool to help them get ready for their final exams.

12/8

2005-12-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

I had 8 juniors in my Trig class on Wednesday because all the seniors were gone. One of the juniors came to the board and was doing problems for the rest of them. They were very active in the discussion and stopped many times to ask questions. I asked why they do not participate like that in class normally. The response was that the class size is to big and they do not feel comfortable asking as many questions in the small group. I asked if it would help if they were in small groups and they responded that they like having me explain things to them. I saw in that class that they were willing to ask questions and participate but I was not able to figure out from the students what would allow they to react like that every day.

12/2

2005-12-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

We are talking about getting rid of or changing the way we grade in class. This is a difficult change for most people involved. I talked with my algebra classes about the toy drive and told them about my experiences with helping those less fortunate kids. I asked them to try to help out and their first request was for extra credit to bring in toys. There is such an extreme focus on grades that needs to be changed, but what is the best way to change it? (I gave in, to help the Fletcher kids) Can these kids not see past grades that much to help these kids at Christmas time?

11/29

2005-11-29T12:02:00.000-08:00

I gave some quizzes before the break and I changed the way that I usually give them. I gave my algebra students an opportunity to take the quiz with a partner. They both had to turn in the quiz and I only graded one of the two and both got the same grade. The students were explaining the problems to each other and making corrections on their own. It forced some of the students to teach and to learn from each other. They do not seem to do this when it is only a homework assignments. It was still a pretty traditional assessment, but I think they were able to have a better understanding by learning from each other.

11/22 grading

2005-11-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

I have always thought of my grades as having an effort portion and a knowledge portion. I check homework for completion (effort) and quizzes and tests for knowlegde. The problem is that parents that do not come to back to school night or email do not know that this is how the grades work. I think that it would be beneficial for my gradebook to show that this is an effort grade and not a knowledge based homework assignment. I just need to figure out how to change my test grades so that they more accurately show the knowledge gained during each chapter.

11/22

2005-11-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

I looked through the projects that I had turned in for my math website project. The students used a wide range of methods to show their results. I think I only had one person write a paper and the rest were posters, powerpoints, brochers, flyers, etc. The students were able to find a lot of resources that will help them if they remember the reson why we did this project. I am hoping to display some of the project in class and in the office so that others can benefit from the research that my algebra students have done. They introduced me to some different avenues that I did not know about. I think it went well, now I have to figure out how to grade these.

11/18

2005-11-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

I had students turn in their website review projects. Most of the students found websites that were very useful for this class and future classes. Most of the students respnded that they would visit that website in the future for math assistance or maybe to play a game on the website. I think that they were able to add a tool in their toolbox that will always be acessible to help them in math. The projects turned in were of a wide variety and each student was able to express what they found in their own way. I think it was a successful project that will continue to be useful to my students in the future.

11/15

2005-11-15T14:05:00.000-08:00

I went to the computer lab on Friday and had my students search around on some of the websites that they had found about math. I had them turn in a short review of each website that they visited and tried to limit them to 3 websites so they could get more in depth into what was available. I then assigned a homework that made them pick one of the websites and review it in depth. The assignment was presented as: each student will pick one math website and they will put together a review of the website as if they are the salesman for the website and they are trying to sell their website to our algebra class. They need to find out what the benefits are for this years class, future math classes and some of the downfalls of the website. This project is due 11/18 and the finished product is open on what they turn in to me (poster, paper, powerpoint, flyer, etc.).

11/10

2005-11-10T13:00:00.000-08:00

I had my algebra students visit a math website and bring in the address. I came up with a list of 10 different websites that are related to math. I am not sure where I am going to go from here. I am thinking of going to the computer lab to have them surf 3-4 of the websites from the list. Then I will have them focus on one website that they will reviewas a project. Still working on the details.

11/7

2005-11-07T09:10:00.000-08:00

I spent some time in two of my classes letting the kids discover new applications on their graphing calculators. It seemed that most of them will only use a calculator when told to or to play games. I was hoping that it would encourage them to try to learn some new functions that the calculator has that cna be beneficial. The class went well and everyone was working together to show each other how to use some of the different functions. I hope to expand this later to post functions on the internet with blogger but I think this was a good start. The students seemed to like the time in class to discover and almost eveyone said they learned something new that day.

10/28 p2

2005-10-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

My first assignment for blogger is going to be for my students to evaluate a math website and post in onto Blogger. That way they can begin to see some of the resources that are available on the web. I am also thinking that I may do a blog for my advanced classes on calculator uses. They have to discover a new function on their calculator and post how to use it for the rest of the class. I just need to establish some guidelines.

10/28

2005-10-28T12:48:00.000-07:00

I was reading my email and thought of a different way to use blogger. Is there any way to set up teachers onto blogger so that if they are trying to sell or give something away that they can use blogger instead of sending a school wide email (which we were told not to do). I do not know if this is an appropriate use for blogger but I thought I would throw the idea out there.

10/27

2005-10-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

I am spending too much time trying to make sure that I am keeping up with the other teachers in my subject. I am afraid that if I do not continue to cover the material for each class then I will fall behind. I think that some of the essential learnings that we are talking about will help. Now I will be able to cover some material until the students know how to do it and it will give more time to cover other things. I need to make Blogging a priority in my class instead seeing where I can fit it into each lesson. I am planning on taking a class on the graphing calculator so I am more comfortable using that and I will be able to implement that next semester.

5 for the future

2005-10-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

How can I change the world...... at AHS in my classroom.