Day 51: Not the Best Me

The kids didn't answer my whiteboard question today, so I'll ask it again tomorrow!

Long weekends are tough for me.  I don't plan them well and, as a result, I plan LESS for the coming week than I do during a normal weekend.

"I have 4 days! I don't need to do it now!" I say to myself every day.

This weekend was no different.  I did, however, have an idea for how I wanted my students to review for the chapter tests that are coming up in all of my classes.  The idea was simple:

Split students into teams.
Each team writes a 10-question quiz with answer key
Teams exchange quizzes
Teams answer quizzes
Highest score wins!  (All teams win knowledge)

When I came in today, however, a district level administrative decision threw me for a loop.  The size of one of my classes will be almost doubling.  Please note that it is Day 51.

My principals know my objections and the reasons for them, so there was no reason to vent at or to them about my displeasure.  I also won't waste time on here with the reasons that this decision was made because they don't matter..

Needless to say, I am a bit out of sorts.

I explained to my 4th period that we would be getting 10 new students, went over the warm-up and gave them the team-quiz review.  I'm having trouble keeping a positive outlook and I'm worried that my frustration is going to show through and be taken out on the wrong people, so I'm trying to keep to myself, as much as a teacher can.

The students were not as on task as I would like them to be, but they were working.  When I offered candy to the winning team 9th period, they buckled down and started doing some great stuff.  It showed me that this idea wasn't too shabby!

I'm very displeased with my attitude today, but I'll justify it by saying that I've been putting full effort into what I've been doing since the start of the year.  I don't think I deserve a break, especially after 4 days without students, but I'm not the best me I can be today.

It may bother me later, but for now, I'm alright with it.



Last year, I would have been upset by this for a totally different reason.  I wouldn't have wanted all these new kids out of my own laziness.

This year, I'm upset because there is simply no way to justify that this move is in the educational best interest of any of the students involved.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

I spent the morning observing Mrs. Reilly in her natural environment.  I saw a geometry class and two physics classes.  It was a wonderful experience and VERY different from the school where I teach.  It was a shock, in between classes, to NOT see students riding on each others backs, screaming down the hallway.  Also, the fact that there was light and air in the hallway was a welcome change.

ROCKETS FROM THE CEILING!!

In addition, I found it very interesting to watch someone teach classes that I teach.  I think that in the past, I would have spent much of my time thinking either "that's cool!" or "I could do that better."

This time, I spent a lot of time thinking about how I interact with my students and the types of questioning that I utilize.  After each class, we talked about the various students and their needs in terms of content and attention.  We discussed ways to modify the presentation for future classes.  We talked, generally, the way that colleagues who care about improving their craft are supposed to talk about an observation.

She looks awesome and I look like an escaped mental patient!

Then I went back to my school for conferences!



The style of conference adopted by my school is one that I deeply love.  Instead of having parents wander the building looking for teachers, all of the 7th grade parents convene in one room while the 8th grade parents meet in another.  They sit at a group a desks at put their child's name on a card.  The teachers then sit down with the parents all together and discuss the progress of the child in all of their classes.

The process builds incredible communication, allows teachers to know what the others are saying to the parents and creates an air of community for the teachers as a whole.

In my previous years, I spent much of the conference time saying things like "He doesn't bring his materials to class" "she doesn't complete her assignments" and "he comes in, refuses to do any work and puts his head down."

While true, all of these conveyed the same message: This is why it's not my fault that your kid is failing.

This year, the conferences were VERY different.  I spent much of the time laughing and joking with the parents, trying to develop creative solutions to get the kids back on track to success and generally having a good time.

Several parents told me that their kid loves my class and can't stop talking about all of the things that we do and talk about.  One set who brought their daughter with them, told me that I had changed her life.  She used to spend hours crying about doing her math homework and now she LOOKS FORWARD TO IT!  They thanked me for feeding her on days when they couldn't and for making my room a place where she felt safe.

Another set expressed their concern that their son was full of amazing ideas but had trouble getting them out.  His spelling is awful, but his minds works on a level that I find astonishing.  I suggested that they have him start a blog.  Getting his ideas down, even just a few minutes each day could help to clear his mind and direct his thinking.  I told them that I started the practice as well and how it has helped me tremendously to keep my thoughts organized.  I also told them that I would be extremely interested to read his blog if he and they choose to make it public.

I expressed my concern to another parent that his daughter might be starting down the path to being a "mean girl" and how desperately I didn't want that to happen.  She's so kind and sweet and I love her to pieces, but I see undercurrents of bossiness that, if directed properly, could make her an amazing leader.

At several points, I introduced myself and received the response "Oh! So YOU'RE the one!"  One parents said "the infamous Mr. Aion."

It was wonderful to be able to tell parents about the growth I have seen in their children and how proud they should be.

I'm really not comfortable tooting my own horn.  I'm trying to make math class interesting for the students and for me and the results seem to be pretty positive.  I am starting to think that I may actually be doing something right this year.  I will only take partial credit for it.  The rest goes entirely to the wonderfully creative and encouraging teachers that I have met through Twitter and #MTBoS.



With that said, 95% of the conferences I attended were for my geometry students, who are highly self-motivated and often strive to please their teachers.  Many of the parents that I truly NEEDED to see were unable to attend.

The very last parent that I met with asked for me by name.  The interaction when as follows:

Me: "Hello. I'm Mr. Aion. Can I help you?"
P: "I understand you hollered at my daughter."
M: "I'm sorry. Who is your daughter?"
P: **tells name**
M: "...I don't know who that is."
P: **describes her**
M: "Oh yes. Well, I did have an interaction with her last week where she felt it was acceptable to talk to teachers as though they were her friends.  I expressed to her at that point that it was inappropriate to do so.  My job in the morning is keep students moving towards homeroom and she was loitering outside of my room.  I asked her to move along and her reply was not appropriate.  So I reiterated my point in a more authoritative fashion."
P: "She says you hollered at her."
M: "I don't holler at anyone.  But I'm sorry if that was how it was perceived. I will apologize to her on Monday for the way I came off."

I think a year ago, that would have ended MUCH more unpleasantly.

I suppose I may be learning from my mistakes!

Day 50: Soooooo Tired

I told them they are no longer allowed to use "pi" in their answers.

Other suggestions that I received from my friends on Facebook:
The Fractal Gourmet
TrigoNOMNOMetry
Cookulus
3 Squared Meals
Ate
Pi Making
Cooking with FOIL
Pi Style
Prime Pi

After all of the excitement of yesterday, as well as lack of solid sleep last night, I am very tired today.  I was planning to finish up the guided notes for chapter 3 in geometry and start a practice test in pre-algebra.  Both of those things happened but, as usual, geometry went WAY off topic.

It started with me telling them about the announcement that a company is working on developing a car powered by thorium lasers.

Perfect for a baby seat!

It went from there to a discussion of radiation, and, somehow, into why we use money instead of barter.  The entire class was engaged, as usual, but I still feel like I should be on topic.  One of two things needs to happen.  Either I need to stop getting sidetracked as often, or I need to simply accept that I will and relish how interested my students are in learning such a diverse group of topics.

Old me would have gone with the first option.  He would tell me that I needed to buckle down and cover the material so these kids can pass the state tests.

New me is telling me not to worry about it.  We are moving through the curriculum at a good pace, we aren't weeks behind and I'm doing something important: I'm fostering curiosity.  I'm also encouraging good questions and the willingness to ask them. 

Finding a balance between tangents and topics is difficult.  While I'm not super comfortable with the balance that I've struck, I don't think I'm going to change it.

In pre-algebra, the students were working on groups on a chapter practice-test.  Banter back and forth between the groups started with teasing about hair and clothes and escalated into arguing about who was smarter.  I watched the interaction silently as it evolved into one girl putting math problems on a whiteboard and two other students racing to the answer.  The problems they were working on were much more basic than I would have liked, but I let it go for two reasons.

First, they were doing math and taking pride in getting the answers right.  I know that if I had suggested this game, they would have refused to participate, but since they were doing it because they wanted to, they were actually having fun with it.
Second, even though the problems were basic, they were practicing and improving their numeracy and comfort with numbers in general.  If I had to identify the one skill that they were lacking above all others, it would be numeracy.

They took a break to go to the bathroom, then came right back and started challenging each other again.  I'm proud of them and fascinated.


Tomorrow, I'll be visiting Mrs. Reilly in the morning and then returning to school for parent conferences.  Should be a fun (and very long) day!

Day 49: A Partner in Crime

It was my absolute pleasure today to host Steph Reilly for a few hours before her conferences.  She joined my geometry class in an amazing exploration of slope AND she brought more whiteboards! HUGE ONES!!  And speaking of slope:

Our warm-ups was to prove that two vertical angles were congruent without using the vertical angles theorem.  I didn't ask them for a formal proof, but I did make them justify each step with a theorem or property.  The ensuing discussion was excellent and emphasized multiple ways to get to a result.

Then we began our slope exploration

As Act 1, I asked the students to look at an example of a coordinate plane with a line, but no numbers or units, and tell me what they noticed.  They gave lots of the basic info about lines and axes.  Since they weren't getting where I wanted, I changed my question.

"What do you notice is missing?"  I finally got someone to say numbers and units.
"Do we need those?"

We then began talking about the Americans with Disabilities Act and the regulations for slope for wheelchair ramps.  We talked about why those regulations needed to be in place and what a slope of 1/12 might look like.

I told them that they were going to measure 5 ramps in the building to determine whether they met ADA regulations.  Right before we left the room, I asked "So, you all brought tape measures, right?"

Since none of them had, I asked how they planned to measure.

"We could use shoes and pencils and pens, right?" "What about the tiles on the wall?" "The bricks!"

Finding Slope - Data Sheet.docx

So we were off!  Three ramps in the hall, one in the auditorium and one outside were our classroom today.  The kids split off into groups and began taking measurements and discussing validity of their strategies.

One student made the observation that the railing was parallel to the floor so if he found the slope of the railing, it would be the same as the floor.

Several students tried measuring the slope of the auditorium ramp by walking up it and counting the number of steps.  Mrs. Reilly helped nudge them in the right direction by asking "Are you measuring the rise, or the run?"

Over the course of the next hour, students measured, debated, calculated and had an awesome time DOING MATH!

As students finished, I sent them back to my room to discuss their findings and methods with other groups.

When everyone was finished, we reconvened.  I asked specific students to talk about how they took their measurements and why they think they may have found a different answer than someone else.

One student said that in order to measure the slope in the auditorium, they started at a metal support of a chair, went up one pencil length and then over until they hit the ground.  Some students used their shoes.  Some measured in "Sophies" or "Isabels."

The final discussion back in the class was, I thought, the best part of this.  The students were able to talk about what methods they used and what problems they found.  I had several explain their strategies in detail.

I spent a good amount of time debating how much introduction to give them.  I wanted them to do this activity as an exploration, but I didn't want them to be completely in the woods.  In the end, I think I did an acceptable job of allowing them sufficient freedom while still having certain requirements for the project.  I also think that the introduction and review of slope before we got started was VERY helpful to direct their thinking without telling them what to do.

Overall, I think it was a success and, maybe if I can trust behavior, I can try it with the pre-algebra kids a little later in the year.

The pre-algebra kids spent the first of our double periods reviewing the homework on scientific notation.  I had them put their answers up on the board and then we discussed them as a group.  For the second period, we got to use some technology!

There was an open computer lab, so I took my 5th period down and had them look up recipes for their Thanksgiving dinner project.  They worked beautifully through the whole period.  I attribute this to the fact that I let them listen to music on headphones IF they worked.

Sadly, there was no computer lab open during 9th period.  So I get the iPad cart and had them working on those.  When I handed them out, one of my students looked at me in awe and said "I've never touched one of these before."  It was an interesting counterpoint to me thinking that these kids take tech for granted.

They worked VERY well and I gave them some candy to show my appreciation.

Much of my day today consisted of watching students learn and explore.

It was a great day and I'm so grateful that I had someone to share it with me!

Day 48: Oblivion, Rainbows and Scientific Notation

Fun Fact: Rainbows are actually circular but when you are standing on the ground, the bottom half of the circle is below the horizon!

"An angle from heaven!" Brilliant!

My geometry class is starting to take a turn that I'm not entirely comfortable with.  I have no one to blame but myself.

The recent trend has been that we spend 30-45 talking about random things.  Sometimes it's stuff like space, physics, history, etc. but it has a tendency to veer off in odd directions.  Today, I started by talking about the human mind and its inability to fully grasp the concept of infinity.  This was inspired by the perfectly clear skies this morning on my drive into work when I could more stars than usual.  Somehow, this ended up with me acting out the entirety of the Nicholas Sparks collection.

After I realize how much time I've spent talking about off-topic topics, I say something like "Alright, we need to get some stuff done today."  Then we go over the guided notes and any homework questions.

I think that if I were to plan more activities for the class, I would constrain my randomness to 5 minutes at the most.  Time to look for more tasks!

I have a good one almost ready for tomorrow!  It'll have to be good since I'm getting a visit from Mrs. Reilly!  I'm super pumped.  Then, on Thursday, I'm going to observe her!  BEST WEEK EVER!!!!

But it does mean that tomorrow, I have to pretend to be a teacher.

I did have a talk with my geometry kids.  I told them we were going to have a visitor and that I didn't want them to be on their "best behavior" any more than they are with me.  A major point of her visit is to give me feedback and she can't do that if the kids are faking.  They did promise not to try to get me fired.

They are so considerate!

In pre-algebra, we went over some problems about scientific notation.  A huge sticking point that I've seen for kids in the past is knowing which way to move the decimal and which exponents to make negative.

I have a kid in my class who was a bit of a trouble kid last year and went through a MASSIVE change over the summer.  He's nice, considerate, polite and hardworking.  He's not as organized as I think he should be, but I'm so impressed with him this year, I'll let it slide.  He works his butt of for me in a class where he could be dragged down by others VERY quickly.  He has moved himself away from his friends so that he can get his work done, and he does it.

After clearing up some misconceptions that he had about positive and negative exponents, he did extra work just to show me that he got it!

I also handed out the beginning of the Thanksgiving Dinner project from John Mahlstedt.  I am SUPER excited about this! Basically, it has the students plan a menu for Thanksgiving, determine how many people are coming, scale up the recipes and determine the cost.  It hits a ton of skills that my students need to practice AND has the added bonus of being practical.

Mahlstedt is a truly interesting guy and I love the lessons that he has shared so far on his blog.  I'm really looking forward to giving him feedback on this lesson.  With his classes, he has the added bonus that he will actually take them to the store to find prices.  We will have to make due with the internet.

Provided we can get access to one of the computer labs...

Day 47: Taking Up Space

Apparently, while I was having fun teaching my classes, the marking period ended.  Apparently, I was supposed to be grading things... Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend...

After listening to the Fresh Air interview with Colonel Chris Hadfield this week, I've been thinking about space!  So the warm up today had student calculate the speed of the International Space Station.

The geometry class watched videos of Hadfield answering student questions from the ISS as well as his Space Oddity cover video.
This video makes me happier than it should.

In pre-algebra, I set them on an assignment in their workbooks while I finished grading.  THEY ROCKED IT!  I left them alone and didn't even say when/if I was checking it, but they worked!  I gave up my Promethean pen so a few students could work on the board.  I even snapped a picture of them arguing about how to solve one of the problems.

This was in the same class that tuned out during my vampire lesson yesterday.  I understand that they are more accustomed to doing menial tasks, grinding through problems and are not used to using their critical thinking skills.  I just hate how happy they are to do worksheets.  Some days I need it, but I want to be doing so much more and I'm not sure how to make the transition to more rich tasks.

There are huge conceptual gaps from both classes in terms of the warm-up.  I had tremendous difficulty getting them to not only figure out what they were supposed to do, but even whether the answers they gave me made any sense.  They saw the formula for circumference and immediately were unable to extend beyond that.  They kept finding me the circumference of the Earth without a concept that those units were miles and speed, which we were looking for, was not.

I'm SO ready for the weekend.

Day 46: Failure and Success

BRILLIANCE!!

Loyal readers will remember the conversation that I had with a student yesterday in which I teased proper wording out him.  It turns out that in an effort to get him to say what I wanted, I may have been taking away from time in which he could be solving the problems of the world!  Mathematical nomenclature and conventions are important though...

In any event, we were discussing find angles related to parallel lines.

 By the various examples that are in the guided notes, students were expected at add an auxiliary line that was parallel to the two horizontal lines and use the alternate interior angles theorem to calculate the measure of angle 1.  The set-up would look like:

However, the student I talked about yesterday had a different approach.  Instead, he added a vertical line, creating two right triangles and, between the triangle sum theorem and the angle addition postulate, found the missing angles in the triangles and then angle 1.  His set-up looked like this:

In this particular case, his approach took much more time to prove and many of the other kids thought it was a waste of time, but I was deeply impressed and almost hugged him for it.

And then the day went to crap.

In pre-algebra, I'd been preparing to do the new Mathalicious lesson, Pandemic.  It deals with vampires, exponential growth, disease, log functions, vampires and death!  I've been pumped about it since I saw Karim preview it a few weeks ago!  I knew that the math would be a bit advanced for my students since we've only barely scratched the surface of exponents, but I figured they could work out the patterns and we could talk about it.

The first class barely made it through the first act before they tuned it out.  They were complaining about how much effort it was to apply the pattern to anything large.  They got stuck at a VERY basic point and I was so confused by it that I wasn't able to figure out a way to help them.

I began to run into the same problem that I often do with my pre-algebra classes.  The students who picked up on it quickly got bored when I wasn't moving at their speed while the ones who needed more help were left in the dust, even at the much slower pace that I was moving.

The class was already short on students through fights and suspensions, so it might have simply been a bad dynamic, but the lesson bombed.  My frustration was through the roof and my anger at my students lack of interest VERY quickly transformed into shame and self-disappointment.  I hated that this amazingly fun lesson from people whom I deeply respect had gone SO poorly.  I figured that the way I introduced the content must have been pretty bad and I didn't want to let down the Mathalicious crew by jacking up their lesson.

So I jumped on Twitter.  I knew that the lesson was designed for students in Algebra, but I also knew that many teachers were doing it with younger kids like mine.  @MaryfWilliams posted some great pictures of her classes, which I found very encouraging and @lisabej_manitou told me that she started her class with the paper folding warm-up.  It helped them to get a better grasp of exponential growth.  So I started the second class with that warm-up.

It went AMAZINGLY WELL!

The students were engaged and clambering over each other to give me answers.  I didn't introduce exponential notation and they happily ground out 2^33 BY HAND! ON WHITE BOARDS!!

The only student who did not participate did not do so on religious grounds, to which I didn't object.  She happily took the picture of those of us who wanted it.

Let me tell you how weird it is trying to teach with glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth to a room full of kids with glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth.

The kids rocked it and I'm so proud of them!