Sometimes we do things out of the ordinary to help kids remember how to do things. Today's out of the ordinary was talking like Jimmy Fallon in his "Ew!" skit.
We worked through factoring talking like that. So strange but it made it fun and a but goofy.
Had some tests today and some did well and others did not. Hard to try to keep everyone on the same page, especially when one of those or some of those kids have attitude days. Had a kid not want to take the test and then asked what we did yesterday. "We'll, we took the same test you will take right now". She just rolled her eyes. Good thing I'm not her mother.
This weekend I preset a journalling topic with a friend/fellow teacher. Starting to get nervous about my part but I think once I get things rolling, my friend will take over at least I hope she does since she is so much better at journalling than I. To prepare I'm creating the front page of a booklet we will make and one of the foldables. Been working on the foldable in my spare time and hope to post it when it's done. After that I MUST finish my book study. I should be done by now. I'm lame to not have it done and I'm 2 tests from being done. If I was my student, I'd be onry. Ok. More grading and hopefully to bed soon.
I mentioned I went to bed at 10:30 pm and my students surprised me by listing even earlier bedtimes. I had figured they were all night owls. Haha!
Lates.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
1.28.13 - things you don't expect when you wake up
Start with 3 things.
Getting through polynomials all right.
Um. Had some nice teacher discussion.
Got through double digit multiplication with my kid today.
Yep.
My big wonder for today was, do other teachers wake up thinking everything is going to be ok, and then a student totally sidelines them with a personal problem. I don't care to go into specifics but the problem she has, is a repeat of another problem. Dude. It is one of those things that make you wish they'd not come to you with problems cos you just don't know how to tell them they're stupid.
My other problem didnt show up today and he's just prolonging the eventually meeting with the principal. It was nice to not have to deal with him.
Last but not least, last week we had super drama (thank goodness not in my class) and so the student involved withdrew today. I hope that student does ok in a bigger school, but I have a feeling she's in for a rude awakening.
It was a long day so I'm so happy to be home. Test scores are slowly getting better, even though I'm not offering as many points back. If only my kids' confidence would go up as well.
Time for bed. Needed to write. Lots on my mind but not ready to go there. Lates.
Getting through polynomials all right.
Um. Had some nice teacher discussion.
Got through double digit multiplication with my kid today.
Yep.
My big wonder for today was, do other teachers wake up thinking everything is going to be ok, and then a student totally sidelines them with a personal problem. I don't care to go into specifics but the problem she has, is a repeat of another problem. Dude. It is one of those things that make you wish they'd not come to you with problems cos you just don't know how to tell them they're stupid.
My other problem didnt show up today and he's just prolonging the eventually meeting with the principal. It was nice to not have to deal with him.
Last but not least, last week we had super drama (thank goodness not in my class) and so the student involved withdrew today. I hope that student does ok in a bigger school, but I have a feeling she's in for a rude awakening.
It was a long day so I'm so happy to be home. Test scores are slowly getting better, even though I'm not offering as many points back. If only my kids' confidence would go up as well.
Time for bed. Needed to write. Lots on my mind but not ready to go there. Lates.
Friday, January 25, 2013
1.25.13 blog I found
I found this blog today. Am on phone or I'd have just added to follow.
http://mathimportantbook.blogspot.com.au/?m=1
http://mathimportantbook.blogspot.com.au/?m=1
Thursday, January 24, 2013
1.24.13 never really sure
Three things:
Got through monomials.
Kids I didn't think would volunteer, did today.
Had what seemed like a good "you got this" moment with a student.
Today was a bit of a reminder that administration has a lot of stuff to worry about and what I find to be important, might be a small ripple in the pond. This teaching thing, hard to know when to back off and let things be. What happened today was the principal stopped by and we talked about things going on. It was interesting to hear what his concerns were and helped kick me off my soapbox (at least for a day). Tough stuff to deal with and I'm glad to stay out of administration.
On another not fun note, things got awkward in one of my classes and at one point I was called a liar. It was just a weird situation and it seemed like the kid who was involved is having a weird year but still. There was no need for that. I try to play things straight with them so to be called a liar is not cool. Then there's all the times I've put up with his whining and lameness and then I have today. I'm sure I could have done something better and I'm sorry that I couldn't keep things under control better. When I spoke with the principal he had me document the situation and email him. Not the best but I guess we all have our weird days. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday and am focused on getting some rest and cleaning done this weekend. Need to walk away to rethink things and how to do better, if possible.
All right. Promised I'd head to bed not too late so I'm out. Lates
Got through monomials.
Kids I didn't think would volunteer, did today.
Had what seemed like a good "you got this" moment with a student.
Today was a bit of a reminder that administration has a lot of stuff to worry about and what I find to be important, might be a small ripple in the pond. This teaching thing, hard to know when to back off and let things be. What happened today was the principal stopped by and we talked about things going on. It was interesting to hear what his concerns were and helped kick me off my soapbox (at least for a day). Tough stuff to deal with and I'm glad to stay out of administration.
On another not fun note, things got awkward in one of my classes and at one point I was called a liar. It was just a weird situation and it seemed like the kid who was involved is having a weird year but still. There was no need for that. I try to play things straight with them so to be called a liar is not cool. Then there's all the times I've put up with his whining and lameness and then I have today. I'm sure I could have done something better and I'm sorry that I couldn't keep things under control better. When I spoke with the principal he had me document the situation and email him. Not the best but I guess we all have our weird days. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday and am focused on getting some rest and cleaning done this weekend. Need to walk away to rethink things and how to do better, if possible.
All right. Promised I'd head to bed not too late so I'm out. Lates
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
1.23.12 unstuck
my students are learning how to deal with being "stuck" today. what seemed like a fairly simple exercise has opened my eyes to how much i assist them and i wonder if i'm over-doing it (the assisting).
we are taking a unit test and since its mid-year, I've changed my testing policy (procedure?) to accommodate preparation for the standardized tests. Up until now, I've awarded 1/2 credit back for tests that we go over in class together. I've let them use journals for reference, but no notes. now that it's a new semester and we are closer to the BIG tests, I'm thinking I will not let them use journals anymore and they need to do the test on their own. I can read the questions out to them (for those that require it) and then I will award only 1/4 points back on tests when we go over them together. The Freshmen seemed to pick up on this quite well and even passed their recent test. My Sophomores are kind of freaking out that I'm leaving them to solve things on their own. Makes me feel like I baby them too much.
I explained the reason for my procedure/policy is due to the fact that they need to get used to not being able to ask me for help, it helps them feel the stress of a test and they can start really focusing on getting themselves unstuck.
Someone out there is thinking, "why didnt you just start this sooner?" this is a good thought. i really dont know why except that i wanted to give them a fighting chance to start off with. quite honestly, I'd like to see what other teachers do to prepare their students for standardized tests (emotionally, etc.) Frankly, I would like to just see how other people teach. Its been a while since I sat in and observed some one else and it would be nice to see what they did. Maybe I could learn something new or I could see that I was doing something horrible.
I hope that we can get through this together and whomever is reading this, if you have any good suggestions for testing strategies, I'd be interested in hearing those.
On another note and in a different class, our printer wasn't working as it should so we got through a part of today's work and then we went and shot hoops. We figured we could make a correlation-style something from the stuff we did but it ended up in us seeing what kind of shots we could make. Bit of healthy competition. Tomorrow we will get back to business. word.
speakin gof business, I need to work on a book study since I said I'd be done this week. Off I go. Lates.
we are taking a unit test and since its mid-year, I've changed my testing policy (procedure?) to accommodate preparation for the standardized tests. Up until now, I've awarded 1/2 credit back for tests that we go over in class together. I've let them use journals for reference, but no notes. now that it's a new semester and we are closer to the BIG tests, I'm thinking I will not let them use journals anymore and they need to do the test on their own. I can read the questions out to them (for those that require it) and then I will award only 1/4 points back on tests when we go over them together. The Freshmen seemed to pick up on this quite well and even passed their recent test. My Sophomores are kind of freaking out that I'm leaving them to solve things on their own. Makes me feel like I baby them too much.
I explained the reason for my procedure/policy is due to the fact that they need to get used to not being able to ask me for help, it helps them feel the stress of a test and they can start really focusing on getting themselves unstuck.
Someone out there is thinking, "why didnt you just start this sooner?" this is a good thought. i really dont know why except that i wanted to give them a fighting chance to start off with. quite honestly, I'd like to see what other teachers do to prepare their students for standardized tests (emotionally, etc.) Frankly, I would like to just see how other people teach. Its been a while since I sat in and observed some one else and it would be nice to see what they did. Maybe I could learn something new or I could see that I was doing something horrible.
I hope that we can get through this together and whomever is reading this, if you have any good suggestions for testing strategies, I'd be interested in hearing those.
On another note and in a different class, our printer wasn't working as it should so we got through a part of today's work and then we went and shot hoops. We figured we could make a correlation-style something from the stuff we did but it ended up in us seeing what kind of shots we could make. Bit of healthy competition. Tomorrow we will get back to business. word.
speakin gof business, I need to work on a book study since I said I'd be done this week. Off I go. Lates.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
1-22-13 find the good
Freshmen all passed their test today. First time all passed without corrections and help. Woo!
Two students who don't like each other sat next to each other today and didnt kill each other. Good deal.
A student chose to do more quadratic solutions on the calculator so she could make sure she had things right. She even caught a very hard to see dual solution. Good on her. I hope she does well on the test this year.
Helped my kiddo with his similar fractions. He finished his homework with no tears!
Ready for bed and some much needed rest. Laters.
Two students who don't like each other sat next to each other today and didnt kill each other. Good deal.
A student chose to do more quadratic solutions on the calculator so she could make sure she had things right. She even caught a very hard to see dual solution. Good on her. I hope she does well on the test this year.
Helped my kiddo with his similar fractions. He finished his homework with no tears!
Ready for bed and some much needed rest. Laters.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
1.19.13 back in the saddle again
I need to get back in the habit of doing this. It's semester end and well, it's nice to be in a new semester.
Since the flu season has hit our school pretty hard, instead of taking up homework, I've taken to looking at their paper to see they've done the work (wrong or right) and basing their grade off the work done. Then we go over answers in class and do a quick summary of what the point was. I am sure someone is slapping their forehead and thinking, "duh." Well sometimes it takes a newbie to figure things like this out. So far it works although it creates a need for quizzes more often. One of these days ill get things right.
Met with a fellow teacher/friend about a presentation we will be doing for a regional conference. It was nice to compare a few stories and share our teaching processes. My friend is AMAZING at taking our curriculum and turning it into a hands on experience for the students that amazes me every time she shows me something new shes created. We will be presenting on using foldables with our curriculum. Going beyond how to fold but how and when to use, resources. I'm nervous but excited to see how it goes. If anything, it's good experience.
More later on what I'm doing with classes. New semester puts us closer to the tests. Focus will be even more on testing and well, if the semester finals are any indication, my kids aren't even close to being ready, despite all I've taught them. All right. Enough for now.
Since the flu season has hit our school pretty hard, instead of taking up homework, I've taken to looking at their paper to see they've done the work (wrong or right) and basing their grade off the work done. Then we go over answers in class and do a quick summary of what the point was. I am sure someone is slapping their forehead and thinking, "duh." Well sometimes it takes a newbie to figure things like this out. So far it works although it creates a need for quizzes more often. One of these days ill get things right.
Met with a fellow teacher/friend about a presentation we will be doing for a regional conference. It was nice to compare a few stories and share our teaching processes. My friend is AMAZING at taking our curriculum and turning it into a hands on experience for the students that amazes me every time she shows me something new shes created. We will be presenting on using foldables with our curriculum. Going beyond how to fold but how and when to use, resources. I'm nervous but excited to see how it goes. If anything, it's good experience.
More later on what I'm doing with classes. New semester puts us closer to the tests. Focus will be even more on testing and well, if the semester finals are any indication, my kids aren't even close to being ready, despite all I've taught them. All right. Enough for now.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)