Read an interesting article from my boss today - UW System wants to reduce remedial math classes - this article fits right into philosophy about our jobs as high school math educators -- which is we must prepare our graduates for college and career with respect to math.
Thus I was excited to read that UW schools plan to make data available on its incoming students math readiness - with the (correct) idea that if HS teachers know the deficits they can correct going forward. And all the information we can get helps us as educators, info is the key to decisions.
Right now I have to track my students myself - ask (harass) how they placed, how their first math course went etc. Pretty easy when you are a small school teacher in a rural community where everybody knows everybody - but pretty hard otherwise I am guessing.
But UW System also plans to make the data public saying " That number (of remedial students) has prompted new legislation that would require the UW Board of Regents to disclose where students taking remedial math classes went to high school."
And perhaps I am reading this wrong but it seems to imply that the numbers would be public immediately - and I wonder how that will effect teachers.. If it will push them to teach to the test. If the public shaming is the motivating factor - to improve? to make better math students?
Or is this simply a push to provide cover for the UW system schools saying - it is not our fault that students don't graduate because of math.
I do believe it is on me to make sure my Algebra 2 students finish that course capable of testing into college Algebra thus not being a remedial math casualty. And with the new rule you will soon see my results.....
Showing posts with label 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2. Show all posts
Friday, March 27, 2015
Friday, October 17, 2014
Best Algebra 2 course
So I have been putting a lot of thought into what makes a great Algebra 2 course (or maybe just a better course than we currently offer). How it aligns to standards but more importantly how it makes sure students are ready for secondary math and career.
My school has the sequence of Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 -- an important fact when reading what I am considering/debating/generally thinking about. Also they may be named by the "college admission's math Triforce names" but it really is more of a Math 1, 2, 3 - integrating Algebra and Geometry in each course.
My courses proceed more slowly and have a greater emphasis on understanding than a lot of syllabuses I have reviewed. That coupled with high expectations of learning material once and using often means my year begins with very little review ---- cause what they have done they know and relearning (re reviewing) does not need to happen.
And this year after 6 weeks - I am already about ~40% completed with our Algebra 2 text (because it simply has so much review). This pace did not happen all at once, it happened slowly. This process has taken 6 years (when I started nine years ago - this material took nearly 6 months). Now when we do a topic/subject in Algebra 1 or Geometry we commit to learning it deeply (and thus slowly). We learn, understand something once and then use it recursively. And now I don't re-teach Algebra 1 or basic Geometry or Trig in Algebra 2 and that raises the question - what should I be doing now?
Hind sight is always 20/20 -- and I could have easily done the material covered in Algebra 2 in less time - but now I am getting the exciting thoughts of other things I can do. Now in the past my Math 1,2,3 sequence has just covered the basics of statistics and probability. Which my text does a poor job with too.
Like a lot of Algebra 2 texts there is review of exponents, elimination/substitution/graphing -- what I really want to add is real life stats and probability (more than the odds of pulling a red ball out of a urn). So now I am searching for materials to integrate....
And as I find materials - I will start making changes, because it is just part of the long term mission to improve each course each year - by just a little (2% better every year is my mantra). Because true improvement in curriculum takes years not months.
My school has the sequence of Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2 -- an important fact when reading what I am considering/debating/generally thinking about. Also they may be named by the "college admission's math Triforce names" but it really is more of a Math 1, 2, 3 - integrating Algebra and Geometry in each course.
My courses proceed more slowly and have a greater emphasis on understanding than a lot of syllabuses I have reviewed. That coupled with high expectations of learning material once and using often means my year begins with very little review ---- cause what they have done they know and relearning (re reviewing) does not need to happen.
And this year after 6 weeks - I am already about ~40% completed with our Algebra 2 text (because it simply has so much review). This pace did not happen all at once, it happened slowly. This process has taken 6 years (when I started nine years ago - this material took nearly 6 months). Now when we do a topic/subject in Algebra 1 or Geometry we commit to learning it deeply (and thus slowly). We learn, understand something once and then use it recursively. And now I don't re-teach Algebra 1 or basic Geometry or Trig in Algebra 2 and that raises the question - what should I be doing now?
Hind sight is always 20/20 -- and I could have easily done the material covered in Algebra 2 in less time - but now I am getting the exciting thoughts of other things I can do. Now in the past my Math 1,2,3 sequence has just covered the basics of statistics and probability. Which my text does a poor job with too.
Like a lot of Algebra 2 texts there is review of exponents, elimination/substitution/graphing -- what I really want to add is real life stats and probability (more than the odds of pulling a red ball out of a urn). So now I am searching for materials to integrate....
And as I find materials - I will start making changes, because it is just part of the long term mission to improve each course each year - by just a little (2% better every year is my mantra). Because true improvement in curriculum takes years not months.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
More thans....
I have been putting a lot of thought into the impact teachers have on their students, positive and negative, especially at high school level. We are charged with teaching young adults in math, but we are really teaching them persistence and problem solving skills. We are looking out for their future - arming them with the skills to succeed.
So every week when I am planning lessons for my courses -- I sit back and remind myself that teachers are more than:
Spitters of facts
Demanders of facts
Discipline junkies
Responsibility demanders.
I work for the students (not the 16 year old but the 27 year old future adult) -- and what my time machine tells me is the 27 year old wants to make the 16 year old ready for the world.
That is why I talk truly about the skills the world needs. I worked for over a decade in a STEM capacity and never did Cramer's rule, simplified gigantic exponent expressions or graphed a hyperbola. But the skills of thinking and researching how to find an answer to a problem I did do. The skills of thinking and finding an answer I did use to graph a hyperbola.
So the what I am doing is important, but I am careful not to end on the slippery slope of saying Algebra 2 is real life skills by itself, for most students it is simply not true. That is why I am stuck on the "more than" thought today -- I am prepping students for more than ACT or college math with Algebra 2. I am making students who are able to not only do the basic facts to be successful in college math but also making them work on projects to make them prepared for their future.
More than....
So every week when I am planning lessons for my courses -- I sit back and remind myself that teachers are more than:
Spitters of facts
Demanders of facts
Discipline junkies
Responsibility demanders.
I work for the students (not the 16 year old but the 27 year old future adult) -- and what my time machine tells me is the 27 year old wants to make the 16 year old ready for the world.
That is why I talk truly about the skills the world needs. I worked for over a decade in a STEM capacity and never did Cramer's rule, simplified gigantic exponent expressions or graphed a hyperbola. But the skills of thinking and researching how to find an answer to a problem I did do. The skills of thinking and finding an answer I did use to graph a hyperbola.
So the what I am doing is important, but I am careful not to end on the slippery slope of saying Algebra 2 is real life skills by itself, for most students it is simply not true. That is why I am stuck on the "more than" thought today -- I am prepping students for more than ACT or college math with Algebra 2. I am making students who are able to not only do the basic facts to be successful in college math but also making them work on projects to make them prepared for their future.
More than....
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