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.

Curriculum Improvement is slow work, Just going one step at a time....

So another nice day out, and I am making boards about Algebra 1 and Calculus.  These are the two classes out of the seven I teach that I am trying to flip.  It simply taking steps during summer to be slightly better each year - just 2% each year I joke and next thing you know you are making real substantial progress.

School in-service starts in 2 days - and I have done a lot of reflecting and working this summer on curriculum.  But I will admit the ugly truth - I have not made the best lessons and videos I could have.  That's because there is never enough time, I am always delivering less than my best (it is my best for the time available).   (Note - I know I read about this ugly truth in another article or blog  - but cannot locate it to cite - but I am joining that author and admitting the ugly truth.)

And sometimes that can be a weight on me.  I want to do the best - not just the best I can within my workload, or the best I can in some amount of time.  But that is not truly possible and something I rarely discuss - I talk about working hard, and making choices that maintain sanity.  I cannot spend 4 hours prepping a 45 min lesson - cause I have 7 different ones that day (7*4>24).

So another nice day - and I worked on curriculum - not all day, but part of my summer day and that is the best.

Homework questions & dilemmas --- reflections on Cathy Vatterott's Rethinking Homework

A teacher/friend/co-worker of mine is reading "Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs" by Cathy Vatterott for a class and was asked to get some people to answer some questions for her.  I have read the book and it is one of many that has moved me from being a believer that homework is mandatory to learn math, to the idea that it is an assistance (when done in the right context), but not a necessity.

The questions are bold - my reply follows.

What is your philosophy of homework?  What do you consider the role/purpose of homework? 
It is practice.  In a perfect world it should be individualized and time based versus number of problems based.  Meaning strugglers do less problems, different problems, "easier" problems.

I also believe new material should not be practiced at home - it needs to be done under the expert (the teacher).    (Comparing homework to my previous life -- homework is low level paperwork)

At the HS level I don't think homework teaches responsibility at all (I doubt it for all grade levels), it may teach a little about consequences (And again in the real world you are not punished for skipping some "homework" - skipping some low level work can be important, and for me personally it resulted in promotion -- skip good, do great)

And finally - if homework is low level - how much time should I or my students put into it?  Until you reach a high level of math - my answer is not much.  At high level classes with a quicker pace, it is needed that students do some learning on their own (sort of like college) but for the traditional K-8, Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 sequence I don't think asking students to learn "themselves" is a good idea.

What are your struggles with homework?
If I assign homework - I should look at it (theoretically) but that is impossible (20 problems, 100 students is 2000 problems per day, at 8 seconds per problem is over 4 hours!).  Not checking homework is my largest struggle, but checking it in class is a waste; you know 5 students watch (who got them all) and 25 are in the twilight zone.   I know there is only so much of me and it is impossible to do it all - homework's return on my investment is simply not enough.  I also struggle to do good differentiation on homework assignments -- that is why I am looking into more computer based practice programs (see below).


What do you think about grading or not grading homework?

I feel practice should not be graded for a score (I give a couple of points for "completed" work, which ends up being only about 1% of the student's grade).  But as the teacher it is important for me to know that students are learning from their mistakes and correcting when doing homework.  That is why with paper and pencil homework I always provide the solutions, which a lot of students still don't check! (Ha!)  That is why I am pushing towards more on-line, have to be correct to move on type of homework.  My plan is to use Khan Academy heavily this coming school year.  But errors must be okay and homework is where they should occur.

What do you think?  Homework is one of the hardest parts of being a math teacher - go ahead and write me a comment, or a drop me a note.

What Great Teachers Do Differently -- Thoughts on Whitaker's Book

So I just finished reading Todd Whitaker's book What Great Teachers Do Differently (here is a link to a  document with some of the book ideas).  It was a pleasant book to read, it was kind of a gathering of ideas that supported the basic idea that great teachers care about kids; they form a relationships, they do what is best for kids, etc.

But I took away a couple of things for me, that I did not find "common."  First, the idea that great teachers don't make rules based on one to two students or parents.  This meaning deal with trouble directly, not with the entire class but those who need the attention, which I already did.  But more importantly ask yourself what would my best students think - that is a great phrase because that is what the world does with employees too.  If my best students/parents find a note that comes home about a rule insulting - don't send it!   Deal with the 2 of 30 students who are causing an issue.

I already did not have a lot of rules and I preach "fair-ness over equal-ness," meaning each person is treated fairly - that does mean people are treated slightly differently depending on the situation and needs of the student. And that is okay, that is how the world works.  If one student needs attention for behavior, I deal with that one student.  If one student has an issue and cannot do homework for a couple of days, I excuse that student.  The teacher must make the decision and must do his or her best to be fair (NOT EQUAL).

The second thing I took from the book was the reminder that I only control me.  I am the variable in the classroom that I can control.  The teacher can really only change his or her performance!   It is my job to reach out, prod and push these students - to make sure they are doing math each day in my room at least.  And if we (the student and I) can get 45 minutes per day of effort on math - then we can almost always progress through the math requirements for a HS diploma.  Cause that diploma is the ticket to nearly everything in the workplace.  And we don't let 15 year olds make life alternating decisions without pushing them hard, at a minimum, in a positive direction.

Again it is nice read, short -- and makes you reflect on what you are doing in your classroom.

Struggling is hard, one of the reasons the best don't teach

In my old job (Engineering) my family lived within our means.  We were careful with money but because of our style of not living extravangent we never had to worry about money.  My wife did not work and we easily got by.  Then I became a teacher.

Eight years ago we realized the struggle financially and planned for it.  But I also believed in 2006 that in 5 years we would get back to even (so long as we bought a cheap house, and had no car payments) and now I am in 2013 still struggling to make ends meet.  (Teaching pay has not kept up with inflation coupled with 2 pay freezes and an 6% pay cut)   I have a house payment of about $700 (as cheap as a family of 6 can own or rent), no car payment, my wife now works (because our kids are older) and yet it is nip and tuck every month.  I pick up work during the summer and do whatever I can to get some extra income.

But think about the whole statement above and it is no wonder that the best don't teach.  I am really driven, I really love teaching, yet every May and June I have to sit down and figure out how to balance our families books.  I know there are a group that think - yeah, tough, what about me?  And I understand that point of view but the focus in this post is about getting the best people to teach and stay teaching, and not very often do the best struggle as hard financially as teaching currently requires.

Do we really want the best teachers?

As a country we talk about wanting the best people to be teachers, because if we put students first a great teacher makes a huge difference.  Society says that's what we want, the culture says that's what we want. But I just received my contract for teaching next year. And there's a disconnect between what we say we want and what we do.

In my former job in the private sector, you would never think to sign a contract with blank spaces. Yet my teaching contract for next year had a blank spot for salary. And that blank spots' meaning cannot be lost on us and what it implies.  (Also I don't blame the school where I work for the contract I received. They are slave to state funding, they have little choice but to give a contract that the state dictates by their budget.)

It implies that while we say we want the best teachers; we truly are unwilling to do the things that brings and keeps the best people in education.   Unfortunately we really don't want the best teachers, we want smart charitable people. The best typically will go where the rewards are.

In my case I cannot even be rewarded with a guarantee of what my next year salary will be, if I want a job I need to sign it.  Due to how the state does school financing my school cannot even write in the amount that I made this year. How do we expect to attract the smartest and the brightest people to make a real difference?

I was successful in my former job, I was good at my former job. I wanted to teach but it shouldn't have to be charitable. We should want the brightest for education and should be willing to go get them.
 
I hear and read that teachers make the most difference in a student's progress, yet they're the ones we abuse. We do not make teaching a desirable position, and overall we don't respect the position much either.  I find myself more respected than other teachers. People will say "Oh, you're a teacher."  and I reply"Yes, I teach math," and they go"Oh I couldn't do that."  That implies they could teach anything else but math, not everyone can teach.  And to be good at it, and to keep the good people in it, the public sector must treat its best employees like the private sector.

The interesting part is people talk of what 'has to happen in education.' But there really isn't any drive to fix it. It takes great teachers in education to make a difference, and we are not going to attract great teachers.  Overall you get what you pay for, and with salaries and benefits going in free-fall compared to inflation simply means we will get mediocre teachers. (And the occasional few who was simply want to teach no matter what the financial reward.)

I love teaching. But every year, at about this time,  I have to consider the pay and what I could make in engineering, my former career. If the pay for teaching was simply a little more, so I was not constantly struggling, and if the respect a little more, I'm sure I wouldn't make that consideration.  But those things are not there in education presently so every year I think about leaving teaching.

I'm at a loss for how to change the culture and dedication to education of the United States; how we change how we treat teachers. I'm also at a loss for how to put students first, meaning how to get great teachers. If you put students first, and I usually do, they need great teachers. That means compensation for the best, and a contract with a blank spot for pay doesn't make the best want to stay.