So one of the things I have started in the last two years is giving homework over the summer to my Calculus and now this summer to my Pre-Calculus students.
The Calculus work is not exciting, review so we can start on true Calculus on day 1 and leave a lot or prep time for the AP test in May. Fairly unexciting.... (Though it has worked well, about 15-20% of the Senior class takes Calculus and our passing the percentage the last 2 years has been 100%.)
But this year I also assigned Pre-Calculus homework and used Dan Meyer's idea on Shower vs Bath. (Which is cheaper a shower or bath?) I think the summer project will work great. I get to contact them a couple of weeks prior to school and get them thinking about math and "prime the pump" on things we will do.
Since this is my first year with Bath vs shower project I am unsure how well this project will work, but I hope to use it as an exercise in functions and how we can use functions to really map real world things.
Here are the google docs I used, the first is the letter/e-mail, the second is Dan Meyer's modified sheet.
Shower vs Bath e-mail
Shower vs Bath Guide Sheet
Finally remember - as the only math teacher these students are accustom to the lack of detail and theses types of projects (the lack of details is sort of on purpose - cause the world is like that) and I am excited to see where the students will take their work.....
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Don't accept zeros....
I do not enter zeros and late work receives full credit in all my courses except Calculus AB. I believe my job as a teacher is to have students learn the material and prep them for college & Career. Allowing them to take a zero does not prepare them for the world or for college. (I also believe in rework, retests, etc - but we will save that for another post.)
But not doing homework is not consequence-free....
I treat homework just like a job in the real world. If a student does not have it done at the beginning of class I simply have them stay that day after school and work some math problems with me (usually something equivalent to the homework). Since we don't grade and rarely review any homework during class time it works fine.
Now some of the arguments I typically hear:
From college professors -- that I am not preparing them for college because they think late work is acceptable. First, no -- the students know it is unacceptable; I preach that no where in the world is not doing work acceptable -- school is their job but it is different then a real job - they don't get paid and I cannot fire them.
And professors and HS teachers have different jobs! College is the opportunity to learn, in High School the learning is required. But since AP Calculus is a college course I do enter zeros but in no other courses.
From other teachers -- that this policy is not like the real world and I am not prepping them. This always makes me chuckle because for 12 years I was an engineer and manager in corporations and mid-size companies. And if you think of homework as a report, or a quote or something like that -- those things are often late in the world. School is a job - but it is not a real job (again cannot fire). What we teach them is most important and consequences need to be what the student finds not pleasant. Zeros are often not unpleasant, hanging with Mr. A after school, well you get the point. [One thing I will concede is it does make more work for me -- but after a couple of weeks it is just one or two students that seem to miss.]
If I enter zeros I allow the students to skip required practice and knowledge -- and if my homework is appropriate and reasonable (I do my best with this) then it is important.
I have a policy, that I call a Homework FAQ sheet, that I send home with students on day 1 signed by them and their parents that lets me keep them after school. (Homework FAQ).
Finally I use judgement with this, it is a policy that requires being reasonable and fair. If it was run equally accross students I would probably lose my job. But it works, six years ago I had about 20% zeros, now I have less than one percent (sometimes I enter a zero at quarter end if the grade stays the same, the student still completes the homework -- helps with grade deadlines).
I really believe our job is to educate, these students are just kids looking for the path of least resistance. Our job is to make sure the path of least resistance requires them to learn enough to be successful after High School.
But not doing homework is not consequence-free....
I treat homework just like a job in the real world. If a student does not have it done at the beginning of class I simply have them stay that day after school and work some math problems with me (usually something equivalent to the homework). Since we don't grade and rarely review any homework during class time it works fine.
Now some of the arguments I typically hear:
From college professors -- that I am not preparing them for college because they think late work is acceptable. First, no -- the students know it is unacceptable; I preach that no where in the world is not doing work acceptable -- school is their job but it is different then a real job - they don't get paid and I cannot fire them.
And professors and HS teachers have different jobs! College is the opportunity to learn, in High School the learning is required. But since AP Calculus is a college course I do enter zeros but in no other courses.
From other teachers -- that this policy is not like the real world and I am not prepping them. This always makes me chuckle because for 12 years I was an engineer and manager in corporations and mid-size companies. And if you think of homework as a report, or a quote or something like that -- those things are often late in the world. School is a job - but it is not a real job (again cannot fire). What we teach them is most important and consequences need to be what the student finds not pleasant. Zeros are often not unpleasant, hanging with Mr. A after school, well you get the point. [One thing I will concede is it does make more work for me -- but after a couple of weeks it is just one or two students that seem to miss.]
If I enter zeros I allow the students to skip required practice and knowledge -- and if my homework is appropriate and reasonable (I do my best with this) then it is important.
I have a policy, that I call a Homework FAQ sheet, that I send home with students on day 1 signed by them and their parents that lets me keep them after school. (Homework FAQ).
Finally I use judgement with this, it is a policy that requires being reasonable and fair. If it was run equally accross students I would probably lose my job. But it works, six years ago I had about 20% zeros, now I have less than one percent (sometimes I enter a zero at quarter end if the grade stays the same, the student still completes the homework -- helps with grade deadlines).
I really believe our job is to educate, these students are just kids looking for the path of least resistance. Our job is to make sure the path of least resistance requires them to learn enough to be successful after High School.
Friday, August 10, 2012
I'm Presenting -- ACT Conference - Wisconsin 2013
Really happy to tell everyone that I will be presenting at the 2013 ACT Conference in Middleton, Wisconsin on Feb 7th, 2013. I just received a call to quickly review my proposal and get the details.
The presentation will be similar to the Wisconsin Math Council (WMC) presentation I made this past May (Prezi Link).
This presentation for ACT is:
This part of my teaching is me trying to find a balance between big idea/big problems/understanding concepts and the need for precision on skills. Out of 220 minutes I have per week I give 40-50 minutes to the quizzing and review of ACT skills (~20%).
I really believe understanding is critically important but my students also need mastery of basic Algebra & Geometry skills so they are ready for college & career. I want none of my students to have to take remedial math in college or tech school.
There is a happy medium between large skill projects and enough recursive practice to make sure the skills are mastered upon graduation. (Remember - if you don't use it you lose it.)
So -- Yippie!
The presentation will be similar to the Wisconsin Math Council (WMC) presentation I made this past May (Prezi Link).
This presentation for ACT is:
Improving Math ACT Scores/Aligned-by-Design - Small School Update;
Description: College & Career Readiness by yourself, hear from a small school teacher (single math teacher in HS) about how he is using Aligned-by-Design & ACT standards/ideas into existing curriculum to improve Math ACT scores.This part of my teaching is me trying to find a balance between big idea/big problems/understanding concepts and the need for precision on skills. Out of 220 minutes I have per week I give 40-50 minutes to the quizzing and review of ACT skills (~20%).
I really believe understanding is critically important but my students also need mastery of basic Algebra & Geometry skills so they are ready for college & career. I want none of my students to have to take remedial math in college or tech school.
There is a happy medium between large skill projects and enough recursive practice to make sure the skills are mastered upon graduation. (Remember - if you don't use it you lose it.)
So -- Yippie!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Too bad the first shot in the Math Wars was not fired today...
Too bad the first shot in the Math Wars was not fired today!
What I mean is that many math teachers realize something is not working. All you have to do is look at our end product -- we have 40% of all incoming freshmen at college requiring math remediation (not sure what percentage of the non-college students are not prepared).
As a group, we must admit that what we are doing does not instill a true understanding of mathematics and its interrelatedness. We still simply sort students. (Note - there are many great teachers, doing many great things but say there are 10,000 great math teachers, that would not even be 10% of all math teachers)
But when we started to reform math there was not the resources that there are today. We gave new texts with new ideas and methods to teachers who were not truly trained to deliver the material (5 days inservice does not change a teaching culture). We sent one letter home to parents explaining why it was important, or asked them to come meetings -- that didn't create an understanding.
And as so often happens the pendulum in education had swung too far towards reform/discovery too quickly, schools did not allow for a migration. More importantly schools did not include enough public relations work and true reforms in math education have simply not worked yet.
And the pockets of math that seems to really work due the school or the individual teacher are seemingly not scaleable to the rest of the country.
Today I feel like the open source revolution is here, there is the ability to create and share is as easy as ever. We can easily communicate with one another from our desks -- teacher-to-teacher, teacher-to-parent, teacher-to-anyone. We can find/create videos that help instruction or guide as teachers.
We can address things - but it means making a real cultural change -- at least today it seems doable. We can set up videos to share, have meeting easily (and cheaply), and communicate with parents thru facebook, twitter, etc. Now if we all had the will.
What I mean is that many math teachers realize something is not working. All you have to do is look at our end product -- we have 40% of all incoming freshmen at college requiring math remediation (not sure what percentage of the non-college students are not prepared).
As a group, we must admit that what we are doing does not instill a true understanding of mathematics and its interrelatedness. We still simply sort students. (Note - there are many great teachers, doing many great things but say there are 10,000 great math teachers, that would not even be 10% of all math teachers)
But when we started to reform math there was not the resources that there are today. We gave new texts with new ideas and methods to teachers who were not truly trained to deliver the material (5 days inservice does not change a teaching culture). We sent one letter home to parents explaining why it was important, or asked them to come meetings -- that didn't create an understanding.
And as so often happens the pendulum in education had swung too far towards reform/discovery too quickly, schools did not allow for a migration. More importantly schools did not include enough public relations work and true reforms in math education have simply not worked yet.
And the pockets of math that seems to really work due the school or the individual teacher are seemingly not scaleable to the rest of the country.
Today I feel like the open source revolution is here, there is the ability to create and share is as easy as ever. We can easily communicate with one another from our desks -- teacher-to-teacher, teacher-to-parent, teacher-to-anyone. We can find/create videos that help instruction or guide as teachers.
We can address things - but it means making a real cultural change -- at least today it seems doable. We can set up videos to share, have meeting easily (and cheaply), and communicate with parents thru facebook, twitter, etc. Now if we all had the will.
Monday, August 6, 2012
National Board Certifiacation - Is it worth it?
Recently I have been reading and deciding whether to do National Board Certification for Teachers (NBCT). I really want to be the best educator I can be but is it possible in a small school with 8 preps to accomplish the work for the NBCT? (and not have your family regret it...)
Is this a goal that is worth chasing -- I am not sure anyone in my little area cares whether I have NBCT, I think I would like to do it for myself though. There is a financial reward - a 10 yr grant $2500 per year, and the cost is $2500 and there may be or may not be scholarships to help with that initial cost. But the money really does not motivate me on this question of whether to pursue NCBT. It is the idea that this will make me a better educator and will give my students more opportunity.
I think the question I want to know is - Does it really make me a better teacher? Can I really accomplish it with so many preps? and Can I accomplish it using the ancient materials we have at my school in math? All my materials are over 10 years old (but as I posted before I don't think after seeing new books that something "better" is around).
This is a big question for me that I need to really think about. If there was a local network of teachers working on it I may be more willing, but the thought of doing this NBCT work with on-line support and no local support is really an unappealing thought.
This is not a question I will answer today or tomorrow but I will decide prior to month's end -- I either give it my all or nothin at all.....
Is this a goal that is worth chasing -- I am not sure anyone in my little area cares whether I have NBCT, I think I would like to do it for myself though. There is a financial reward - a 10 yr grant $2500 per year, and the cost is $2500 and there may be or may not be scholarships to help with that initial cost. But the money really does not motivate me on this question of whether to pursue NCBT. It is the idea that this will make me a better educator and will give my students more opportunity.
I think the question I want to know is - Does it really make me a better teacher? Can I really accomplish it with so many preps? and Can I accomplish it using the ancient materials we have at my school in math? All my materials are over 10 years old (but as I posted before I don't think after seeing new books that something "better" is around).
This is a big question for me that I need to really think about. If there was a local network of teachers working on it I may be more willing, but the thought of doing this NBCT work with on-line support and no local support is really an unappealing thought.
This is not a question I will answer today or tomorrow but I will decide prior to month's end -- I either give it my all or nothin at all.....
Friday, August 3, 2012
Common Core Standards -- Is there enough time for real learning???
So am I sitting and thinking about where each of my classes will be starting this fall (and where they should be). One of the great advantages of a small school is I know all 95 students at Juda; their strengths and their places that require more attention. I am excited for another year -- we have had moderate success with an emphasis on skills that will help make all graduates college and career ready. (I use the ACT as the benchmark for this measurement.) I am now trying to tie the ACT emphasis, the common core and true mathematical applications together -- all while taking my students from their current math position forward.
My plan for the next few days (while recovering from minor knee surgery) is to take the HS common core and split the domain/standards into each of my classes (using a word document and actually putting the standards in order into each course). From lowest to highest I currently teach the following:
Algebra 1A/Transition Math
Algebra 1B
Algebra 1
Geometry
Algebra 2
Senior Math
Pre-Calculus
Calculus (AP and UW-O credit)
(Physics in every other odd year.... so 2013)
But my concern is really after placing each standard how do I accomplish the mathematical practices from the common core. So it starts with placing each standard, but then the more important step is going to be the process of placing the practices -- to make sure that I am not simply drilling and killing a skill.
So that is the challenge, where to place all the standards while concentrating on the practices. I believed when released that the HS standards were too numerous. I will see how I feel after placing them.
But my question remains the same - Is there time for it all? And if not.... What do we remove to allow time for real learning with the mathematical practices?
My plan for the next few days (while recovering from minor knee surgery) is to take the HS common core and split the domain/standards into each of my classes (using a word document and actually putting the standards in order into each course). From lowest to highest I currently teach the following:
Algebra 1A/Transition Math
Algebra 1B
Algebra 1
Geometry
Algebra 2
Senior Math
Pre-Calculus
Calculus (AP and UW-O credit)
(Physics in every other odd year.... so 2013)
But my concern is really after placing each standard how do I accomplish the mathematical practices from the common core. So it starts with placing each standard, but then the more important step is going to be the process of placing the practices -- to make sure that I am not simply drilling and killing a skill.
So that is the challenge, where to place all the standards while concentrating on the practices. I believed when released that the HS standards were too numerous. I will see how I feel after placing them.
But my question remains the same - Is there time for it all? And if not.... What do we remove to allow time for real learning with the mathematical practices?
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Too big too care?
So Key Curriculum (makers of Geometry Sketch pad) announced that it had joined forces with McGraw-Hill Education. So the question I want to ask does this help math students in our country?
I have become very disillusioned with publishers of math materials in the US. There has been a slow decline in their quantity to the point where there are just a couple of publishers left. This is a problem.
It is a problem because competition breeds innovation and quality, the only innovation lately has been "Common Core Aligned" stickers on the textbooks that existed prior to the common core! The concern over profits versus materials that profit students is a battle seemingly long lost.
I have started my protest by not buying new books (why buy non-quality things!), I have used self-created materials, free websites and used text books. It is sometimes not optimum for me, as the teacher, but I can buy a used book for $8 in precalculus, a new text is >$100. So I have 3 texts that we switch between - utilizing the strength of each book - for less than $25 per student the last 3 years. I am also using ck-12.org -- a website with free "texts." My next plan is to have precalculus students help create sections that contain lessons and videos thus moving towards a web-based resources versus paper texts. A text that integrates applications discussed in my last post. This is what we need in math education, we need innovation!
So Key Curriculum asked "LIKE and SHARE if you are as excited as we are for this opportunity!" So am I excited? NO.......
I have become very disillusioned with publishers of math materials in the US. There has been a slow decline in their quantity to the point where there are just a couple of publishers left. This is a problem.
It is a problem because competition breeds innovation and quality, the only innovation lately has been "Common Core Aligned" stickers on the textbooks that existed prior to the common core! The concern over profits versus materials that profit students is a battle seemingly long lost.
I have started my protest by not buying new books (why buy non-quality things!), I have used self-created materials, free websites and used text books. It is sometimes not optimum for me, as the teacher, but I can buy a used book for $8 in precalculus, a new text is >$100. So I have 3 texts that we switch between - utilizing the strength of each book - for less than $25 per student the last 3 years. I am also using ck-12.org -- a website with free "texts." My next plan is to have precalculus students help create sections that contain lessons and videos thus moving towards a web-based resources versus paper texts. A text that integrates applications discussed in my last post. This is what we need in math education, we need innovation!
So Key Curriculum asked "LIKE and SHARE if you are as excited as we are for this opportunity!" So am I excited? NO.......
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