Polleverywhere.com: The rules went fine and everything.. they followed them. One kid texted another kid in class, that's about the worst that happened. It was such a hassle getting my LCD projector set up... then getting to the website.. then when you hook up the LCD it blows the graphs out of proportion and so the kids couldn't see the right numbers... then because they only saw some of the numbers they voted for whatever.. so not even putting thought into the ?. So i'm going to just wait to try it again when I get my Activboard. But I'm also getting clickers with my whiteboard, so that might be a good alternative.
I'm struggling with the fact that my students still seem to be failing their assessments in their regular math classes. I'm in a tough position--I'm only in my 2nd year of teaching, so there's no way I am going to approach a veteran teacher and ask how the topic is being approached, because I don't want to be in the position of making myself look like a fool. Hopefully the 6th graders will do better with the new approach that the Math Expressions Curriculum takes.
To Be continued...
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Tomorrow will be Chaos
Tomorrow will be chaos. The weather forecasters are calling for 7-10 inches of snow in MN and 10-12 in Northern WI.
Highlights:
My 8th grade Math Foundations class all proclaimed to me that they "don't need no practice on the pythagorean theorem, that stuff is easy!" Normally when I say this, I take it with a grain of salt, because they may think it's easy, but really, they just don't want to practice. I did a speed solving activity with them. They each had their own card with a pythagorean theorem problem on it (for today we just did when a and b are known and c is unknown) and they were exactly right.. of the 12 students, only 2 needed more practiced. I then later asked them, "What do we do if we don't know a or b and we DO know c" Well you see Ms. B, "then all you gotta do is SUBTRACT a or b from c." Duh. I should have known it was that easy :)
6th grade Math Foundations: I spent all day Sunday trying to mix up a concoction for BUBBLES. I have tons of bubbles but I wanted colored bubbles so that when the kids blow them on a piece of paper, they will pop and leave a color outline. With this color outline the students will then measure the diameter, radius, circumferences and area. After 2 trips to walgreens, and 2 trips to the grocery store, and one trip to walmart, the bubble concoction was in working order. Containing 4.5 c water, .5 cup dawn dish soap and 4 Tables Spoons of liquid glycerin, I was blowing bubbles and leaving their mark. I had kids use pipecleaners as their bubble wants. The liquid glycerin was hard to find, and I was only able to find it in the form of a SUPPOSITORY at walgreens, and was quite spendy. But the glycerin was key to having bubbles that would stick on the page and leave a round circle mark. My 3rd hour loved the activity, and begged me to let them blow bubbles later in the year. My 4th hour kept asking me when they could just be done and go play games. Interesting how these two classes are so different from eachother! We'll be making the measurements tomorrow since their papers were too wet to work with today.
Algebra: I have underestimated their abilities on a grand scale and now realize I need to challenge them more. Through out chapter 3 (solving multi-step linear equations) my students "seemed" to struggle. They asked the same questions over again, seemed confused, needed multiple reminders. However, their quiz scores were OK throughout the chapter. Their chapter test scores were PHENOMENAL. The class average was a 97.3%. Either this test is TOO EASY or they really GET IT. I'm going to go with the really get it part, because it's the same test we used last year and I know the average was not this high. The kids also blew the bench mark test out of the water, with 100% of my students scoring proficient or advanced (on a test in a class that is already an advanced class for 8th grade). We are in good shape. On the other hand I have 12 boys and 6 girls in this class. A little disproportionate, the immaturity of the boys is really starting to get to mob-mentality and getting on my nerves. Last week i had THREE boys, taking chunks out of their paper with their teeth and chewing paper wads, just chewing them, not even spitting them. Who does this?!?! There's constant toe tapping, finger drumming, noise making etc. I started an incentive based reward for each day. If we're good as a class, we get the short assignment. If we're off task, we get the longer assignment, because we clearly lost time in class to practice, so that means we need more practice at home. I had having to associate poor behavior with more homework, because that will make them come to hate homework. However, I have yet to assign the "long" assignment. Today was close. They had a warning. I have to follow through with this or it is going to back fire on me.
Another positive in Algebra: I'm going to try to use www.polleverywhere.com in classtomorrow. I'm very nervous about having the kids use cell phones. Our district policy clearly outlines no use of cell phones in class. I polled them today and 4/18 students do not have access to cell phone. I figure this will easily be solved by partnering up. Inorder for this to be successful, I've set up some structure and rules
If you abuse it, we'll lose it.
Think they'll get the point? I'll find out tomorrow.
Highlights:
My 8th grade Math Foundations class all proclaimed to me that they "don't need no practice on the pythagorean theorem, that stuff is easy!" Normally when I say this, I take it with a grain of salt, because they may think it's easy, but really, they just don't want to practice. I did a speed solving activity with them. They each had their own card with a pythagorean theorem problem on it (for today we just did when a and b are known and c is unknown) and they were exactly right.. of the 12 students, only 2 needed more practiced. I then later asked them, "What do we do if we don't know a or b and we DO know c" Well you see Ms. B, "then all you gotta do is SUBTRACT a or b from c." Duh. I should have known it was that easy :)
6th grade Math Foundations: I spent all day Sunday trying to mix up a concoction for BUBBLES. I have tons of bubbles but I wanted colored bubbles so that when the kids blow them on a piece of paper, they will pop and leave a color outline. With this color outline the students will then measure the diameter, radius, circumferences and area. After 2 trips to walgreens, and 2 trips to the grocery store, and one trip to walmart, the bubble concoction was in working order. Containing 4.5 c water, .5 cup dawn dish soap and 4 Tables Spoons of liquid glycerin, I was blowing bubbles and leaving their mark. I had kids use pipecleaners as their bubble wants. The liquid glycerin was hard to find, and I was only able to find it in the form of a SUPPOSITORY at walgreens, and was quite spendy. But the glycerin was key to having bubbles that would stick on the page and leave a round circle mark. My 3rd hour loved the activity, and begged me to let them blow bubbles later in the year. My 4th hour kept asking me when they could just be done and go play games. Interesting how these two classes are so different from eachother! We'll be making the measurements tomorrow since their papers were too wet to work with today.
Algebra: I have underestimated their abilities on a grand scale and now realize I need to challenge them more. Through out chapter 3 (solving multi-step linear equations) my students "seemed" to struggle. They asked the same questions over again, seemed confused, needed multiple reminders. However, their quiz scores were OK throughout the chapter. Their chapter test scores were PHENOMENAL. The class average was a 97.3%. Either this test is TOO EASY or they really GET IT. I'm going to go with the really get it part, because it's the same test we used last year and I know the average was not this high. The kids also blew the bench mark test out of the water, with 100% of my students scoring proficient or advanced (on a test in a class that is already an advanced class for 8th grade). We are in good shape. On the other hand I have 12 boys and 6 girls in this class. A little disproportionate, the immaturity of the boys is really starting to get to mob-mentality and getting on my nerves. Last week i had THREE boys, taking chunks out of their paper with their teeth and chewing paper wads, just chewing them, not even spitting them. Who does this?!?! There's constant toe tapping, finger drumming, noise making etc. I started an incentive based reward for each day. If we're good as a class, we get the short assignment. If we're off task, we get the longer assignment, because we clearly lost time in class to practice, so that means we need more practice at home. I had having to associate poor behavior with more homework, because that will make them come to hate homework. However, I have yet to assign the "long" assignment. Today was close. They had a warning. I have to follow through with this or it is going to back fire on me.
Another positive in Algebra: I'm going to try to use www.polleverywhere.com in classtomorrow. I'm very nervous about having the kids use cell phones. Our district policy clearly outlines no use of cell phones in class. I polled them today and 4/18 students do not have access to cell phone. I figure this will easily be solved by partnering up. Inorder for this to be successful, I've set up some structure and rules
PollEverywhere.com Policies in the Classroom
· Polleverwhere.com does not track phone numbers, only the number of votes.
· Only one vote allowed, can’t change your vote
· Voting is not required. If you parents tell you aren’t allowed to bring the phone to school/class then that is the rule. This does not make it an exception.
· Voting/Not voting will not affect your grade
· Your cell phone is learning tool in the classroom, not a social tool
Rules:
- Phones on silent
- Phone is to be used ONLY for polleverywhere.com
- The ONLY text you send is to polleverwhere.com
- If Ms. B believes you are using you phone for other uses, she reserves the right to check your phone and you will surrender it :)
- Before voting, the phone is in your pocket
- After voting, the phone is in your pocket
- When not using your phone, it’s in your pocket :)
If you abuse it, we'll lose it.
Think they'll get the point? I'll find out tomorrow.
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