I'm beginning to realize what it might be like next year. Maybe not.
In case you haven't heard, I got an offer to teach Algebra I and Algebra II next year at Guajome. Woohoo! ***I say offer because I haven't accepted the position yet. I am definitely keeping my options open.*** That's a step up! Or maybe 2 steps up for every one step to the right, depending on the slope...
...Anyways stop laughing, I'm not complaining, but a colleague of mine was out today and I subbed for her Algebra II class for 3 periods straight. Then I still had to go to my advisory and then teach my last period. I didn't get a break (except for lunch). It won't that hectic next year of course. I will have a prep first period and collaboration 2nd. If you've been following my blog, you'll know that that's 1st block everyday. I won't have the need to rush to work everyday. The only drawback is that I won't have my own classroom. :( I don't have one as of right now anyways. I'm am going to try to push for one. It's such a pain to be one of the "traveling teachers". I could probably manage. I've been doing that this year, so it shouldn't be a determining factor. It would be nice to say that I've worked at a particular school for 2 years and it would be much much easier than going around, filling out applications and going to interviews. I will definitely keep Blogger updated.
What happened today? The Algebra II classes are great. It was the third time subbing for them this year. I think they've started to like my style.
My Algebra I class, what a bunch of 4th graders. The first half of class, we worked in the computer lab on our linearity project. For the 2nd half, we went back to the classroom and I taught a lesson on graphing linear equations. As I was getting started, many of the students were wasting time trying to acquire a sheet of paper and a writing utensil. I must have thought it was a bit entertaining because I stopped and watched for a while. Seriously, for about 5 minutes, students were arguing about who is borrowing a pencil from who, demanding paper from other people, playing tug-o-war with pens, etc. After about a good five minutes I stopped them and told them something to the effect that they need to come to class prepared with pencils and paper handy. Also, I usually provide those materials. They know that. Finally I said, if they didn't have those materials, too bad, they're not taking notes. Magically, every student had a sheet of paper on their desk and a writing utensil in the hand. I was really amazed. Really. The rest of the day actually turned out well; better than usual. I finished my lesson, even though we had less time then I had planned, with time left over to start the homework. I was content with them at the end.
Also, one of my freshman girls thinks I was a bully in high school and my middle school students think I was once part of a gang. More on that to come.
I need to learn some organizational skills.
About Me
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Necessary evil?
I have been reflecting on my pacing for my curriculum and frankly, I wish I had done things a little differently. Often times, I hear a lot of complaints among my follow interns about district-mandated pacing-guides and benchmarks. Sometimes, not all the time, I wish I wasn't thrown in the deep-end of the curriculum-pool.
The only thing I have to help me decide what to teach is a textbook. I mean, of course, there is my subject-leader and the other math teachers that I have for support, but they don't help unless I ask. I do ask and we meet every month, but I wish there was more collaboration between me and the other Algebra teacher; who is also my subject-leader.
Since we are a charter school, we don't follow a pacing guide, nor do we get benchmarked to see if we are following the pace. I'm glad I am trusted to teach the way I want to teach. I was told to try to teach the four big topics in Algebra. They are broad topics. However, the pacing is all up to me. I hear about how some interns have pre-made lesson plans, homework and tests. I spend a lot of my prep, making homework packets and tests.
We just finished a lesson on factoring polynomials, something I picked up in high school pretty easily. However, my students were not so quick to grasp the concept. I think I did almost all I could to teach factoring polynomials, yet most of them did not do very well on the test. Since I need to move on and get to the other topics, I've decided to continue and not re-teach this unit.
I think next year, I will postpone factoring polynomials until after we graph linear equations. Also, I will probably spend the summer creating my own pacing-guide. To answer the question, I don't think pacing-guides are necessary, but they are evil.
The only thing I have to help me decide what to teach is a textbook. I mean, of course, there is my subject-leader and the other math teachers that I have for support, but they don't help unless I ask. I do ask and we meet every month, but I wish there was more collaboration between me and the other Algebra teacher; who is also my subject-leader.
Since we are a charter school, we don't follow a pacing guide, nor do we get benchmarked to see if we are following the pace. I'm glad I am trusted to teach the way I want to teach. I was told to try to teach the four big topics in Algebra. They are broad topics. However, the pacing is all up to me. I hear about how some interns have pre-made lesson plans, homework and tests. I spend a lot of my prep, making homework packets and tests.
We just finished a lesson on factoring polynomials, something I picked up in high school pretty easily. However, my students were not so quick to grasp the concept. I think I did almost all I could to teach factoring polynomials, yet most of them did not do very well on the test. Since I need to move on and get to the other topics, I've decided to continue and not re-teach this unit.
I think next year, I will postpone factoring polynomials until after we graph linear equations. Also, I will probably spend the summer creating my own pacing-guide. To answer the question, I don't think pacing-guides are necessary, but they are evil.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Reflecting on Monday 020909
What worked
Originally I had planned a quiz on factoring trinomials. Instead, I wanted my students to reflect on the Algebra tiles activity and try to synthesize their thoughts on paper. First, I reviewed the procedure of factoring trinomials with the class. I also pointed out the connections between that and the Algebra tiles. It appears that my students can see the connections when I point them out.
What didn't work
When I had them think about the connections they saw and write them on paper, they were not able to write their thoughts in their own words. When I tried to probe deeper thinking, they were not able to get past the most simple connections.
Plans for next time
I hope they were able to at least visualize what it means to factor a trinomial. Next time I have to review multiplying and/or factoring polynomials, I will utilize the Algebra tiles and revisit those connections.
Originally I had planned a quiz on factoring trinomials. Instead, I wanted my students to reflect on the Algebra tiles activity and try to synthesize their thoughts on paper. First, I reviewed the procedure of factoring trinomials with the class. I also pointed out the connections between that and the Algebra tiles. It appears that my students can see the connections when I point them out.
What didn't work
When I had them think about the connections they saw and write them on paper, they were not able to write their thoughts in their own words. When I tried to probe deeper thinking, they were not able to get past the most simple connections.
Plans for next time
I hope they were able to at least visualize what it means to factor a trinomial. Next time I have to review multiplying and/or factoring polynomials, I will utilize the Algebra tiles and revisit those connections.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Reflecting on Tuesday and Thrusday
This week went by so quickly for me. It's hard for me to remember what happened because it has been such a blur. However, there are some things I need to hash out.
Tuesday
I taught a lesson on factoring trinomial squares. I think what is working is showing them multiple examples to try to cover as many possible cases as possible. This works for my students that are still concrete thinkers. It works for them because they will not get distracted or discouraged by the abstract ideas of trinomial squares. What is not working is getting my students to understand the importance of the relationship between factoring trinomial squares and FOIL. The way they are related is that FOIL checks the solution of the factoring. In other words, factoring is the reverse of FOIL. The reason this is important to realize is because my students have a tool they can use to check all their solutions. However, they do not check and they end up missing points on tests because of that.
For my next lesson, I do plan on explaining the concept of trinomials. The concept is that a trinomial represents the area of a rectangle and the factors represent the dimensions of the rectangle. By using Algebra tiles, I can connect the procedure of factoring trinomials to a visual representation.
Thursday
I taught a lesson on factoring trinomials directly and using Algebra tiles. The Algebra tiles worked really well. By the end of the period, almost all my students were understanding the lesson. The tiles helped my concrete-thinkers see the factoring in an abstract way. It is abstract there are many ways to configure the tiles, but there is only one way that will form a rectangle and lead you to the solution. Unfortunately, this method did not work for my students who prefer the direct way to factor trinomials. However, I taught them the direct procedure as well. Although they cannot picture how to arrange the tiles, they can work with the numbers and still get the right answer.
I think I could have done more to connect the procedure to the concept of factoring trinomials. In order for them to see the connection, I should have explained the correlations between the arrangements of the squares and how to factor the trinomials. For the next lesson, I plan on having my students reflect on the correlations by asking them guiding questions to see if they can discover it on their own. Either way, I think they will gain a deeper understanding of the concept of factoring trinomials.
Tuesday
I taught a lesson on factoring trinomial squares. I think what is working is showing them multiple examples to try to cover as many possible cases as possible. This works for my students that are still concrete thinkers. It works for them because they will not get distracted or discouraged by the abstract ideas of trinomial squares. What is not working is getting my students to understand the importance of the relationship between factoring trinomial squares and FOIL. The way they are related is that FOIL checks the solution of the factoring. In other words, factoring is the reverse of FOIL. The reason this is important to realize is because my students have a tool they can use to check all their solutions. However, they do not check and they end up missing points on tests because of that.
For my next lesson, I do plan on explaining the concept of trinomials. The concept is that a trinomial represents the area of a rectangle and the factors represent the dimensions of the rectangle. By using Algebra tiles, I can connect the procedure of factoring trinomials to a visual representation.
Thursday
I taught a lesson on factoring trinomials directly and using Algebra tiles. The Algebra tiles worked really well. By the end of the period, almost all my students were understanding the lesson. The tiles helped my concrete-thinkers see the factoring in an abstract way. It is abstract there are many ways to configure the tiles, but there is only one way that will form a rectangle and lead you to the solution. Unfortunately, this method did not work for my students who prefer the direct way to factor trinomials. However, I taught them the direct procedure as well. Although they cannot picture how to arrange the tiles, they can work with the numbers and still get the right answer.
I think I could have done more to connect the procedure to the concept of factoring trinomials. In order for them to see the connection, I should have explained the correlations between the arrangements of the squares and how to factor the trinomials. For the next lesson, I plan on having my students reflect on the correlations by asking them guiding questions to see if they can discover it on their own. Either way, I think they will gain a deeper understanding of the concept of factoring trinomials.
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