Day 17: Back to School Night

Although I don’t get too nervous any more (after all this is my 36th one!) I still want the experience o thave a big impact on the parents attending.  We only have 10 minutes, so how to “wow” the parents without overwhelming them?

In the past, I have used power points to help organize my presentation, but I was hearing teachers who are also parents attending their own open houses that they weren’t sure they could sit through another power point.  Got me thinking that maybe I needed to KISS my plan good-bye…keep it simple stupid by just talking to the parents and keep it a little free-flowing.

I had handouts ready and just had 3 main points to cover: Student struggles at the beginning of the year, how their young adult can get help and how they can see what’s going on in class.  Seemed to work well and I had lots of parents share that their students were initially overwhelmed but have already figured out how to manage their time and are finding the class engaging, interesting and invigorating.  I was “wow”ed.  A few parents of kids from last year stopped by to share that their son or daughter had already used their AP Statistics this year at college and were thrilled they had taken AP Statistics in high school.  I immediately asked them to share with their parent-friends to talk up APS.

One thing I really want to do now that Open House is over is to look for some other fun, engaging yet informative presentation modes.  What have you done in the past that really “wow”ed your parents? Love to hear about them!!

Day 16: Paperless Classroom

 

Well, not totally paperless.  I started trying to evolve my classroom practice to include a digital classroom using Schoology (for course management), Notability (for organizing and taking notes) and MathXL for Schools (for online HW around skills practice).  My students find the transition from paper to digit challenging and a little frustrating.  Even more so this year since we’ve had lots technology issues with the start of school due to new rooms with new technology, getting Schoology to uploading grades directly to our online grading system and moving to a Google platform…and the students got updated iPads!  It is stressful and frustrating at the beginning of the year, but I believe worth it in the long run.

There has been some talk on Twitter lately about whether a digital classroom is conducive for long-term learning.  I think David Geurin makes a good point!  The reason you are using the technology MUST be rooted in sound and purposeful instructional decisions.

Today, my precalculus students are working in groups on some problems using Notability to work out and record their results.  I like my students to do this work on their iPads in Notability because they can organize by topic and then I can ask them to pull up old work for discussion in light of new learning.  Students also have a portfolio of their work for the entire year.

 

Day 15: Takin’ Our Time

One of the things I struggle with is how to give  students enough time to be thoughtful while they complete activities but simultaneously not waste time on idle chatter or off-task behavior.  In comes “Online Stopwatch,” a free service with a big display.

Today, my precalculus “mathletes” had a check-in on the last two sections.  Usually I give about 10 minutes to complete 3 homework questions.  Since there is no clock in the front of the room, this time I introduced “the clock” to help them realize they can complete the skill-based formative assessment in the allotted time…in fact, they were all able to finish in less than the required time.

Day 14: Makin’ It Real

AP Statistics is a great course to use data that matters to my students.  I asked one of my football player students to get the stats from the last couple of games.  Here is the opener I put together using these stats:

It was a nice way to use z-scores in a meaningful way!  How have you used kid-stats to help your curriculum come alive?

Day 13: The Crucible

One of my roles over the last couple of years has been as an Instructional Coach in my building…not just in mathematics but instruction in general.  So I found myself covering a junior language arts class in which they were reading the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller.  Talk about being out of my element!!  But I had a great time “acting dumb” since they knew I am a math teacher.

I was asked to have the students “popcorn” read for the period.  So the first thing I did was ask for volunteers along with naming the part they read.  Then part way through, I stopped them (I was getting bored and a little lost) and asked them to tell me what was going on.  We developed a mini-map of the plot and they had to describe to me what was happening.  Then each participant passed off their role to another student in the class.  By the end of the period, just about everyone had participated.

The experience makes me wonder what other strategies do teachers use to have students read important text but simultaneously insure that all individuals participate and are engaged.  Thought?

Day 12: First FRAPPY of the year

Today I introduced the FRAPPY process to my new AP Statistics students.  The term FRAPPY is an acronym for Free Response AP Problem – Yay!  and was initially introduced to the AP community by Jason Molesky on his website StatMonkey.

Since this strategy has been a major part of my APS course, the writing and resilience of my students has massively improved.  Check it out when you have a chance!

 

Day 11: 12 Functions Characteristics

 

In precalculus, our first chapter is full of minutia…important minutia but minutia none the less!!  So one of the biggest challenges is how to expose my kiddos to these ideas, make them stick while keeping it interesting.  So a matching activity seems to work the best.  They had 15 minutes to sort, match and produce their poster.  Lots of great clarifying discussions while completing the activity!

Day 10: Standard Deviation Game

One concept in AP Statistics that is not totally instinctual is the idea of what standard deviation really measures.  A few years ago I attended a session on Statistics in the CCSS at the TI International Conference in Chicago.

I picked up this Mean and Standard Deviation game and have found it to be a quick way for students to develop their intuitive sense about standard deviation.  And they like it, too!

Day 9: Bad Graph, Good Graph

I found this idea created by Jeffery Kent called Misleading-Graphical-Displays-Project.  (Jeffery, if you happen to read this post, please share your website so others can experience your wonderful activities).  Jeffery even has a rubric to go along with the project!!  Here is a copy of my version and I kept the same rubric.

In a nutshell, the project asks students to find a misleading graph and make a copy.  Then they write an analysis of the graphical representation and, at a minimum, answer the following questions about it:

1. What do you think makes the representation misleading? (For example, does the scale start somewhere other than zero or are the scales misleading?)
2. What do you think was the creator’s purpose in creating the display in a misleading manner?  (For example, do you think the creator was trying to make consumers think a project was better than it was?  Do you think the author was trying to emphasize a point?)
3. What could the creator have done to make the representation fair and non-misleading?

One change I made to the project was to require the students to create a new graphical display that fairly represents the data being displayed.  In addition to the “fair” representation, I asked them to create a graphical representation of the data that is misleading in the opposite direction.  

Today, my students were so excited about their posters that they wanted to present them (without it even being required!).  So I had them share in their groups, and then post all of them outside my room in the hall. Great PR for AP Stats and they have an authentic audience.

My kiddos gave the mini-project a “two thumbs up” and said they really had fun with it.  Here are a couple examples of their awesome work.  Now I am just as excited to assess them.

I was so happy with the success of this project.  What project have you tried that turned out to be a “keeper?”

Day 8: Problem-Solving Folders

Students get scared of long-winded problems.  For example, this problem doesn’t even have the questions yet, but they freak out!

I used the same activity about the Crop Duster as last year to start out this block class activity.  The premise is to get students to think about the situation without initially knowing what the questions about the situations are.  Once they organize the information into “What is known?” “What are the possible mathematical relationships?” and “Sketch the situation” students are then given the actual questions to solve.

In using the follow-up activity, I’ve found that the hardest thing for students to determine are the potential mathematical relationships.  Once they have the question, they totally forget these relationships and almost blindly try to solve without thinking about them.  This activity slows them down and gets them really thinking about the mathematical constructs in the problem.  They also learn that all potential mathematical relationships may not be used, but recognizing them helped clarify how to approach the questions.

  

I hope to do this activity with different function types throughout the year so that I have some student work examples for a presentation I hope to give at the Texas Instruments International Conference in Orlando Florida next February. Here is my submission:

Using a Problem-Solving Activity To Develop Mathematical Habits of Mind

Have you ever wondered how to help your students to think thoughtfully about a non-routine problem situation before diving in to solve it? Or help them persevere during the needed productive struggle phase? Or encourage students to use meta-cognition during and after the problem-solving process? So did I!! This student-centered problem-based collaborative learning activity requires students to read the problem thoughtfully and then obliges them to work and think together to organize what they know (including a graphical representation) generate questions determine an answer and finally communicate the solution in a cohesive and understandable way. Come and enjoy the fun!

I’m a little nervous at this point, but I know as the year progresses I’ll have more student work to share and some suggestions for how to use in other classes besides precalculus.

What professional risks are you planning to take on this year?