I FIGURED OUT HOW I CAN HELP MY STUDENTS INTERPRET DATA USING MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY!
98% my students bombed one of the homework assignments and there is no time to reteach and do a think-aloud in class. we have to cover box and whisker plots before the formative assessment this wednesday but how can i leave my students hanging without reaching the level of understanding to successfully complete this?
ladies and gentlemen, i've been inspired by the beauty of cartoons. i will create a cartoon thinking aloud and explaining how to answer the worksheet. i'm going to make one for box and whisker plots because there is little time to go over that in depth as well.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
yo estudie espanol tambien!
that's it. time to change it up. introducing the Jesus factor.
more to come.
on a fun note, today i caught some students in a Spanish class off guard by covering for about 5 minutes. broke out the espanol and the confusion on some of the kids' faces? priceless. they said, "but aren't you the math teacher?! how do you know spanish?!"
Thursday, September 9, 2010
recipe for disaster
how to flirt with insanity as a first-year teacher:
those susceptible to this dangerous state include the following:
- revert back to old habits
- reinventing the wheel
- spending 8+ hours on labor day lesson planning
- taking papers home to grade
- creating flipcharts late into the night
- not getting enough sleep
- lecturing for 40 minutes out of a 45 minute class
- trying to get everything exactly the way you want it to
- sacrifice "me" time and the opportunity to wind down after a long day
- forget to eat breakfast or lunch during the school day
- make copies the morning you need the student worksheets
those susceptible to this dangerous state include the following:
- perfectionist
- control freak
- low tolerance to stress
- inability to function with little hours of sleep
- enrollment in a intense graduate program
fear not folks. this is a treatable condition if caught early with appropriate measures taken immediately.
for example, yesterday i took care of grading quizzes in school, updated my grade book and attendance right after the bell rang, ran off copies for friday's classes, and bought myself junk food to make myself happy. used the support system at my school and at the university to debrief and greatly needed encouragement and advice. an arizona iced tea, an ice cream sandwich, and a purple bag of Doritos later, i happily indulged in these during my graduate class while eating the fried rice my momma so wonderfully packed for me. a full stomach and the knowledge of no school the next day left me in a very happy place. took a bath, talked with a friend, and chatted a bit with parents. to top it off, a check came in the mail for me for the scholarship that i am receiving for grad school. woot woot!
had a full night's rest with square meals today, along with going out to Michael's and Target, and now calmly lesson planning at a leisurely pace. funny how all the good ideas and visions i had for my classroom flew right out of my head as soon as the school year started. the overwhelming factor tends to aggravate my tendency to forget things. call me a goldfish for my short-term memory [sigh].
over all, this control freak forgot that God is in control. humble reminder to self that He is control of my life and my classroom when I let go and let God.
attempting to jump ahead was disastrous.
one day at a time.
Monday, September 6, 2010
weekend update!
mini summaries of the past couple of days =)
friday
TGIF. never been so happy in my life that it was friday. learned that teachers look forward to the weekend as much as students do. relaxed afterwards with some of the teachers at school and then headed off to spa world con la familia!
saturday
my first out-of-school student encounter. i was enjoying some frozen yogurt with the lovely hanna lee in rockville, sitting and chatting by the front window, when i saw some kids running around who happened to stop right in front of yogiberry. lo and behold, it's a student i recognize from school! we make eye contact and as soon as the information registers in both our minds, the student's face morphs into a look of shock and bewilderment, as if it suddenly hit him, "teachers have social lives?!?!"
i have excruciating amounts of reading for my graduate classes. farewell to any semblance of a social life. looking forward to meeting you again next summer.
sunday
glorious and copious amounts of sleep for the weekend. i've been told that it's impossible to make up the sleep debt but my body begs to disagree. been sleeping way too much but i definitely feel rested.
monday
visited halmuni con la familia and then had breakfast together. finally getting down to lesson planning and grading. i have no idea how teachers do this. i'm only teaching two classes and am finding this quite the challenge. five classes, one planning period, team meetings, and taking care of yourself? kudos to our educators!
friday
TGIF. never been so happy in my life that it was friday. learned that teachers look forward to the weekend as much as students do. relaxed afterwards with some of the teachers at school and then headed off to spa world con la familia!
saturday
my first out-of-school student encounter. i was enjoying some frozen yogurt with the lovely hanna lee in rockville, sitting and chatting by the front window, when i saw some kids running around who happened to stop right in front of yogiberry. lo and behold, it's a student i recognize from school! we make eye contact and as soon as the information registers in both our minds, the student's face morphs into a look of shock and bewilderment, as if it suddenly hit him, "teachers have social lives?!?!"
i have excruciating amounts of reading for my graduate classes. farewell to any semblance of a social life. looking forward to meeting you again next summer.
sunday
glorious and copious amounts of sleep for the weekend. i've been told that it's impossible to make up the sleep debt but my body begs to disagree. been sleeping way too much but i definitely feel rested.
monday
visited halmuni con la familia and then had breakfast together. finally getting down to lesson planning and grading. i have no idea how teachers do this. i'm only teaching two classes and am finding this quite the challenge. five classes, one planning period, team meetings, and taking care of yourself? kudos to our educators!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
hitting my stride
today was a very good day, if only you could see the smile on my face today. i was done early, had some time to wind down before my graduate reading class, and watched some disney channel! i haven't had time to just reboot and relax for the past two weeks, and i am happy to say that i did not touch anything school related since i left the school.
geometry was great. only managed get through half my flipchart, so there's tomorrow lesson plan! need to get some calling sticks to exhibit equity in the classroom. i plan to piggyback off what one of the teachers at orientation does; on one side, write the student's name, and on the other side write down what they want to be when they grow up. this teacher puts it in a cup with a cool quote/saying and i'm thinking that one of my UMD cups might be nice. it'll be great for me to read through my student information forms and their inventories this weekend so that i really respond to their likes and needs.
my university supervisor came in to observe me today, which was an interesting lesson. all credit goes to my RT on the students collecting their own data (goldfish crackers and M&Ms) to make the lesson more meaningful and engaging them in the activity (we're in Unit 1: Data Analysis). i created a worksheet that looks official, just like one of the worksheets Math 7 students would work on for stem and leaf plots as well as box and whisker plots, but this one happens to have their information on it. cool beans.
i am learning that with my sixth graders, this week is all about setting classroom routines. once the students know what is expected of them, this preparation gives them the opportunity to succeed in future tasks and lessons =) my munchkins come into my classroom right after lunch, and i had to send them all out of the classroom to practice entering it the way i expect them too. i'll get my opening procedures down soon. first week is an adjustment period for everyone, including veteran teachers.
mini highlights:
geometry was great. only managed get through half my flipchart, so there's tomorrow lesson plan! need to get some calling sticks to exhibit equity in the classroom. i plan to piggyback off what one of the teachers at orientation does; on one side, write the student's name, and on the other side write down what they want to be when they grow up. this teacher puts it in a cup with a cool quote/saying and i'm thinking that one of my UMD cups might be nice. it'll be great for me to read through my student information forms and their inventories this weekend so that i really respond to their likes and needs.
my university supervisor came in to observe me today, which was an interesting lesson. all credit goes to my RT on the students collecting their own data (goldfish crackers and M&Ms) to make the lesson more meaningful and engaging them in the activity (we're in Unit 1: Data Analysis). i created a worksheet that looks official, just like one of the worksheets Math 7 students would work on for stem and leaf plots as well as box and whisker plots, but this one happens to have their information on it. cool beans.
i am learning that with my sixth graders, this week is all about setting classroom routines. once the students know what is expected of them, this preparation gives them the opportunity to succeed in future tasks and lessons =) my munchkins come into my classroom right after lunch, and i had to send them all out of the classroom to practice entering it the way i expect them too. i'll get my opening procedures down soon. first week is an adjustment period for everyone, including veteran teachers.
mini highlights:
- i got lots of compliments on the dress that i wore today to school from both students and teachers! woot woot!
- visited my martial arts studio to see familiar faces and catch up with everyone; my students are getting so tall and advancing in their belt rankings!
- found out that my friend at a local middle school who is teaching algebra has one of the students that i taught at the dojang (korean for martial arts studio)! i giggled inside.
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