Friday, March 22, 2013

Day 118: Catch up


I lost 2nd hour due to testing yesterday, so 5th hour went to the computer lab for independent review/practice, and I thought I'd do something 'fun' for 6th hour to intro the next unit to them. Big mistake. 

Since Unit 8 will be about polygons in general, I figured we'd give constructions with a compass another shot. I had step-by-step flash animations from mathopenref on the screen and I switched between that and a document camera showing my own construction as I went and yet it devolved into total chaos. Students immediately become distracted and talk with their neighbors which forces them to miss a key step, so they'll interrupt and ask to go back so they can see the last step, which doesn't make any sense without the explanation. And of course if I don't kowtow to their needs, they'll simply talk and act out more causing more of the class to go off track. Fun times. 

In a perfect world, I would teach the ENTIRE class with a compass. It's such an incredible tool and it's been around for thousands of years. And I'm forced to resort to the SAFE-T compass with no points because the students can't be trusted with sharp objects. I'm also down about 10 compasses since September between students breaking them or stealing them. 

Sorry, I need to complain less here, but this lesson really got under my skin. 

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