Students complained that yesterday's test was too long, so I allowed them ~15 minutes today to finish it up. Surprisingly many students said they were done and didn't take advantage of the chance to look over the test.
I made a point to NOT tell the students I'd be doing this because I wanted them thinking it was over so they wouldn't go home and study more. I don't think that was an issue.
Approximately 25% of my students were absent (excused or not, I don't really care), so they missed out on the opportunity to finish up.
And I don't throw any type of organized party, it's just a chill day to watch a non-religious holiday special and relax.
I did do something new this year, I wrote a note to each class (not to each student, I don't have that kind of time), printed them with a holiday print and gave one to each student along with a candy cane. The theme of the note was positive, trying to keep everyone motivated as we approach finals. They genuinely seemed to appreciate the gesture and I'm happy I did it, as much fun as printing, folding, and taping candy canes to 150 notes was...
Friday, December 21, 2012
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Day 73: Unit 4 Assessment
Includes the 6 standards from Unit 6 in addition to a rehash of S2.5 on Ratio & Proportion.
Every year I give tests right before the holiday break (mostly because the students are going to fight any sort of productivity anyway) and every year I head into 2.5 weeks off with 150 tests to grade wondering why I would do such a thing to myself. Oh well.
Every year I give tests right before the holiday break (mostly because the students are going to fight any sort of productivity anyway) and every year I head into 2.5 weeks off with 150 tests to grade wondering why I would do such a thing to myself. Oh well.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Day 72: Online Practice
Back to the computer lab for more time using the Carnegie Learning software. In my head, this is a good resource for students to practice in a different environment. Some work well in the online setup, while some do not. For that reason, I do not require any level of progress with the online practice, just as I do not collect and grade homework. I try to stress to the students that it's practice that has exactly as much value as effort you put into it.
In addition, being the day before the Unit 4 Assessment, I figured students could spend the hour writing their note sheet if they so chose.
Of course, those were my *ideas* for what would happen. Reality is never that simple.
In addition, being the day before the Unit 4 Assessment, I figured students could spend the hour writing their note sheet if they so chose.
Of course, those were my *ideas* for what would happen. Reality is never that simple.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Day 71: Practice
Two items on the agenda: the third Skills Review Quiz of the year and discussion of U5 WS1: Ratio & Proportion.
Technically, we're still in Unit 4, but I didn't want to assess early and try and start a new unit before the holidays, so I'm just shoe-horning the first segment of U5 in there before break. Ratio & proportion *should* be major review, especially since we ALREADY reviewed it back in U2 as we discussed angles, but who knows.
I'm really liking the idea of more and more quizzes (both skills review and 'regular') because it (hopefully) takes some of the stigma/anxiety away from assessment. If they happen 3 times a week, they can't be a big deal, right? Of course, that's my opinion, the students expressed very different (read: mostly negative) views.
Technically, we're still in Unit 4, but I didn't want to assess early and try and start a new unit before the holidays, so I'm just shoe-horning the first segment of U5 in there before break. Ratio & proportion *should* be major review, especially since we ALREADY reviewed it back in U2 as we discussed angles, but who knows.
I'm really liking the idea of more and more quizzes (both skills review and 'regular') because it (hopefully) takes some of the stigma/anxiety away from assessment. If they happen 3 times a week, they can't be a big deal, right? Of course, that's my opinion, the students expressed very different (read: mostly negative) views.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Day 70: Ratio & Proportion
I backed myself into somewhat of a corner, scheduling wise. We finished Unit 4 last week, but I didn't want to rush the test and start Unit 5 before the holiday break, so I decided to stretch out Unit 4 a bit. I already added the review of simplifying radicals last week, and I decided to spend a couple of days this week quasi-starting Unit 5 by reviewing ratio & proportion.
Technically, we already did some ratio/proportion stuff back in Unit 2 when we learned about angles as being fractional pieces of circles, but a) the students weren't very good at it then and 2) Unit 5 is all about the trigonometric ratios and similar triangles, so I figured the review would do us good. Mind you, ratio & proportion is a topic from *before* algebra, so there really isn't any reason why students shouldn't have this down by now. Alas...
So I created U5 WS1 and simply presented it as another worksheet in this Unit 4 (nobody seemed to notice). I already had a standard from Unit 2 dealing with this (S2.5), so I can easily reassessment an old standard on the U4 Assessment this week.
Technically, we already did some ratio/proportion stuff back in Unit 2 when we learned about angles as being fractional pieces of circles, but a) the students weren't very good at it then and 2) Unit 5 is all about the trigonometric ratios and similar triangles, so I figured the review would do us good. Mind you, ratio & proportion is a topic from *before* algebra, so there really isn't any reason why students shouldn't have this down by now. Alas...
So I created U5 WS1 and simply presented it as another worksheet in this Unit 4 (nobody seemed to notice). I already had a standard from Unit 2 dealing with this (S2.5), so I can easily reassessment an old standard on the U4 Assessment this week.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Day 69: Online Practice
It was meant to be a simple day in the computer lab to keep students practicing "old" material, but very little ended up being accomplished (warning: the following will border on a rant about access to technology in public schools).
My school has 5 computer labs with antiquated desktop computers that are rapidly falling apart. The "Math & Science Computer Lab" only has 32 machines in it, for class sizes that (in my case) are all over 32. Ok, fine, I generally don't average 100% attendance, so it can work out. In 2nd hour yesterday, a handful (maybe 3 or 4) of the machines weren't working. Either they can't log in to the school network, or the machine is stuck in a constant boot loop, or it simply can't access the website we use for the online tutor. It ended up not being a big deal as I had more than a handful of absences (it was Friday after all).
By 5th hour, the number of non-working machines had risen to 10 (without my knowledge of course). Not only is this my most challenging class, but even after a number of students have been removed from the class, I still had more than 22 show up. So I decided to send a half dozen to the school media center where there are handful of loose machines that students can use.
In 6th hour, I attempted to do the same thing, but the media center was booked. As was the computer lab in the media center. And the computer lab across the hall. I was left with 33 students and 22 working computers to incorporate a required part of the curriculum.
As a result, not much got done. Only a handful of students chose to ignore the distractions and work diligently with the online tutor. Most chatted with friends, listened to music, or played games. I know, I technically have the power to insist that they not participate in those actions, but 1) what do you say when by default, 10 kids are not going to be able to participate in the lesson? and 2) I've learned that the more discipline issues I handle 'appropriately,' the more reinstatement meetings I have to sit in on, and the more plan hours I lose. That doesn't mean I simply avoid dealing with behavior, but I tend to reserve judgement for only the most serious offenses.
Next week is the last week before the 2 week holiday break. We'll wrap up/review Unit 4, go over ratio & proportion to prep for Unit 5 (Trig ratios), and take an assessment.
My school has 5 computer labs with antiquated desktop computers that are rapidly falling apart. The "Math & Science Computer Lab" only has 32 machines in it, for class sizes that (in my case) are all over 32. Ok, fine, I generally don't average 100% attendance, so it can work out. In 2nd hour yesterday, a handful (maybe 3 or 4) of the machines weren't working. Either they can't log in to the school network, or the machine is stuck in a constant boot loop, or it simply can't access the website we use for the online tutor. It ended up not being a big deal as I had more than a handful of absences (it was Friday after all).
By 5th hour, the number of non-working machines had risen to 10 (without my knowledge of course). Not only is this my most challenging class, but even after a number of students have been removed from the class, I still had more than 22 show up. So I decided to send a half dozen to the school media center where there are handful of loose machines that students can use.
In 6th hour, I attempted to do the same thing, but the media center was booked. As was the computer lab in the media center. And the computer lab across the hall. I was left with 33 students and 22 working computers to incorporate a required part of the curriculum.
As a result, not much got done. Only a handful of students chose to ignore the distractions and work diligently with the online tutor. Most chatted with friends, listened to music, or played games. I know, I technically have the power to insist that they not participate in those actions, but 1) what do you say when by default, 10 kids are not going to be able to participate in the lesson? and 2) I've learned that the more discipline issues I handle 'appropriately,' the more reinstatement meetings I have to sit in on, and the more plan hours I lose. That doesn't mean I simply avoid dealing with behavior, but I tend to reserve judgement for only the most serious offenses.
Next week is the last week before the 2 week holiday break. We'll wrap up/review Unit 4, go over ratio & proportion to prep for Unit 5 (Trig ratios), and take an assessment.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Day 68: Practice
I'm building up the habit of weekly skills review quizzes. The math department at my school had always encouraged the idea, but I never saw much use/need under a traditional grading scale. As students forgot the content over time, skills review seemed more like a punishment, because most students would "lose" points and lower their grade.
With SBG, Skills Review quizzes are simply mandated reassessments, which don't generally do any 'harm' to a student's grade. In a lot of cases, students perform just as well as they did in the past, but some students show improvement, and that's important to have evidence of. And since a student's grade is no longer broken into ridiculous marking period grades (just in my class, don't tell anyone - I don't think I'm supposed to do that), but instead the semester grade is simply a running average of all the standards we cover, skills review quizzes can have an immediate and drastic impact raising a students grade (also thanks in large part to the "decaying average" calculation that ActiveGrade lets me use).
Additionally, with the traditional nonsensical sequencing of the material, I couldn't really blame students for forgetting the content, as it had no logical structure. Material covered in September didn't truly affect material learned in December, so why not forget it? With my sequencing, truly mastering linear equations is absolutely crucial to everything else we do, and will only become more important in the second semester as we transition into more complex problems with proofs.
I'm honestly toying with the idea of making the final exam consist of only one question with MANY parts, demonstrating the connectivity of everything we've studied. The only thing to be on the look out for in that case is providing students who can't answer part a. a way to answer part b. (and so on).
After the skills review quiz, we went over the worksheet on simplifying radicals and called it a day.
With SBG, Skills Review quizzes are simply mandated reassessments, which don't generally do any 'harm' to a student's grade. In a lot of cases, students perform just as well as they did in the past, but some students show improvement, and that's important to have evidence of. And since a student's grade is no longer broken into ridiculous marking period grades (just in my class, don't tell anyone - I don't think I'm supposed to do that), but instead the semester grade is simply a running average of all the standards we cover, skills review quizzes can have an immediate and drastic impact raising a students grade (also thanks in large part to the "decaying average" calculation that ActiveGrade lets me use).
Additionally, with the traditional nonsensical sequencing of the material, I couldn't really blame students for forgetting the content, as it had no logical structure. Material covered in September didn't truly affect material learned in December, so why not forget it? With my sequencing, truly mastering linear equations is absolutely crucial to everything else we do, and will only become more important in the second semester as we transition into more complex problems with proofs.
I'm honestly toying with the idea of making the final exam consist of only one question with MANY parts, demonstrating the connectivity of everything we've studied. The only thing to be on the look out for in that case is providing students who can't answer part a. a way to answer part b. (and so on).
After the skills review quiz, we went over the worksheet on simplifying radicals and called it a day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)