Algebra I is back!

I am entering my 15th year of teaching and all those years except last I have taught Algebra 1.  I made it a really great class full of MTBoS lessons.  I was bummed to not have it last year and I found myself missing it. 

Turns out, I get it back this year.  There will a few changes.  I have the Accelerated level, but it will be different in years past because my incoming freshmen will have taken Algebra 1 in 8th grade.  Now, they are taking the accelerated class.  I am looking at it as they have been exposed to the ideas last year and I can dig deeper with them this year.  I will do a lot at the boards #VNPS.  We will get to do some meaty problems.  I will assign less homework than I have in the past.  I did not assign any in my college prep Geometry class last year and it went well.  Not ready to totally abandon it here, but I am going to aim for 5 good problems a night. Things I missed and hope to bring back - Bucky the Badger 3 Act, Taco Cart 3 Act, candy catapults for quadratics, cup stacking, Monopoly regression from Yummy Math and so much more.  We will do visualpatterns.org and would you rather plus estimation 180.  I can't wait.

Oh, and my classes are smaller than in the past.  I usually have about 25-29 kids per class.  So far, my Algebra 1 classes are at 12 and 19.  I am not complaining.

My other classes will be two Accelerated Algebra 2 classes and 1 college prep Geometry class that was new to me last year.  I had a blast making it, so I look forward to making it even better.