It seems to be the season to teach MAD - Mean Absolute Deviation. I have taught it in the past, but boring and dry.
I saw Tom Hall's post on twitter with his lesson using Estimation 180.
He linked to Nathan Kraft's post.
I liked both but then I remembered NCTM Boston from Spring 2015 and they used famous people's ages.
I don't remember who taught the lesson but it was called A-E-I-O-U - Algebraic Enriching Opportunities for U. It had a lot of great hits on Alg 1 stuff. I used their powerpoint with 20 people but I removed one and added our principal. They have to guess the people's ages. Then, I will reveal their real age and we will discuss MAD via this. I think the kids will like it and hopefully remember why we would do this in the first place.
Short post, but no time after school. We have Relay for Life after school through the night.
Friday, May 13, 2016
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Find the Mistake #mtbos30
The tables are turned today as my Accelerated Algebra 1 students are grading a fake test on radicals and rationals and trying to find the mistake in each one. They need to find the mistake and circle it. They need to then make the correction, provide feedback, and decide how many points to take off.
Here is the worksheet.
I love when they get to #6 and write "they killed a puppy". But, I do get a little scared when they can't find the mistake in #6.
They are also realizing how long it actually takes to grade a paper. I remind them that I have 50 of them to grade. One student said, "I feel sorry for you because I always zig zag with my work." Yup. They also are harder graders than I am.
Hopefully they won't make these mistakes tomorrow.
Here is the worksheet.
I love when they get to #6 and write "they killed a puppy". But, I do get a little scared when they can't find the mistake in #6.
They are also realizing how long it actually takes to grade a paper. I remind them that I have 50 of them to grade. One student said, "I feel sorry for you because I always zig zag with my work." Yup. They also are harder graders than I am.
Hopefully they won't make these mistakes tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Providing Opportunities #mtbos30
The more I teach, the more I think of the teaching profession as providing opportunities - opportunities to learn and discover. I just present them with different situations and they put it all together.
The same is true for our new school fishing club. A young man went to the vice principal and asked to start a fishing club. He was required to get 6 friends' signatures to show interest and to find a teacher willing to be the advisor, so I decided to help out. I LOVE fishing! I am at peace on the water, so why not? I also found a community member who is retired from working at a sporting goods store and full of knowledge on all things fishing.
We had an informational meeting and ten people came including two girls. We had our first fishing outing last week and two kids came. We didn't catch anything. The weather in MA has been terribly cold so the water is still freezing and those darn fish are still sleeping.
We had a little more luck yesterday. We are lucky to have a lot of lakes in our town so we went to a different spot yesterday and it was our first warm weather day in a long time. Jeff is our adult community adviser. He caught a perch and a pickerel. I caught a perch, a sunfish, and a pumpkin seed. We had 3 boys show up this time. They didn't catch anything except the fishing bug! We could have stayed all evening - just one more cast!
Jeff helped the kids out with their lures and it was a fun day. I hope more kids come next week and I hope the fish start to get more hungry.
Before our outing yesterday, I ran to Walmart to get myself some worms. He asked where I was fishing. I told him and told him about our new fishing club. Fishing clubs are not all that big here in New England but he was so excited for us. He thought it was so cool. I do too. It is another great opportunity for all of us.
Here are some pictures. You can see it was just a beautiful day!
The same is true for our new school fishing club. A young man went to the vice principal and asked to start a fishing club. He was required to get 6 friends' signatures to show interest and to find a teacher willing to be the advisor, so I decided to help out. I LOVE fishing! I am at peace on the water, so why not? I also found a community member who is retired from working at a sporting goods store and full of knowledge on all things fishing.
We had an informational meeting and ten people came including two girls. We had our first fishing outing last week and two kids came. We didn't catch anything. The weather in MA has been terribly cold so the water is still freezing and those darn fish are still sleeping.
We had a little more luck yesterday. We are lucky to have a lot of lakes in our town so we went to a different spot yesterday and it was our first warm weather day in a long time. Jeff is our adult community adviser. He caught a perch and a pickerel. I caught a perch, a sunfish, and a pumpkin seed. We had 3 boys show up this time. They didn't catch anything except the fishing bug! We could have stayed all evening - just one more cast!
Jeff helped the kids out with their lures and it was a fun day. I hope more kids come next week and I hope the fish start to get more hungry.
Before our outing yesterday, I ran to Walmart to get myself some worms. He asked where I was fishing. I told him and told him about our new fishing club. Fishing clubs are not all that big here in New England but he was so excited for us. He thought it was so cool. I do too. It is another great opportunity for all of us.
Here are some pictures. You can see it was just a beautiful day!
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
New Clothesline Desmos Art #mtbos30
I forgot to post yesterday, so I better do today before I forget again.
I finally found time to grade my Accelerated Algebra 2 Conics projects created using Desmos. Idea for @boblochel on Twitter.
I have had last year's projects hanging up on my clothesline wall all year and a reminder of what we would be able to create in the spring. In the fall, they think, "No way, that is too hard. I won't be able to do that." I say...."Yet!"
And, they did some pretty cool stuff.
Here is my clothesline wall of some of them.
I finally found time to grade my Accelerated Algebra 2 Conics projects created using Desmos. Idea for @boblochel on Twitter.
I have had last year's projects hanging up on my clothesline wall all year and a reminder of what we would be able to create in the spring. In the fall, they think, "No way, that is too hard. I won't be able to do that." I say...."Yet!"
And, they did some pretty cool stuff.
Here is my clothesline wall of some of them.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Planning for the spring #mtbos30
The problem with being creative yesterday afternoon into the night is that my brain was swirling. I had a hard time falling asleep, dreamt about my breakout box, and woke up thinking about all I had to do.
Having a lot to do means I need to delegate too. This is a "light" spring for me but still pretty busy.
Tues, May 10th - fishing club. The rain will stop and it will finally be 70, hopefully we will catch something this time. I asked our team captain to email the team and remind them.
Thursday, May 12th - Son#2 comes home from college :)
Friday, May 13th - Relay for Life. I am on the committee so I will be up all night helping out and that means sleeping all day on Saturday, May 14th.
Sunday, May 15th - Son #1 will run a triathlon sprint in town, and I will go cheer him on. My cross country team will volunteer at it, so I need to email those reminders out.
Sunday, May 15th in the evening - I help with Youth Group and we will have our end of the year get together - Sundaes on Sunday, so I need to write up the grocery list and ask an adult to shop. I will come up with the games we will play.
Thursday, May 19th - Son #3 and I will go into Boston to serve at a homeless shelter. I love spending this time with him.
Friday, May 20th - Son #4's 15th birthday so out to dinner. Also, Son #3's Junior prom but he decided not to go. I will go to the school and help out with the Grand March.
Saturday, May 21st - cookout for Son #4's birthday - means shopping, cooking, and cleaning before and after.
Sunday, May 22nd - Baccalaureate mass and dinner for seniors at our church.
Early June - breakout box for Algebra 2 - prepare, copy, plan, get locks and boxes ready to play
June 3rd - graduation and then some grad parties in June. My niece is graduating!
Thursday, June 9th - Mission meeting - our youth group is heading to Appalachia, WV by bus on June 26th. I need to get ready for the meeting with some prayers, songs, icebreakers, and activities.
Week of June 26th - Mission Trip to WV, need to do so much planning for this!
I say this is a "light" spring because next spring Son#2 graduates from college, Son#3 graduates from high school, and Son#4 turns 16 and gets his driver's permit. So, I am trying to enjoy this spring.
Having a lot to do means I need to delegate too. This is a "light" spring for me but still pretty busy.
Tues, May 10th - fishing club. The rain will stop and it will finally be 70, hopefully we will catch something this time. I asked our team captain to email the team and remind them.
Thursday, May 12th - Son#2 comes home from college :)
Friday, May 13th - Relay for Life. I am on the committee so I will be up all night helping out and that means sleeping all day on Saturday, May 14th.
Sunday, May 15th - Son #1 will run a triathlon sprint in town, and I will go cheer him on. My cross country team will volunteer at it, so I need to email those reminders out.
Sunday, May 15th in the evening - I help with Youth Group and we will have our end of the year get together - Sundaes on Sunday, so I need to write up the grocery list and ask an adult to shop. I will come up with the games we will play.
Thursday, May 19th - Son #3 and I will go into Boston to serve at a homeless shelter. I love spending this time with him.
Friday, May 20th - Son #4's 15th birthday so out to dinner. Also, Son #3's Junior prom but he decided not to go. I will go to the school and help out with the Grand March.
Saturday, May 21st - cookout for Son #4's birthday - means shopping, cooking, and cleaning before and after.
Sunday, May 22nd - Baccalaureate mass and dinner for seniors at our church.
Early June - breakout box for Algebra 2 - prepare, copy, plan, get locks and boxes ready to play
June 3rd - graduation and then some grad parties in June. My niece is graduating!
Thursday, June 9th - Mission meeting - our youth group is heading to Appalachia, WV by bus on June 26th. I need to get ready for the meeting with some prayers, songs, icebreakers, and activities.
Week of June 26th - Mission Trip to WV, need to do so much planning for this!
I say this is a "light" spring because next spring Son#2 graduates from college, Son#3 graduates from high school, and Son#4 turns 16 and gets his driver's permit. So, I am trying to enjoy this spring.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
A creative Saturday #mtbos30
My morning started off not too great as I woke up early to take my Junior son to take his SATs but he couldn't find his wallet. We torn the house upside down to no avail, even called and woke up the friend whose car he was last in to see if it fell into the car. Nope, it fell out at Chipotle. So, he didn't take the SATs today.
I zumba'd my anger off and came home and got creative. I finished a sewing project up so I can finally get my sewing machine off my dining room table.
And, then I started my Accelerated Algebra 2 breakout for June after our last test but before final exams. I created one for our church youth group and it was so fun for me to create and then fun to watch the kids do it. I do get a little too convoluted in my thinking though. I am trying to keep this one more straightforward so my colleague can recreate it. I can't give too much away but I started with a 100% charge on my computer and it is now down to 54%. I still have a lot to go (as I am watching The Sixth Sense and getting distracted).
It is "Escape from the Amusement Park". I have 4 kids shooting the basketball at the basketball game with different parabolic information given to try to figure out who gets it in the hoop.
I have three bumper cars traveling in ellipses and we will need to find out when all three hit.
There will be a rollercoaster that is a polynomial.
There will be a ferris wheel with a trig equation.
There will be a concession stand problem where they buy 3 different things and need to figure out the prices.
There will be 5 games that will lead to QR codes with a mix of problems (maybe logs and trig)
I even used desmos so one of them leads to a desmos code. I had to make another code to get to the desmos code.
It is a ton of work but I hope they enjoy it.
Oh, one thing I learned is that if you google your name with name like "Jennifer name" you can find cool clip art like this one:
I zumba'd my anger off and came home and got creative. I finished a sewing project up so I can finally get my sewing machine off my dining room table.
And, then I started my Accelerated Algebra 2 breakout for June after our last test but before final exams. I created one for our church youth group and it was so fun for me to create and then fun to watch the kids do it. I do get a little too convoluted in my thinking though. I am trying to keep this one more straightforward so my colleague can recreate it. I can't give too much away but I started with a 100% charge on my computer and it is now down to 54%. I still have a lot to go (as I am watching The Sixth Sense and getting distracted).
It is "Escape from the Amusement Park". I have 4 kids shooting the basketball at the basketball game with different parabolic information given to try to figure out who gets it in the hoop.
I have three bumper cars traveling in ellipses and we will need to find out when all three hit.
There will be a rollercoaster that is a polynomial.
There will be a ferris wheel with a trig equation.
There will be a concession stand problem where they buy 3 different things and need to figure out the prices.
There will be 5 games that will lead to QR codes with a mix of problems (maybe logs and trig)
I even used desmos so one of them leads to a desmos code. I had to make another code to get to the desmos code.
It is a ton of work but I hope they enjoy it.
Oh, one thing I learned is that if you google your name with name like "Jennifer name" you can find cool clip art like this one:
Friday, May 6, 2016
Stations for Rationals #mtbos30
I have done these stations in years past and like the mix and getting the kids vertical.
I call it Noah's Ark Review because they are supposed to do 2 at each station. It is appropriate after a week of rain.
Stations Review for Rational Functions
I have station 1 at the window with practicing graphing rational functions. (Algebra 1)
I have station 2 at the back board with solving rational equations.
Station 3 is on a side table with 1 die. The students toss the die to get two numbers, one for x and one for y. They are told y varies inversely with x. Then, they toss it one more time. This is a new X value. Find y.
Station 4 is at a group of desks with 1 die and it is word problems. One is a work problem and one is a distance = rate times time problem. They toss the die to make their problems.
Station 5 is at my favorite little green table with little white boards found a while back at Target and a coin that has written on it a multiplication sign and a division sign. The kids pick four boards. Put one over another to create fractions, then flip the coin to see if they have to multiply or divide.
Station 6 is at a group of desks with a coin and colored paper with rational expressions. The pick one of each color (there are two colors) and then flip a coin with a plus and minus written on it to make their own problems.
I call it Noah's Ark Review because they are supposed to do 2 at each station. It is appropriate after a week of rain.
Stations Review for Rational Functions
I have station 1 at the window with practicing graphing rational functions. (Algebra 1)
I have station 2 at the back board with solving rational equations.
Station 3 is on a side table with 1 die. The students toss the die to get two numbers, one for x and one for y. They are told y varies inversely with x. Then, they toss it one more time. This is a new X value. Find y.
Station 4 is at a group of desks with 1 die and it is word problems. One is a work problem and one is a distance = rate times time problem. They toss the die to make their problems.
Station 5 is at my favorite little green table with little white boards found a while back at Target and a coin that has written on it a multiplication sign and a division sign. The kids pick four boards. Put one over another to create fractions, then flip the coin to see if they have to multiply or divide.
Station 6 is at a group of desks with a coin and colored paper with rational expressions. The pick one of each color (there are two colors) and then flip a coin with a plus and minus written on it to make their own problems.
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