My Determined Student

Last Thursday just wasn't a good teaching day for me, but then Friday I had a student turn that around.  I tweeted this:



She did give me permission to talk about it, so here goes: Let's call her Sarah (not her real name).

Here is her humble response when I asked for permission:


On the day before school started, I received an email to meet with other teachers about an incoming freshman student, Sarah.  Sarah had invited all her teachers into a room and shared a powerpoint about herself with us so we can understand how she can best learn.  See, Sarah has Stargardt's Disease and is going blind.  But, this was no feel sorry for me meeting.  This girl was independent and determined.  In her powerpoint, she tried to explain what it is like to see from her perspective.  She told us what she needs.  She needs green paper so there is less glare.  She needs her font sized increased to about 50.  (She does have an aide that did this for us.). She taught herself braille last summer.  She has a machine that will take a word doc and convert it into braille.  (We didn't have to do this this year.). She has a sort of Elmo thing that can enlarge my powerpoint projected.  I sent her my powerpoints and worksheets ahead of time so they could be modified.  She has special glasses too.  As I said, she is very independent.  She never complained and was just a pleasure to work with.  We learned what worked for her together.  I had her in Accelerated Algebra 1.  When I was teaching a lesson and we were working on any problem, I always read it aloud for her to write.  I am pretty sure the entire class benefited from this as well.

As the year went on, she was struggling with graphing things.  I told her we could modify her work by writing the translation in words.  Her and her aide worked on creating a tactile graph for her.  I was so shocked.  This is how she handed in 4 graphs from her final exam.  That is what warmed my heart last Friday.  She doesn't let anything stop her.  She is amazing.

Here are her graphs.  The graph paper is in braille.  The aide puts the dots on the x and y axes and then Sarah adds the dots for the points of the graph and then she used Wiki sticks to form the graphs.  So creative!!!

I did reach out to Dan Meyer and Desmos early in the year about using Desmos with her but I didn't have the time to dig into it.  I hope to this summer.  There is a good chance I could have her for the next two years.

Looking Back and Looking Forward #MTBoSBlog18

This is my June 18th #MTBoSBlog18 post - posting on the 18th of each month.  We have one more final exam and 1.5 more days of school.  It has been a great end to school temperature-wise until it hit 95 today.

I would say year #13 was a good one for me.  It was pretty uneventful and no drama which I appreciate.  I had all Accelerated classes this year, so we moved fast.  I had a new prep - Acc Geometry.  I used materials from a colleague who has been teaching it but made it my own and I really loved it.  I had 3 classes of it.  Unfortunately, I only have 1 of it next year.  But, on the other hand, I will have 3 classes of Acc Algebra 2 which could mean I will have a lot of the same kids and I loved my geo kids this year. 

I will have a new prep next year.  It is college prep level Geometry.  I wanted just one year of not planning a new prep, but alas it wasn't meant to be, so I will create this one.

I will say I did use Sean Sweeney's Desmos Marbleslides challenge all year.  I had a few of the same kids do it each week.  We switch classes and students half way through the year and some students that didn't even have me second semester kept doing it! 

I kept up with my Birthday poster all year too.

We were not able to complete the 2018 challenge, but we made a good attempt.

I incorporated a lot of Desmos into my new Geometry class.

My proposals for RIMTA and NCTM Regionals in RI and CT were both accepted for Dec and Oct of next school year.  They are both on Desmos, so I am excited to share.

Last summer, I did a lot of traveling and a lot of school work.  I decided to slow it down a bit this summer.  We have a new lake house in Maine and my plan is to be there and kayak fish, read, roast marshmallows, swing in my grown up swings by the lake and just be.

It will be the first year in my life not going to my grandmother's in Vermont.  She is still alive and kicking at 95 and it is my favorite holiday because we have a huge family, but the 4th is on a stupid Wednesday and all my family has to work on the 3rd and the 5th.  Yes, all my family BUT me has to work.  I have four boys - ages 17-26. They all live at home and they all finally have jobs - and good jobs.  I am so excited!  So, we will go to my brother's for the 4th in a neighboring town and it will be all good.

I am getting ready to leave on our youth group's mission trip.  My friend and I are in charge of it and we went big this year.  We are taking 100 people to Houston to clean up after Hurricane Harvey.  All 100 of us will travel in bright orange shirts this Sunday on the same, non-stop JetBlue flight to Houston.  Then, we will split up into two sites and work for the week. 

One month from now, actually July 16th, I will be traveling to my 3rd TMC in Cleveland.  My colleague, Kathy, and I are presenting for the 3 morning slots on Discovering Geometry using Whiteboards and Verbal Cues.  So, we have been working on this at the end of the school year.  I am nervous but really excited to share all the geometry goodness and having fellow teachers doing the geometry at the boards and discussing it. We will experience it one day, analyze it the next, and create it on the final day.  My husband is joining us.  The company he works for has a plant out there and he has been there and has friends to visit.  We are renting a car and driving, him, me, and Kathy, and then we rented an airbnb.  It should be an adventure to say the least.

So, Houston, Maine, Cleveland, and back to Maine for most of August. That's my plan.

Here's to an awesome summer!

Desmos Art Projects - Algebra 2

I have had my Algebra 2 students make an art project using Desmos for a few years now.  However, now there are so many online, I wanted to remove opportunity to cheat so we made a few changes.  I also wanted to use just tech and not paper. 

I used to have the students find a picture, drag it in and write the equations to make the picture.  Then, they would have to do out two systems of equations - one conic and non-conic and 2 conic intersections.  They had to print out their picture and color it, put it on construction paper and print out all their equations (usually 100-600 equations, although I didn't put a number on them) and then their algebra work to solve the systems.

This year, I had them make original pictures. They had to include some shading.  I didn't teach conics this year, so less emphasis on that although they could/should include some of those equations because they did them in geometry last year.  They did not have to print out the picture or the equations.  I created a google doc and had them paste their desmos link in there.  Then, I took their link and pasted it into my own desmos activity builder (with a little help from twitter - paste it into an equation window in the graph window. 

I did give a little hint at animating them but I didn't require it.  Some students did animate :)

I am very impressed with the results.

I found a rubric online and modified it.  Desmos Project.  (not remembering to whom to give credit, sorry).

Here is the link to my Desmos Activity Builder: Desmos AB Art Project
  

Proud #mtbosblog18

I am blogging today on May 18th as part of #mtbosblog18 - that is trying to remember to blog at least once a month - on the 18th because it is 2018.

Today I am proud all around.  It's a good day.  It's a Friday.  We have Hiller Day today. (We are Hopkinton Hillers).  It means students have a late start and teacher work.  But, today were the underclassmen awards and my son, a junior, received one.  We get a letter inviting us to the ceremony at 7:15 am but we don't know what award he is to receive.  He received the English award.  I am so proud.



There were about 150 kids in attendance and I have had a lot of them as students (since I live and teach in the same town.)  I was so proud of them all.  It was great to sit there as an audience member and know most of them by name or at least by face and then get to put a name to their face.  It was fun to see siblings that have graduated come back to support their winning younger siblings.  I am in my 13th year of teaching, so I do have siblings.  Fun to see the resemblance in them.  I see a girl walking to school each day, now I know her name.  It is great to find out what areas the kids excel in whether it be robotics or wellness or art, etc.  I am proud of all of them.

Today, I had three geometry classes.  Yesterday's lesson introduced them to graphing sine and cosine.  We "unwound" the unit circle and graphed it on the coordinate plane to discover the shape of the graph and discussed them.  I talked about properties and transformations.  It was too much and a little overwhelming for them to process, so there was not much success on the homework.  When I checked it, they all just looked like random squiggles with no labels on the x-axis.  Today's lesson was supposed to be about writing the equations of the graphs, so I made adjustments.  I went through two problems on the homework to show them how to pull apart the properties and use them step by step to graph it.  Then, I gave them a worksheet that asked for the properties and the graph.  They were starting to see it better now.  I knew that taking the time for them to better understand this direction - equation to graph, they would hopefully more easily be able to go in the other direction graph to equation, so it was worth the time and adjustment to practice.  

My third class of geometry was during lunch block which is right in the middle of class.  They were just starting to get in the groove and when lunch time came, they asked if they could stay! - On a Friday - to graph sine and cosine.  I told them they could but reminded them they could go to lunch and refuel and come back and continue.  That is what they did.

I let them work for a bit longer and they were building their understanding and making the connections!  Then, I had 3 problems I was going to have them do on the board in #VNPS and #vrg but due to time, I just read the problems.  They struggled with the first, used that to figure out the second, and found success with the third and most challenging one.


We usually do an ALLA after lunch (After Lunch Learning Activity) and I didn't want to give them up, so I built the time in.  We played the game Cover Up from Sarah's website which she got from Frank Tapson.  I had all the supplies and figured I would give it a try.  What a simple yet fun game.  I asked some if they had anything they would do differently after the game - taking strategy.  I wish we had time to play it twice.  Check it out here: COVER UP.

Here's a picture of the kids playing:



And, finally, tonight is our Relay for Life.  Ours is run by high schoolers and consists mostly of middle and high school participants.  They are top fundraisers in New England and do an amazing job.  I am proud to have been part of the committee for 13 years since it started.  This year they asked me to speak at the Survivor dinner (my mom beat thyroid cancer).   They have raised close to $100,000 already and the event hasn't even happened.  I am so proud of all their hard work in raising money and awareness to fight cancer.  They are awesome!

It's going to be a long day but I hope the goodness continues.

Geometry: Teaching Composite Figures Vol and SA

Today was a good lesson in Geometry, so I thought I would share.  We are nearing the end of our surface area and volume unit.  Last week we did the project so they had the hands on aspect of learning the formulas.  They will get a formula sheet on the quiz. 

Today's lesson was on composite figures and bringing them all together.  I thought I packed too much into the lesson but the timing was perfect which always makes me happy.

I started off with 2 lesson openers.  They both involving asking the students to make a prediction first.  They are so uncomfortable with this and start digging deeper and asking questions.  Just write a number down.  I did more 3Acts last year in Algebra 1, but haven't done them really in Geometry.

We started with this from Dane Ehlert and which is bigger?  I asked them to write down shape A or B and then I asked what I could give them that might make it easier.  They said the area.  I said I wouldn't just give them the area but I would give it to them on the grid.  I was surprised how quickly they jumped to their calculators and formulas.  I didn't anticipate that.  I just counted the boxes.  It made for good conversation.

The second one was a 3Act from Kyle Pearce at www.tapintoteenminds.com He does a great job on his website explaining the lesson, providing resources including worksheets and videos.  I showed the picture of a house with a lawn and asked them what they noticed and what they wondered?  We eventually got to the lawn but it is a very geometric house.  We could have asked more about the house.  We finally came up with how long will it take to mow the lawn.  I asked them to write down a prediction, but again they wanted more first.  Then, in Act 2, I asked what more I could give them so they could calculate it and they asked for area.  I told them I wouldn't give them area directly, but what could I give them....dimensions.  They asked about the lawnmower, if it was a push (gasp, it was), how wide it was, and they wanted a rate. 

I showed them a 3D diagram of the lawn and explained it was similar to our project last week when we had a challenging time drawing that sort of flattened back drawing.

I handed out the worksheet and asked them to find the perimeter and area of the lawn.  Then, I showed the video of the actual lawn mower so we could get the rate.

Act3 was showing the real answer.  I won't give it away, but our number was a little lower than the actual time and we talked about possible discrepancies.

Finally, we moved onto board problems.  I overheard a students say, "I love board problems; different every time but still fun."  This made my day :)

Usually I make these board problem oral problems in geometry, but the shapes were too complicated.  I had three different shapes and asked for Volume and Surface area of each, in groups of 3 with only one marker at a time, but everyone calculating on their calculators.  It took a bit.  They would check in with me and it felt like the Price is Right again as I told them their answer was too high or too low.  But, they stuck with it.  There were so many great conversations - lots of "I think we went wrong here." "We need to subtract this circle" or "we need to add this cylinder's lateral area."

Here is the powerpoint.
Here are the board problems.

Thanks for reading. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Geometry: Teaching SA and Volume with a project

In Accelerated Geometry, we teach surface area and volume through a project.  I have not taught this class or this project before and I was nervous because I didn't know what to anticipate as place's where students may run into trouble.  I teach three classes in a row, so I learned quickly with my first class and made adjustments for my next two classes.

I did not create this project or rubric, but will share it.

I do like the idea because I am not just giving the formulas and doing worksheets.  It was hands on and fun.  Students had a choice between a pyramid and a cone and they really owned their solid.

We had two full days in class to work on the project and day three involved 30 minutes to finish up anything else and then a 20 minute peer review.  Today is the peer review day.

I will say project based learning can be exhausting because I was running around like I was on The Price Is Right answering questions and helping.

Most people chose to make the pyramid.  The students who chose the cone struggled with finding the angle measure but when they actually built it, it was easier to build than the pyramid.

The abbreviated version:
Day 1: Decide on pyramid or cone.  Pick some measurements to make sure to get in between the required dimensions for base area and volume.  Draw a scaled down, labeled net.  (Most kids did not finish all this in day 1).

Day 2: Finish net, draw a scaled, labeled 3D drawing and start building your solid to scale, using centimeters and my nice cardstock I bought (note: $50 worth for 84 students.  I asked them to conserve paper and they were really good about it.)

Day 3: Finish building. Write up neat calculation paper.  Each student gets 3 rubrics on their desks.  Then, the peer review.  Each student visits 3 other students' projects and completes the rubric and writes something positive and/or something to grow on.  They took this really seriously.  Class was quiet as they milled around.

Spring Break and Conics #mtbosblog18

Yes, it has been a month since I last blogged.  Good thing I have #mtbosblog18 to remind me to keep blogging.  First, Spring Break fun stuff, then a recap on my Geometry Conics lessons.

I am on Spring Break and just wrapped up 3 days in Maine with my sisters, sister-in-law and 7 nieces and nephews.  It was fun, a good, crazy, large family kind of fun.  We had lunch together today at a diner and then they went home leaving me with 24 hours to myself - all alone!  I LOVE being alone.  I find it so peaceful.

Here is brunch at the dinner with this crazy group:


Then, I went into Portland, Maine to the best donut shop in the world - the Holy Donut.  I got donuts for my girls weekend and donuts for my family and donuts for me and donuts for a co-worker who is gluten free.  A man walked past me carrying the donuts and he said, "You are going to make some people happy."  :).


I also went to 2 bookstores.  I had all the time in the world, just me, to browse!  I love reading YA, so I picked up these two.  Just now at dinner, I finished  a great book - The Gentlemen's Guide to Vice and Virture - I highly recommend it.  Not to brag, but it is my 14th book this year.  My goal is 28 and it isn't even summer yet!  That's a pomegranate donut:


On the way home, I stocked at the market and bought worms and did my first fishing of the season.  I didn't have any bites, but it was just beautiful being out there.


Tomorrow, I head to North Conway, NH for a girls weekend with my sisters, cousins, and aunts.  Yep, more girl time. 

Now, some math.  I am teaching Accelerated Geometry for the first time.  I have always taught Accelerated Algebra 2 which follows Geo.  In Acc Alg 2, I used to teach conics again.  It was good to spiral.  Most kids would say it had been their toughest lesson in Geometry and they didn't do so well with it.  By Algebra 2, they had more practice with completing the square needed for conics.  For Alg 2, I had a physical conic card sort to do each day, I folded wax paper to make parabolas, and I used computer paper box tops with laminated graphs, 2 push pins, and floss to make ellipses.  I dove right in, knowing they had it before and we did it quickly. 

However, this year, in Alg 2, we decided not to teach conics but to do limits instead.  Okay, now I can use my Alg2 old stuff with geo and not repeat stuff.  I think it went well.  There weren't too may complaints.  Students liked doing "algebra stuff" again.  I dare say some even liked it.  And, finally they did well on their conics quiz.  They struggled on their circles quiz - the first quiz of the unit and they will be tested on both after vacation.  Let's hope they find success with both. 

Our geometry book does not include conics, so I supplemented for homework from a precalc book.  I did a lot of snapshots.  It was more direct teaching than working at the whiteboards, but we did a little at the boards.  I had planned to on the parabola day but we ran out of time between doing the conic card sort each day, then the discovery activity, then practicing graphing them from standard and not-standard form, it took a while.

Geometry Conics: I hope all the links work and I hope someone finds it useful :)

91	Equations of a Circle Geo - Day 91 Class PPT Circles Geo - Day 91 Board Problems	P. 760 #14,18,20,24,25,35
92	Circles and Ellipses Geo - Day 92 Class PPT Ellipses	Precalc: P. 438 2-12 evens P. 439 39-42, 44
93	Applications of Ellipses Geo - Day 93 Class PPT Ell Apps Desmos Polygraph: Circles and Ellipses Desmos: Translating Ellipses	Precalc: P. 438 23,32 P. 439 45, 48ab, 52 P. 440 66 Our book p. 761 31
94	The Hyperbola Geo - Day 94 Class PPT Hyperbola	Precalc: P. 449 3, 12,14, 18, 20, 23, 25, 26, 67, 68
95	The Parabola Geo - Day 95 Class PPT Parabola Geo - Day 95 Board Problems	Precalc: P. 428 1, 7, 15, 26, 54, 55-58
96	Practice Conics Geo - Day 96 Class PPT Practice Desmos Card Sort	Precalc: P. 429 59, 69 P. 449 11, 22, 33 P. 450 65
97	Review for Quiz 10 on Conics Geo - Day 97 Class PPT Conic Review
98	Quiz 10 on Conics