Happy Medium or Medium Happy?

That's start at the end, that is the end of last school year and even before that.  Last school year was not a great year.  It was anything personally against me but everyone that I work with at school and on Twitter had stinky years with lots of bad stuff happening to them.  I wanted to help them.  I didn't want to just be the positive cheerleader telling them annoying positive phrases.  It was just stuff they had to go through and I tried to be there for them. 

At the last week and 2 days of the school year, I developed vertigo.  Yuck!  It was debilitating!  I woke up that Sunday throwing up and spinning.  Monday was even worse and I had to take the day off from school.  I went into a walk in clinic and they gave me a prescription to help the spinning.  Then, I went to my friend who is a physical therapist that specializes in vertigo.  She did some testing on me and gave me some exercises to help me get better.  I felt worse than being drunk.  I walked tilted to the right.  I couldn't drive.  I couldn't lay back.  I couldn't close my eyes.  I was most comfortable lying at a 45 degree angle and just staring into space.  I had to have my family drive me to school and some colleagues drive me home.  I couldn't look at the computer screen.  I did go home early two days after the kids took their final exams.  I was so thrilled that a colleague offered to grade some of my exams.  It was so helpful.  I was doing everything in slow motion.  I now have a better understanding of what it is like when kids have concussions.  I couldn't go any faster.  I couldn't think.  I was so tired.  I didn't feel like myself and I was mad.  I just wanted to walk up normal.  I did my exercises and rested a lot so I was better after about one and a half week.  I know people suffer from it a lot longer than that and I can't imagine. 

But, due to this, I didn't end the school year the way I normally do.  I would pull everything out of my school closets and toss stuff I didn't use this year.  I would reorganize.  I would pack up neatly so I could come in fresh for this school year.  Nope, I just stuffed stuff away.  I am not looking forward to trying to find things.  But, it was what I had to do.  It will all be fine in the end.

So, my title...I am going to try to find a happy medium this year.  Not getting too busy or too far behind.  Not taking too much home with me.  Exercising, sleeping, staying healthy.  Then, maybe I will find a happy medium or maybe at least be medium happy.

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.

Geometry Final Exam Reference Sheet

I had my college prep geometry work in groups to write everything they know about what we have learned 2nd term in order to prepare for our final exam next week.  Here is what they came up with. They have to look them all over for errors.  Then they write them down to create their test reference sheet.  Most snapped pictures and then copied from their phone.

Similarity, Geometric Mean, Pythagorean Theorem


Right Triangle Trigonometry


Polygons


Surface Area and Volume


Circles

Card Sharks

I have a deck of jumbo cards I hadn't found a use yet but then thought of Card Sharks, the game show.  It is an old one, but I think they are bringing it back.  I did not do the trivia part in order to earn the card turn.  I set two up and the kids worked in groups to try and get through the 5 cards.  It was harder than they think.

Egg Zipline in Algebra 2

I did Barbie Bungee when I had my students in Algebra 1.  Now, I have them 2 years later in Algebra 2, so it was time for Egg Zipline.  We did this back in February, right before vacation.  It worked well.  It took one 60-minute period.  I had students work in groups of 3, I think.  In all 3 classes, NONE of the eggs broke.  It may have been too cushioned between the shell, the cup, and the cardboard box we were aiming for so I didn't get a mess on the floor.  So, next year, I need to adjust it so it is a bit more "dangerous".  Typing this quickly. Will find my Twitter friend who started this.

Egg Zipline link

Set up:


Set up 2:


Don't forget the eggs:


Make the basket:


Calculating:


Hard at work the day before vacation!


Student work:

Video 1:

Video 2:

Geometry - SA and Volume Project

This Geometry project takes us about 3 classes (60 minutes each).  It sounds easier than it is.  I do this with my accelerated class. 

Here is the link to the project.

The students have to build a cone or pyramid out of card stock that meet certain requirements.  They need to draw a net, a 3D version, and then actually make it.  This year I only had 2 kids out of 29 attempt the cone. 

They really struggle with this, but it helps them see all the right triangles within the figure.  It helps them see where the slant height is.

Still creating

I can't believe I haven't blogged since January.  I have so many things I want to blog about.

Here is a quick hit.  It is May 23rd and I am still creating new things for my Geometry class.  This is a review for our test on right triangle trig, polygons, surface area, volume, and circles (although no circles in the Around the World.)

I made an 8 question Around the World and a review packet.