School and Home Life during Corona as of May 20, 2020

This is my 5th installment of #MTBoS2020 - blogging on the 20th of each month during the year 2020.  If you want to blog or to read some blogs, find out more here: #MTBoS2020.

I couldn't forget today, because it is my baby's birthday.  My son, Luke, is the youngest of 4 boys and turning 19.  He just finished up his first year at UMaine and will be transferring to UMASS Amherst this fall (hopefully) to be a tad closer to home.

First, my school stuff, then a little about home life.

Our school cancelled due to corona on May 11th.  That was our first day off.  We weren't sure what the plan was right away, so our school did 3 weeks of review material.  April 6th was our first day teaching "live" and new material.  At that point, we weren't sure if we would go back.  I was hopeful and then, I wasn't hopeful.  From April 6th to mid June, I counted 10 weeks, so I went with that for a plan. I named each week by the week: Week 1, Week 2, etc.

I was happy with our school's plan.  We have 7 classes and normally see them about 4 times a week.  We cut it in half to see each class twice:



They asked teachers to be live for at least 1 hour per day, so while each class is scheduled for 45 minutes, you don't have to do all 45 minutes live.  With two classes each week, I called them: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B.  Each lesson had a zoom session, a google slide lesson that I screencastified to teach over it, a homework of about 6 -10 problems and a worked out solution answer key.  These were all created brand new (3 different preps - Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2).  I uploaded them all to google classroom.  I had not used it before, but I liked it more and more each time I used it.  Here is what my week looked like.
 


 I added each week as a "topic", each google slide as "material", and each homework as an "assignment".  With the homework being listed as an assignment, I could put a due date on it.  That way if someone handed their homework in late, I would get a notification.  I do not get a notification that they handed it in.  I didn't want that. That would be too many emails.  But, by getting the late notification in an email, I could then go back to my gradebook and give them credit.

I hand the students either print out the homework or do it on paper, take a picture and upload it to google classroom.  Within google classroom, I can click on the Grades tab and I can see who turned it in and whose is missing.  I do this right before Zoom class because they might submit it in the morning.  I go back and check it after Zoom to see if anyone entered it.  Then, I put a checkmark in my online gradebook to show them and parents completion.  I also put a checkmark for coming to Zoom.  Parents can see if they are coming to Zoom class and if they are doing the homework.  We are doing Pass/Fail in the end.  Here the students' names are listed in a column to the left.



After I see if they have done the homework.  Then, I can click on each one to take a look at their work.  They are so cute, leaving me messages "I think this one has a mistake". "This one was tough I had to look at the answer key."  "Can you do this one in class?"  "help!"   So, I take this feedback and bring it to the zoom class. 

Prior to the Zoom class, they will have watched the video lesson, done the homework, checked their answers, and uploaded it to Google Classroom.  Then, they come to Zoom.  I have little whiteboards at home, so I write the agenda on that and hold it up in my Zoom window.  We usually discuss the homework.  Sometimes I will screenshot my answer key or their wrong work and put that into a Google Slide to screenshare with the class in Zoom and discuss that way.  Then, we will usually do a couple of problems.  Sometimes I write them out and hold them up on a whiteboard, then put them into breakout groups so they can unmute and actually discuss the problems.  I pop into each breakout room to see if they have any questions.  They can also call me to the room if they have a question.  Another option I have used is Classkick.  I like this because I can see them working live and I can write on their screen and they can see my work.  With this, I usually do 4 problems.  I keep them in Zoom and then can call them back to a screen...."Abby, come back to screen 2, so we can look at your work."  I do Desmos Activities in a Zoom session.  I pull the Desmos up on my home computer so I can still see the kids in Zoom and read my Desmos teacher dashboard.  Sometimes I will put them into breakout rooms so they can discuss a Desmos marbleslide for example.

As far as tests, I have been using Edulastic.  It had a bit of a learning curve.  I have used the questions provided in the bank as well as created my own.  I do have to go back and re-grade them because of variations to correct answers.  It has taken me about an hour to regrade them.

I am giving an Algebra 2 trig identity test this week and I want to be able to see each step of their work and comment on it, so I am not using Edulastic.  I just shared a google doc regular looking test.  They will take it and upload it to google classroom.  Then, on my ipad, I will open google classroom and I can write on it, circle thing, use arrows to provide better feedback. 

When I am testing my classes, I will open a test on a Wednesday and give them until Friday at 2 pm to finish it.  I am glad I decided on the 2pm deadline versus a midnight deadline.  Students always have last minute questions and I am not answering emails after 8 pm.  So, by making the deadline 2 pm, they are asking questions during a normal school day.

This is week 7 for us.  We are getting closer.  I will say the newness has worn off.  But, I am more comfortable now that I have figured out what tech works best for what I want/need and I have taught myself how to use it.  I am in the swing of things.

I asked my Algebra 1 students for some feedback in a short Nearpod (another tech tool I am using).  We did two problems in Nearpod in Zoom on Monday and then I asked them to tell me how life and math were going.  Most students reported it was just right - the right amount of work and they were able to keep up with it.  That was really important feedback for me.  I feel like I am doing the right amount, but not knowing until I asked them.

Home Life continues.  My whole family is all blessed to still be working.  My husband is still working the night shift which has been an adjustment.  We just celebrated Luke's birthday at lunch time so Dad could be with us.

I am on a 106 day streak with my Duolingo Spanish.

I am continuing to exercise every day, up at 6:30.  I am very disciplined in the morning - only due to the fact that we have 2 cats and 2 dogs that get very hungry in the morning and my husband is sleeping in because he works late.  This morning they woke me up at 5:30 am, so I was on a long bike ride by 5:45 am.

I continue to write in my journal daily.  I am going to have to buy a new one for part 2 of this year because I am documenting so much stuff.

And, I am still doing my temperature scarf each day.  Our town got to 81 degrees this Saturday, so I finally got to knit an orange row!  I will pearl the row for Luke's birthday today.  (I am pearling each of our birthdays so they stand out.  5/6 bdays done for the year, mine is in November.)
The top by my hand is May.


Oh, and I decided to write each of my students Thank You postcards.  I took class pictures in September as I do each year so I can put a class picture in a Google Slideshow for parent night.  They were all sun-kissed and happy and smiling.  I wrote Math 2020, Mrs. F, and Algebra 1 on each, had Snapfish print as pictures, then added a sticker label to the backside to write on.  I have written 2 classes, 3 more to go. 

And, my Algebra 2 classes did the Desmos Art project, so I have to grade those too. 

But, alas, it is a gorgeous day out and I will head outside for a much needed break now.  Thanks for reading.

A Month of Remote Teaching #mtbos2020

This is my 4th installment for the #MTBoS2020 blogging initiative that I thought it would be fun to do for the year 2020 on the 20th of each month. If you want to sign up to blog or to find more blogs to read, click here: #MTBoS2020  I didn't see this coming, but it is definitely a year of reflection. Happy April.

In this post, I am going to share about my teaching experiences and a little about my personal experiences on this 20th day of April, a little over a month into our school closure due to Corona.

First, and this is said in jest, I feel like I felt this whole thing coming.
In October, I got my first every flu shot because I told my husband, "I just have a bad feeling about this flu season."

In November, I started a daily journal.  My first page of my journal includes this: "I have been feeling unsettled.  Someone said in order to change, you have to get uncomfortable.  People who are comfortable have no need to change." Followed by, "I am committing to journaling all that the end of this decade holds as we head into 2020."

All school year I have been saying I have the best classes this school year, great kids, no discipline issues and shhhh, small classes.  I didn't want to jinx it, but now I miss them.

March 2nd, I just drew my calendar on the board and welcomed the students to March saying, "March is always the longest month of school, but we can get through this together."  Little did I know March 10th would be our last day of this school year.  I snapped a picture when I went back in to get my stuff.  It was eerie.



March 11th was the 1st day of no school for us.  I can remember it because it is my husband's birthday.  I am knitting a temperature scarf, one row each day for a color for the given temperature.  When one of my family members has a birthday, I am pearling that row (a different type of stitch), so now his birthday marks the start of this time for us.  My finger points to March 11



We did two weeks of remote learning that was optional and did not count towards grades. It was all review, so no teaching new.  Our school likes to be on the forefront of educational ideas, and for a while it was like that with technology.  We were an early adopter of 1-1 computers for our school.  They would encourage us to go to conferences and learn tech and bring it back and teach our colleagues.  I was blazing the way until it came to a stop about 2 years ago when concerns about student privacy became clear.  So, we pulled way back and were barely allowed to do anything.  So, I stopped using most tech.  I stopped listening to new ideas because we probably wouldn't be allowed to use it.

Fast forward to March 2020 and we are dragging out all sorts of technology and that was what I spent those two weeks doing.  It felt like wading through quicksand as I tried to sort out what tools might work best for me.  For some reason, I got stuck right off the bat on videotaping new lessons.  I jumped in feet first.  I ran to Walmart and bought all the stuff to make a lightboard so I could tape cool lessons of me actually writing and teaching.


I did 4 of those lessons successfully using Loom (not Zoom, but Loom).  I had a production schedule.

I made my own teleprompters.  Thank goodness I grabbed little and big whiteboards from my classroom.

I did those one Tuesday.  Then, Wednesday I woke up to try to make more and the editing tool wasn't working for me.  It kept getting hung up.  That is when I started the awful spiral falling down the rabbit hole and feeling worse and worse.  I tried screencastify (wouldn't flip my video).  I looked at some Hippo thing.  I looked at Explain Everything.  I just keep trying and trying.  My husband was helping out from his microsoft world.  Finally I had to regroup.  There was so much more I had to do.  I had to set up some sort of class platform.  I had to make new homeworks and answer keys and assessments.  I had to figure out how to get work to kids so they could do it.  I was assuming they didn't have printers.  That is after I went out and spend $80 on ink for my printer.  I had to figure out how they were going to do the work so they could get it back to me.  Then, I had to figure out how I would give them feedback on that.  It was so much easier to have students with pencil and paper right in front of me.  That was an overwhelming day.  

The next day I refocused.  I let the video go.  I started working on the other stuff.  I was testing new technology.  I wanted to find things that worked for me and the students without too much of a learning curve.  I decided on Google Classroom and have been very happy with that.  I gave the students the code and they all joined up.  I also tried to be organized right from the start. I found some old school supplies at home and I got a notebook and folder for each of my 3 preps, color coded of course.

 I tried to be organized on the computer as well. I decided to name things by the week.  We would meet each class twice a week, so I had Week 1 as a topic and then referred to things as Lesson 1A, hmwk 1A, answer key 1A.



 I learned how to use Notes on my iphone to take a picture, air drop it to my computer, click on it, click File to save as a pdf, and then I can upload the answer key to google drive to get it to google classroom.  Yes, everything was about figuring about the usual 10 keys to do something.

I figured out Zoom. I haven't tried breakout rooms but I hope to soon.  I do a lot of group work in my class with students at the board and I so miss the conversations.  Now, I have tired faces all on mute staring at me.

I have resorted to making Google Slides, very long, drawn out, showing one step at a time on each slide so that I can screencastify with it and I talk over it for the lesson.  So, I am back to direct teaching but that is how it goes.  The students can rewind me, fast forward me, whatever they have to do to learn the lesson.  Then they do their homework, take a picture and upload it to google classroom.

I still keep a paper gradebook and I am glad I do.  I give them a check mark if they are attending Zoom which means I am taking attendance as I let them in from the virtual waiting room.  I know I can get attendees after the meeting, but that is another step.  I am giving them credit for doing the homework. I do like how it is organized in Google classroom so I can just scroll through the different students' work.  I have asked them to make notes on it or circle things, so I can take note of where they were having trouble and we can discuss that in our next Zoom session.

I tried Classkick.com because I wanted something for a formative assessment I could do during a Zoom class and see the kids working to check for understanding.  I got permission to use it and jumped in.  I am happy to report it had a low learning curve and was perfect for what I wanted.  I worry about finding a wrong tool and spending time learning how to use it only to find out it wasn't what I needed and now I have wasted precious time.  However, Classkick was good. I made the lesson, 6 questions and gave the kids the code.  We were in Zoom so I could talk live to them.  I could see them working on the questions. I could see everyone's work on one screen and check to see if it was correct.  If they had a mistake, I asked them to come back to that screen with me as I drew on it to show them the correct solution.  I will be using this again.

I needed a tool for assessment.  In our first two weeks of review learning, I tried a google form, but quickly decided that wasn't what I wanted for actual tests.  I landed at Edulastic. There are a lot of premade questions in there.  I could add my own questions.  I can upload an entire test and then add "buttons" (my word) for where their answers should go.  It has some nice math equation editors that the kids can figure out how to enter fractions and pi, etc.  I made a geometry and an algebra 1 quiz using questions that were from the question bank.  I was super delighted with the teacher dashboard.  I can see their score, see how long it took them to complete it.  I can go in and change the points if something was a little bit off but still correct. I can type feedback at that question.  So, I went in and regraded everything and recorded it.

For Algebra 2, I just assigned their first test in Edulastic.  First, I made it in google docs and then uploaded it to Edulastic and added the answer buttons.  It is on graphing trig and trig inverse, so pretty tricky math stuff to get across.  I hope it goes smoothly for them.  One thing that I am not crazy about is for each new question I enter and for me, it was about 39 different buttons on this one quiz, I had to click about 6 buttons to add math standards for each question.  So, just when you think you have successfully made the test, you need to add all the standards.  Not fun.

In Algebra 2, we will moving into trig identities which are multistep problems that I need to see every step written out.  These are not fun to grade in person on real paper.  I am going to try using a Chrome extension called Kami.  I had our tech people push it out to all the student computers.  I created a homework in google doc, added Kami and then the student will do it through Kami, through google classroom and finally I will be able to write on it, circle it, provide feedback, I think I could also leave voice comments.  I haven't gotten work back in it, but I am hoping it is the tool I am looking for.

A TIP:  When I am assigning a quiz to be due, I am making it due at 2 pm, not midnight.  Students will always have last minute questions and I am not awake to answer them at 10 or 11 pm at night.  2 pm has been working for us.

Emails are constant.  Hours are long.  I am constantly thinking about school work especially as I am trying to fall asleep in bed.  My husband's work hours have changed to 2:45 pm to 11:45 pm so he is gone all afternoon and evening.  I could easily just keep working away but I have to force myself to stop working.  Hence, why I do a jigsaw puzzle.  I just finished my fourth.  I am also loving Schitt's Creek on Netflix.  They are like my Corona time best friends.  I am almost finished with it and I might go back and watch it again.

I am still keeping up with my daily habits.  I go for a run each morning, then do a workout.  I enter my time into the #fitbos tracker because I am aiming to get in 190 hours of exercise this year.  So far I am doing great.  I will often walk with my husband if the weather is good and then again, 6 feet away from a friend. So, tons of exercise to hopefully balance what I am eating.  I love to bake.  I am forcing myself to only bake 1 thing each week so I don't eat it all.  I do Weight Watchers, so I record my daily food.  I am doing Duolingo, so I do my Spanish daily.  I knit my one row of my temperature scarf each day.  I journal each day.  Before all this, I didn't have much to journal - school was good and I exercised.  Now, I have a lot to write into my daily journal and it will definitely be great to go back and look at in the future.  I am making dinners every day because 3 of my 4 boys are living at home and I try to have left overs for my husband to take the next day to work.

Overall, we are all still working and making money and staying healthy.  It is hard to keep that in perspective.

I dyed my hair purple, definitely is more pink and already faded from this.  But, I figured why not?



I am sad for my students who are now seniors and missing so much.  This group of seniors is fabulous.  I know them from math class and running as part of my cross-country team and from 3 years of leading youth group and mission trips.  We have been to the Adirondacks, to Houston, and our harrowing trip to Philly last year.  They are awesome kids and I wish them the best as they maneuver through this time.

And, lastly, my son was supposed to get married on Friday, April 17th.  I am sad for them that they couldn't get married on their date.  They decided to have a pretend wedding at Cape Cod on the beach on Friday and took beautiful pictures, but we were not with them.  They bumped it to May 17th but that didn't last as this thing grew, so now they are at November 15th.  My mom says, "Third time is a charm" and "Good things come to those who wait."  So, we will celebrate in November.

Thanks for reading.  See you on the other side.

Puzzle Peace

Note: This is written in light fun with a dash of sarcasm.

I love doing jigsaw puzzles!  I always have.  To be more specific, I love doing 1000 piece White Mountain Puzzles.  I have been doing them for a long time.  When I finish, I take a picture and share it on Twitter and Facebook.  I have one set up in my high school math classroom and it gives me such joy to see the kids working on it.  Not joy all the time, because sometimes it gives me anxiety when I see HOW the students do the puzzle.  They just don't know how, so I am here to teach you all the correct way to do a jigsaw puzzle.

(Note: Do NOT buy a White Mountain puzzle now during Corona.  The website says they are not taking any new orders so they can catch up with their current orders.  I checked on Amazon and they have WM for $50-$100 each!  No.  These puzzles should be about $16-20.  Wait for the prices to deflate.  I hope they will.  Post on Facebook, I bet your neighbors have puzzles they can lend you.)

As Corona was starting, I was lending my puzzles out to friends and spreading the #puzzlelove!  I am glad more people are discovering it but I hope the prices do come back down.

A few things to keep in mind.  One person can do a puzzle.  You can do a puzzle with a friend.  We once did it as a family at my grandmother's house with about 10 people all working on a 500 piece puzzle at the same time.  That was not puzzle peace, but it was puzzle fun.

You can redo a puzzle.  I like to do them again because now you are familiar with it and you know where the pieces will go, so it goes more quickly.

You can make it a competition and time it.  I don't usually do this because I like it to be a peaceful process, but I usually check the time I start to know how long it will take me.  By myself, I can do a puzzle usually in about 6 hours.  With my puzzle friend, we can do one in about 4 hours.

Puzzles are great to do on a rainy day, a snow day, as a family, on vacation, set up in an unused room and just do a little bit at a time.  There are many possibilities. 

I am typing this in the time of Corona, March 2020 and I mentioned on Facebook that I was going to blog about how to do a puzzle.  My childhood friend, Darcie, said she would read it, so "HI!"  I then added that I should do a YouTube channel on how to do a puzzle, similar to Sheldon on Big Bang.  She said, "He was "Fun with Flags".  You can do "Peaceful with Puzzles". " I told her I liked the play on words, but I switched it around to Puzzle Peace.  Get it?  I thought that might be original, but I just checked Twitter and Cheryl Roffe posted it back in 2015.  I am going to reenergize this hashtag.

If you are on Twitter and do a puzzle, take a picture and tag it with #PuzzlePeace.  We will see how far this reaches.

Here we go:  How to Do a Puzzle by Jennifer Fairbanks

Disclaimer.  Buy a White Mountain Puzzle (I am a puzzle snob.  I like this brand because of the quality of the pieces.  I like the variety of the shapes.  They snap together well and stay together.  I really like their collage puzzles because they are like mini puzzles within the big puzzle. ). I do like Springbok and Ravensburger too, but WM is my favorite.  I also do not like to do a puzzle with too much of one color or too much blue sky, too much blue water, or too much of the same thing - like all flowers or all marbles.  Yuck!  That might be your cup of tea, just not mine.  I don't enjoy that.

Set Up: Find a spot where you can keep this set up.  Probably not the family dinner table unless your family is okay with that.  I went to Home Depot and bought bath shower board which is 4 feet by 8 feet.  They will cut it for you.  I cut it in half.  I added duct tape around the ends to finish it off.  I did two, one for home and one for school.  For the one for school, I put pencils around the perimeter of the board and duct taped over the pencil and the edge at the same time to create a little ridge so the students might not accidentally bump the pieces off the table.  (Yes, I am a serious puzzler.). You can try buying those felted roll up things.  I bought one when my son Kyle was maybe 4.  He is now 21.  I started a puzzle of a picture of him.  I didn't finish, rolled it up and tucked it away.  Now, it will be like a time capsule, as I should find it and do it.  I will let you know.  About the felt roll up, I think it works okay.  I would suggest really wrapping it tightly to keep the pieces in place.  My friend, Allison on Twitter who lives in CA, was asking me about these yesterday because she wants to make her puzzle portable so she can take it inside and outside.  I said it was worth a shot.  I usually put my whiteboard on a folding table in the living room because I like to watch TV while I do it.  I also like to listen to music on Alexa as an alternative.  On a side note: I have to cover mine with a blanket at night because my cat also likes puzzles and thinks it is funny to knock pieces onto the floor and then one of my 2 dogs will eat the pieces.  So, I have to make note on the outside of the box if there are pieces missing.  Very frustrating, not puzzle peace.

Also, White Mountain puzzles come with a handy dandy puzzle cover holder to hold the puzzle cover up for you to look at.  Genius idea!  Thank you.

Now, we will really get started:

10 Easy Steps to Doing a Jigsaw Puzzle by Jennifer Fairbanks

There are two different starts depending if your puzzle is new or used:

New puzzle: Step 1: If your puzzle is brand new and the pieces are in the plastic, take the bag out of the box and rip a hand size hole in the bag and scoop out a small handful of pieces.  You are going to start by sorting the end pieces from the middle pieces.  It is important that you are only looking for straight edges.  Do not bother to actually look at the picture itself yet.  Stay focused and find the edges.  Put the edges in the middle of the table as you find them.  Don't put them around the box on the outside because that is eventually where they are going to go.  Put them on the inside, so it is easier to do the perimeter.  Put the middle pieces in the BOTTOM of the puzzle box.

Old puzzle: Step 1: If your puzzle is not in wrap, keep the pieces in the BOTTOM box.  Now, you should have the BOTTOM box on your left, space in the middle and the TOP box on your right.  Scoop up a small handful and start sorting.  The edge pieces go in the middle on the board.  The middle pieces go in the TOP box.  Stay focused on edges as mentioned above.  You might not get them all on the first go through, but that is OK.  Now, you will end up with all the middle pieces in the TOP box which you need to be able to see, so carefully dump those pieces back into the BOTTOM box.  Prop up the TOP cover box onto your handy dandy little holder and you are ready to start.  By the way, you get one point for each corner piece found.  Just for fun!
 

Step 2: Complete the perimeter.  I usually start by finding like pictures/colors.  You can also just go around the perimeter by looking at the box and then finding the pieces.  If there are words, like the author or copyright, those are probably in the bottom right. 


Step 3: Now, start sifting through the BOTTOM box that is full of middle pieces.  When you find a piece you like or catches your eye, place it in the general area where it should go according to the puzzle TOP.  You will eventually get a bunch of the same pieces in the same area and then can do that part of the puzzle.  Just keep placing for a while.  When things go together, snap them together.

Step 4:  As you start to fill in the puzzle, you may now start to look for particular pieces.  Let's say you are doing a movie puzzle and looking for part of the Back to the Future section.  That is okay.  Don't get stuck on it for too long.  Remember to turn over pieces too.  Those are usually the ones you have been looking for.


Step 5:  You may feel yourself start to get stuck, especially if you are doing a collage type puzzle.  I find with these, I usually do the inside of each little puzzle part and then I am left with each of the connecting lines in between.  These are usually just colors, no words, so it can be tricky.  Here, I suggest taking a minute to look at the blank space in your puzzle.  I find it interesting to see what parts I haven't done.  I usually find out they are the dark sections that it is hard to tell which goes where.  You can find something that might have just a little blue part on it or it is a weird shape and then you can look for that.  Remember, you can change your seat at the puzzle to change your view.  You could also stand.  In fact, you should stand.  It gives you a different perspective.  You can also rotate the box 180 degrees as you are sorting.


Step 6: Another idea is to start organizing the pieces.  You can put them in lines according to their general shape.  You have more of the puzzle done at this point, so you can see you might be looking for one with 4 outies on it. 


Step 7: You can focus on the color.  The puzzle I am working on now is Candy Wrappers.  It is one of my favorites and I have done it many times.  It has a lot of yellow pieces and red pieces.  So, you can kind of blur your eyes, so you can only see yellow, and look for just the yellow pieces.

Step 8: The scan.  You can do this in two ways.  You can pick up a piece, look at the picture on the piece, and then hold it close to the TOP cover and scan to see if you can find it in there and then place it.  If I can't find where it goes, I give that task to my husband.  He is always good at finding the random pieces.  Or, you can take a piece and hold it over the puzzle and scan, looking for shape or color to match. 

Side note: My family finds it funny to take one piece and hide it and then when I am almost done, they can swoop in to put the last piece in and declare they have finished the puzzle!  Not fair!

Step 9: You are almost done.  This is when it is fun and can pick up the pace.  You can see the shapes needed and you race to put them in.  Nice work.

Step 10:  You are done.  Go ahead, run your hand over the puzzle.  I love doing that.  I like the feeling of it.  It is the feeling of accomplishment.  Take a picture and tweet it to #puzzlepeace.  This was Book Covers by White Mountain.



Alternate method.  While I enjoy sifting through the box for pieces, my friend's daughter and some of my students, like to have all the pieces face up and visible, so they take the time to spread them out and around. This is allowed.  As I get closer to being done, I usually take this approach. 

And, finally, this was in my head on a rainy Sunday morning during Corona, so I got up to type.  Our kitty, Putter, was not too happy.  She wanted my attention.

Thanks for reading.  Now, you know you want to do a puzzle.  Go find one and enjoy the #PuzzlePeace!

My 1st Corona Blog Post March 20, 2020

This is my March blog post as part of an initiative I started to get more people reading and blogging.  It is #MTBoS2020. Find blogs here: Link

It is a very weird time for our whole world as we are facing the Corona Virus and most of the US is shutting down.  Our school closed last Wednesday, which I will remember because it is my husband's birthday.  I live in Massachusetts and within a week of closing down schools, lots of other things followed suit - daycares, playgrounds, restaurants and bars (except for take out).  Restaurants that did do take out are now doing it to survive.  Breweries are closed and are bringing the beer to you.  Grocery stores are still open but the shelves are empty.  Forget about finding toilet paper.  If you are lucky, there will be kleenex for you to buy.  They even made special hours for elderly to shop without younger people to get them sick without knowing it.  It is uncharted territory.

My home life/family life: I have four sons.  My 28 year old lives in and works in Maine.  My 25 and 21 year old both live at home and are still working.  My 18 year old started the school year at UMaine, about 6 hours from our house and just moved back home to learn remotely.  My oldest was supposed to get married on April 17, 2020 but they are working on moving the date.  I am sad for them, but it makes it a tiny bit better than everything is closing and shutting down.

My school life:  I wasn't sure how our school was going to instruct on how to move to remote learning.  I am happy with their plan for the next two weeks and it may change after that.  For now, we had Tuesday to plan our lessons.  On Wednesday, we sent out our lesson plans.  On Thursday, we had to start holding office hours using whatever platform works for us for one hour each day.  I chose email.  Our lessons were to be 90 minutes of enrichment to be completed over the next 6 school days.  Then, next Friday, we plan and assign a new cycle of lessons for the following week.  When I say enrichment, that means no new material.  I am a planner.  I am a calendar.  I have my entire lesson planner written in until the end of the school year with each lesson and assessment day.  I have had to let it go and I am okay with it.  It will be okay.  This will pass but for the time being, we all just need to do what we can. I am reading on Twitter about all the different ways schools are doing it across the country and I am so happy with ours.  I think it is reasonable for both the students and the teachers.  When we (both students and teachers) are home full time with the rest of our family, we don't know what this will involve.  Will they have a quiet work area? Will they have wifi? Computers? Chores? Are they sick?  So many things to think about.  While 90 minutes of math might seem like a little or maybe you think it sounds like a lot, well, our students have 6 or 7 classes so it does add up.  I am trying to keep it straight forward and perhaps fun.

Algebra 1: We have almost finished our quadratic unit so I assigned some practice with solving quadratic equations and word problems.  I had the worksheet already complete so I just entered the numbers into a google form so I can see the kids answers.  I also assigned a Desmos Quadratic marbleslides.  It is self checking and fun and I can see their work on the teacher dashboard (I highly recommend it)

Geometry: We were getting ready to quiz and test so that is out, but we could use more practice time of Geometric Mean, Pythagorean Theorem, and Special Right Triangles.  So, practice for them.

Algebra 2: We just started graphing Sine and Cosine.  I wish we were a little further into the unit, but Desmos practice graphing it is.

Some life things I have been thinking about.  A lot of people have been saying the Corona virus shutdown is like hitting the reset button and I totally agree.  People always say they need to slow down, they need more time.  Here you go.....all the time in the world.  I suggest making a list of all the non-fun things you need to do, either around the house or for work and then make a list of all the fun things you want to do.  And, then each day, do a balance act pulling from each list.

I am an introvert.  I love being by myself because most of my hobbies are individual, so I don't have trouble with this.  But, I can see extroverts running into trouble.  We have mental health issues in my family, so I can see more of it setting in without a routine and with all the doom and gloom of the news.  Call someone.  Like on the phone.  Sit and chat for a while.  You have the time.  Maybe you need it, maybe they need it.  Enjoy the reminiscing.  Make new memories.  We will get through this and then you can look back and think - Oh, remember when we were shut down and we did this...

Try to exercise each day.  Go outside each day.  It is okay to stay in your pajamas here and there but once you shower and get out again, it will feel good.  Drink more water.  You are home, drink water.  Eat fruit.  Try not to eat too much junk and then regret some CoronaWeightGain.  I found a group on facebook called Quarantine Karaoke.  People are finding creative ways to have fun.  Jump in.  The time is now.  You have time.

One thing I love to do is jigsaw puzzles. I have a bunch of puzzles.  I lent some out to friends and families.  Now, they are sending me pictures of their puzzles.  Share the puzzle love!

Another thing I love is reading books, especially Young Adult books.  Read.  Escape.  There are so many great stories out there.  I keep wondering who will be the first one to write a fiction book about surviving through the Corona Outbreak.

My 300th Blog Post: #MTBoS and Reflection

This is my 2nd blog post in the #MTBoS2020 blogging initiative that I started so people could read and blog on the 20th of each month.  Find more info and blogs here.

I am presenting a webinar on March 17th on the Global Math Department.  I am sharing about my journey teaching with whiteboards.  I am on school vacation this week and at our vacation house all by myself...shhhh.  It has been a wonderful retreat.  I have all the time to just do whatever.  So, I could focus on getting the webinar ready.  In the process of this, I wanted to get pictures off my blog and I also wanted to remember dates I needed to remember.  It was a journey reading back over my thoughts, ideas, and lessons. 

I have 299 posts which means....this is my 300th post!  Very cool.
My first post was on 3/11/13 which is my husband's birthday.
The title of my first post is "Diving into the Mathblogosphere".
I have been blogging for seven years :)
My #1 viewed post is "Spoons: Rational Expression Style".  It has 11,439 views.  It is funny because the link has been broken to the actual lesson so I have people emailing me to share it. It is a fun reminder to get those emails.
In my 3/2013 post, my title was "The Biggest Thing I have had to learn as a teacher is...."  I had to open the blog to see what my 2013 teacher self thought.  The answer was "flexible".  I would still say it is to be flexible.  Also, be prepared for the day, the lessons, and the kids, but also be ready because anything can change on a dime.
In 8/2013, I made my first 2 ft x 2 ft whiteboards for kids to work on as a team.  I hadn't made them vertical yet, but it was the start of my journey. 

It's been fun to see what technology I used in class and on the blog.  I had a Picassa slideshow up on my blog but it says Picassa is retired.  I outlasted her!

It was fun looking over projects and activities that I have done.  I am still doing some and have decided not to repeat some.

3/13 Quadratic Candy Lab Catapult - still doing it, handing it out on Monday in Alg 1.
3/13 Stained Glass Window - gasp, with pencil and paper - graphing lines - not still doing it
3/13 Disney project - Alg 1 plans a trip to disney, money, graphs, I loved it but stopped doing it, no time with all the curriculum
9/13 Barbie Bungee - I read a lot about if and finally did it that September and I still do it
10/13 Cup stacking - did it, don't still do it
11/13 Angry Birds project - yes, I still do it. When I did it back then, the kids graphed on paper.  Now, they use Desmos of course :)
2/14 My spoons game - still do it.  I laminated them back then and they are still holding up
3/15 Mystery bags - I bought cheap toys and put some into brown paper bags, weighed everything to create systems of equations.  It was fun, but way too much work and the weights would slightly off making it really messy to solve.  Not still doing.
3/15 Conics Rice Krispy cutting - oooh, wow, what was I thinking!  That was hot, sticky, messy, a lot of work.  I think I made 75 rice krispy conics for us to cut - oh, yes, that was messy too.  Not doing this anymore
5/15 Estimation station - this was a lot of fun. It was a different type of math class that I had done Estimation 180s all year long, so we set up our own station at lunch and one of them was how many rubber bands to make the watermelon blow up.  Yep, another messy crazy but fun idea that I don't do anymore.
6/15 Paint Parabolas - idea from Alex Overwijk - You can take the back side of wrapping paper that has the grid on it, tilt it as you roll a marble that has been smooshed in paint.  It was form a parabola, add some points, come up with an equation.  More messy, not repeated
12/15 Logarithm clothesline - easy, just index cards - I stopped for time, but I should bring it back
2/16 Two Truths and a Lie - about Quadratic equations and graphs.  I didn't do it the past two years but I want to this year.
4/16 a Breakout for my Alg 2 class.  I bought all the locks and boxes.  I made up an elaborate breakout for them to review for the final exam.  Neither group was successful because I made it too complicated and it was too much work for me to repeat.
2016 - My first TMC - Twitter Math Camp - I wrote 10 blogs posts about that alone.
1/17 Alg 2 Midterm review ebook with Adobe Spark.  I had 55 students and made 55 different problems, one for each student. They did it, checked with me, and then recorded their voice using Adobe Spark to explain the problem.  It is awesome.  I haven't done it again because we aren't allowed to use that program anymore.  I still have that year's ebook and share it with my current classes.
1/12/17 One of my favorite activities.  I knowAlex Overwijk from NCTM Boston and TMC and he is also the World Record Holder for drawing circles.  My class was obsessed with drawing circles on the board, so I arranged to Skype with Alex. It was so cute to watch them huddled around the computer, asking him questions.  I haven't repeated because I haven't had a class like that with circles???
2/18 Binder Clip Zipline which became Egg Zipline but I didn't repeat this year - time again, and a lot of set up for not a lot of pay out
5/18 Desmos projects - I am doing that soon and Desmos is having their first ever art contest.  I will encourage my students to submit.
11/18 Dance Dance Transversal.  Yep, fun and I still do it.

I feel like I could do a whole summer camp of those ideas!

Thanks for going through my last 7 years of blogging and teaching with me.

(I'm too tired to edit, so #pushsend) 

Here's to my 300th post!

My Gift to You: A Factoring Goldmine

I am excited with the way my polynomial unit has turned out and I wanted to share.  I am glad I tried everything out first because my first class found all my mistakes. They are my editors!

We started Polynomial vocabulary, add, subtract, multiply, long divide, and synthetic divide.  That was the first part of my unit before midterms.  Then, we took a break and did midterm review and a week of midterms.  That meant I actually had time to make some new activities for the second half of the unit.  I did not want to just direct teach factoring and do a bunch of worksheets.  So, I took the worksheets and turned them into activities.  We had 4 days of factoring this week.  Next week we will have two days of graphing factoring polynomials.  You can see I included the Pizzazz joke puzzles.  We didn't really have in class time for that but if kids wanted more practice, those were good self-checking problems.  I assigned homework from the book.

Feel free to use any of these if you are factoring.  This was how I developed my plan.  I love when I have time to actually sit and plan and create. 


I made the activities, then I decided how I wanted to teach it and made my Google Slide.  I wanted to do quick check ins, so I had a couple of exit tickets in there.

For the Board problems on day 63, I had the kids at the boards #VNPS for quick check in.
For Day 64, I used Sarah Carter's Factor Stack - worked really well.

PPT: Day 63 Ppt

8.5 Distributive Property with Polynomials

Factoring by Grouping

Board problems.

Tarsia problem

Pizzazz Practice p 97

PPT: Day 64 Ppt

8.6 Factor all trinomials

Factor Stack blog  Factor Stack Questions

Pizzazz Practice p 91

Exit Ticket

PPT: Day 65 Ppt

8.7 Factor Special Products

Desmos Sort

Flow Chart

4 in a row

Pizzazz practice p 87

Exit Ticket

PPT: Day 66 Ppt

Practice Factoring

I Have, Who Has (for class of 18 - could do 2 teams vs each other)

Factor Bingo    Bingo maker

Bingo Ques, Ans, and Call Cards

Bingo Set 1 (8 cards)

Bingo Set 2 (8 cards)

Bingo Set 3 (8 cards)

Bingo Set 4 (8 cards)

Poly Lab Graphing

Desmos Activity

Worksheet to go with Desmos Activity

Review graphing practice

Desmos: Match My Polynomial

Graphing Worksheet 1

Graphing Worksheet 2

What do the tails do?

PPT: Day 69 Ppt

Review for Quiz 8

Study Guide

Review Packet

Review Packet ANS

Then, I just bought a new laminator and I put it to use for the first time.  I asked Twitter if I should cut first and then laminate or laminate first.  I tried both. I think laminating first saved time. The pieces came out sharper and I think they will last for a good amount of time.  I only wish I tried my activities before I laminated because I had some mistakes.  I just fixed them with a sharpie.

My favorite activity of the week was 4 in a row.  I have seen teachers on Twitter use the idea before so I thought it would work well for focused practice on factoring perfect square trinomials and difference of two squares.  I did laminate the board and had the kids write on it with highlighters but that didn't work so well.  For my second class, I just printed it out on paper and had them use pencils to do Xs and Os, much better. 


We have an early release today so we did "I Have...Who Has...?"  I have done this before with other content and really enjoy it.  My first class is smaller, so we did it as the whole class putting themselves in order.  My second class is bigger so we did two teams and did a competition. I was happy with both ways.  Below was BINGO which was also a lot of fun. 



I will say I haven't tried the two graphing ones yet with my class.  I had a 12 page worksheet that goes with the graphing calculator that I have used for years and I finally had time to turn it into a Desmos activity.  I still wanted the kids to record on paper so they were actually drawing the graphs and hopefully seeing the patterns.  I hope it goes as I envision it.  

Thanks for reading.  Let me know if you use any of these ideas or if you make them better or if you find any mistakes. 

First Post....A Good Year?

This is my first post of school year 2019-2020 and my first post of the year 2020.  It is also my 1st post in a series for a blogging initiative I started called #MTBoS2020.  If you are reading and you blog, sign up here.  If you are reading and don't blog - thank you - but read here (the same link) and find some other writers taking part in #MTBoS2020. 

What is MTBoS? It stands for Math-Twitter-Blog O Sphere.  We started some while ago, kind of when Dan Meyer starting blogging.  We are just a group of educators who are active on Twitter and also like to blog to share ideas.  There is no official membership card.  If you want to be part of MTBoS, then you are part of MTBoS.  If you are on Twitter, consider including the #MTBoS to meet more amazing educators and you can start following them.

Why 2020?  I thought it would be helpful to remember to write a blog post on the 20th of each month of 2020.  We can use this as a motivator.  Back in the day, everyone was blogging.  I started by reading blogs and then I wanted to start my own blog just so I could add other people's blog to my blog roll so I could find them more easily.  I took off with it.  I love to blog about my lessons and include pictures and links to worksheets.  I love to look back and reflect (and maybe cringe) at old lessons.  I can use blog posts in my end of the year portfolio.

Back to why my first post of the school year?  This school year has been great. I kind of didn't want to type about it because I didn't want to jinx anything and I didn't want to sound braggy.  Last year wasn't so great a year, school wise, so I didn't write a lot then either.  So, I don't write when things are good, and I don't write when things are bad???? I just need to type.

What makes this a good year?

• My classes are small.  I usually have 5 classes of at least 25, sometimes 29 kids.  That is 125 students.  Our town is growing so fast and our classrooms are swelling, however, for whatever reason, I only have 80 kids.  I can really feel the difference, especially when grading assessment, when I make my monthly seating charts, and best benefit is small classes are comfortable and starting to feel like a family.
• I love my classroom.  I am lucky to have a lot of great technology - apple laptop, apple tv to project my google slideshows in lessons - lots of whiteboards all around my room for VNPS and #thinkingclassroom.  I have a corner classroom, so lots of windows.  Everything has a spot in my room, I even have a jigsaw puzzle table.
• I love the content I teach.  I have a variety of classes and levels.  I teach 2 Accelerated Algebra 2 class, 2 Accelerated Algebra 1 classes, and 1 College Preparatory Geometry.
• And, shhhhhhh, but I do not have any discipline issues.  They are all really well behaved.  Some can be immature here and there but it's all good.
• I have all five classes in the same room.

This may not sound like a lot but it IS a lot and it makes a huge difference and making a school year go more smoothly.  I am really appreciating it for all it is.

What's next?  Thank you for reading, especially if this is your first time to my blog.  I am currently worked on 4 days of lessons of factoring lessons.  I am reinventing our Accelerated Algebra 1 curriculum this year, so I am building the raft while I am trying to paddle down the river.  I got a little big ahead as last week was review for midterms and this week is midterms.  When we start 2nd term, I am doing 4 lessons on factoring polynomials.  I didn't want to direct teach and then have them practice with worksheets, so I am creating some new activities.  Stay tuned......