Mathsational

This winter break  @druinok is organizing a blog challenge.  I don't think I'll be accomplishing the 12 posts over the break, especially since I'm already on day 7 of a 10 day break and am just getting around to posting the first blog, but I do love a good blog prompt.  You can find more info here if you'd like to join in the fun. The first prompt that spoke to me was "What are your strategies to reach 'that kid.'"  I'm a big fan of using Love and Logic with my classes.  I've never been able to make it to an official training session, but would love to one day.  I've just gather some tidbits by talking to other teachers who have gone through the training and by reading some of the free online resources.  Here are some of my favorite Love and Logic strategies.  All of them help in dealing with all students, including the more difficult ones. First:  Neutralize arguing by going "Brain Dead."  This means that you need to b...

I'm nearly caught-up with the #SundayFunday challenges.  Last week's challenge was to observe yourself.   Here  is more info if you'd like to join in the fun. I actually had a coworker record a lesson for me recently, I had not yet made the time to watch it and reflect.  This prompt gave the extra push that I needed. My lesson started with Which One Doesn't Belong warm-up.  This is one of my favorite style of warm-up.  All four images have a reason that it is different from the others.  This allows for all students to participate at various levels.  It is a perfect example of a low floor high ceiling task.  The warm-up provided a chance for students to practice using vocabulary like vertex, opening direction, parabola, discriminant, and axis of symmetry.  When students describe these features without using the appropriate vocab, I prompt them for it and it is reaffirmed with everyone. Prior to this lesson, my algebra 2 ...

Here is yet another late #SundayFunday post.  I'm still making progress towards making a post on time though.  This post is 3 weeks :/    Here  is more info if you'd like to join in the fun. The challenge this week is to share a bit about how to successfully incorporate group work into your class.  I love group work in theory.  The possibilities of students learning from each other are worth the difficulties of implementing a group work routine.  I think the routine piece is what makes group work WORK :) One way that I try to make group work more focused and avoid the typical problem of one student doing all the work and another doing nothing is to use participation quizzes, especially during the first few group assignments.  At first, I am the one providing feedback to groups, but eventually I like students to take over monitoring their own groups. I first read about participation quizzes in Jo Boaler's Mathematical Mindsets book....

Here is yet another late #SundayFunday post.  I'm still making progress towards making a post on time though:  This post is only 3 weeks late this time  Here  is more info if you'd like to join in the fun. The challenge this week is to share a picture from your classroom.  I've chosen to share my new seating arrangement: Obviously I'm not the first person to use this arrangement.  I've used it myself for short bursts of time but this is the first year that I'm primarily using this set-up.  David R. Johnson wrote about the many benefits of this arrangement in several of his books, including "Every Minute Counts." I reread Johnson's books every few years and always find something new to improve my classroom.   What makes the Double U-shaped arrangement so great is how easy it is to circulate around the room.  I can peak at every students work in a matter of seconds in this set-up.  I also like that this arrangem...

Another late #SundayFunday post, but at least I'm closing in on posting one one time :) This one is only 4 weeks late and I'm making up ground!  Here  is more info if you'd like to join in the fun. I feel like a real hypocrite even considering the idea of giving advice about work-life balance.  I have almost no life in my work-life balance.  In general I work from 6am-4pm every weekday and often a few extra hours in the evening.  I also usually work 5 or so hours over the weekend.  During the summer I work nearly as much except I'm usually better at taking the weekends off. Therefore, this post will be more about my goals for giving myself some more life in my work-life balance! 1)  I'd like to make more time for my hobbies.  These include camping, hiking and spending time with family, friends, and my dogs.  My husband and I try to camp at least once a month from May to October and I make it a point to walk the doggos daily.  ...