Mathsational

This winter break  @druinok  is organizing a blog challenge.  I'll likely be finishing long after break, but I do love good prompts, so I'll stick with it.  You can find more info  here  if you'd like to join in the fun. The next prompt that seemed like a good fit for me was: What worked (and what didn't) in 2017? I'm fortunate to be starting a new job in the next few weeks.  I have the opportunity to start fresh with my goals for the year and I intend to take advantage of that unusual benefit.  Some of my goals going into this year was to improve the process of going over homework, to increase active student participation, in encourage a sense of community between students, and to improve my work-life balance. I was able to improve the process of going over homework .   I'll need to modify this as my new school is 1-1, but not with iPads.  I'm not sure if the student laptops have cameras, but I'm considering having ...

Today I posted this to Twitter and got some interest about how I use Nearpod to check homework. Today in alg2 we used @nearpod to check and go over homework questions #teach180 pic.twitter.com/rK6xTXhe9B — Jennifer Abel (@abel_jennifer) October 17, 2017 I also posted this picture on my last blog post. I can not take credit for the idea.  It was shared with me by a coworker.  I just added the Nearpod component. I have been using the free version of Nearpod for a while and Cathy Yenca shared how you could make the most of the limited space in the free version by using generic templates rather than full lesson. Here is how it works in my room: At the start of class, students write down the number of a homework problem that they wanted to have explained.  Other students in the class sign-up to explain problems when they can.  If no one signs-up for a given problem, I will explain it if it is different from the other requested/explained problems. To...

I'm slowly catching-up in my #SundayFunday prompts!   This is the prompt from week nine of the Sunday Funday blogging initiative.  It's never too late to join in!  You can read more about the challenge  here  if you like.  This week's challenge is to write about our classroom set-up. I posted a few pictures from my classroom on Twitter prior to the start of the year. At the time, I was looking forward to incorporating more group based whiteboard practice (Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces #VNPS) and continuing with the rotational station based model of blended learning.  Although I had successfully implemented this model involving small group instruction, group work, and individual work for the 4 previous years, this years' students struggled more than usual.  It may have been that I had more freshmen than ever before and they had not yet developed the confidence and self-discipline needed to work productively while I was with...