Mathsational

This winter break  @druinok  organized a blog challenge.  I think it was meant to be completed during winter break, but I'll likely be finishing long after that.  That said, 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. So, what am I looking forward to most in 2018?  Well, I love the start of a new school year.  One of the great things about teaching is that it is filled with new beginnings.  You can try a new grading system, you can try a new warm-up routine, you can try a new tech tool.  Sure, you can do some of these things in the middle of the school year, but many of the routines are best changed at the start of a year.  This year, I'm switching schools in the middle of the year.  Sometimes when I think about it, I get super overwhelmed.  I can hardly wrap my mind around the idea that I'll be teaching a lesson at my current school ...

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 ...

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...