Approximately Normal (in the classroom)

First Day Back - Second Semester

2012-01-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

I don't want to blog. I want to sleep. But I need to get this out before I start working on school stuff. I don't know HOW it's going to come out, so just know that in advance. And if you comment, be constructive in a "friendly" way, please? My "countdown so you don't go off on someone" switch is in the "off" position because it reached its max today. Thanks!

The only way to DESCRIBE today is: WHAT THE HELL??? I mean, it COULD have been worse. I know this. And there were some GREAT and AMAZING parts. But the insanity of some parts just baffle me.

1st Period - Regular Statistics
This class was already 2 students over capacity. But I allowed it because it made for a nice equal distribution of students per group. We had four students register for school this morning and, for whatever reason, they put them in my class. There were no spaces for the kids to sit, so that sat on small bookshelves, doubled up in desks, sat in the window, etc. I did @druinok 's Spelling Bee game today, and it went pretty well. We started with a Price is Right clip, then moved straight into the game. I had a few groups that got down to business (these kids had me before and know me WELL), and I had some groups that socialized for a few minutes before getting started (they learned quickly that this doesn't fly in my classroom). As I walked around, I listened to conversations and watched kids as they played the game. I began to become concerned. Some of these students couldn't follow basic directions, and couldn't function on their own without someone telling them EXACTLY what to do. So I stopped everybody for a second and we talked. I explained that all of the labs are written so that they can be done without me giving step-by-step instructions. I explained that later in the course, they would be doing labs outside of the classroom and needed to be able to analyze directions. You guessed it - someone asked, "So wait - we have to READ in this class??" -->insert mental face palm here<--
I explained how statistics is different from other math classes like algebra and geometry (in a good way) but also explained that it was an upper level math class so there is some difficulty and there will be high expectations. They finished the lab and we watched Did You Know 3.0. At the end of the class, I had them write one thing they liked and one thing they were concerned about. The MAJORITY are concerned about the difficulty level of the course, including things like, "I failed Algebra 2 the first time and passed the 2nd time with a 71(D). Do you think I'll do well in this class?" And that got me to thinking - our only prereq for statistics is Algebra 2 but with no grade requirement. Since statistics is so different from other courses, how do you know coming into the course if the kid has the background skills necessary to be successful in the course? Also, one of our MANY counselors came by after school and made the comment that I had several students on roll that she felt should not be in the class, but that the students' counselors put them in there. So I guess tonight I'm going to put together some sort of Algebra 1 basic skills test and see how that goes. Anybody teach REGULAR statistics have any insight on what I should be looking for with this??? HEEEEEEELP?

2nd Period - AP Statistics
So after Thanksgiving, I gave a "Winter Stats Packet" similar to what a yearlong teacher would give as summer work. It was a packet to introduce BASIC ideas and review middle school math and graphs associated with statistics. It was almost like a self-teaching guide because it had examples and step-by-step directions. The purpose was to get the kids to remember things they hadn't done in a while so we wouldn't HAVE to review easy stuff (which means more time for the harder stuff). The GOAL was also to give a quiz the first day of class on the material but, as always, the 30 bazillion announcements over the intercom put me behind so we didn't get to that part. However, I DID take the stats packet up to grade (more on this later). As usual, I started the course with the Kristin Gilbert court case. This is a really cool look into how the attorneys used statisticians to see if Nurse Gilbert was guilty of the deaths of patients in the hospital. You can read this old blog about how I do it (it's at the end of the blog). The conversations from this were AMAZING. These kids were really thinking and looking at the data and trying to prove this woman innocent (SPOILER ALERT - SHE'S NOT INNOCENT). I was really happy about their discussions and I am looking forward to this crew of kids. There are a lot of debate kids in there (I'm asst coach on the side) so I knew this would be up their alley. At the end of class, we watched the Did You Know 4.0 and Did You Know 3.0. After school I started to grade their stats packs and I was SOOOO disappointed. Only 5 had REAL effort put into the packet (completing the graphs, answering discussion questions, etc.). Some just half-assed it (that's not just a Southern term, right?) and threw some shit down to say they had it done. And then I ended up with about 6 that, after grading it, made between 20 and 50 because they just DID NOT do it. When I gave the packet, I talked to EACH student individually and said, "Do not wait until the last minute... Come by my room ANYTIME for help or just to work on it.... If you're exempt for a final exam in another class and you want to come in my room and work on your packet, that'd be great... If you have ANY questions, let me know." If they'd done the packet, that would have cut out about a week and a half of review which is MAJOR TIME in a semester course. But now I don't know what to do. Was the packet a waste of time? Should I go back and review that stuff or tell them they HAVE to get it on their own? Should I just ditch the winter packet idea for next year? I don't know... I really don't. I am still giving the quiz tomorrow. We'll see.

PLANNING PERIOD - Oh, FIRST Robotics: I love you, but I don't LIKE you right now.... Kickoff is Saturday. Paperwork nightmare that I don't even want to talk about. Let's just say I spent my whole planning period trying to put out fires and get things ready for that unexpected stress. It's not taken care of. I don't have TIME to think about it. And the other coaches aren't doing ANYTHING with it. So let's walk away from this before I have a meltdown.

4th Period - Honors Algebra 2
Tuesday my roster said 22 students. Wednesday, my roster said 30. Let's throw more in there - WHOO HOO! By this time, I honestly didn't give a RAT'S ASS (again, not sure if that's a common term). I don't mean that I had a BAD attitude - the kids really never know what I'm really thinking. I was just like - meh, what the hell. :)
So if you recall from an earlier post, I'd planned to do a "bootcamp" version of the skills. BUT, when this came up Wednesday in the department meeting, I was told, "HELL-TO-THE-NO" by the person who teaches the course immediately following Algebra 2. She said that other teachers have students that feed into her class and the skills coming into the class would be all over the place.**I hear you already thinking, "Isn't this what SHE is facing in statistics?" But just go with it.** She wanted them all to come in with about the same playing field so that my kids wouldn't be bored as she tried to catch the other kids up. I conceded. But today I, um, kind of FORGOT that I said that I wouldn't do bootcamp because I was SOOOOO STRESSED about the previous five hours. So I did 3 sections in one day. Oops.
That class is going to be really good also - a few kids are smart ass know-it-alls, but they always learn quickly: I'M the smartest ass in the class. :)

So what am I doing now?? What am I doing now??
Wait - what AM I doing now... I gotta think. Oh yeah:
1) Read through the AP and Algebra 2 comments.
2) Create some flippin' algebra skills pre-test thingy....?
3) Prep for tomorrow (cuz I don't have a clue what I'm doing yet!!)
4) Sleep? Maybe?

If you've got advice on any of my issues, please feel free. I'm TOTALLY exhausted but I'm open to anything you've got. So I had some great moments, I really did. But I have SO many questions and concerns, I'm just really at a loss for where to go right now. I **WISH** the answer was: GO TO BED. But I'll be up for a while. Holla at me. By the way, my birthday is next week. I've decided I would like Gavin DeGraw. No, not the new album. No, not concert tickets. Every kid I've taught knows this is a serious love I've had for about a decade. He's probably sold over 500 additional albums because of ME. So I've challenged my current students to get him for me. In the past, I've gotten all kinds of GDG stuff, but maybe a kid will FINALLY get me a life-size poster for my wall. We'll see how that goes, hahaha.

Student Teachaaaas (Yes, PLURAL!)

2011-12-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

For some strange reason, the secondary mathematics liaison at the local university always tries to throw her poor student teachers in my classroom. These poor kids!! I remember being TERRIFIED as a student teacher, but I had two of the most AMAZING cooperating teachers. They helped mold me into the vertically-challenged math spaz that I am today.

I realized today while cleaning out my office that I've got TWO coming next semester.

If you've had student teachers before, you probably have experienced the same thing that I have - either they're ROCK STARS, or they're just pitiful. And, like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get (sorry, cheese-trolls, get over it). Student teachers are not allowed to teach AP courses, so during AP Stats we're going to place the student teacher with another Algebra 2 teacher. I think it will be good for him/her to see the differences not only in teaching styles, but in the level of participation. Sometimes they give me student teachers for my advanced courses (where students are highly motivated) and that gives the student teacher a false sense of student excitement about mathematics which leads to some feeling of "What am I doing wrong?" their first year on their own.

Another teacher math teacher at my school is having the same student teacher issue - she teaches my old course, dual enrollment college algebra, which the student teacher is not allowed to teach. So I'll get her student teacher during my Honors Algebra 2 or regular statistics class (but I think it's the Honors Algebra 2).

So it's a student teaching FIESTA all SEMESTA!!!! Woo hoo! This isn't my first rodeo, so I know it has the possibility of being a pain in the butt, but I wanted to start the semester off on a good note with the one that is primarily assigned to me. I'm putting together a little "welcome packet" for him/her. Some are hand-me-downs of things I didn't/no longer use (but he/she doesn't have to know that so keep it on the DL).

Here's what I have in there so far:
1. A 3-Line Whaley Gradebook
2. A "Math Rocks" poster from Texas Instruments (based on the back of this shirt)
3. Several "We All Use Math Every Day" bumper stickers
4. A coordinate plane mini-plot
5. A normal distribution mini-plot
6. A Safe-T compass
7. Blank copies of some of my favorite ideas/activities from my 14 years of teaching (7th grade through AP Stats)
8. My syllabus/procedures for each course this semester
9. Map of the school/bell schedule
10. Giftcard to the local coffee shop (if you know me, you know I CANNOT use this)
11. A black packet of our district's "No Child Left Behind" paperwork (I'm not sure why - I guess just because it's ridiculous)
12. A card with all my contact info on it
13. A few pens of the grading colors I use (blue, green, purple)

I'm also thinking of putting something together regarding my expectations for him/her. The last few student teachers didn't show me what they were planning to do with my kids until the last minute. They spent so much time making sure they had the paperwork complete for the university coordinator turned in on time that they left ME out of the loop. Also, I had some student teachers that has some awkward and inappropriate behavior during class and around other faculty members. Sometimes I've had student teachers that would teach the class, then go to the back of the room to my desk and prop their feet up and expect me to finish class for them. And then I had the one who wanted to be a teacher but dressed like a street walker. Of the dozen or so I've had, only two were so good that I now consider them colleagues. I'll probably come up with more things to put in the expectations, but that's all I have so far. He/she won't be with me until after Jan 17th (I think) so I've still got some time. I should probably include copies of our teacher dress code and expectations from our district.

Oh crap - that reminds me that I have to go rearrange my room so that he/she can have an area. That was something little that my cooperating teachers did for me, but it made me feel like they considered me a colleague. I'll do that once I am not contagious and I'll post pics. Maybe. Some of you artsy-fartsy/crafty people slam me pretty bad on how dull my room is....

Anyway, if you have any suggestions or ideas, they're always appreciated!

I'VE GOT THREE PREPS and I cannot lie...

2011-12-28T15:53:00.001-08:00

I'm really scared I'm gonna die....
When my kids walk in with math distaste
And they whine all up in my face I get MAD...
They Wanna pull up tough
Cuz I see their backpacks stuffed
Come in with their headphones blarin'
My head crooks and I can't stop staring
Oh, mean girl I just wanna hit ya
Then take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But that lawsuit you got
Makes lawyers swarm me
Ooh, homework you say's a sin
You'd rather go drive your Benz
Well 'scuse me, 'scuse me, don't be all tough and rude, please...

and..... that's all I've got.
My apologies to you Sir Mix-a-Lot fans out there.
These meds for my cold are better than I thought!

Honors Algebra 2... This could end up being AWESOME or AWFUL.

2011-12-28T14:08:00.000-08:00

I'm nervous about throwing this idea out there.... Usually this is about stuff I DID (and therefore cannot CHANGE), so any negative feedback gets the response of "Meh... whatever" when I read it. This, however, is about something I'm planning to DO, so I'm afraid it's gonna tank. I have great ideas, but 9 times out of 10 they blow up in my face because they're last minute and not well thought out. This idea is no different, but I usually only share these ideas with my "bestie" @druinok. She's been teaching so long that she can play "Devil's Advocate" without making me want to curl up in the fetal position and DIE because she didn't exactly agree with me. We mulled over this idea for over 2 hours this morning, and she suggested that I throw it to the "wolves". I'm nervous, not gonna lie. But I'd rather you rip it to shreds or help me think of "what if"'s than to try it on my own and it BOMB like Vince Neil on ice.

Before you start reading, make sure you read #1 under this blog post first. What I usually teach from Chapters 1 - 3 and most of Ch 5 is covered in the Algebra 1 curriculum. At our school, we squish geometry between Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 and, because of that (I see pros/cons both ways), most kids have forgotten what they learned in Algebra 1. Or maybe "forgotten" isn't the right word - they HAVEN'T USED it, so it's buried in the depths of their teenage brains. I spend the first part of my semester course reviewing these topics and that bothers me because we really only do "Algebra 2" the second part of the semester. If this was a class of students who struggled algebraically, that wouldn't bother me so bad. But my honors class is a crew of kids that will be taking every AP math course we have to offer and, most likely, take upper mathematics in college. This type of kid also gets very restless if they are being taught something they already know how to do (been there, done that, bought the t-shirt). I wanted to do an "Algebra 1 bootcamp" at the beginning of the course so that I could spend more time on concepts in Algebra 2 that they'll need for pre-cal/trig-->AP Calculus.

So I thought I might take an old middle school teaching strategy for a spin. It's based on "Survivor Algebra" from Coolmath.com. When I taught middle school, I had an "advanced 7th grade math" class. For that class, most students would come the first day used to being somewhat smarter than the teachers who taught them (you know the type of kid I'm talking about, dontcha?). I was the first math teacher with a "real" (hahahaha) math degree and this was the first challenging course they'd ever had. BUT I didn't want to bore them with 6th grade review so we'd do "Survivor Algebra" and it worked REALLY well.

So my thoughts for "Algebra 1 Bootcamp" go somewhat like this:
5-7 MINUTES: Individual Work - Bell activity on Index Cards (see #2 on previous blog)
15-20 MINUTES: Group Work - I'm not going to TEACH the lesson at first because these objectives have been taught before. SO students are going to spend this time looking at problems they'll be doing for homework that night. Students will skim the material and talk about problems. If they run across a HW problem they want to discuss as a group, the students will set up their paper in "Cornell-type notes" where they work the homework problem on the right and write down any questions they have about it (or the objective) on the left. If the entire group has trouble with a HW problem, they will address that question in the left column of their notes.
15-20 MINUTES: Switch Groups and continue: Students come to a new group and continue the process. Students will start by going over questions they had in their previous group to see if someone in the new group can answer their questions. Once all questions have been covered, they continue to work through problems as a group.
**during both sets of group work, I'm circling groups looking for who is/isn't participating and listening to the dialogue to see if I can figure out who gets it and who doesn't.

At the end of the 2nd set of group work, I'm not sure how to go. Should I:
(a) Have a separate section in the room where students who still have questions can group together with me while the remainder work in groups to finish the homework?
(b) "Invite" students to the group with me? Here, invite would mean either you didn't participate enough for me to feel you earned participation points (REQUIRED by our district in every course) OR you didn't participate enough for me to know you understand the objectives enough for the day.
(c) Have a "whole class" discussion where we basically clear up any misunderstandings that still exist in the group?

After that (whatever "it" is), students will take the bell activity card (that I've returned by this time) and spend the last 2-3 minutes of class working on the "exit pass" problem/question.

The purpose for this version of bootcamp is simple - in high school, I stayed in rows and columns for every class I ever had. In college, during CLASS we stayed the same way but there were many classes that I didn't have a CLUE what was going on (shocking, I know). I didn't know how to ask people in my class for help and I had no idea how to study within a group. I'd always relied on my teacher being the sole source of information. What if your instructor SUCKS at explaining stuff? Every one of us remembers the first time it happened to us. It happened to me when I was a junior in college (Calculus 3 - God help me...). My professor made no sense in OR out of the classroom and I had no skills to fall back on to help myself. I almost flunked that class until I found people that were having the same trouble. And as a very shy person (SHOCKING, right?? But I really was), I didn't know how to put myself out there to take a risk and ask questions. But I learned how and that "crew" of friends is still very important in my life today.

@druinok had several questions about this method for which I have SOME answers:
1) Kids are so used to being spoonfed, they are going to whine... a lot...
---> I agreed and thought that maybe the solution to this would be "If you whine, you work by yourself." Anyone have any other ideas?
2) Kids that shut down without trying
---> This is where the "participation" grade will come in - I'll be circling (like a buzzard) so if I see this I will stop and question
3) both of the above can be solved, it will just take time to teach them how to trust and try again
---> I am concerned of that as well - do I have the PATIENCE to see this through without just saying "SCREW IT!! WE'LL DO IT THE OLD WAY!!"
4) Kids that go home and whine (and parents that believe them) that "Mrs. Approx_Norm makes us teach ourselves"... even though its not true
---> She then helped me put together a nice section in my parent letter to justify this method. Here's her original idea in its first draft. I thought it was awesome!

As I said, normally it takes me an entire 9-weeks to get through the Algebra 1 material they've already learned. But the way I have it planned, that will reduce that time down to 4 or 5 weeks. This will allow me to actually get through the chapter on logarithms and exponential functions and hopefully get into rational functions and conic section stuff. I'll get with my pre-cal/trig colleague and find out what she'd like me to cover (if this actually works) to help her out.

So there's my idea in a nutshell. This isn't going to be my preferred method of instruction for the new material - just an attempt to get past the old stuff. I hope it made sense - I'm trying to think through this with a WICKED cold, so my ability to reason things through is worse than normal. But I DO want input. I'd rather think of everything bad that COULD happen and "nip it in the bud" or ditch the idea completely prior to next week.

Yeah, I'm back.

2011-12-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

I've gotta get off of my butt and start blogging again. I don't do it enough, I just rant to my tweeps about what aggravates me instead of getting it out in the open. It's not that I don't WANT to blog. I just wonder if people think, "What the hell?" when they read my blogs because I'm such a spaz.

SO, I guess I could start by giving updates on my last blog (if you haven't already, go read THIS first or my current blog will just be a hot mess).

1. Fix the Pacing.
I didn't exactly do this the way I wanted last semester - the thought hit me at the last minute. But I've talked with my collaborative team about changing the pacing for my accelerated class (y'know, treat them like guinea pigs) for this upcoming semester and seeing how that goes. I'm going to hit several sections every day and leave it up to them to come get extra help if they need it. Our chapters pretty much flow like this: (1) the basics of algebra, (2) linear functions in the coordinate plane, (3) systems of linear functions, **we skip matrices in Ch 4, which breaks my heart**, (5) quadratic functions, (6) polynomial functions, (7) more on functions (inverse, composite, etc.), (8) exponential and logarithmic functions. We spend the first half of the semester covering Chapters 1, 2, 3 and half of 5. So I think I'm going to "bootcamp" Chapters 1 - 3 within the first 3 or 4 weeks instead of DRAGGING it out for 7 weeks before I start quadratics. I'm actually working that out in my long range planning guide now (I'm giving you the blank no frills version). I don't know where I stole that document, but it has been a lifesaver. If you find its original owner, please let me know so I can give him/her the praise!

2. Me Sucking at Bell Activities/Closures.
I tried something that worked pretty well using index cards. I love index cards because, even though they ARE paper, my brain doesn't process them in the same way as notebook paper and I don't get overwhelmed. I had to really reason out the purpose of my bell activities and be honest about what I and the students should get out of it. I wanted to be able to see how students processed the objectives from last night's homework (i.e. DID THEY LEARN WHAT I WANTED THEM TO LEARN). So when they walked in, they had about 5 to 7 minutes to work on several problems similar to the ones from the previous night's homework. I tried to cover all the objectives without overwhelming the kids. At the end of the "bell activity", the kids would pass up their index cards and one of the kids would collect them and bring them to me. The students would then spend about 5 minutes going over the homework from last night in small groups (**need to work on the accountability for this part - some kids were off task**) while I quickly went through their index cards. If the student had it, I left it alone. If they missed it, I marked through it. At the top of the card, I put the number correct out of the total. Once I finished, I recorded these (for reference ONLY) and had a student distribute the problems back. Immediately, kids would say things like, "I missed #3? What did I do wrong?" and turn to a student and ask. This was great for me because they were getting immediate feedback from me on their comprehension and then voluntarily trying to correct misunderstandings. At the end of class, we used that SAME card for an "exit pass" where I asked a question or two about that day's lesson. They put it in a bright orange box by the door as they left my classroom. I could then take these index cards and file them (ok, I had a student do this for me) to pull out later at parent conferences. I also made notes on the card if the student did not complete the homework for that particular section. The feedback did well for both of us, it was simple and effective. I need to fine tune it a little, but overall I was pleased with this process more than anything I'd done in the last 13 years. And the kids would always freak if we didn't do the exit pass (I ran out of time or some crazy thing came up which happens A LOT), which was kind of funny. "What?? No exit pass question? Can't we just write you a note or something and turn it in?"

3. "Fast Food" Tutoring:
We signed my son up for after-school tutoring with a WONDERFUL former elementary teacher. He went to tutoring Monday - Thursday right after school until 5:00 p.m. This honestly was great for me because I got to set a schedule that didn't interfere with my ability to be a mom. I told students I would tutor Monday - Thursday after school until 4:45 p.m., which gave them an hour to get help. Not that many students took advantage of it and it kept me from feeling like I was "on call" all the time. If students didn't show for tutoring, I graded and tried to get ahead with planning, copies, etc. And it was very helpful in parent conferences. I didn't do much morning tutoring because I used that time to prep for the day. If I had a student that absolutely could NOT come after school (which I would verify with parents, boss, etc.), I would agree to help that student in the mornings. It worked out pretty well. My son will be in tutoring next semester as well (he went from failing to mostly B's - WOO HOO!), so I'm going to put the tutoring times in my syllabus. Although I DID have to give up my planning period during the 2nd half of my semester to keep kids from failing... more on that later.

4. Algebra 2 is Boring:
Um, see... what had happened was.... I didn't do this like I should've. But after a very "enlightening" tweet conversation with my "across-country partner in crime" @druinok on Christmas Eve (ahem, THANK YOU, by the way), I have several ideas on activities for that next semester.

5. "No Child Left Behind" vs Me
Holy paperwork, Batman... this semester almost killed me. I was "blessed" by the opportunity to have several students that needed a teacher like me this semester. I say "blessed" because it came at a price. My classroom is structured and I have high expectations and I teach for conceptual understanding, BUT I do it in a way that is non-threatening in the classroom. It involves me putting myself as the butt of many of my jokes and looking like a fool to get an idea across (I won't even begin to tell you the cheesy rap rewrites I did). But I don't mind doing that if it helps a kid learn and love coming to math class. I had about 15 students who were constantly on the borderline of failing the entire semester. The paperwork for that almost broke me. I tried working with our intervention specialist and that person just dropped the ball completely (and that's all I wanna say about that because if I go farther I will begin to REALLY curse). With intensive tutoring during my planning period, I helped most of that group be successful. The ones that were NOT successful were told by their counselors that they didn't need my class to graduate so they gave up completely. That was done behind my back and it REALLY pissed me off because I wasn't told this information. I was dragging these kids in for 30-45 minutes in rotations 4 days a week with no success and thinking I was just a totally crappy teacher who'd lost her mojo. But one of them finally said, "Mrs. Approx., um, they told me I didn't have to pass your class to graduate, so I am just trying to focus on the classes I DO need. But I appreciate what you're trying to do." So in total, 5 of the kids didn't need my class, were TOLD they didn't need my class (to relieve the burden of THEIR stress), but I was NEVER told. The confrontation after this discovery was NOT pretty. That may be a blog for a later time called, "The Day I Lost My Shit on A Counselor." I'm not proud of what I SAID, but I think I made my POINT.

6. Parent Communication
I did much better with this because I made a space on the back of each student information sheet for communication documentation. If a kid failed a test or had an average drop pretty severely, I put one of those small post-it tabs on their student information sheet and would make calls to parents about those students. Once I made the call, I wrote down the documentation on the student information sheet. If I told the parent I would call later to update progress, I left the tab on the edge of the sheet as a reminder to come back. I also used my filing cabinet to hold student work. Each drawer represented a class and each student had a hanging folder inside that cabinet. I was assigned a teacher's aide during one of my classes and her job was to file all of the papers into the folders. This was a great time saver for me because I could pull those documents before a parent call or conference. Remember those index cards from Bell Activities? Those were in there as well which could provide documentation of homework attempt and understanding which USUALLY had a direct impact on quizzes and tests. I wanna tweak this a little, but overall I did MUCH better with it.

7. "Just Say NO"
EPIC FAIL. Not only am I still Mu Alpha Theta sponsor, BEST Robotics sponsor, academic vocabulary team leader and anime club co-sponsor, I somehow agreed to do FIRST Robotics and co-sponsor the spirit squad for the basketball teams (since I'm there for most games anyway). Oh crap. What have I done?

AAAAAND there you have it, my last semester in a nutshell.

So what's next? Well.....

I guess that's the topic for my next blog post. :)

2011-12 Goals for Algebra 2 (i.e. Stuff I SAY I'm gonna do but I know I'll forget about later)

2011-07-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to @druinok who has agreed to harass me to blog. She's doing her job and even busted me while I was at the pool and SUPPOSED to be bloggin'. I luvs her for being tough on me because if she DOESN'T make me do it, I'll just be a lazy bum again this year.

Soooo to the topic at hand (sing with me like Pablo Cruise): WHATCHA GONNA DO FOR NEXT SEMESTER? Sorry, I tried to make it work to Beastie Boys, but I'm not that cool.

I teach two different classes of Algebra 2 - one for 11th/12th graders and an "honors" version for 10th graders that are gonna cruise right into AP Calculus. But I teach the same WAY, just a faster rate to that younger group. Both groups have their own individual issues, but for the most part I have the same goals for both:

1. Fix the pacing!
I have less than a week to figure this sucker out. Our school does math pacing like so: Algebra 1 --> Geometry --> Algebra 2. Yours might as well and that's fine, but there's a problem with it here. They remember NOTHING about Algebra 1 when they get to me. And Algebra 1 is usually all year (made of two smaller courses) and they don't do much review of those skills in geometry. Plus, our state SUUUCCCKS by cramming too much into the Algebra 1 curriculum and then testing on it. That's a blog post for another time. (I say that A LOT). Anyway, most of the Algebra 2 curriculum here is Algebra 1 review. We teach about 6 chapters and 3.5 of them are things they "learned" in Algebra 1. I say it like that because they are expected to learn so MUCH in Algebra 1 that they don't learn anything very WELL. They don't learn enough of the Algebra 2 curriculum because we're busy reviewing. So how do I fix this? I have NO IDEA! I would like to do a "boot camp" of sorts and condense it, but then I might be skipping skills that they didn't learn very well in Algebra 1 and that will screw me over later in my course. I'm open for ideas and suggestions. I'm on block schedule, too, so keep that in mind.

2. I suck at bell/closure activities.
It's a part of class that is necessary and helpful and I SHOULD do it better than I've done it in the past. I think that's where I lose a lot of time in class because they're not really focused and tardies are an issue (again MY FAULT). If I would prep better, I could have these ready to go and not waste time making them on the fly. Kids don't usually take bell activities seriously so there's gotta be a way to make it relevant but hold them accountable to make SURE they're doing it. I hate paper, but I'm ok with notecards, so I'm going to try that. We complain that kids are too dependent on calculators, but don't really challenge kids to stay away from them, so I think that's part of how I will do my bell activities this year. They start right when the bell rings and will just be a "fast and furious five" minutes of middle school skills with NO CALCULATOR. This is similar to 8falls Math Party (where did that guy go, anyway?). For example, in week one I will challenge the kids to see how many integer operations they can do (out of about 50 problems) in 5 minutes and we will raise the bar every day. Why integer operations? Students need to be familiar with them for the next few sections we'll do in Algebra 2. So the bell activity preps their skills before we really need them. Haven't decided if these will be self-graded or peer graded yet, but they will be turned in immediately after. That way there's no possibility for students to copy or pretend to do it. I usually give my students 5-8 minutes to peer review homework and help each other so I am hoping to quickly review the bell activity cards during this time. I won't put them in the gradebook, but it will allow me to make notes of any issues or really low scores (so I can pull those kids in for tutoring). At the end of class, they get their notecard back to do the closure problems on the back. I have a few ideas for closure, but nothing concrete. Part of me wants them to do 2 or 3 basic problems to make sure they've got it, part of me wants them to do one basic and one moderately difficult problem, and part of me wants them just to do a journal type "I get.... But I DON'T get....". But doing bell activity on one side and closure on the other will eliminate some paper (which I HATE) but also try not to waste the notecards the kids buy.

3. I have got to get away from "fast food" tutoring.
My old tutoring policy was, "I will stay after any day or come early any morning - just let me know in advance". So kids got tutoring when they wanted it (just like Taco Bell.. mmmm. Hungry... Sorry. Distracted). I can't allow that "on call" tutoring to go on this year. Now before you get all offended, please understand that my son almost failed 2nd grade this past year. I think it was MAINLY because I put more time into my students than him - grading for 2 hours and getting frustrated trying to do my job and make sure he was doing his own school work. Most days I just wanted him to get it done and I didn't really care if it was right and I didn't spend time working on skills to help him. I was that parent that never went over vocabulary words or listened to my child read 20 minutes a night like I was supposed to. I completely wronged my child because my priorities were totally out of wack. I'm ashamed to say it, but I'm trying to be honest. Anyway, I was tutoring my students more than paying attention to my son and I can't do that this year. He probably only got 15 minutes of "mom time" a day and that's just negligence. He HAS to come first or the effects on his education are going to be exponentially devastating. And it will totally be my fault. So I need to find a way to tutor on one afternoon and two or three mornings a week. Hopefully I'll still have that 30 minutes of tutoring time still built into our school schedule for "advisors". I'll need to set up a way of peer tutoring using my higher level kids (having 30 students show up for tutoring is overwhelming!!).

4. Algebra 2 is boring. That's got to stop.
Stats is so cool because you are bombarded by it every day. Algebra 2 - not as obvious and sometimes not at all. Honestly, when's the last time you had to find the possible rational zeros of a function? Anyway, @druinok and I are working on that and she's busting her butt to get some activities to put into class to make kids like it. The physics and chem teachers are around the corner from me. I need to take my list of Alg 2 topics to them and see what they use and if we can do some cross-curricular stuff.

5. Do not allow "No Child Left Behind" to kick my behind.
I suck at paperwork. Too many freakin forms to prove I am doing everything I possibly can to give each child the best education possible. Too little time to write up the documentation, make copies of all samples, and dig through our school records vault to search through all the paperwork on the kid. My state (which shall remain nameless) and district (same respect) has unrealistic expectations for DOCUMENTATION of the help we give for the kids. But I don't know how to battle it. Neither do the teachers that I work with. We all do so much, but we get in trouble for the documentation because the district doesn't want to get sued. And the forms we have to fill out are INSANE. I'm not complaining just to complain. I mean it - INSANE. But like it or not, I gotta do it.

6. Parent communication.
I need to do a better job with documentation of parent communication. I know we have e-mail, but a lot of our parents do not have access and we have to resort to phone calls. I need to find a better way of keeping up with this because I've tried a lot of different things and none of them really work for my A.D.D. brain. Notecards, folders, notebooks, etc. But if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

7. Just say no.
Say no to clubs that I don't know anything about, say no to heading committees that eat into time after school with my child, say no to teachers who know I can't say no so they ask me to do crap they could do but won't... Ugh.

Well, this is all I've got right now... this blog will be a work in progress... I think...
Oh, did I mention that my computer crashed and I lost everything for Algebra 2? yeah.
So I gotta work on that as well.

11 out of 19 ain't bad... but it ain't good enough for me.

2011-07-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

If you're new to my blog, WELCOME and I'm SORRY! You need to understand that my blog is a brain dump. It is not meant to be inspiring or thoughtful or even normal. I'm just a regular teacher that screws up like everybody else, but I bust my butt to help kids because that's my job and I LOVE IT. I am at school an hour early and 2 hours late most days to help any kid that bothers to stop by and I'm HAPPY and THANKFUL when they do. Once I get home, I make quick video tutorials for any kid that tweets/e-mails a detailed question to me. If you know me at all, this isn't new. But for you newbies to my rampant attention-deficit-disorder, you need to know the kind of teacher I am before I really get started.

I have to say that I am very proud of my pass rate on the AP Stats exam - it's my highest rate to date. BUT, it wasn't as high as I wanted and the fault (as usual) lies mainly with me. Since I punked out on my blog this past semester (don't judge me - you knew I was gonna do it), I need to recap what happened:

The class started out amazing. The kids were interested and intrigued and excited about the class. HOWEVER, somewhere in all of that they assumed that effort wouldn't be necessary for the course. I don't know how/why/when I led them to that assumption, but I am taking responsibility for it. BUT this assumption didn't become evident to me until later in the semester. The kids had been told from previous students that stats was cool and interesting and (I guess this is the problem) easy. The math in stats isn't nearly as complex as AP Calculus, but that doesn't make it easy (this problem will come up again later in this post, be ready). Also, I went with the "here are suggested problems to use to study for tests, quizzes, but I'm not requiring homework" attitude. It's worked for other math courses I've taught and I knew I had mostly seniors (SENIOR PROJECT-AUUUGH!), so I just went with it.

I soon realized I had a problem - students were confused. Well, that's not unusual, but it was WHY they were confused. I often heard, "This isn't math!!" and "I don't like this!" and "I should have taken Calculus - at least I'd know it was MATH!" Yeah, those hurt pretty bad.

I started the course with HOW we collect the data - through sampling and experimental design. I think this is a good place to start because it IS different. So many times we start a course with review (I'm guilty of this in Alg 2) and students soon get the impression that they should already know how to do the material the first few weeks of the class. This didn't happen for them and it caused a riot of sorts - especially with the kids in the top 1% of their class and kids with whom I've always had great relationships. They were caught off guard with the amount of new vocabulary and how quickly they were expected to apply the terms. They felt betrayed and lied to about what the class was (remember that "easy" comement?). They thought they'd been tricked into taking the class and they were PISSED. Not just angry or upset. I'm talking UBER-PISSED. Pissed at ME, pissed at former students (called them LIARS), pissed at counselors, etc. And so my awesome semester went TO HELL pretty fast. And these weren't small classes - we're talking 30 kids crammed in a small area that are all now wanting to take my head off or tape me to a wall (ok, that DID happen - much later).

The grades for the first few assessments for most of my students were not A's, so obviously that didn't help my case. I don't know about your school, but here some students think "No A" equals "something must be wrong with my teacher and she SUCKS because I DESERVE an A regardless of what I do". (Did that come off spiteful?? Really?? My bad. NOT.) And it doesn't help that we have counselors who suggest to teachers that they "fluff" the grades (see very upsetting blog post here).

Anyway, I'm going to be 100% honest right now: I didn't change a THING from the way I had taught stats the previous year. I was so close to my previous stats kids and they loved the class. Granted, I only had SIX in the class, but the way I taught them (labs, discussions, activities, tests, free response questions, ALL OF IT!!!) was the exact same way I tried to teach this past semester. But because stats wasn't coming easy to some of my new stats kids, AND it was a little different than what they usually got in math, AND that the A's weren't flowing like milk and honey, the rumors started. These are my replies to those rumors that I kept to myself but will now say aloud (my apologies in advance to Seiler cuz I'm gonna cuss):

1) You've made the class harder than you made it last year.
A: Why the HELL would I do that?

2) You made the class harder because you have more students.
A: Well, granted I did have an easy time grading with six, but do you REALLY think I would make the class HARDER??? As in more work for me???? I have 60 stats kids right now - why would I make MORE work for myself??? I spend 10 hours a day at school when I'm NOT teaching stats, 12 hours a day when I am teaching stats and now you think I want to add MORE hours to that? I barely see my kid every day because I'm prepping for your class or tutoring!! So I say to you that's just stupid talk!!

3) You made the class harder because you want to have the same reputation as the AP Calculus teacher.
A: Look, she's freakin' amazing. If anyone EVER compared me to her in a positive way, I would kiss them (well, not really). But you don't like the fact that she makes you THINK. God forbid that an educator make YOU think for yourself. What were we thinking? Is she tough? Yes. Do I admire her? Yes. But I'm ME, like it or not. It's taken me 30 years to be ok with ME and I'm not cool enough to be anybody else.

4) You're a bitch.
A: ehhh... you got me on that one. But that's your opinion and opinions are like noses and you get the idea.

Now that I think of it, I did do something different for this class. I put together a wiki!! OMG! I put everything I had on the wiki (including notes for class they could print out ahead of time and study guides and vocabulary reviews - OH THE HORROR!!) for them to download if needed. But I made it private to track the usage just in case I got called for not doing enough to help. Which I did. A LOT.

Anyway, the time to sign up for the AP test came around and of my 60, only 19 signed up. Of the 19 that signed up, at least half were taking it because it was free/reduced rate for them. The others were being forced by parents. I was bummed.
So when I would teach and say, "On the AP test..." I would get rants of , "I'm not TAKING the AP test so WHY are we doing this???" So I'm teaching a method to 19 students that 41 don't give a crap about and they don't put any effort into it. This was so annoying and depressing when I would give free resonse questions as assignments. My tests model the exam (some MC some FR) and kids would complain about that, too. I felt so frustrated and depressed almost every day. My Honors Algebra 2 class (last block) could tell and were SO great to elevate me out of that crappy mood at the end of every day. Loved them!

By this time in stats, we'd moved into the beginning stages of 2-variable data. Then we went to probability (too painful to talk about). I was frustrated to the point that I actually got into an argument with a student after a test - a student that I LOVED and had known for six years!! It was awful. After class, he was griping about the class and how he didn't get it and didn't know how he should be expected to and it set me off. I said, "SOOOO what could I have done to help you that I apparently did NOT do?" After about 15 minutes of hearing each of his excuses to which I had a valid rebuttle, he angrily conceeded that his failure was his fault and stormed off. Worst day that semester by far.

But something happened after spring break - about half of my kids had an "aha". They started to catch on because they began to see how all of the material tied together. They started DOING the suggested homework and reading the book ahead of class and that group started rocking the class. So in each of my two classes, there became an obvious division - those students who were putting in some effort and those that were just going to bitch and complain. Those that were trying began getting those A's and making connections and having a blast in class. The other group still bombed. The ones that were doing well even offered to help the others, but began to get frustrated with their apathy. One kid said, "Is THAT how I acted at the beginning of the class? Geeez!"

Senior-itis had bitten that lazy half and most of them were beginning to be honest and admit that. "Um, I just want you to know this class requires WAY more effort that I really wanted to spend. So, I still love ya and all, but don't take my grades personally. I'm so ready to be out of school it's not funny." I appreciated the honesty. And so many kids from the engaged group were kicking themselves in the butt for not signing up for the AP test. "UUGGH! If I'd known that it would be this easy, I'd have taken the test!" I wanted to scream, "DON'T SAY THE E-WORD!!!" But I just nodded and smiled. By the end of the course, I had a small handfull that didn't give a rip and the rest were on board.

And I finally reconciled with the student that I loved. The day yearbooks were distributed, he asked me to sign his. And he apologized and so did I. We hugged it out, I waited until he left to cry.

So what did I learn?
1. Do NOT use "easy" in the marketing strategy for this course. EVER AGAIN. I gave the impression that the course was simple and obviously it's not.

2. The kids who did the homework got it. But at the beginning they didn't do it (because I didn't require it) and they ALL told me next year to DEMAND that students do it. Go figure.

3. Make 2 stats classes - AP and regular. I'll have one of each this year - we'll see how that goes.

4. Stop taking it personally when they get frustrated. They're hormonal and immature and say stupid things sometimes. I have been teaching 13 years and I still have trouble with this.

5. I talk to much. This blog post is too long. And next time I need to FINISH the blog post after I start it. I had to stop in the middle of it last week and I can tell I totally lost my train of thought. But thanks to druinok for making me finish it. :)

Holy crap, I'm exhausted... But happy!

2011-01-07T20:32:00.000-08:00

I wish I'd had time to blog about this earlier, but there was NO time. It's about 10:35 p.m. and I'm watching the Cotton Bowl. I just got home from a basketball game where the ref warned me he was about to give me a technical foul - evidently he didn't hear me say, "Bite Me" after that (and THANK GOD my son didn't either).

We started a new semester, so I finally got what I always wanted - MORE AP STATS!
My stats scores always sucked in the past because I taught it in the fall and apparently I don't review well in the spring. I know the kids understood it in the fall, no doubt. So my school moved stats to spring - it's now time to "put up or shut up" with my scores. But there's more time pressure than before, too and my classes are almost full (27 in one class, 28 in the other).

So I wanted to really hook kids the first day and get them excited about stats. Most people I talk to hated statistics in college. But stats is so amazing - I wanted my students to feel that same "wow" factor. So what do you do on the first day to hook them? This is only my 3rd year of teaching, so I had NO idea. These are the biggest classes I've ever had AND I've got TWO!

My first thought was that I was going to drown in paper work if I did not get them to help me. I decided to put the students into groups and call them "research teams" (RTs). The idea is to teach them to peer edit each other and hopefully, in the process, it would help them become better writers on free response questions.

I already stole the idea from @druinok to give free response problems every week to be due Friday. Then the thought of grading almost 60 FRs a weekend gave me the shivers. So I've already set aside one day each week that they will peer edit their free response problems for 15 minutes in their RTs. The goal is so that when I get it on Friday, it should be their best possible work (and hopefully will be very close to correct). This may bomb, but we'll see.

Anyway, back to the first day. I didn't want to bore them with syllabus or classroom procedure talk (I know, I know - that's what you're supposed to do). But by the end of the class Friday/today (I won't bore you with the details), they figured out the following ideas:
1) When we're in a group, we understand better.
2) Our group has a pocket folder in the back of the room - the first person in class needs to get it.
3) We don't pull anything out of the folder until she tells us to get it (and no peeking).
4) When we finish things as a group, those materials go back in the pocket folder on the other side.
5) Before class is over, someone puts the folder in the class bin back in the back of the room.

That's not much, but they figured all that out without me listing off the procedures.
I know at least half of these kids already, so I pre-assigned them into their RTs. A lot of my kids are in forensics/debate/drama and will get off topic at the drop of a hat, so I wanted to try and fix that on the front end. I may let them change groups at the end of the 9-weeks, I'm not sure.

I showed the students the original version of "Did You Know/Shift Happens". I wasn't sure which version to go with, but this one worked great (thanks @mrhodotnet!). I told the students that most of the stats were from 2006, so we talked about how extrapolation can be wrong sometimes.

To kick off stats, I did the case of Kristen Gilbert. I started by trying to make the kids think it was a case of false imprisonment. I used a lot of the graphs from where the story appeared in "The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS". I think all teachers have to posess some acting skills, don't you? I put mine into use that day and tried my best to be as convincing as possible to make the kids think Gilbert was sitting in prison rotting over this horrible crime that she did not commit. By the end, they were arguing with me that there's NO WAY she was innocent. Without technical vocabulary or getting into the "meat" of the class, they used what they aready knew to figure out I was completely full of crap. It was "wicked awesome" to see them shout with delight when I told them that they were all right - Gilbert was guilty. And when the bell rang, I said, "Welcome to Statistics." (If you want a copy of my PPT, just let me know - it's not great, but I'll share.)

On their way out the door, I had them write their first impressions of the class and any concerns/questions they may have had. Overwhelmingly, the general response was "I'm so excited about this class and I have NEVER said that about math before."

So it was amazing, but now I've realized that although this type of teaching works, it comes with a LOT of planning on my part. And I'm going to have my timing down to the minute if I'm going to teach this way for the AP test and hope that they do well. (If you have any suggestions, hit me up because I'm freaking the BLEEP out over it.)

My formal evaluation is Monday and I don't do the "dog and pony show" for my administration. I want them to see me for exactly what I am so that if I'm screwing something up or could make an improvement in my daily plan, they can help me. But what my administrator DOESN'T know is that I'm putting him in one of my research teams and he's going to be a student for the day. Maybe it won't get me fired. :)

New Semester Resolutions (thanks @druinok)

2010-12-28T16:06:00.000-08:00

It's sad when I have to ask someone what I should blog about. It's not that I don't have an idea - I have TOO MANY. Remember that song, "You down with OPP?" I need to rewrite the lyrics to "You down with A.D.D.? Yeah, YOU KNOW ME." Well, the two of you that READ this blog know that I have a LITTLE trouble focusing on one thing at a time. My brain goes 90-to-nothing. Sometimes that's GOOD and sometimes (well, MOST OF THE TIME) it's bad. But I had to ask @druinok what to write about because we've been talking about SO much the last few weeks. She suggested New Semester Resolutions.

The good thing about block scheduling is a new start. Those of you that have been with me for this semester know that I had some SERIOUS issues with one student that almost took me to the court room. Although I would have LOVED to fight that battle (because I would have been COMPLETELY vindicated 1000 times over), I have got to get over that. After 11 years of teaching, I need to come to the realization that I CAN'T reach all students. Some are going to hate me for absolutely no reason because they have their own personal issues and I am an easy target because I DO bust my @$$ for all students. The bad news is that the student is still in my math club and will be going with me on trips to competitions the rest of the year. So I've decided that I will NOT be sponsoring the math club after this year is over (or at least until that student graduates). I have no desire to put myself in situations where I have to be around someone so poisonous and I have nothing to prove to the student or the student's parents ANYMORE. It's bad for my teaching mojo.

So, what will be awesome about Spring 2011?
1. AP STATS!!!
2. TWO sections of AP STATS!!
3. Two FULL sections of AP STATS!!

What am I afraid of for Spring 2011?
(See #1 - 3 above)
hahahaha

What do I want to change for Spring 2011?
1. I want to delete all my videos and start over. I want more videos of STUDENTS teaching - not me.
2. Algebra 2 needs more cool stuff. It's too boring. I don't like boring. Boring sucks - for them AND for me.
3. Students need more ownership in the learning. I don't want to stand up there and teach all class. Crap, I wouldn't want to watch me do it either. Ugh. I don't even like looking at myself in the mirror every morning.
4. The only way to make students understand the power of practice is to MAKE them accountable for it. I hate paperwork, so I'm thinking they could Jing some of their homework. Now how will I manage that? I have NOOOO clue. I wish I had some WACOM tablets that students could check out and take home. It's REALLY hard to work problems with just a mouse and Microsoft Paint.
5. I've got to be on my "A" game with Stats this year. I have a ton of smart kids who are going to challenge me (which is a GREAT thing). I need to pick @druinok's brain aboug SBG in Algebra 2 and talk to @jasonchri about SBG in Stats. I'm not sure if I can manage the retake paperwork nightmare that I have envisioned with this process. I believe in SBG, but it terrifies me to no end.
6. Organization. What can I say? I SUPER SUCK at this. After 11 years, I still can't organize worth a crap. I'm guessing I will need to have 3 boxes of file folders - one for each class. Students will put their work in those boxes so that when I need to pull for documentation, I can put my hands right on all of their work. But I am just awful at keeping up with original tests and keys. And I HATE grading!! OK - I said it!!! I'm sorry!! I know it makes me a horrible teacher, but I DO NOT like grading at all. I feel like I destroy the students' confidence everytime I make a mark on their paper with my purple pen! No matter what you say, they cannot understand that the NUMERIC grade on their paper doesn't determine their worth. That's a whole other blog post, though.
7. I would love to redesign my classes so learning is by discovery - not lecture. (Did I say that already? Probably so.) If you read Teaching Statistics, you saw her latest blog about effective integration of technology and the link I gave her on the Flipped Classroom. I wish she and I could find a way to do this (even though we live about 650 miles away from each other).
8. I would like for my students to build an online wiki-textbook for statistics. That class is SO awesome and amazing, but it's so unlike anything they've ever done before. Although I LOVE my textbook, it would be nice for them to have an online reference to look back on that THEY built themselves in THEIR own words.
9. I need to learn how to say "NO". I'm on about 10 committees for my district.
10. OMG - I need to tame the academic vocabulary demon that has invaded my district. UUUGGGHHHH.

I have more, but none that I can say publicly (heh heh heh). Anyway, I am totally excited for January, which is a real positive in my life. I dreaded the last two months of school last semester and that's just NOT me. I love teaching, I love my students, and I MISS the "WOW!!" factor. So I'm hoping that I can bring that excitement back into their lives and my own!

Giving Back to Those From Which I've Stolen So Much

2010-11-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

My title may/may not be grammatically correct. I'm, uh, testing YOUR English skills. I should tell you that my A.D.D. is RAMPANT today so none of this will make sense.

But here's the main point - I felt guilty last night.

Once again I was stalking my favorite blogs for a great idea to help with inverse functions this week. To be specific, I "super sucked" at explaining how the horizontal and vertical line tests are related with functions and their inverses, but that's beside the point.

Back to the guilt!

I started looking through the stuff I'd "stolen" from @druinok, @samjshah, @k8nowak, and countless others. I know that's what we do - we help each other. Problem is that aside from my witty attention deficit disorder remarks (which aren't that good, anyway), I haven't CONTRIBUTED to anything. Other than create the AP Stats wiki, I've done NADA. And the only thing I DID on that wiki was set it up. Think I had anything really awesome to contribute?? NOOOOOOOOPE.

To right that wrong, I am posting the only "cool" idea that I can find on my computer today (honestly I'm REALLY just trying to avoid grading some quizzes...).

BUT it may suck, I dunno. This used to be my "BIG" project in 7th grade pre-algebra. I have examples (somewhere) on another computer that I will upload as I find them. My equation calendar project didn't necessarily NEED the length of time I gave the students, but I tried to format the schedule so that they would have more than enough time to finish it. Check it for errors, ask me questions - you know I don't make much sense the first time around. :) Also, remember that I haven't taught middle school in A WHILE, so you'll have to change the dates.

Cool thing is that kids I currently have in Algebra 2 had this project. They've told me many times that even though they HATED me during that project, they really felt like they learned how equations work because of it.

Now that I think about it, I am POSITIVE I have some stuff for a "marshmallow projectile" that I could share. If you attended NCTM in Atlanta around 2007, that was me. :)

Twitter Mathemati-CON

2010-11-09T08:25:00.000-08:00

I am jealous.

Living in the backwoods of the South has one major disadvantage. It doesn't allow me to get to conferences where most of my tweeps are going. They meet, have math proms, down a few drinks and learn some vulgar sign language. I scowl in envy as I read updates on my phone. I want to learn how to sign "hot dog" in a way that would make my mother cry!

But one thing I realize when I read: most math conferences are BORING. I thought it was just me, but apparently I am not alone. We sit in sessions about "group work" where the presenter lectures for 90 minutes. We hear about amazing Internet resources and are given a 40 page handout (in Comic Sans font - YAY!) and are not allowed to see or experience what the guy in the REALLY bad tie is talking about.

But that's not what I want. I want a Mathemati-CON with all my tweeps - just to have the ability to hang out and B.S. For example, I want to:
-build catapults with @SweenWSweens and learn some awesome dance moves
-talk about calculus, unicorns and rainbows with @Samjshah
-learn how to curse at my students without them knowing from @jbrtva
-drink a beer with @sarcasymtote as he talks about life
-see @dcox21 in action (as he pulls up to the convention with his 40 kids and the -Swagger Waggon)
-have an 80's lyrics war with @MSeiler (and pray he brings the Bret Michaels wig)
-talk football with @calcdave and figure out how to find an excuse to watch it during class
-make up more math-almost-cuss-words with @EightFalls (who is no longer @Eightfalls)
-play trashketball against @Fouss
-learn dollar origami from @k8nowak just to hear all the awesome remarks that will come when people screw up - I live for that.
-have a "Who's more A.D.D.?" contest with @jreulbach
-see @druinok again and flip/throw/shoot some freakin frogs
and meet so many other awesome people I talk to and read about every week!

Do we create our own convention? Do we make plans in 2011-2012 to take over one NCTM conference like a flash mob? How can we make this work?

This will take HOW many days again?????

2010-11-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

Most of us have heard about Marzano and I'm sure he's a great guy. Many of his ideas are really great and I think a lot of people are getting on board with SBG. I'm still a little nervous, so I'm keeping up with how all my math tweeps are doing this year with SBG. I'm going to try it next year (when I can learn to say "NO" to some other things) when I have more time.

Our district has adopted his "6 Step Lesson Plan for Academic Vocabulary". This is what I've done so far:
1. Created a list of 30 critical vocabulary terms for each of my courses and created a pacing guide that shows where those terms will be introduced.

Ummmmmmm, yeah. That's it. Because this is where I run into a problem with TIME. I just felt like I didn't have enough time to get it done according to district mandates. So (being the trouble-maker that I am) I asked a consultant about how much time should be spent on each step. After speaking with her, I calculated that this process takes up a minimum of TEN DAYS of instruction for each of my classes. On a block schedule, that's INSANE. When I told my administrator about the time, she went "deer in headlights" on me. She couldn't believe it. She called the district office and asked them. They said the time was probably miscalculated (EXCUSE ME???) but they would get back to her. But guess what. I was right. (A math teacher being able to add - who'd have thought???)

Anyway, guess what they've decided to do? IMPLEMENT THE PROGRAM. Why? Because they've paid this consultant about $150,000 in the past year to train all of the teachers on this process, so by God we're going to do it. They didn't research the time frame that it would require, but they don't want to say, "We might have been wrong about this," or "Maybe we should try this out in different ways across the grade levels." Nope. We're going to do it or we can find another job.

Every teacher in the entire district across all disciplines (K-12) are required to do this entire process in the exact same way. I do not understand this (so if you do, PLEASE EXPLAIN). The idea that one program is right for every child is crazy. That's like saying that one diet is right for EVERYBODY. Or one LANGUAGE is right for everybody. Or one RELIGION. Give me a break. Is this the process a good process? Yes, I believe it is. But telling me that I am required to do the same process in one semester that a 2nd grade teacher has to do with her students over a full year with the same quantity of vocabulary is NUTS. This is very helpful for younger students (I've seen this with my own child). But when you ask a high school student to draw a picture of what they think of when they hear a particular vocabulary word - be careful what you ask for.

Let me be the professional that I am and allow me to use this TOOL as I see fit for those vocabulary words I know are going to be rough for kids to handle. The way mathematics vocabulary is used is not the same way as vocabulary might be used in another subject area.

Do you use this process in your high school? Is it effective? PLEASE HELP ME figure this out.

Diary of a Mad Bipolar Math Teacher

2010-11-09T06:23:00.001-08:00

HOW can I suck so bad in one class and be a rockstar in my other two classes? I don't get this at all. I teach 3 sections of Algebra 2. My first block class is four sections behind all the other Algebra 2 classes in my school and my last two classes are an entire chapter ahead. My first block class can barely factor, and my last two classes are making algebraic and graphic connections with polynomials that are so impressive that I'm blown completely away. Does anyone else run into this? I can't say it's the kids - it's gotta be me. We control the atmosphere in the classroom, so what's my problem? Not sure yet. Hopefully I can get a clue before the end of the semester. I don't like to fail and I feel like I'm swimming in "suckiness" with that class.

Students are in the process of filling out course requests for next year. I'm in a bad spot because I have to tell these kids what math I'm recommending for them and some are not ready for pre-cal/trig. Our pre-cal/trig teacher kicks MAJOR butt HOWEVER she's tough as nails and has high expectations. She knows what she's doing though - she has 100% pass rate on AP Calculus test, with 85% of those scores being 4's and 5's. Problem is that she says that kids with less than a 90 in Algebra 2 are NOT ready for any of her upper level classes. There's an in-between course for students who are not quite ready for pre-cal/trig and it's supposed to be a confidence builder because it reviews the tougher objectives from Algebra 2 and takes it a little farther in difficulty. I have a lot of students that would benefit from that class before taking pre-cal/trig, but parents are fighting me all the way. I've seen kids CRY in pre-cal/trig because they weren't ready for the difficulty or intensity and then they HATE math after that. I don't want that for my kids, but some of them think I'm exaggerating about how tough it is. Plus, I don't want them to think I'm saying, "You're not smart enough for pre-cal/trig." It's not that AT ALL. They're just not ready YET. Any suggestions on how to get this idea into their heads would be greatly appreciated.

The Jing video is finished. Why didn't anyone tell me I'm that animated when I talk? I go 90-to-nothing and my hands do just as much talking. Remember the Micro-Machines guy? Well, he has NOTHING on me. They did a good job with editing (well, considering what they had to work with) but it's still embarassing to know that's ME in a nutshell.
These poor students.... I'm not brave enough to post the video yet. I'm afraid my tweeps will unfollow me if they see what I'm really like. I showed it to @druinok, but she's met me in person and she STILL talks to me. :)

I'm so freaking excited about AP Stats in the spring, I can't stand it. I'm nervous because I can no longer blame that huge time lapse between December and May for my sucky scores. So basically I know I'd better have my act together. When I taught this course in the fall, I could never quite get to Chi-Squared distributions before the end of the course. But I never worried because we hit it during the review sessions in the spring. I'm not sure how I'm going to get all of it in before the AP test this time and that makes me really nervous. If you know anyone teaching AP Stats in the spring on block schedule, let me know. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be accepted as a reader this summer. I don't think there are any high school teachers from my state at all that have attended in the past. We'll see.

Now that robotics is over (we lost and we don't know why yet, GRRRRR), I can get back to posting about nothing in particular. Doesn't benefit anyone but me to get it out there, but at least I can do that. I'm off today and I have a feeling that I might actually post again. There are still a few ideas rattling around in here but they need posts of their own. We'll see.

Hello. My name is Approx_normal. And I'm a procrastinator.

2010-07-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

To quote one of my BFF's from Twitter (so I guess he's a TFF) @EightFalls:
MUTHA FUNCTIONS!!

I have about three weeks before school starts and I don't think I've done JACK to get started.

Well, that's not EXACTLY true. My school is famous for not telling us what we're teaching until the week we come back to school. I hate that. Like UBERhate it. So I found a backdoor to my rosters through our grading system (sorry counselor's office). During the summer, they delete certain viewing options in our online gradebook, but I'm pretty devious when I wanna be. Anyway, I found out that I will have two sections of AP Stats in the spring (HELL YEAH!!), one section of jr/sr Algebra 2 (with 32 students on roll currently - yikes), and three sections of 9th/10th grade Algebra 2. I am so excited!!!

For those of you who don't know me (yet), I taught middle school for YEARS. Not because I couldn't handle the upper level math, but because I love middle school kids. They are awesome. I've been really lucky since I moved to the high school because I've had the priviledge of teaching kids I taught when they were in middle school. They line up to take my classes because they know how I teach, I have high expectations but will bust my ass for them, I'm completely crazy, and I don't take any crap from anybody. So five of the classes I'll teach will have 85 - 90% former students. This rocks for me because I don't have to drill classroom procedures the first few days.

I'm really excited about the 9th/10th grade Algebra 2 classes this year. This was my last group from middle school, in the heat of the 21st Century Skills Cisco grant. These kids had no limits. Never complained, never griped, and had an incredible work ethic I'd never seen before. Most student would Jing math problems from home that they found challenging to help other students on a daily basis. Did they get any extra credit or grade for this? NO. They just did it because they wanted to. So while I'm excited about this, I'm trying to figure out ways to take advantage of their work ethic and desire to learn.

Peer Pressure To Revive This Blog

2010-06-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

So instead of working on my grant presentation for MONDAY, I was somewhat bullied by my tweeps to restart my blog. I really don't know WHY - I don't have much mathematically to contribute most of the time on Twitter (which I LOVE, by the way). I like to banter and bounce ideas off of people, but as far as "look at this great idea that I have created"... Not so much. Plus, I am UBER-A.D.D. (hence, the reason my grant presentation is still unfinished).

Next year I'm teaching Algebra 2 (hopefully at least one section of honors stuck in there) and AP Statistics again. I'm super excited about the Stats class. I think by the 3rd year I have it almost figured out. I don't really worry with Algebra 2 content - I've taught that since 1999. I'm really just trying to fine tune it and add some "WOW" to it. I know kids think it's Satan's subject.

But there are thoughts rolling around in my head (insert mean comment here):
1. homework (Holy Cheeze-Its!!!)
2. grading (how to still have a life and NOT go crazy doing it)
3. more formative assessments
4. organization (my desk is chaos and freaks out my admin but I know where everything is)
5. AP Stats is in the SPRING this time (time to put up or shut up)
6. I have TWO sections of AP Stats ("Woot!" and "Oh Crap!" at the same time)
7. Documentation for NCLB (good purpose, CRAZY implementation in my district)
8. The new lesson plan template for next year (which no one will look at)
9. REQUIRED essential vocabulary lessons (6 day lesson per word / minimum of 30 words per semester)
10. New dresscode requires UNIFORMS
11. Major Mu Alpha Theta issues (can't talk about that yet)
12. I co-chair the Robotics team (and don't know JACK about building a robot)
13. How to stay away from all the "Negative Nancys" without appearing to be stuck up
14. I hate papers/paperwork. They hate me right back.
15. Make more time for MY child (who isn't doing so hot in school, BTW)
16. I'd like to go through ONE year of teaching WITHOUT my husband wanting to divorce me because of one (or more) of the concerns I have above.

So read it or not, like it or don't, this is my blog revived.

And sorry about the template - it took longer to pick than it did to name my own kid. So you see what kind of mind you're dealing with.

Devil Worship in Harvard Yard (just KIDDING!!!)

2009-05-28T13:24:00.001-07:00

I freakin' LOVE Boston.
My obsession came from attending a conference put on by Harvard's Project Zero.

Anyway, I was showing Harvard's campus to my 7th graders on my Promethean board for a geometry lesson via Google Earth. We were talking about the awesome geometry I would see from the hotel to my classes. When we went through a "stroll" in Harvard Yard, I gasped. (This is a normal occurance in my classroom, by the way). I said, "Do you see it?" My students were obviously NOT with me. I took the pen and highlighted the middle of Harvard Yard. "NOW, do you see it?" They were as amazed as I was. Right smack in the center, CLEAR AS DAY was a pentagram.

I thought it was amazing. I wondered if it was a "happy accident" or if it was on purpose (surely the minds behind the design KNEW what they were doing). So I asked around. No one that I know at Harvard (which isn't saying much - I know three people) has ever heard anything about it or noticed it before. I guess I'm just a conspiracy buff, but it's just too cool to be a coincidence. And I mean cool in the "Pythagoras" way, not the "I'm going to sacrifice your cat to Satan" kind of way. Or maybe all sidewalks are the polygon version of what we do with clouds when we're little ("that cloud looks like Uncle Frank's comb-over!").

I showed it at a few conference presentations, but now the Google Earth image is "magically" covered by trees and you can't see it anymore. But it's still documented on the campus map.

I'm curious - what do you guys think?

And So It Begins

2009-05-28T12:53:00.001-07:00

So the two people that actually READ this blog know that I pretty much quit posting a while ago. Honestly, I was SO overwhelmed my first year with stats that I dropped it.

But now I'm out for the summer and prepping for my 2nd year of AP Stats. BIG thanks to MizT (see link to "Teaching Statistics" on the right) for taking me under her wing. She's allowing me to harass her daily for advice and ideas (and believe me - "daily" is not an exaggeration). My preps have narrowed from 4 to 2. My other prep is SO easy to teach that I won't have to spend much time stressing over it.

Still feeling the pain from falling on my face, I now have a better understanding of my teaching weaknesses. But I'm EXCITED about my stats class next year (instead of terrified).

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around our "higher ups" and the way things work at this school. Like the fact that our handbook says the kids don't get the AP weight unless they have an 85 or above (but in secret they give EVERYBODY the AP weight if they're in an AP class). And they seem to resent how tough our AP Calc teacher is because parents complain so much (nevermind that she's AMAZING but has zero tolerance for laziness). And we have teachers who seem to mirror the females from the movie "Mean Girls". Really immature.

Do any of you teach stats on the semester block schedule?

Hope you all have a great summer!!

Who does the Mu? (And a revelation on "the 32")

2009-01-11T13:22:00.000-08:00

I'm sponsoring Mu Alpha Theta this year - I'd HOPED to make it a continuation of MathCounts (a competitive math team at the middle school level), but that totally bombed. Most of my students want to be IN the "Mu" (for college apps), but they don't want to DO anything. Of our 5 officers, I only know two of them - the other 3 I've NEVER LAID EYES ON. They haven't been to any meetings. So how many of you are sponsors of the "Mu"? What do you guys do? When it comes time for members to run for office, what leadership qualities do you tell them you're looking for?

I was initially intimidated by that dual enrollment class of 32 because of the class number (and my closet-sized room). But, that's one of my BEST classes all day. I know we're still in the honeymoon phase, but they are great. They check their HW answers with each other the first 15 minutes or so. Then they look at the section we're going to cover for the day to see if they can remember how to do it on their own. After about 15 minutes of that, I quickly cover the basics of the ideas in that section and they ask me questions. I don't work homework problems in class that day, but I'll work problems similar to them. They mostly finish their homework in class and then it's time for the bell. I do understand that this chapter is the basic review of Algebra 2 and it will get harder for them, but they are really a great group. If they hear me talking in the "class discussion tone", THEY SHUT UP. It's amazing. Of course, they know if they screw up in my class they HAVE to go to AP Calculus and that's what 80% of them are ditching, so I'm not stupid enough to think it's me. But it's still cool, regardless...

And I have one inclusion Algebra 2 class that ROCKS. I mean TOTALLY rocks. I taught "advanced" Algebra 2 classes last semester and none of those classes had the energy, participation, humor, and work ethic of this group. Some of the kids that have discipline files on them thicker than our textbooks are now the stars of my class (and my day).

I hope this continues - I'm really excited about going back to work this coming week and I haven't felt like that in a long time.

"Do you mind having 33?"

2009-01-04T20:49:00.000-08:00

No, I really don't mind having 33 students in my class next semester (make that TUESDAY). Do I think it's a good idea? No way. They're all seniors taking a dual enrollment course from me in their LAST semester of high school. They originally signed up because they thought it would only meet 3 times a week and they'd get early dismissal the other two days. But due to a scheduling conflict, they'll have it every day for 90 minutes. Most are taking this class (in my opinion) to keep from taking AP Calculus or Pre-Cal/Trig from our department chair (who is a GENIUS AMAZING TEACHER, in my opinion). But she's tough and I think most of these students think they're taking an "easier road" by taking College Algebra. I'm going to need a vaccine for all the Senior-itis I'm sure I'll be dealing with. So I'll keep you posted on that.

My other prep is just Algebra 2, but those classes are almost as big as the one with 33. That wouldn't really bother me at all, but I've looked at the previous courses and grades of these students - MOST of them are going to struggle with this class. MOST of them got C's and D's in pre-algebra and Algebra 1. A lot are inclusion students (who generally end up being some of my favorites). So although I don't think this will be as challenging as the AP Stats class from last semester, I'm afraid I'm going to DROWN in paperwork and documentation.

I don't know about the rest of you, but we have to document our butts off. It's no longer, "Be a great teacher!" It feels like, "Fill out all this paperwork to prove that you're doing everything that you possibly can to be a good teacher even though the paperwork alone takes hours at a time, not to mention the extra tutoring time you're required to give every student with a D or F during the school day. But parents and students shouldn't have to be responsible for anything - all of the responsibility for learning is in YOUR hands (and YOU will be dealt with accordingly!). "

So I'm really asking some of you secondary math people how you deal with documentation, notifying parents, etc. Do you allow students to retake quizzes or tests (like we're supposed to)? And do you have any strategies for really BIG classes???

If you're one of the three people that read this (ha ha!), please let me know what you do that's successful.

Hope you all have a great first week back!

I'm done - I'm over it

2008-12-02T18:57:00.001-08:00

So Boy Stats Student (not "fluffer") has been doing pretty poorly on my tests lately. I've talked to both parents NUMEROUS times through phone and e-mail. They're doing everything they can - I've been giving up 45 minutes before school every morning to tutor this kid for a month now. He's still not doing well. But HE'S NOT TRYING - not at all. He writes NOTHING down in class. He prints NONE of the MULTIPLE resources (pdf, doc, and ppt) that I offer online. He sometimes doesn't even look at me when I'm teaching. He tries to read his AP English books during class. He does NO homework. He asks NO questions in class. I've offered to let him retake tests, quizzes, turn stuff in late... You name it, I've done it for this kid. But he's STILL doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for me and now, as a senior, his parents are trying to have him tested for attention disorders WHILE ASKING ME TO DO MORE to help him with his disability.

I feel bad for the parents (and maybe for the kid), I do... But the boy is going off to college next year and has taken NO responsibility since the beginning of the term.

His mom CANNOT CALL his professors next year and ask them to do all of this stuff for him!

And from what I understand, he's been this way for YEARS... Since middle school. His parents tell me that this has been the first time he's had trouble, but most of his previous teachers tell me that they've fought the same battles with the parents.

I'm giving up 45 minutes of time with my child every morning to help this kid that does NOTHING for himself and I just can't do it anymore. I'm TICKED OFF that I'm giving up that time for someone who is doing NOTHING for himself.

Did I mention that I don't charge him for this time? Our school will not allow us to tutor our own students for money, which I understand and wouldn't normally ask for anyway. But I can't get a refund on the TIME I've spent trying to help this kid. (I hear "Help ME help YOU!!!" over and over in my mind).

I have 2 other students that I tutor this same amount (but in the afternoons) and these students WORK THEIR BUTTS OFF to make sure that they are showing the output for all of my input (does that make sense?).

But not Boy Stats Student... So I'm done. I'm over it. I'm finished. They're going to have to find another tutor.

Am I wrong?

**sorry for so many caps, but I feel like screaming**

Power of a Test (and other things)

2008-11-25T07:01:00.001-08:00

I think the scariest thing about being a first year stats teacher is NOT KNOWING. Not knowing if I'm being effective, not knowing what I can talk about and what I should really spend time on, not knowing if I'm modeling what is expected on the AP test, etc. And wondering what I would make if I had to take the AP test!

Like Power of a test - my book says that students are not required to calculate it on the AP exam (same with geometric distribution). But I'm reviewing with "5 Steps to a 5" this morning and there's a question on the diagnostic that asks me to calculate the power of a test if I know the probability of a Type II error. I know the answer to this (thank goodness!), but I start wondering, "Can my students answer this?" I know I talked about it, but as we all know that means NOTHING. I go back to dy/dan's picture of the desk with the hole in it. I can't get that out of my mind.

I'm also freaking out a little (well, maybe MORE than a little) because I still have 4 chapters to go in YMS 2e and I have, um, 3 weeks left of school (really 2.5). I probably spent more time on some topics than I should have because I knew my students didn't understand and we did some really in-depth projects (like the mock election and the research papers that came afterwards). I was told my several peers that I needed to continue to push them because it WAS college level course, which I agree. This is one of my major screw ups - not sticking with my timeline. But in the back of my mind, I keep thinking that MAYBE (if I'm lucky) half of my kids will take the AP test for my course and when I do my review sessions in the spring I can cover those missed topics.

I'm looking at Gary Petko's (from Knoxville) syllabus in my office right now - he covers the entire YMS 2e book in 73 days. WOW. I really need to follow that next year!

I guess that being in a semester long stats class IS like college - but at the same time, I can tell there are SO many gaps in their understanding. It's like swiss cheese.

But I think in fear and inexperience, I'm also doing something I've never done before - letting the book decide what I teach. I am going STRAIGHT by the book in the order that the book presents it. I've never done that for any other course I've taught. My philosophy has always been that the ideas of the course should scaffold, regardless of how the book presents the material.

So, how long did it take you other stats people to feel like you knew what you were doing?

No Child Left Behind = No Challenge To the Child

2008-11-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this is an issue that other teachers deal with in their schools. Different states and districts do different things. But I can't help but wonder if "No Child Left Behind" really accomplished its original intent.

Let me start out by saying that I tutor my BUTT off every day. At least 45 minutes before school and sometimes up to 3 hours after school every day. I tutor during my planning period, during lunch, or whenever I can get a kid in my classroom. And that's just how I am - no offense or "high horse" intended to teachers who do not agree.

But I have some concerns about the policies my district has adopted to deal with NCLB:
1. You cannot fail a child without proving that you have tutored him/her at least 60 minutes per week during the school day but outside the regular class period.
2. You cannot fail a student with a 69.
3. You cannot give a child less than a 50 in the gradebook.
4. You must allow students to retake tests and quizzes (they prefer as many times as needed for the student to pass).
5. It is frowned upon to count off points for items being late.
6. You MUST give students a participation grade in the course that must count for at least 15% of the student's average.
7. And it's an unwritten rule, but apparently I'm supposed to "fluff" my grades (see previous post).

I downloaded Obama's plan for education and plan to read it tonight. Of course, this plan was pre-election, but the one thing I did like was that he prefers that teachers teach for student understanding and not just to pass a standardized test. Now how will he accomplish this? I have no idea but I hope he does it.

I think that where we've messed up in education is that we feel a need to have a big list of objectives for students to accomplish - it makes us look good to the rest of the states. But what happens is that we "touch and go" on 56 objectives that students never really master. So the following course requires a good month to review the previous course objectives.

WHY DO WE DO THIS?

Why not have a smaller list of objectives, but give teachers time to teach those for student MASTERY. I think I would much rather have a smaller list of things that my students completely understand than a huge list of topics they "kinda" remember. If my students really UNDERSTOOD the objectives from the previous courses, I wouldn't waste time re-teaching and could really get a lot more done to teach the essential objectives for my course.

I'm interested in your thoughts - please leave a comment below.

"So they're like soul mates!!"

2008-11-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

That comment was from my Algebra 2 class on Friday when trying to discuss the idea of a function being "one to one".

The only thing I said was, "For every 'x' there is only one 'y' and for every 'y' there is only one 'x'." And one of my ditzy cheerleaders became wide-eyed with understanding and blurted that out.

Thought that was kind of cool-->and I'm stealing it for future discussions.

"We fluff our grades around here".

2008-11-23T07:27:00.000-08:00

That came from one of the "higher ups" in my school this week.

Background:
I have a student in one of my AP courses that is borderline B-/C+. Not really too bad for an AP course in my book. If AP courses are to be high school versions of college courses, then shouldn't they be difficult? Shouldn't they be challenging? I don't really think a low B or high C in an AP course is all that strange, unlikely, or worrisome. However, I guess this student is concerned and, with less than 3 weeks to go in the semester, goes to a "higher up" to see about dropping my course. Why? He's afraid it will affect his GPA. Let's forget for a second that because it's an AP course, he gets an extra weight to the course (something I haven't been able to get my mathematical hands on to CALCULATE yet to see how it works. Is it like the KFC recipie for crying out loud? Why can't you just TELL ME how the grades are weighted???). The extra weight gives him a higher average in his GPA than it would if he were taking a normal math class. So the B-/C+ he has isn't really even that low - it's closer to a run of the mill B.

So the "higher up" (abbreviate: HU) comes up to me after school and asks me if I've called the parent of this student to tell them about his grades. Caught off guard, I say, "Uh, no - not yet" and begin trying to recall every single daily and test grade of this student and quickly calculate his average in my head to see WHY I'm supposed to call. The HU says that I should because the student and parent is concerned about the grades and how it will affect his GPA for scholarships. The HU then tells me what I have in the computer for this student's average.

Puzzled, I ask what the big deal is - that's supposed to be NORMAL in a college course that is as challenging as this material is.

And then the HU says it:
"Well, we all want these kids to get into good schools so WE FLUFF OUR GRADES AROUND HERE."

I say, "HUH?"

The HU says, "You know - we add points here and there for different things so our kids look good on paper. So let me know when you get around to that and call this kid's parents."

The HU walks off and I look around to see if Andy Samberg is going to jump out and punch me in the face.
WHAT THE HECK?

Did an HU really just tell me to UNETHICALLY add points to my grades that my students DON'T deserve so that they LOOK GOOD on paper?? Or so that they FEEL GOOD about their grade?

I don't remember any of my profs doing that in college. I remember one specifically telling me to get out of his office because he had to much RESEARCH to do and couldn't explain things to me that I wasn' smart enough to figure out on my own. ** I think he also called me a dumba$$ under his breath as I left.**

So what do YOU think about that (non-readers of this blog)? Please leave me a comment and let me know if this is something you deal with at your school.

First post. What the heck??

2008-11-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

I've been having "issues" talking to people about stuff that is bothering me lately. I don't really know why, but either I can't come out and say it or people have MORE INSANE things going on in their lives so I can't tell them.

I don't think anyone would read this, but it's a way for me to get my thought, frustrations, and COMPLETE SCREWUPS in the classroom out of my system.

"Like, I just can't keep it inside anymore. I've got to let it, like, OUT!" ---> sarcasm, but it's really what I'm thinking.