It's been a little bit over a week and things are starting to settle into a new normal. I spent the time doing some house projects, which were a much needed distraction! Now I'm ready to go with my students.
My district delayed starting distance learning because they wanted a strong plan in place and they had to attend to the technology needs of a huge chunk of our population. While the delay has been a little bit frustrating from my parent perspective, I get it and just try to remind myself "It doesn't really matter."
So, this last week I spent my time developing videos and lessons for my students to work on. The great news is, my students are used to doing things online both from my class and other classes at school! I use the Flipped Classroom model frequently and so my students are already used to learning in this way, hallelujah!
I'm super excited to see how this next week unfolds and while I think I've put together a good week of learning, I hope to find some new and different ways to continue to engage them.
Resources for this week: YouTube, Deltamath, Socrative, Canvas, TI-Nspire software
Wish me luck!
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Monday, March 30, 2020
Coronavirus 2 Weeks in...Nothing REALLY matters.
Today is March 30, 2020 and as of now, we have been out of school for 3 weeks. The first week out was Spring Break, and the following 2 weeks have been due to the Covid-19 outbreak. This teacher/mom/wife/daughter is REALLY struggling. I have had a full range of emotions and decided that this blog is my best way to attend to my mental health.
The biggest take away through all of my emotions over the past 3 weeks is....IT DOESN'T MATTER. Now don't get me wrong, the health and well being of my family, friends, and life around us DOES matter, but here is what doesn't matter.
1) My students are not getting any instruction from me for learning...doesn't matter.
2) My students GPA and high school credit are being affected...doesn't matter.
3) My district is not putting up curriculum that meets the needs of my own kids or my students...doesn't matter.
4) Some of my students just want to do nothing...doesn't matter.
5) My own kids are sleeping late and refusing to do any school work...doesn't matter.
6) My daughter refuses to send out recruiting emails...doesn't matter.
7) My daughter want study for her AP exam...doesn't matter.
8) I keep getting grade notifications for a low grade...doesn't matter.
I just want to start with that. I have to keep reminding myself not to be anxious. That it IS okay that I have lost total control of everything in our life.
There have been some moments where I've had some great reflection over my teaching, the pace of life etc. and I will share those thoughts on another day.
Some questions to ponder:
What does "equity" really mean and do we have that in education?
When things get back to "normal", will your new normal look the same?
The biggest take away through all of my emotions over the past 3 weeks is....IT DOESN'T MATTER. Now don't get me wrong, the health and well being of my family, friends, and life around us DOES matter, but here is what doesn't matter.
1) My students are not getting any instruction from me for learning...doesn't matter.
2) My students GPA and high school credit are being affected...doesn't matter.
3) My district is not putting up curriculum that meets the needs of my own kids or my students...doesn't matter.
4) Some of my students just want to do nothing...doesn't matter.
5) My own kids are sleeping late and refusing to do any school work...doesn't matter.
6) My daughter refuses to send out recruiting emails...doesn't matter.
7) My daughter want study for her AP exam...doesn't matter.
8) I keep getting grade notifications for a low grade...doesn't matter.
I just want to start with that. I have to keep reminding myself not to be anxious. That it IS okay that I have lost total control of everything in our life.
There have been some moments where I've had some great reflection over my teaching, the pace of life etc. and I will share those thoughts on another day.
Some questions to ponder:
What does "equity" really mean and do we have that in education?
When things get back to "normal", will your new normal look the same?
Friday, May 31, 2019
It's been awhile...
It's been a very long time since I've posted. Lots of things have changed. There have been many struggles. As I start winding down from my last day of school with kids, I decided that this blog is the best way to express my reflections from the year. AND I need to do this more often!
As a teacher and mom of two teenage girls, I need an outlet! It isn't possible to successfully manage the daily stress and emotional support we give to others without letting out a little bit ourselves and getting reinforcement from others.
This year was tough. I went from teaching all Pre-AP Algebra classes to have a mix of both Pre-AP and regular 8th grade math classes. I KNEW this year would be hard and I KNEW I needed to go in prepared. Well, that only half happened and I wasn't prepared where I needed to be. I could blame it on several factors, but all in all it comes down to me. I had some, well like 10-15, difficult, behaviorally challenging kids. They were horrible! About October I was looking for a new job. Anywhere that would take me and quick! I even went to an interview in December, but I couldn't take the huge pay cut.
So fast forward, I worked, adjusted, sot help, and I survived. I usually do an end of year evaluation with my kids, but I said "nope, I don't want to know." I did, however, put for the last question on my exam "what was your favorite thing about math this year?". Most said some activity etc., but then I got these two. One was my most "extra" kid. The one I battled ALL year long. Another, a sweet quiet boy who had to endure the shenanigans of his fellow classmates. I guess not only did I survive but somehow also managed to still make a difference even when it didn't feel like it.
If your year even came close to mine...just remember...every year is a new year and they are rarely the same as the one before.
As a teacher and mom of two teenage girls, I need an outlet! It isn't possible to successfully manage the daily stress and emotional support we give to others without letting out a little bit ourselves and getting reinforcement from others.
This year was tough. I went from teaching all Pre-AP Algebra classes to have a mix of both Pre-AP and regular 8th grade math classes. I KNEW this year would be hard and I KNEW I needed to go in prepared. Well, that only half happened and I wasn't prepared where I needed to be. I could blame it on several factors, but all in all it comes down to me. I had some, well like 10-15, difficult, behaviorally challenging kids. They were horrible! About October I was looking for a new job. Anywhere that would take me and quick! I even went to an interview in December, but I couldn't take the huge pay cut.
So fast forward, I worked, adjusted, sot help, and I survived. I usually do an end of year evaluation with my kids, but I said "nope, I don't want to know." I did, however, put for the last question on my exam "what was your favorite thing about math this year?". Most said some activity etc., but then I got these two. One was my most "extra" kid. The one I battled ALL year long. Another, a sweet quiet boy who had to endure the shenanigans of his fellow classmates. I guess not only did I survive but somehow also managed to still make a difference even when it didn't feel like it.
If your year even came close to mine...just remember...every year is a new year and they are rarely the same as the one before.
Thursday, April 5, 2018
Flipped Classroom
It's been awhile since I've been on, but things are going well! I've been using Flipped Classroom regularly in my Algebra I class and am a huge fan!
Why is Flipped Classroom so great?
1) I don't spend half the class giving notes and sounding like the teacher from Charlie Brown!
2) We get to spend class time doing activities and practicing.
3) Students get to interact with one another and actually talk about math.
4) I get to spend more time monitoring and answering questions of misconceptions.
How do I check to see if my students understand the video notes?
I do lots of things! Sometimes I have video check quizzes in our learning platform, sometimes I do entrance tickets, sometimes warm-ups.
Today they had 2 "You Try" problems and I was able to quickly assess their understanding.
Why is Flipped Classroom so great?
1) I don't spend half the class giving notes and sounding like the teacher from Charlie Brown!
2) We get to spend class time doing activities and practicing.
3) Students get to interact with one another and actually talk about math.
4) I get to spend more time monitoring and answering questions of misconceptions.
How do I check to see if my students understand the video notes?
I do lots of things! Sometimes I have video check quizzes in our learning platform, sometimes I do entrance tickets, sometimes warm-ups.
Today they had 2 "You Try" problems and I was able to quickly assess their understanding.
What kind of activities to I do?
Anything and everything! My students love to work on white boards and they love to work with a partner. One of my favorite things is to make a scavenger hunt and let the kids work around the room, in the hallway, or other areas of the building. I love this because I get to interact more and help individuals who are really struggling. The ones who get it also don't get held back waiting for me or the rest of the class. The conversations are AWESOME!
Thursday, June 11, 2015
The Adventures of PBL
So today I looked back at my blog that has pretty much come to a complete halt. That right there should tell you what this year was like. I know anyone who reads my blog is wondering how project-based learning went and maybe this is what I would say "the road to success is never easy."
Difficulties
As I reflect back here are the top 3 major obstacles that we faced.
1) Getting all of our team on board. Very simply, if your whole grade level team is not on board, don't do it. This is especially if you are in a school where you must plan together and more or less being doing the same thing.
2) Training our students how to learn from videos. We think that young people are more inclined to using technology and use it for all purposes, but some are not yet to the point of being independent enough to go solo on their learning. (I am happy to say though that by the end of the year they were ASKING for a video resource!)
3) Finding the time to actually complete a finished product. We had very few projects where the actual product was completed. We did the learning, but we did not give the students enough time to complete the product.
Successes!
When had many successes, starting with we all survived and our students' scores compared to last year went UP! We also closed several achievement gaps in our student subgroups. Here are 3 more successes.
1) Students TALKED and not about what they were doing that weekend, but about MATH! Our math instructional specialist do a survey and found that in classrooms around the district 93% of the talking was done by teachers, BUT she pointedly said this did NOT apply to our PBL classrooms! By the end of the year, it was a Hallelujah moment seeing how our students would immediately go into a round robin discussion.
2) Students recognized that they didn't have to learn just from the teacher. They recognized that they actually liked learning from their peers and they could learn from video resources! Like I said above, they even ASKED for the videos!
3) Students learned the importance of collaborating and autonomy. They've learned early on how important it is to pull your weight in a group and how it feels when someone else doesn't pull theirs. When was the first time you learned this..it probably wasn't at 13 years old?!
Difficulties
As I reflect back here are the top 3 major obstacles that we faced.
1) Getting all of our team on board. Very simply, if your whole grade level team is not on board, don't do it. This is especially if you are in a school where you must plan together and more or less being doing the same thing.
2) Training our students how to learn from videos. We think that young people are more inclined to using technology and use it for all purposes, but some are not yet to the point of being independent enough to go solo on their learning. (I am happy to say though that by the end of the year they were ASKING for a video resource!)
3) Finding the time to actually complete a finished product. We had very few projects where the actual product was completed. We did the learning, but we did not give the students enough time to complete the product.
Successes!
When had many successes, starting with we all survived and our students' scores compared to last year went UP! We also closed several achievement gaps in our student subgroups. Here are 3 more successes.
1) Students TALKED and not about what they were doing that weekend, but about MATH! Our math instructional specialist do a survey and found that in classrooms around the district 93% of the talking was done by teachers, BUT she pointedly said this did NOT apply to our PBL classrooms! By the end of the year, it was a Hallelujah moment seeing how our students would immediately go into a round robin discussion.
2) Students recognized that they didn't have to learn just from the teacher. They recognized that they actually liked learning from their peers and they could learn from video resources! Like I said above, they even ASKED for the videos!
3) Students learned the importance of collaborating and autonomy. They've learned early on how important it is to pull your weight in a group and how it feels when someone else doesn't pull theirs. When was the first time you learned this..it probably wasn't at 13 years old?!
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Rewind and Start Over
Rewind and start over. This is what I would like to do with this past school year. It undoubtedly has been the toughest year so far in my 17 years of teaching. BUT, I am not going to focus on the negative and am actually looking forward to an exciting year for 2014-2015!
Three positive things about this past year that I want to mention are:
Technology! I learned so much this year on different ways to incorporate technology, including many sites to make instructional videos. Others apps or sites I used were Doceri, Nearpod, and Kahoot. All great ways to help the kids interact more and stay ENGAGED (which was a big word this year)!
Activities! I loved this year that I learned a variety of new activities. Activities where I could take a worksheet and turn it in to get up out of your seat activity. I also learned a lot of Kagan strategies and used foldables.
Flipped Classroom! This year I did a lot of experimenting with how to use the Flipped Classroom model. I created multiple videos using my Ladibug, ScreenChomp, Educreations, and Sophia. All were great, each having their own pros and cons. I found Sophia to be an excellent platform to park all of my videos and put other information for the students to use. My classes did the traditional Flipped model where they would watch the video at home, take notes, then we practiced in class. We also watched the videos in class individually on chromebooks or Ipads and then the students would start on their assignment. Both methods worked great and 95% of the feedback from the students was positive. Behavior problems also significantly dropped when using the Flipped model.
Starting Over
So what's new for this year? Project Based Learning (PBL) using the Engaged! Learning Model (ELM). My classroom now has tables and chairs, which is how I started 17 years ago with cooperative learning, and I am diving in ready to take on "Education 3.0"! I am glad that I learned so much about technology and Flipped classroom this year because both are going to be a perfect tie in to the ELM.
STAY TUNED FOR PBL PROGRESS....
Three positive things about this past year that I want to mention are:
Technology! I learned so much this year on different ways to incorporate technology, including many sites to make instructional videos. Others apps or sites I used were Doceri, Nearpod, and Kahoot. All great ways to help the kids interact more and stay ENGAGED (which was a big word this year)!
Activities! I loved this year that I learned a variety of new activities. Activities where I could take a worksheet and turn it in to get up out of your seat activity. I also learned a lot of Kagan strategies and used foldables.
Flipped Classroom! This year I did a lot of experimenting with how to use the Flipped Classroom model. I created multiple videos using my Ladibug, ScreenChomp, Educreations, and Sophia. All were great, each having their own pros and cons. I found Sophia to be an excellent platform to park all of my videos and put other information for the students to use. My classes did the traditional Flipped model where they would watch the video at home, take notes, then we practiced in class. We also watched the videos in class individually on chromebooks or Ipads and then the students would start on their assignment. Both methods worked great and 95% of the feedback from the students was positive. Behavior problems also significantly dropped when using the Flipped model.
Starting Over
So what's new for this year? Project Based Learning (PBL) using the Engaged! Learning Model (ELM). My classroom now has tables and chairs, which is how I started 17 years ago with cooperative learning, and I am diving in ready to take on "Education 3.0"! I am glad that I learned so much about technology and Flipped classroom this year because both are going to be a perfect tie in to the ELM.
STAY TUNED FOR PBL PROGRESS....
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Just a sampling...
Wow! What a busy and fast year this has been! I am working every single second at school and I know what I'm doing is still not enough. My blog has been neglected for about six weeks so I wanted to take the time to show off some cool activities we have done in class.
First off is a Kagan activity. Our school has done two trainings on Kagan activities and I am trying hard to implement a few each week. This one is called Quiz-Quiz-Trade and we used it to review our math properties. The students loved it and it only took about 5 minutes.
Our second activity we tried was a gallery walk. I had my students write examples of the different math properties on a sticky note for homework. We then placed them all around the room under the correct property. The students spent about one minute at each station reviewing the examples and identifying any that were incorrect.
The last activity I want to share was "Pass the equation". Students sat back to back and passed around a worksheet with four equations. Everyone had a paper and had to start the problem from where their teammate left off. The students realized how important it was to show their work and to show it neatly!
First off is a Kagan activity. Our school has done two trainings on Kagan activities and I am trying hard to implement a few each week. This one is called Quiz-Quiz-Trade and we used it to review our math properties. The students loved it and it only took about 5 minutes.
Our second activity we tried was a gallery walk. I had my students write examples of the different math properties on a sticky note for homework. We then placed them all around the room under the correct property. The students spent about one minute at each station reviewing the examples and identifying any that were incorrect.
The last activity I want to share was "Pass the equation". Students sat back to back and passed around a worksheet with four equations. Everyone had a paper and had to start the problem from where their teammate left off. The students realized how important it was to show their work and to show it neatly!
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
New Beginnings
This past summer has been a time of transition. I am leaving the private school world and diving head first back into public school. I am super excited and have already learned tons of new ways to teach! Leaving my colleagues and friends from my last school has been tough, but I strongly believe that God plants you where you are needed. For every job I have been in, I can see a purpose. I look forward to finding out why I have been planted at my new school!
The first and biggest task I faced was setting up my new room. You'll see from the pictures that it started out dreary, but with the guidance of my teacher friend Luci and help from my family, my dreary room has turned into somewhat of a cheerful place. You'll see that I've implemented some of the ideas I wanted to do at the end of last school year.
It's going to be a wonderful year and I look forwarding to sharing some of the new strategies that my students and I will get to experience in the classroom. Time to soar like an EAGLE!
My nephew Sam and my two girls helped my move in!
The first and biggest task I faced was setting up my new room. You'll see from the pictures that it started out dreary, but with the guidance of my teacher friend Luci and help from my family, my dreary room has turned into somewhat of a cheerful place. You'll see that I've implemented some of the ideas I wanted to do at the end of last school year.
It's going to be a wonderful year and I look forwarding to sharing some of the new strategies that my students and I will get to experience in the classroom. Time to soar like an EAGLE!
My nephew Sam and my two girls helped my move in!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Looking Back...and Forward
As the year comes to a close, I am trying to look back at all the good things that happened in class. It was actually hard to think all the way back to August 2012, but I think I've come up with the most successful things for the year.
1) Weekly Reviews! This year our secondary math department decided to consistently give our students a Weekly Review each week. The purpose of these reviews were to keep students current and fresh on concepts. They were great in Algebra I for topics that we don't cover, especially the geometry concepts.
2) Nspire Activities! I worked hard this year trying to expand my knowledge of the TI Nspire calculator and integrating activities from the TI website. I attended a T3 conference in January and we made a lot of progress!
3) Accepting Failure! The joke this year was that I wanted my students to get a problems wrong. I wanted my students to learn how to be wrong and then grow from it. I told them repeatedly that we almost learn more from them getting a problem wrong because then we can sit back and analyze the problem and figure out the mistake. Also, it was important for me that students learned to take risks and not be afraid to participate in class. We celebrating failure!
4) Sentences! This year we had our students write sentences for their solutions to all word problems. The sentence couldn't being with a pronoun or number. This was awesome and really helped the students with reasonableness.
5) Project Empathy! This was not a classroom activity, but our community service project. We collected 60 Thanksgiving meals including the turkeys and made the news! Check out our website www.saintsofempathy.com.
And so now that brings me to looking forward. As of now, three things I would like to try next year.
1) Command Center! At the beginning of the year, you give your students classroom policies and then they forget about them. Thanks to my wonderful colleague, Luci, I plan on putting up a Command Center bulletin board that will remind the students daily of classroom policies.
2) Mama's Rules for Living! After cleaning out a cabinet at home, I found a book called "Mama's Rules for Living" by Mamie McCullough. This is a book full of quotes that my mom gave me back when. I plan on putting up a quote a day for the students to ponder on. Just because it's math doesn't mean we can't write and develop a relationship with our students.
3) Fantasy Football! My colleague had her students participate in Fantasy Baseball this Spring and I am pumped to maybe do Fantasy Football. We found a great resource that has all the instructions, worksheets, and ideas needed to get it started. We'll see....
1) Weekly Reviews! This year our secondary math department decided to consistently give our students a Weekly Review each week. The purpose of these reviews were to keep students current and fresh on concepts. They were great in Algebra I for topics that we don't cover, especially the geometry concepts.
2) Nspire Activities! I worked hard this year trying to expand my knowledge of the TI Nspire calculator and integrating activities from the TI website. I attended a T3 conference in January and we made a lot of progress!
3) Accepting Failure! The joke this year was that I wanted my students to get a problems wrong. I wanted my students to learn how to be wrong and then grow from it. I told them repeatedly that we almost learn more from them getting a problem wrong because then we can sit back and analyze the problem and figure out the mistake. Also, it was important for me that students learned to take risks and not be afraid to participate in class. We celebrating failure!
4) Sentences! This year we had our students write sentences for their solutions to all word problems. The sentence couldn't being with a pronoun or number. This was awesome and really helped the students with reasonableness.
5) Project Empathy! This was not a classroom activity, but our community service project. We collected 60 Thanksgiving meals including the turkeys and made the news! Check out our website www.saintsofempathy.com.
And so now that brings me to looking forward. As of now, three things I would like to try next year.
1) Command Center! At the beginning of the year, you give your students classroom policies and then they forget about them. Thanks to my wonderful colleague, Luci, I plan on putting up a Command Center bulletin board that will remind the students daily of classroom policies.
2) Mama's Rules for Living! After cleaning out a cabinet at home, I found a book called "Mama's Rules for Living" by Mamie McCullough. This is a book full of quotes that my mom gave me back when. I plan on putting up a quote a day for the students to ponder on. Just because it's math doesn't mean we can't write and develop a relationship with our students.
3) Fantasy Football! My colleague had her students participate in Fantasy Baseball this Spring and I am pumped to maybe do Fantasy Football. We found a great resource that has all the instructions, worksheets, and ideas needed to get it started. We'll see....
Friday, May 3, 2013
Amazing Race
Today we tried something fun and exciting for our students...an Amazing Race! The students spent the entire day racing around campus to different "pitstops". Each of the teachers came up with a 20 minute challenge for the students to complete and earn stamps. I loved our math challenges! The first was to fly a kite and determine the height of the kite using the Pythagorean Theorem. To do this, the students had to measure the string that was let out and the distance from the person holding the kite to the person standing underneath the kite. This proved to be difficult because of the windy day, but we provided a "detour" where the students could still complete the task.
Our second challenge was for students to calculate their rate using d=rt. They were to run the bases of the baseball field, skipping second base. We only gave them the distance between home and 3rd base and home and 1st base. They again had to use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between 1st and 2nd and then calculate the total distance run. The last task was to find their group's average rate.
The students really did a great job and it was nice spending a day outside taking in the sun! Here are a few pics, with more to come!
Our second challenge was for students to calculate their rate using d=rt. They were to run the bases of the baseball field, skipping second base. We only gave them the distance between home and 3rd base and home and 1st base. They again had to use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between 1st and 2nd and then calculate the total distance run. The last task was to find their group's average rate.
The students really did a great job and it was nice spending a day outside taking in the sun! Here are a few pics, with more to come!
My awesome colleague Monica who got us the cool shirts "Weapons of Math Instruction"!
My advisory team "Cute as Pi"!
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Shape Up!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Return of the Fiesta!
We had our annual salsa and queso making party in January. I love this activity! The class took a recipe and determined how many servings of that recipe they wanted to make for everyone. We then used proportions to determine how much of each ingredient we would need. I try not to make it as easy as doubling or tripling the recipe, which is why we talk about the number of servings to make. My classes did an excellent job making the recipes and even had to improvise, since not everyone brought in their ingredients. I was very impressed awith their culinary skills and they definitely knew their way around a kitchen better than the classes from last year!
These recipes are easy to make in the classroom because besides bowls, all you need is a blender and microwave. However, this is a great activity to do with any recipe!
Here are some fun photos of the students in action:
These recipes are easy to make in the classroom because besides bowls, all you need is a blender and microwave. However, this is a great activity to do with any recipe!
Here are some fun photos of the students in action:
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Fun Times in the Middle School
Two things happened this week that made me laugh or smile. The first was the picture below:
Now I know I shouldn't celebrate one gender over the other...last time the boys won, so I was glad the girls won this time. They said we should keep a running record to see who wins at the end of the year! They are very competitive!
If you would like a copy of this game, shoot me an email and I can send it to you. It can be adapted for any subject and any level...you just type in your own questions! leslieadams@aseschool.org
Our male students are required to wear ties on "Eucharist days" and this particular tall student came in late to class because of an orthodontist appointment. Well...he didn't know how to tie a tie, so his friend came to the rescue. At one point the shorter boy tried to tie it from behind the taller one and it was quite comical!
The second fun thing that happened, was the girls won! We play this wonderful Smart Board game that I acquired from some wonderful teachers at an NCTM conference. This particular game you either win 100 points for getting the problem right or lost 100 points if your team gets it wrong. At one point today, the girls were in the positives and the boys in the negatives...the girls said I should have taken a picture then.
If you would like a copy of this game, shoot me an email and I can send it to you. It can be adapted for any subject and any level...you just type in your own questions! leslieadams@aseschool.org
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Enter with Integers
Today my Pre-Algebra students reviewed adding and subtracting integers. Last year they worked with two-colored counters and talked extensively about zero pairs. The game "Enter with Integers", from Exploring Algebra and Pre-Algebra with Manipulatives by Don Balka, was a great way for them to refresh their memories and get up to speed. The students did a wonderful job and once we removed the counters and practiced integer problems without the counters, I could see that they really understood how to add and subtract!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Return of the Stacking Cups!
Wow! What a great day! Today we did the stacking cup activity again. (See August 29 Blog Post) This lesson is so amazing and gives me such incite on the learning level of my students. Their thought process was completely different than last year's students. Now, this may have been to my directions or lack or directions, but it was so cool to see the answers they came up with and what their thought process was of getting to that answer. Here are some pictures of students engaged in the problem.
Friday, August 17, 2012
CTR our new motto!
This school year I will begin my 16th year of teaching middle schoolers! When I began getting my room together I decided I was tired of all of my old posters, rules, decorations and needed some change in the classroom. Of course, one of my favorite websites these days is Pinterest so I used it to help me come up with some new ideas.
My first new idea to implement is my class motto..."CTR: Choose the Right!" I could give the students a list of all these rules about being on time, being respectful, coming prepared, but isn't it really all about doing the right thing and making good choices? I stressed making good choices a lot at the end of last year and this motto is really what I want to teach the students. I don't want my class to just be about making right choices to be a good student, but making right choices to be a good person. Here is a picture of my new motto:
My second new addition to the classroom is another sign I saw on Pinterest. I tend to be a very strict teacher on the outside and I definitely keep my students on task in class. However, the more I teach, the more I love and care for my students and I don't think they get to see that side of me. I truly mean each of these statements on my sign and I hope my students this year will feel more comfortable coming to me with questions and knowing that I really am on their side.
Here's to a great year!!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
LiftOff Summer Institute
This summer I was fortunate to be selected to attend a NASA LiftOff Summer Institute. The institute was for science and math teachers to come to NASA in Houston and learn about all the happenings going on with space and how we can integrate activities into our classroom. Wow, did I learn some amazing stuff! Did you know that we currently have a space vehicle in flight to Mars?! During our conference we learned all about NASA's mission to Mars. I never would have imagined all the teamwork that goes into making these missions work!
Here were my top five favorite things of the week:
1) We learned all about robots that are being designed to use in space.
2) We had a speaker talk to us about the design of the new space suit!
3) I got to meet two real astronauts who have both been on the International Space Station.
4) The Neutral Buoyancy Lab! A huge pool that has a life-size model of the ISS in it. This is where the astronauts do part of their training and practice the tasks they will perform in space.
5) My most favorite was the Challenger Space Mission! We did this at the Houston Museum of Natural History. We pretended to first be on a space shuttle and our team at home had to help us land on the Moon. Then, I got to be in Mission Control and help the next crew land on Mars. It was all pretend, but we learned so much about working together and about what it takes to be a member of the real life Mission Control!
Here are some pictures from our week!
Both Mr. Morris and Mrs. Wilson also attended the conference. Here we are pictured on the Kemah Boardwalk in Galveston on the first night.
Getting ready to enter the shuttle! Our job was to put together a space probe and launch it...we didn't know it at the time, but this was a very important part of the mission. I am pictured with Jennifer Pastor, a teacher from Louisiana, who we befriended during the week. We were a great team!!
Waiting to see if our probe launched successful..it did!
Sitting on the other side in Mission Control. We got a "top secret" note that said the probe had nuclear weapons on it and if we didn't instruct our crew correctly we could wipe out Earth! We didn't wipe out Earth.
This was my favorite astronaut that we met, Tim Kopra! I was amazed at his strong character and values..he made you want to be a better person and teacher!
The Neutral Buoyancy Lab. Isn't it amazing!
Here were my top five favorite things of the week:
1) We learned all about robots that are being designed to use in space.
2) We had a speaker talk to us about the design of the new space suit!
3) I got to meet two real astronauts who have both been on the International Space Station.
4) The Neutral Buoyancy Lab! A huge pool that has a life-size model of the ISS in it. This is where the astronauts do part of their training and practice the tasks they will perform in space.
5) My most favorite was the Challenger Space Mission! We did this at the Houston Museum of Natural History. We pretended to first be on a space shuttle and our team at home had to help us land on the Moon. Then, I got to be in Mission Control and help the next crew land on Mars. It was all pretend, but we learned so much about working together and about what it takes to be a member of the real life Mission Control!
Here are some pictures from our week!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Recipes and Proportions
What a fun day we had last week! My Pre-Algebra classes have been working on proportions and I really wanted to do something fun and have them see how you can use proportions in your every day life. I decided to take a no cook salsa recipe and queso recipe and have the students increase or decrease the recipes. We looked at the servings for each recipe and I had each class decide how many servings they wanted to make. I did it this way because I didn't want it to be as easy as just doubling the recipe. It was then up to them to decide how much of each ingredient we needed using proportions.
The next day was cooking day! The students did such a great job and I think they learned a lot more than just how to use proportions. I couldn't believe that some of them didn't know how to use a can opener and was amazed to see how some of them had such great knife skills! It was a great lesson all around and the students really enjoyed it!
The next day was cooking day! The students did such a great job and I think they learned a lot more than just how to use proportions. I couldn't believe that some of them didn't know how to use a can opener and was amazed to see how some of them had such great knife skills! It was a great lesson all around and the students really enjoyed it!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Play Doh and Nets!
Happy New Year! My Pre-Algebra classes are beginning the new year talking about surface area. They are always a hard bunch to keep entertained so I decided we would explore the nets of our figures with Play Doh. The students were deathly silent as they cut, sculpted and created their figures! It was wonderful to see them so engaged and able to understand how to make each figure. One of the most difficult parts of understanding how to calculate surface area and volume is to be able to visual the object or be able to draw it. I think we took a positive step today in fully understanding what they shape looks like! Thanks Mrs. Wilson and Ms. Wood for letting me borrow your cameras too!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Grow Beasts
Now that our dinosaurs have reached their maximum growth, we are going to shrink them and see if they will go back to their original size. It will also be interesting to see if they shrink at the same rate they grew and how if at all the density will change. This is the first time for me for these "grow beasts" and it has been a lot of fun for me and the students!
Oh, and the picture projects came out great! I can't wait to share some of them!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)