Independent Learning and Personalized Assessments

Today my Integrated Math 2 students had a planned assessment. Last week we went over the concepts we had been working with that they would be assessed on. I then gave students the option for 2 additional concepts that they still needed to show understanding of. With progress reports a week away and each of my 30 students at different places in the content, I wanted them to have the choice of what they were going to show that they knew. Depending on the student, some of the options they had available were tailored to them - I have several students still working on concepts from last quarter. Some options were stretches for students, but I love seeing if they are ready and willing for the challenge. I've also been trying to add more open-ended questions (thanks David Sladkey, Scott Miller, Nanette Johnson, and Robert Kaplinsky) as part of the assessments. And while the feedback is probably going to take twice as long as normal because of the number of different assessments given, I'm happy that I provided the students with the choices.

So yesterday during class they were given "independent learning" time. Basically, I told them they knew what they needed to work on and study and that they had resources I provided to them, they had each other, and they could grab a computer and utilize that. That was basically the instructions! Students (well, like 75% of them) were practicing and studying! I had students coming up to me to check how they were doing on problems and to ask for another to try. Other students were watching videos on the internet, finding practice problems online, and helping each other. I was blown away!! It was exciting to see that the unstructured time was probably some of the most productive I've seen them! I'm hopeful after going through the assessments that will shine through.

Providing Feedback

In January I decided to take another cannon ball into my Standards Based Grading journey (you can read about why here). I decided to jump into feedback only on assignments and assessments. Students were given a list at the start of the semester with concepts and skills that they must know and demonstrate in order to pass the course. I think of them as non-negotiable and students had to be proficient, demonstrating the ability to complete it correctly, independently (most likely on an assessment). There are some other skills listed that they should know, but I think of these as negotiable, so they are there for students to be able to negotiate a higher grade (A or B).

I have problems that we work on in class. I try to put up answers at the end for students to self-correct or I'll have them turn it in for feedback. I also provide frequent Independent Learning Opportunities outside of class that students can also turn in for feedback (I'm not the best at getting these back timely tho- and answers are online for students to check). Compared to the fall, this is getting more students to practice, but there should always be more that do.

I've had students self-reflect twice already, and we are currently finishing just finished up the third one for midterm/first semester grades (official report card and transcript grade). This was the second time we met to go over a letter grade. So far, students have accurately reflected on their learning and have stated they were understanding relative to where I felt! During the first round of conferences, I did have 1 student who was pretty off (he's been really struggling with the content), but he has been coming around and realizes the additional help he needs toward learning and understanding. I'm also having students write goals for the second half of the course, with me hoping to remember to hold them accountable. After the midterm test, I assigned a reflection for students so I could start to gather their thoughts on the good, bad, and areas to improve with this system -you'll see a few of their quotes throughout.

"I really enjoy this grading system that we have been doing. Some things I enjoy about it is that we do not have the pressure of a grade on an exam. We can also demonstrate on other exams that we understand the concept." ~M.W. (freshman) 

I've always believed that students learn at different rates. In the past, I've always told students that I know that and I'll always look at end performance over beginning. But, in the past, it never made too much of a difference. With this feedback system, I'm seeing kids continue to work hard to improve and understand. Students who would have given up beforehand, are continuing to practice and learn. As we learn new concepts, I continue to cycle older ones on assessments so 1) students who previously showed understanding continue to demonstrate understanding, and 2) those that didn't understand could now show improvement. The extra time for many has been great.

"I really appreciate our grading system and the way it works. Instead of basing our grades solely off of points without explanation, this system helps ensure that we are getting a grade we deserve  and why. I see the drastic improvement of teaching tactics compared to other classes by seeing how much improvement and understanding is found in me and also all of my peers." ~E.A. (freshman)

Since I'm really trying to get students to understand the concepts, I had a few students who weren't there YET when midterm grades came around. I approached the AP who oversees the math department with my idea of assigning an Incomplete to these students. He checked the Student Handbook to be sure, then gave me the go ahead! With that support, I spoke with 3 students and parents about the incomplete - which will provide them additional time to show proficiency. On a point system, these students would have been failing the first few weeks and wouldn't have the opportunity to still earn a passing grade. I'm not sure if they will be able to pick up on the past concepts while we continue to learn and connect new ones, but this is still an opportunity they would not have had otherwise.

"I like how we are able to work on the problems on our own time that we have challenges on instead of getting homework that we already know. I like how you can consult with us about our grade instead of just basing it off of homework and worksheets." ~L.Z. (sophomore)

Two of my colleagues are using the SBG system I did in the fall. I listened to them the last few weeks leading into the end of the grading period, and I could see and hear myself in the Fall. After this semester of providing feedback to students, I'm really enjoying this and would recommend it to my department! It hasn't always been easy - I'm reorganizing curriculum yet again and having to write new assessments frequently. Earlier assessments required a lot of writing, so that took time to go through. And at times it has been difficult to figure out what meaningful feedback to give. It takes much longer to grade things since I'm writing all over them. And, I haven't found the best way to keep stakeholders informed. Currently each student has a spreadsheet that I populate feedback summaries on to, and the link is posted in the gradebook for parents to access - but I don't know if they are doing that, or even know about that. And a lot of my time is spent recording the written feedback onto the spreadsheet, so at some point I need to evaluate if this is the best use of my time.

As we go into this final semester, I'm excited to see the full understanding of students. I'll be trying to track them next year in Integrated Math 3 too to see if the learning sticks. I'll end this post with the following response from a student (the same from earlier who is very positive about the change I've made), which has me thinking about how to convince others in my department to make the cannon ball into the deep end with me!

"A worry I have is that when I go on to future math classes that they will not use the same grading system." ~M.W.

2018-2019 Goals

I will be starting my 13th year teaching in just a few days (I actually started today, but it took me longer to finish this post 😳). I've had a lot going on this summer, including time to reflect on how I can be a better teacher. Below are my goals for this school year; I hope you will help keep me accountable toward them.

1. Make better connections with students. I really didn't feel I did a good job with this last year. In the Fall I had a student teacher and the Spring I had a lot going on personally. This is just an area I really would like to improve on this year. I want to know more about the students personal life and how I can help them be successful.

2. Incorporate more music and musical cues into instruction. I've let students listen to music on their own when they've been working, but I realize they need to be available to talk and discuss with their classmates. I have also played music on some days for them. Inspired by Ed Campos, I'd like to use songs for various cues - getting up to the board, pairing up, starting and ending class. I've got Spotify and Amazon Music ready to go on my computer (and phone), just not sure which platform will be best until classes start.

3. Not bringing so much work home. This is going to be super tough. I'll be teaching 3 classes (for the first time in like 2 years) and having all different preps (Financial, Senior AVID, and Integrated Math 2). On top of all that, I will also have a period of coaching and curriculum planning for Math 1 & 2. And somewhere, I'll be needing to complete the preparation for my three classes, including one which will be Standards Based for the first time all the way through. - We are only 1 day into the school year and I'm already failing at this, but hopefully I'll get in a groove and planning will go smoother.

4. Not over committing. With what I'm hoping on accomplishing with the above (#3) goal, this will be very important. I enjoy being involved, but I also need to make sure how it affects my home and family time. Personally, I have several things going on this Fall (new fence, garage, roof, solar for house, In-Laws moved in, PT for ankle and knee injuries, and additional medical visits/procedures). It will become so important that I really try to take a deep breath, and the best way for this to happen is to realize what is important and say no to the other stuff! - I've already bombed at this... In addition to Department Chair and Sophomore Class Co-Advisor (which I've been doing), I am a support provider to two new teachers in our District. I've been doing this the past 4 years, but didn't last year for scheduling reasons. Hopefully, everything else that comes at me I have the strength to say NO.

Here's to a great 2018-2019 School Year!!!

Numeracy vs. Literacy

Earlier this week I ran across a blog post from High Heels in High School about "When will we ever use this in real life?".  Then, I read this tweet this afternoon from Dan Meyer: 

Both really struck a chord with me. This has been my soap box this school year!

Long before this, I've been asking why it's okay for people to not be able to do math, but not okay to not be able to read? One of the points our math department presents to parents at Back-to-School Night every year, twice a year actually, is that they shouldn't say "I was never good at math" at home or to their kids.

In education, literacy and numeracy are often talked about. But numeracy always comes second, like the red-headed step-child. Yet, we expect the same results - proficiency. Data for the two is collected and compared, and math always is outperformed by ELA. The way math is treated though, this shouldn't be a surprise; us math teachers face an uphill battle. And I am sooo prepared for this battle!!

At our District, the top two goals of our Board are:

1. We want our students to demonstrate high levels of literacy in English (reading, writing, and listening & speaking).
2. We want our students to have expertise in mathematics.

Red-headed step-child!

I've heard of schools that have DEAR or SSR- so much emphasis is placed on English literacy. Reality is, students are using English every day, in each of their classes. All teachers are integrating English into their curriculum. But math is lonely - other teachers steer clear of it, even saying they don't know if or have needed it. AHHHHHH!!!  In January, I gave an Ignite Talk on this topic to math teachers in my District. Just last week, I was asking where our District's Math Center was, since we have a Literacy Center. I jokingly, well half-joking, was proposing a name change to the Math and Literacy Center. And, we also just completed our state testing. Every year, English tests the first week, math the second week. Once again, we are last. I was over testing as that second week began and it was only a schedule change that affected me. I can only imagine how the students actually testing were feeling. But it's always been this way. I don't know if math scores would be any better by going first, but it's worth a try to me! 

Alright, so I'm stepping back down off my box. Let me know if you have any solutions or suggestions!!!

Emergency Sub Plans #MTBoS

As part of the #MTBoS #SundayFunday Weekly BNogging Challenge, the post this week is on "Emergency Sub Plans"  Note: I missed last weeks on Teacher Hacks! 😕

I probably should do better about having Emergency Sub Plans. I do have something in a green folder in my desk - clearly labeled, of course. I remember they are a class set of equations to solve - perfect for many courses. I'm not sure where the actual file is, so I can't share that right now, but I will link it next week when I get back to the office.

What I will say about the assignment is that it is boring! It's just about 30 equations of varying difficulty that students are suppose to solve. Hey, if they are for an Emergency I want them to just quickly work to keep students occupied.

What I will also say is that in 11 years of teaching, I've never had to use them. I had one time (during my second year) where I was really sick and didn't make it into work, deciding at 4am I was too ill. I remember just tying out what the students needed to get done - what was in my plan already to do. This instance, I was out for 2 days and the 3rd day happened to be a snow day. But I returned that Thursday and just used the time to follow up on some of the topics. It seemed to be ok. So why go through the trouble?

Now, with some of the access students have to technology, I feel I can easily push something out into Classroom. Students would know what they were expected to complete. I'm organized enough that I know what I have planned at least a week ahead of time, so that makes it easier. I also trust that my students would be able to complete assignments without me around!

One other reason I don't feel putting Emergency Sub Plans together is a priority is because I work with an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING group!! My department is so awesome and we will always help each other out. We plan together and have documents posted in Google Drive. If needed, I can send a text to my team and they would be more than happy to fill a substitute in on what needs to happen for that day.

Organization OCD #MTBoS

As part of the #MTBoS #SundayFunday Weekly Blogging Challenge, the post for this week is on "Everything Organization."

I am pretty organized! I actually am not as organized as I used to be before my daughter came 2 years ago, but I'm reminded often that my worse is still better than most best.

Emails: I struggle when I see people with numerous unread emails. I know they have a system that works for them, but it gives me anxiety sometimes - I can't have more than 25 emails in my box at a time. My system is: if it doesn't pertain to me, delete it and file away the email I've responded to that I need to save. What remains in my box is essentially the stuff I need to still do or respond to. This helps me to get those tasks completed so I can weed through my emails.

Papers and Files: I color code much of my stuff to help organize. ROYGBIV is my friend. I organize class periods that way and I organize course materials that way. For my course binders, I use a binder for each semester, with the courses going in order by color (Integrated Math 1 is red, Math 2 orange, Math 3 yellow, Financial green, Math Analysis blue, Department Chair is purple, and then AVID is Black). I still have some work in organizing my cabinet with all of them, but essentially I hardly ever use any of the books or information on the left side. Next to this cabinet is a huge corner cabinet - like so large I have to crawl into it to get anything in the back. In my 6 years, I still haven't figured out how to utilize it. In addition to my hard copies of materials in color-coded binders, I also organize my Google Drive Folders with the same color scheme.

Next to my computer, I have some folders that I file common student papers into. Papers to be graded, to be recorded into my gradebook (I keep a paper hard copy and then transfer scores into our online system), quiz corrections, assessments to be taken (for absent students), and then to-do folder.

Electronic Files: This is probably where I excel. I've always organized my files into folders. We've been a Google Apps district for like 6 years now. I was initially very resistant to using Drive since math doesn't work so well, but it has been getting better and catching up. Now that we have more teachers teaching a course, we use Drive to collaborate and have common files. As a Lead for our Math 1 and Math 2 courses, we organize our units with a Unit Plan. I link any documents or resources to it. It's like a one-stop shop for the team to get information, resources, and ideas from. My task this school year is to convert all of our Word files to Doc files. I'm about half way through both of those courses. With Financial Algebra, we used Drive from the start, which has been awesome and a life saver! I like to have as much as I can in electronic format since that helps to cut down on the papers I have to figure out how to file.

Classroom Space:  Several years ago I put up curtains on some side shelving. I keep some department supplies in 2 of them. The other 2 are student supplies - 1st one are whiteboards, erasers, and towels. The second set are more of the supplies - markers, glue sticks, compasses, protractors, scissors.

I have a clearly marked "IN" tray and "OUT" bins. And in between is where I keep the absent folder, Quiz Corrections Forms, and Request to Retest Forms. For absences, I place the name of the student on any work that was passed out and place it in the folder. I use to have a slip that went with it and stated specifics of what they missed, but I haven't used in over a year because the current course I'm teaching doesn't work that way - it's project based most days.

The past 5 years I've had my teaching station (doc cam) in the front corner - which was unusable space because of the angle to the board - and student desks arranged in groups of 4. This year I arranged things differently. I moved my DocCam to the back on a cart that I can stand at, then arranged the student desks into various table-top groupings (pairs, 3's and 4's). I figured it would provide students different situations to work in. The pairs are easily set-up to become a group of 4 when needed too.

I've taught AVID for a number of years, so that's why I have a lot of space decorated with Pennants. Last year I was lucky enough to have Seniors, so I started a wall for them with where they are going to college. It's a work in progress though - I have more students to put up, just haven't had the chance to work on it yet.

I'm sure I have more Organization Hacks, but for now this will have to do.

Class Management #MTBoS #SundayFunday

As part of the #MTBoS #SundayFunday Weekly Blogging Challenge, the post for this week is on "Classroom Management."

I just started my 12th year teaching. I never feel like I am perfect with Classroom Management and I have learned over the years which battles I am willing to fight. And the management I may have for my junior and senior class will not be the same I use with my freshman and sophomore class - they just are at different maturity levels.

When I was younger, I needed to come in with a pretty tough and strict approach. I look younger than I really am. Not a bad thing I know, but when you could pass as a high school student yourself, it makes it a little tougher to gain the respect of students. Being 5' 3" doesn't help too much either. I've spent years coaching soccer, so my coaches voice often carries into the class. I end up loosening up as the year goes on, but this is how I have usually had to start.

I'm sooooooooo lucky to teach where I do. I spent my first 6 years teaching in more challenging situations than I'm currently in. These past 5 years, I've been teaching at a Dual Magnet HS - it's a choice school so the student population is way different than our surrounding schools. I really do not have discipline problems. Maybe that's partly because my students know and understand my expectations, but I think mostly because the students we have are awesome!

What do I do?

Movement: I am constantly moving about that classroom. I read my first year teaching Fred Jones' Tools for Teaching and the Zone of Proximity was something that really stuck with me (here is another article about it). My projector is mounted on the ceiling and I'm able to connect it to my DocCam in almost any location I'd like. This helps me to have a teaching station, now in the back middle of the room, where I can roam and reach students quickly and efficiently.

Facial Expressions: This probably isn't good, but I say a lot with my facial expressions. When students start to get off-task or do something I do not approve of, I give them "a look" and they usually know. I don't often have to go past that, but if behaviors continue, then I take the student aside and talk to them.

Student Conferences: I talk with students often, so if I'm really having academic or behavior issues with students I try to conference with them individually. I want to narrow down what is going on with them and see how I can help to get them back on track. This seems to help the most. It takes time and I always try to do it so they aren't feeling on-the-spot with the rest of the class.

Last Straw: It take a lot to get me annoyed and to this point. If I've talked to the student several times and changed seating arrangements, and nothing seems to get better, I finally call the parents to discuss the issues and what I've tried. I try to figure out solutions with them because the next step is for me to write a referral - these really are rare, probably averaging only 1/year (with past 2 I've done for academic dishonesty!).

Like I said - I'm not perfect and as situations come up, I may handle them differently. On the positive side, with a 4x4, we get to start a new "school year" with each semester.

First Day Plans - Financial Algebra

The first day of school is just over a week away! Being on a 4x4 schedule that means we have to hit the ground running - especially in the fall semester. I have just 84 school days in the fall to get through tons of information (if you are unfamiliar, think college class schedule - you finish the course in a semester then start new course the next semester). This fall I will be teaching Financial Algebra (I absolutely LOVE this course and what we have done with it), and then planning out our Integrated Math 1 and 2 course for the teams (in the spring I will be teaching Math 2).

Note: I say it often, but I really am going to try to Blog more! So, I decided to get started with the #MTBoS #SundayFunday Weekly Blogging Challenge. I feel like I have been working on butt off this summer trying to get courses organized and set for the first quarter. For the first time in like 5 years, we will be starting the year with the teachers that ended last - there is not a new math teacher in my department! As a teacher who had to move schools every year my first 7 years of teaching, I had always taken my new teachers in my department under my wings to mentor and make sure they felt comfortable and supported to do what they needed to be an awesome teacher. Obviously I will still support the teachers in my department, but I don't feel like I need to be there as much - they are amazing and they got this!! So, maybe that will free up the time I need to Blog? ... right???

The post for this week is "First Day Plans." The plan is to:

1) start by greeting students at the door. I also use this as an opportunity to help some of the "lost" students find the correct classroom. Last spring, my student teacher asked students to write about "what does it mean to be financially secure" for the warm-up, so I think I will ask the same thing. 

2) I think I may also want to have a brief discussion about what the students think this course will be about, then what would they like to learn about. This will lead into a little more about what it may actually be like. Some students really struggle with this being a Project based course, while others don't realize this course should be taken at the end of their high school math pathway - so I like to take just a few minutes to make sure I inform them about this.

3) Students are then going to grab Chromebooks and get into Classroom. We aren't 1-1, so we have 3 carts for our department. Sadly, we usually have 1 booked for most days for our Financial Alg. courses.

4) Once in, I'll make sure students know what resources will be available to them in the "About" section, then they will get started on the first 2 assignments!!

  a) the first is a Google Form that just asks for some information so that I can get to know them better. I browse through answers as they work on the second assignment so that I can make a more personal connection with them. 

  b) students work on a HyperDoc about Google Apps. Since we use Chromebooks and Google Applications OFTEN in our Financial Algebra class, it is very important for students to have a strong grasp of the apps. We also found that students didn't know some of the little things that we thought they should, so we wrapped almost everything into this document. They have this day and part of the next two day's to complete it. I like that this can challenge any student! Last Spring, we used a slightly different version and every student learned at least one thing new.

5) finally, students will be given a Twitter Student Profile sheet so I can get to know just a little more about them.

The second day, I'm hoping to introduce my Class Economy plan (I'm still working on some aspects in my head but I am sooooo excited about this and can't wait to write a post about it soon!), have students get a little introduction to Sheets, and then continue to work on the Google Apps document.

New Year

It's the first of the year! In 2 days, I will be back at work and getting ready to the new term.

I'm excited to be teaching 2 sections of Financial Algebra again - I've learned so much the first time around and already have so many thoughts and ideas on how to make it better for the second time. That being said, I'm also finding that I am already overwhelming myself with wanting to create new lessons and repackaging old lessons. The past two weeks, I've spent many hours working on a HyperDoc to familiarize students with Google Suite (suited for High School students) and repackaging a career introduction (skills, interests, and abilities assessments). I think that I have finally got them completed! I'm still working on a document to go into Sheets (since we are doing finance, we use it often and I found the first time around that students had no experience with the application). And, I need to still figure out the details of our first project - career research. We did a different project for this unit, but with the additional time we have, we thought it would be better to really have students research the career they are thinking about since we will use it throughout the year. I'm hoping that I will be able to get them finished by Tuesday, but it isn't looking promising since the other 2 took so long for me to "perfect."

More time than I anticipated has been spent working on a strategy session presentation I volunteered to give. Back in November, I attended SDCUE and a session on HyperDocs. I had heard about them, but I wanted a better understanding. I had implemented a few in my class, and really enjoy the freedom it gives both myself and the students. So, I'm presenting a session about HyperDocs to any teacher that wishes to find out more! I finished my slide deck and thought that I was ready to go. But then I finished reading The HyperDoc Handbook: Digital Lesson Design Using Google Apps by Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton, and Sarah Landis. I felt I could make it better. I thought, if I'm giving a presentation about HyperDocs, wouldn't it be best to example it with them? So I created a Form that could go with the session. I gave opportunities for participants to Explore, Apply, and Reflect. I ask participants to explore already made hyperdocs for their content area. Then I ask for them to include the hyperlink. I will have them apply by really thinking about a lesson they plan to do this spring that maybe they could repackage. Finally, they will reflect on the idea of HyperDocs. In having participants search and include a link to a HyperDoc, I wanted to make sure that information was available for teachers to access, so I created a new Sheet and used the ImportRange function so that only those responses from the form would be visible to anyone that has the link. It's simple, but I'm pretty impressed with myself in pushing this further. My hope is that my colleagues will push themselves so that we all can push the students to achieve more!

Now that I have procrastinated an additional half-hour on the lessons I still need to work on, my resolution for this Spring Term is to Blog at least once a week with some of the resources we are using for Financial Algebra. I think we are doing some awesome stuff, and while we haven't created everything ourselves, it would still be good for me to share what we are doing.

Loan Amortization

On the heels of starting the next Financial Algebra chapter on Automobile Ownership, I decided to do a little research into loan amortization schedules. This lesson serves two purposes:

1. Teaching the kids the math and formulas on how loan payments are split between principal and interest, and
2. Showing the students how to use Sheets/Excel to do the math for you

I feel both of these will be valuable skills that they should know. I find too often that students do not know all the advantages of Excel, so if I can show them just a few I'll call that a win!

So,  as I was starting to work the math behind the lesson, I began with the Monthly Payment Formula:

I had to check if this was the monthly payment the loan calculator gave; it was! Next, I started a Google Sheet to begin work for the amortization schedule. Interest was calculated by taking the balance and multiplying it by the "monthly" rate (the rate given is the annual percentage rate so you have to divide that by 12). Principal is found by subtracting the interest from the monthly payment and the balance by taking the previous balance and subtracting that payments principal. So easy to do once you tell Sheets what to do - first payment was done and then you drag the rest down and watch the magic happen!!

I also remembered from my business classes being able to set a formula in Excel to find the payment (not having to input the crazy thing above). So, I used that also to see if it worked - it does. Except that it gave the answer as a negative?? Not sure why, but I'll look into that when I have more time. 

I'm excited for the opportunity to share all this with my class next week. I hope they find this unit enjoyable!!

9 Days of Financial Algebra

We are completing the 9th day of school. I've enjoyed this course and the knowledge it can provide to students and am so excited for the school year. But, I've also been a little disappointed.

On the first day, we had students balance a checking account just to see where they were at. I was amazed at how many did not get the correct balance in the end (all the more reason they should be in this course!). Many didn't have the correct check numbers and didn't know how to handle a voided check - not too big of a deal - so I made sure to go over in more detail about that. I also had students complete a survey to just get an idea of how others manage their finances. Of the 72 surveyed, 19 still use a hand-written register and 22 stated they used some software or app. Students were only allowed to interview one person under the age of 25 and only one person per household. I saw 2 surveys that they clearly interviewed a person from each generation - balance by hand, use an app, don't at all. I would imagine as this current generation grows, more and more will just depend on the balance the bank tells them. That scares me!

As we wrap up our first unit, students had a project they had to complete. They could choose 1 of 4 topics, and it was either a presentation or a paper. We designed this awesome rubric on what we expected and how they would be graded. So many have been just basic information. Since we gave 2 days of class time (almost 3 hours) for researching and putting it together, I think I was expecting better. Only a few are MLA format. They were supposed to be a minimum of 2 pages (that's it!!) and several are just over a page. Is this what English experiences with essays? I'm going to have to monitor them a lot more with future projects that's for sure.

On a positive note, students are asking great questions, so I'm loving that. They are curious and want to learn more. I'm hoping that continues as we move into more topics.

I'm Back!!

After an almost two year hiatus (pregnancy and enjoying time with my wonderful daughter), I decided that I need to start blogging again. I'm hoping that I can post more often than my last go around and offer more insight and resources into my teaching.

As I've spent the summer preparing and planning for the upcoming school year, I felt like there were a lack of resources for the 3 classes I needed to prepare: Integrated Math 1, Financial Algebra, and Senior AVID Seminar. I thought if I was feeling this way, there had to be others out there? So, I'm hoping that by writing about my journey, it may stir additional conversations and offer others a place to gather some ideas. [DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert for these courses]

We are in our third year with Common Core Integrated Math. To be honest, we are really starting our 5th year since we are on a 4x4 schedule. The transition to Common Core and Integrated was tough, not for content but more due to parent and student resistance. I think it was more misunderstanding than anything. Seeing our students go through the 3 courses has been awesome - the level of math they are doing, the conversations they are having, the interest level! The past two years we were using the Mathematics Vision Project. In January, our three District high schools came together to discuss and choose one main resource that we were going to use moving forward (prior to this each school was using a different program). I highlight main resource because it was made clear that this would not be our curriculum; that our curriculum we would develop as we went and that we would have the ability to pull different resources together! Ultimately, we decided to go with CPM (College Preparatory Mathematics) as our main resource as we felt it would be more accessible to all students. While not ecstatic that we would have to change after all the time and effort my department had put in, I knew this decision would be for the best and I was still happy that I would be able to pull in my favorite MVP lessons. So I spent most of the Spring and Summer preparing for our upcoming school year. I've got 7 teachers teaching this course; 4 of them for the first time and 3 of those are brand new to our school (2 totally fresh teachers). It's going to be crazy this Fall. I'm excited at what resources we will be putting together and looking forward to the feedback our team has.

I spent a lot of the 2014-2015 school year working with another teacher in our District to get Financial Algebra as an approved course in our District. I'm a strong supporter of financial literacy in the classroom and wish more required it. At least this course would give a third year course option to our students and get them knowledgeable for the world they are about to enter. Since I was on Maternity Leave for 1/3 of last year, I decided to hold off on offering the course until this year. We got about 140 students signed up to take the class and will be offering 4 sections of it. I'm excited that I will have 2 of the sections and my former student teacher will have 2 of them. We have already spent several hours meeting and trying to figure out how we envision the class, what we want to cover, and how we can make it relevant and applicable to each student. More on this throughout the year!

Finally, I'll also be teaching Senior AVID Seminar. I taught Freshman AVID in the past for 2 years, so I'm excited and nervous about this switch to Seniors. Again, with our 4x4 schedule, curriculum gets crazy. I'm not sure how our school has managed this schedule (I know they have!) so I'm anxious about getting into figuring all that out. I'm also excited since my first set of freshman AVID kiddos are now seniors, so it'll be nice to see where they are now.

I'm planning on making an effort to blog at least once per week with my insights of these three classes. I'll post the resources I can too! I may write about a few other things too - as a BTSA support provider, department chair, sports enthusiast!