Day 24

We began with our assessment over Graphing Linear Equations by Using Intercepts.

Then we did an activity measuring the weight of pennies to get at the idea of slope and y-intercept. Last year I brought in 8 scales and had each group do it, but that didn't work so well. I think this year's students could probably have handled it better, but I still decided simply to do the measuring myself (figuring my goal wasn't for them to do the measuring, but to think about the mathematics). Perhaps a cop out, but that's what I did.

We ended up coming up looking at slope triangles and coming up with an equation, and interpreting the real-world meaning of the slope (weight of each penny) and the y-intercept (weight of the container). (Side note: if anyone tries this, make sure you pay attention to your pennies - their weight changed in 1982, so I made sure I had 1982 and newer pennies).

Their homework for tonight was to check the portal for the results of their assessment and make an appointment to re-assess if necessary, and then to review today's lesson to make sure they fully understood what we did.

Day 21

Today is a shortened class period due to our Homecoming Royalty Assembly. So, the bell rings and we have about 4 minutes where I'll remind them that we're going to have an assessment and briefly remind them of some things they should think about while doing the assessment, then we go to the assembly. When we get back, they take the assessment over Graphing Linear Equations by Using a Table.

After the assessment we work out the key together (to post on the blog), and then due to the shortened class period we previewed the Graphing Linear Equations Using Intercepts video that they need to watch tonight so that we could go over, once again, some good strategies to utilize while watching these videos.




Their homework was check the portal for the results of their assessment and schedule an appointment to re-assess if necessary, and to re-watch the video.

Day 7

Today is our first assessment over new material (the initial skills' assessment was theoretically over knowledge they already had). On assessment days last year when students entered the room they would see something like the following instead of an opener:

My thinking was to have them to begin to focus on the assessment as soon as they walked into class, giving them some scaffolding in terms of what I think they should be thinking about as they prepare. Then once the bell rings and everyone is settled, they begin the assessment (more on the assessment in a minute). The time it takes them to do the assessment, and for us to then go over it on the board, should be roughly equivalent to the time it takes to do a normal opener. This way we still have a "full" day of instruction even on assessment days.

While I like this plan, one thing I discovered last year was that some (many?) students really didn't prepare for the assessments. I've thought of switching to giving a short opener on assessment days, knowing they would do much better on the assessment, but I'm not sure that contributes much to their long-term understanding (and it would also reduce instruction time for the day). So I think I'm going to stick with just giving them the assessment without the opener, but I'm open to hearing your thoughts.

A very brief aside to describe my assessments just to give you an idea. My assessments are an imperfect implementation of standards-based grading. Instead of giving them a test over "chapter 3" or whatever, each assessment is over a specific skill(s). This allows both me and the student to get a better handle on what the student actually knows how to do (not "I got a 73 on Chapter 3"), and what they need more work on. It also keeps the assessments very short (usually only 2 or 3 questions) and very focused, which has the added benefit of making re-assessments take less time. (I've previously written about assessment here and here, so I won't repeat all of that.)

After the students take the assessment, I (or sometimes students) work through the actual problems on the assessment on the smart board, which then gets posted to the class blog (so students have the exact assessment, including worked out solutions, to look back at if they need to review and re-assess). To give you an idea, here's last year's (pdf).

Then we begin today's lesson with a measurement activity that will lead us into dimensional analysis.

Then I get a little more explicit about the vocabulary (rate, unit rate, dimensional analysis), and we do some unit conversions that are hopefully somewhat relevant to the students. The "Vehicle Stopping Distance" at the bottom is a link to a website that talks about average stopping distance to give a little more perspective.

We then do a couple more conversations based on track records at my school, then watch a two-minute video from Discovery Education about dimensional analysis using the cost of gasoline in Australia. I'll then have the students figure out today's cost of gasoline in Australia (in U.S. dollars per gallon). I provide them with links to the current exchange rate and average prices per liter in Australia.

While I anticipate we'll be out of time, I have one more slide where we figure out how much Steven Spielberg made per second he was awake in 2009 that we'll go to if we do have extra time.

Their homework tonight is to check their grade on the assessment on our online portal and, if necessary, make an appointment to come in and re-assess (or get help first, then re-assess) if they did not do well. Tonight is also our Back To School Night, so I'll ask them to remind their parents to come tonight.

Thoughts on today's plan?

Day 6

Today was our first assessment (pdf) over something I've taught (the Math Skills Assessment was over stuff they've theoretically already learned) - Proportions and Percents. Overall, the students did very well, although I was still surprised by how long it took a few students to complete it.

We then talked about different measurements systems and the process of dimensional analysis (including calculating how much Steven Spielberg makes per second), but again it took much longer than I anticipated (lesson, pdf). We didn't get to the last set of examples, including figuring out today's price of gas in Australia - I still hope to share that sometime with them. (I did ask them to do the two problems above that for homework - we'll see how they do on that.)

For homework, they need to check to see how they did on the assessment and, if they need to re-assess, to start studying and then schedule an appointment to re-assess. On our online portal system they can see their grade on the assessment, and in the comments I included which problems they missed (if any) and sometimes some additional notes. With the key (pdf) posted as well, they should have a good start toward figuring out what they need to work on and then re-assessing.

They also have those two problems we didn't get to that I mentioned above, and a short survey on graphing calculators so that I can get a better feel for how many students have - or soon will have - those. I then reminded them that Back to School Night was tonight (I only had about 8 or 9 families show up out of 30 students) and they should invite their parents, and that they'll need graph paper tomorrow.

So, I'm still struggling with how long activities are going to take, but I'm pleased with the results of the assessment. Now if I could just get them to be a little more lively at 7:21 in the morning . . .

Day 2

I over-planned for today. We were only able to complete two of the three things I had hoped for today. I'm trying to tell myself that it's good to over-plan, but now I'm worried about my expectations for how much I can get done in a given class period.

Today we started with an opener (pdf) that was designed to both introduce the class to how we're going to do openers, and to give them a quick review before they took the Math Skills Assessment. When they walked into class I gave them a sample notebook page to show them how I wanted them to organize their notebooks, but I also said that if they wanted to use a different organization system they could, but they had to talk to me first and explain why they think it would work better.

After they worked the openers, we then went over them as a class. I worked out the first one (conveniently the most difficult one), let Vic (my special services cooperating teacher) work out the second one, then invited students up to work out the third and fourth before I finished the fifth one. Lots of silence when I asked for volunteers, but eventually someone did both times. This took about twice as long as I had planned for (probably 16-18 minutes).

Then they took the Math Department Skills Assessment, which all of the Algebra teachers at my school give in the first couple of days. They worked on that for about 20-25 minutes (I had anticipated more like 15-18), I collected them and then, because we were short on time, I worked out the key (pdf). I had intended on alternating on the key just like the opener, I'd do one, then a student, and so on, but I could tell I was going to run out of time so I just did them all.

At the end of class I quickly told them their homework for the night (as always, posted to the class blog):

1. Check our online portal to see their grades on today's assessment. I broke the assessment down into the four skill areas (Adding & Subtracting Fractions, Multiplying & Dividing Fractions, Integer Operations, and Order of Operations), and they are responsible for getting help and then re-assessing on any one they scored less than a 4.5 on (on my 5-point scale).
   
   
2. While they're on the portal, they should look up their Google Apps account info. This just got turned on, so I gave them instructions for how to look it up, and then they need to login, get to their email, and reply with a "got it" to a message that's there waiting for them.

Overall, the day was okay, but not what I was hoping for. Hopefully tomorrow, when we actually get to do some mathematics, will be better.