Do the impossible
Posted in algebra 1, assessment, geometry on Nov 18th, 2009
If you are assigning scores to questions on a test, I used to make hard questions worth more points than easy questions, because I thought that they should carry a greater reward for correct answers. This caused problems because many students who had a decent level of understanding of material were not getting the questions [...]
Posted in Differentiation, algebra 1, geometry on Sep 20th, 2009
One of the things I’d like to do this year is engage more students at their level. Perhaps try to have more class time where there are multiple activities/groupings simultaneously. The main idea behind this is that my one class, one-idea, one-option norm is almost guaranteed to miss the sweet spot for low and high [...]
Posted in algebra 1, class design, geometry on Sep 8th, 2009
Unless student exploration and problem solving are the task at hand, give the kids access to correct answers for every activity they complete. I find that one of the biggest differences between the way that I complete problems and the way most of my students do is that I check the answer using the back [...]
Posted in algebra 1, geometry, pre-algebra on May 31st, 2009
As we finish off the year, in Pre-Algebra, I have students working on dimensions. Here’s a sheet I just finished to help them apply formulas for finding Area and Perimeter of 2-D shapes Volume and Surface Area of 3-D shapes
Posted in algebra 1, geometry, pre-algebra on May 21st, 2009
I ordered, on suggestion of a former teacher of mine, a set of books called The Art of Problem Solving which comes in the basic and advanced varieties. I’m planning on using them as supplements to class as well as required work for kids on the math team. Concise, full of examples, and easy to [...]
If I were to take notes, I mean, since I took notes this entire year on everything I would like to do differently next year. It will be hard easy to correct all my mistakes. This should be done over the summer, when there’s not so much going on every day, erg, I think I [...]
Posted in geometry on Mar 8th, 2009
I just lost a couple of hours to the law of cosines. It kicked my. So now, with my newfound knowledge I feel ready to have a go at class tomorrow. Thanks to the kind folks at the math forum I set it up with geogebra, schemed off about 5 pieces of scrap paper, and [...]
Posted in algebra 1, class design, geometry, technology on Feb 14th, 2009
I stayed home yesterday because of and woke up again today with a sore throat. So, being the fish that I am, I swam around on the internets for a while. I don’t remember how I stumbled on it, but I ended up at Kirby Urner‘s 4d solutions and read through quite a bit of [...]
Posted in algebra 1, geometry, pre-algebra on Jan 7th, 2009
I just finished a bunch of plans and worksheets. Sometimes when you feel out of it, getting a bunch of planning done makes me feel like I’m back on top of the game. Check out the new goodies in my box.net folders. and Hope you enjoy.
Posted in algebra 1, geometry, what can you do with this on Dec 16th, 2008
Dan has a great thing going with his What Can You Do With This posts. Here’s my first attempt at joining in. The motivation for this comes from an attempt at getting students to play with and by extension understand, or “have a feel for” the Standard Form of a linear equation (Ax + By [...]
I don't speak for my school district.
