Starting class positive


highfive

Every single day since the beginning of school I have stood at my door and high-fived every single learner who has walked into my room. No joke. If I miss one because I was talking to someone, I go back and find them. Well, all except for one learner who gave me a funny look and said “no”. She has told me “no” every day since the beginning of school. That is okay. She told me today there is a chance I might earn a high five from her; just a chance. That will be a good day when that happens. I am looking forward to it.

Why do I do it? Last year I did it for a week to one class. One day I didn’t. I heard from several learners that they felt I had let them down because I didn’t give them that five.

I really want to make my class special. They should NOT walk into my classroom like they walk into everyone else’s room. Coming into my room should be something special, something unique, and something to be looked forward to, not despite the fact it is math, but BECAUSE it is math. High fives are one way I can make that happen.

AP Stats

I was asked on the twitters what I do for warmups in Stats. I use the Barron’s MC AP Flashcards as my warmup. Everyday the learners come in and there is a question on the board. I use my Elmo to project it, all large and in charge, and they have to come up with a solution.

One idea I stress is that these ARE the MC questions review for the AP exam. From Day 2 of the year, we ARE prepping for the AP exam and they need to focus like a laser on these question. Every learner must commit to an answer, every learner must decide why it is that answer and be able to defend and convince. It has worked well for me. They take it seriously, we have discussions about strategy on questions they don’t know, and we construct knowledge using them. I am happy with that.

Algebra 2

We are doing parent functions right now. But not in any way most people do, I think. Every function we go through this page and answer all the questions, even the ones that have no answer.

functions the Word file is also available.

We are going through all the parent functions and detailing all the info. Then, after that, we will extend the understanding and go deeper with this document:

By the time they go through and can do all of this for every function on my wall, they are golden in almost all the algebra they need.

This connection between topics, is crucial, and I am excited to start doing some modeling with them. I will have the time because of the time I get back later.

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4 responses to “Starting class positive”

  1. I love the High Five idea. The introvert in me has a hard time being positive so quickly after each class, but it is something I want to be better at.

    For Stats warm-ups, do you plan out questions in advance? What mix do you use of “current” and review questions?

  2. Ok, here’s what I’m thinking of trying to flesh out: adding NAGS to the big info document
    Numerically—what does characteristics does a table that represents ____ have? (ex. constant rate of change, big growth, repetition of pattern)
    Algebraically…well, this is mostly covered in the function!
    Graphically…uh, this is also mostly covered
    Sentence (or verbally)…what are some key words to look for? (doubles, inverse, direct variation)
    Thoughts? I’m not sure if this is a good idea or not or if it is feasible to do with all of the functions, but I thought it might be a good resource for when they’re faced with a problem later on and have to decide what function to use.

  3. I generally pick them in the morning for the day in the early part of the year. I pick them to work on vocab and concepts that are teachable in 5 minutes or less. Later in the year I cycle back through and mix it up a bit more. Last year was very focused on current concepts, but this year I plan on cycling more.

  4. Meg,
    I like that and will work on incorporating that into the next version. I have 200 copies of this made right now, so I don’t want to make changes yet. Maybe…. I can add some description to the “deeper and further” document I use. I like that even better.

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