Linking Functions - Linear, Exponential, and Quadratic

Connecting the Dots!

We just returned from spring break Monday. And you can feel it in the air, it is the after spring break crunch.

The time when kids want to shut down and teachers are pushing even harder. The battle is on!

Scatter Plots

When my CBLs did not arrive like planned, I was scrambling to find a substitute. 

I stumbled upon a lesson (Scatter Plots from AGMath) that connects TI-83s, linear, exponential, quadratic, graphing, line of best fit, correlation coefficient, and writing an equation. (I added it to the Unit 10 Livebinder.)

Perfect!

Common Core?

My kids are taking two days to complete this lesson. It does not isolate ideas the way a textbook does. I love it and hate it to be honest. 

This is how the Common Core should look in my room. Real learning and using skills. They have to learn new concepts within old ones. 

The kids protest and I push on. Often bringing the kids back to a 30 second reminder or encouragement break. 

Don't quit!

It would have been easy to quit. It can be frustrating when the kids push back. But the reward would have been lost. The kids did get it. My room is buzzing. My part is done. There is peer tutoring, discovery, and fluency being achieved. 

I am a happy teacher today!

6 Things You Must Avoid to Enjoy Motivated Students

Motivation - The One Thing Students Must Have!

How often do we hear teachers say that the kids are not motivated. We teach, but they don't want to learn. 

Many teachers believe that motivation is intrinsic and that there is nothing we can do about that. But, I believe there are some things we can avoid that will help our kids stay motivated.  

Perfection 

Expecting yourself or your students to be perfect kills learning. Learn to forgive yourself and be patient with your students. This alone can bring back enthusiasm for not only your students but for your career!

Everyday Monotony

Having everything the same everyday. Same seats, same bellringer, same lecture, same problems (different page).... 

I noticed my second hour class was bored. It was two days before spring break and they were restless. I simply gave the instructions in the classroom and allowed them to sit in the hallway (I have very small windows in my room) near the sunshine. It rejuvenated them and me! 

Make them Guess

On the other hand having no structure and forcing kids to figure out what they are expected to do is exhausting. Finding balance is key. Good communication and an agenda on the board is very effective.

Sarcasm

Honestly, this is the hardest one for me, but I absolutely had to remove this from my room to be effective. It absolutely killed kids motivation to try.

Negativity

Don't allow it from yourself and don't allow it from your students. Done.

Meaningless Tasks

Give tasks that mean something to students. Balancing application and fluency can be hard at first. Before each lesson check to see that you have both. You will be amazed at how this can turn a kid around.

Helping At-Risk Students Succeed - Algebra Chat 4/2/13

It was great to connect with everyone tonight. Thanks so much for all the input and ideas!

If you get a chance you may want to look at the archive on the chat. There was so much to think about. Overwhelming in a good way!

While it is difficult to recap the whole thing, I do want to share with you some of the resources we discussed. 

• CAST - Transforming Education Through Universal Design for Learning
• Agile Mind - Tools to Support High Achievement
• Bootstrap - "Unlike most programming classes, Bootstrap uses algebra as the vehicle for creating images and animations." (Can't wait to look at this more.)
• Common Core Conversation - I used this interactive map to look up Marylands work on the Common Core. They are currently working on Algebra 1 Common Core/UDL Units. 
• YummyMath - Great lessons to motivate the unmotivated
• Robert Kaplinsky - Found this after the chat, but I could not resist adding it to the list for the same reason as above. Real world to motivate real kids! Love it.

Have a great week! 

I am off for the next couple of days to enjoy friends and family. I love spring break  but I can't believe it is this cold! We planned a camping trip. In Michigan. In April... 

Oh well, the suitcases have snow pants in them, but I am hopeful that we will all have a great time anyway. Nothing like a hike in the woods and a warm campfire to warm things up. Besides, smores taste good in any weather! 

Using Formative Assessments to Achieve the Common Core

On Tuesday I used the Comparing Investments lesson plan from the Mathematics Assessment Project.

It fit perfectly into my Unit 9 plan.

If you have never looked at their formative lesson plans, it is worth your time. The formative assessments are well thought out lessons that will help you assess where your students are at that moment. 

Using Formative Assessments

These lesson plans are meant to be used around the middle of a unit to assess and fix student misunderstanding before the unit assessment. 

This particular activity begins with a pre-assessment. The next day the kids come in and there is a group discussion before a card matching activity. Again, there will be a large group discussion. And finally an opportunity to change/fix their pre-assessment.

I found that my students were able to write the compound interest formulas just fine, but the simple interest formulas from first semester did not go so well. 

I found this extremely frustrating because the class discussion before the activity addressed this exact situation. The questions supplied by the website were well thought out and really helped my students understand. 

So why did they not remember or retain the information?

We will find out more tomorrow when we finish this lesson. Most groups did not get to glue the cards down. We will begin there and I will continue to ask questions. 

I'll keep you posted on the results.

I would love to hear about your use of formative assessments. Please add a comment below.

Resources for the Common Core via Algebra Chat 3/19/13

During Algebra Chat last evening we discussed resources that will help teachers implement the Common Core. It was great to see some familiar names and meet some new folks. Feel free to take a look at the discussion.

We had a great list of resources! Everything is free unless noted. These are listed in the order that they came up.

• Common Core Assessment Examples
• SAS Curriculum Pathways
• Carnegie Learning - FEE
• Algebra 4 All
• Teaching Channel
• cK-12
• braingenie cK-12
• Common Core Conversation
• Algebra Nation
• GeoGebra
• Khan Academy
• Whole Brain Teaching
• MangaHigh
• Learn Zillion
• MentorMob
• Virtual Nerd
• Mastery Connect

And I am sure that there are many more! 

By the end of our chat we were all a little overwhelmed, but it is nice to have a list to remind us to take a deeper look into the ones that would help our students. 

Please feel free to join us next Tuesday for Algebra Chat!

4 Steps to Create Math Performance Tasks with a Quick and Easy Template

Finding math performance tasks for your classroom can be difficult. 

And even when a performance task is found it does not match up with your needs.

One solution is to create your own. This template will save you time and effort.

Step 1: Get an Idea 

This may be the most difficult part of the task or the most fun. Depends on how you look at the situation. 

These questions will help you find your idea if you are stuck.

• What do you want students to be able to do? 
• What interests your students? 
• What skill do you need to see accomplished?
• Do your students find some types of tasks to be more meaningful?

For example, I noticed today that my students found the domino example for π day intriguing. In the middle of eating pie, they stopped to watch the video. My students were asking some very detailed questions about the dominoes; how many are there, how long did it take to set that up, how long did it take to fall down? 

If you are still stuck feel free to take a look at my list of sample assessments or view the performance task I created for F.BF.1 or Correlation vs. Causation. 

Step 2: Clarify the Performance Task

Within the template you will find prompts ensuring your task is complete. 

Choose a product for your students. Then move on to defining the purpose of the product. Define the audience for your students and create clear expectations.

Take a minute and check off the Mathematical Practices your task will include. 

Remember to think through the goals for your students. What do you want them to know?

Step 3: Prepare for Success

Prerequisite Skills

Being realistic about what your students know and need to know is essential. Listing out the skills needed and ensuring that they have been covered prior to the assessment is essential.

Too often, when teachers have not honestly taken a look at what is needed to complete the task, all of their hard work ends up down the sink. 

Do they need research skills, don't assume they can "Google it". Do they need to recall a skill from earlier grades, don't assume they will recall it. 

Taking an honest look ahead of time and ensuring the items have been taught or remediated will give you and your students the best chance for success.

Quality Questions

Think through your task. 

What questions will you ask students to assess their knowledge of the content?

What questions can you ask struggling students to help them find their way?

Having these questions ready ahead of time will ensure you get the information you need and move students along. 

Step 4: Assess your Task

Within the template there is a self-check list. Use it to assess your task. Reading through it may give you ideas on how you might extend a lesson or how it can be changed to make it even better. 

Remember, teaching is never done, it can always be better. Don't be so hard on yourself that you never finish.

For a list of tools for inserting math symbols into your tasks, reference this blog post. 

Please check out the free template. 

I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know if there is something I missed. I would love to get your input! 

Performance Task Template

Geometry Teachers is on the way!

You have been asking for Geometry Lesson plans and organization for the Common Core....

I am so excited to announce that the creation of GEOMETRY TEACHERS is in the process! The future URL: http://geometry-teachers.com. 

The process of analyzing the standards and breaking down the units into manageable pieces has begun and the first semester plan should be available within the next couple of weeks.

The geometry curriculum is very rich and the world applications make it so fun to teach! I am really looking forward to getting to the fun part of setting up the day to day process. 

If you have a great geometry lesson that you would like to see in the curriculum, please forward it to me at jeanette at algebra1teachers dot com. I love to use teacher created lessons!

Also, if you would like to receive notification of the progress of Geometry Teachers, please sign up for the Geometry newsletter. Keep in mind that I would never sell or share your name or e-mail. I hate spam too!

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