One of the many issues that we have today at THS is that students are not at their level for the classes that they signed up for. Sometimes the students are transferring from other districts with incomplete transcript and other times the counselors signed them up because it was the “only” class available in their schedule. Some of the classes that we offer at THS should be used as incentives for the students and not be able to get in because they have friends in that class like the engineering classes. I suggest a flow chart on what classes they should take and pass before moving on to another class. Some of the classes have a double arrow like Statistics because you can enter right after Algebra II and after the student can go back to take either Trigonometry or Pre-calculus.
Flow chart for THS
Author: Nunez
CK-12 Foundation
The website that I intend on using in my classroom is the site from Common Core conversation called CK-12. I already sign in to have access to all of their lesson and also to be able to upload items. When I was exploring the site I found out that they don’t have items in Geometry aligned with Washington, is probably because Washington do not have the CCSSM yet in their curriculum. But I was able to access a lot of item that I know I can use in my class. I also shared this site with one of the other teachers since he has more time to explore it so he can tell us the best way to use it. I also opened it in the iPad to see if it was compatible and it is, you can even download specific lessons and items so you can access them later without internet. Another great thing is that you can be signed up in different places and it would not affect anything.
“Free” apps for iPads
One of the ideas from the video with Monica Burns is the app Educreations. You can use it as a Smart board or just as a regular board. If I can use it as an incentive for the students to participate more in given answers and ideas. In Educreations you are able to insert pictures as well as record your sessions to show them later. The students can use them the same way when they work and groups and if they forgot what they were saying when working on a problem they can play the clip and listen to it. The best part is that it is FREE.
Using “free” online resources in a high school classroom
I am exploring the Khan Academy site to use in my classroom more actively. Up until now me and other teachers in our department have been using this site as a resource outside our classroom. I didn’t know how many resources Khan Academy had for teacher, students and parents. I already contacted one of my colleagues and explained some of the advantages of using this site. He agreed to explore it more on his own while he is doing summer school. We will meet at a later time to learn how to use the site to the advantage of our students. One of the agreements was to use it with our advisory classes as Khan Academy has resources for other subjects other than math. Here is the link to the site, is free and you can sign up with your facebook account or google mail. The other teacher and me agreed on telling the students to use their email accounts as social networks are blocked in our school. www.khanacademy.org
Learning Progression Geometry
Here is a link to my learning progression, as always is a work in progress. Learning Progression LNunez
Geometry assessment Coordinate proof quadrilaterals
Example problem benchmark
This learning progression would be best used if I included it in the units that we already have. It would not replace any of the other standards, it would just complement the unit. I already sent an email to the math department showing them the learning progression and is already on the agenda to discuss and change if necessary to fit our curriculum.
Technology in the classroom
The first thing about using technology in the classroom is that the teacher has to be familiar with the technology. The teacher has to learn how to use it before using it effectively in the classroom. One practical way to start is with the use of graphing calculators which are more common now in high school classrooms. By giving the students equations and then analyzing the graphs for example, we will be giving them a tool for more thinking not just a mechanical tool. Some classrooms are adopting the use of iPads in the classroom in which we can download a free app for a graphing calculator. I like to give my students equations and then ask them to make up problems that could go with the graph. I also like to show them all of the different tools in the graphing calculator for them to analyze the different parts of the graph.
Teacher involvement and collaboration
Math teachers at my school have a hard time finding the time to communicate with the other math teachers. I’m not talking about PLC’s or staff meetings; usually those meetings’ agendas are already full. I am talking about actual talking and discussing lessons, strategies, curriculum, etc. and how to implement it. Sometimes we have questions or ideas that we need to share with the other teachers, and if we don’t send it for the agenda for the next PLC’s there is no time to discuss it during the meeting. Usually we talk at lunch time because is the only time during the day when most of us are together. One of the problems is that we don’t share the same prep period because of conflicts with students’ schedules. There are some teachers who share their prep, but the rest have to resource to other ways to communicate and ask questions. We try to use the email as much as we can, but is not too practical for some of the ideas or questions that we have. For instance if I remembered that one of the Algebra teachers send something about a problem to use in a specific lesson, I have to search through all his emails not just the math emails. My idea is to create a wiki space just for the math department. We could share ideas, lessons, concerns and answer each other quicker than by waiting for your prep time and disrupt another teacher who is teaching at the time.
One of the issues with lack of time for communication is that we have to prepare the students so they can increase their performance in the Benchmarks, EOC, and be ready for college courses. When teachers need help on how to best instruct the students the best resources are other teachers. Collaboration between teachers is one of the answers to make student performance rise. Using the experts at hand within a school helps the students by helping the teachers be better prepared.
The math department at my high school already agreed on cooperating by writing lessons. For example for Algebra unit 1, I will have to write one lesson because there are about 6-7 lessons in each unit and there are 7 math teachers. The wiki space will be an answer on where to keep them and share them. Right now we try to share items by email or by placing them in the math folder in the server at school. This is convenient sometimes but not when I’m working at home preparing lessons and I want to access some of those items. We could also work on making problem solving items that we could have at hand to use in the lessons. By cooperating with each other we will increase the rigor and relevance of the lessons for every class.
I want to have the wiki space ready for the school year, but I do have question: what will be the best approach to the administrators so they will approve this idea?
Laura