Reflections of a High School Math Teacher

Use the Wireless Mouse from the BACK OF YOUR ROOM!

2012-01-11T15:16:00.000-06:00

I learned a tip yesterday that most certainly will help my students. It is that I should use a wireless mouse in class. Here is what I mean. You just have your mouse with you while you are in the back of the room and then when you need to do anything on your computer you can just scroll your mouse on any available surface. The mouse I have works from any location in my room. The mouse I have works from any location in my room. So while still in the back of the room you can scroll your mouse on a free desk or even your pant leg and it will work.

Here is how I see it best used.

1. Helping students without "rescuing" them.

Sometimes I have to go up to the SMART Board to actually help a student out of a jam. This will help me to be able to guide them out of that jam without too much interference by staying in the back of the room and guiding them with the mouse in my hand. I will only have to move my mouse wherever I'm at to help them. If I'm at a desk in the back of the room, I can just scroll the mouse on the desk, or you could just scroll the mouse on the side of your leg. It is a snap.

2. Giving the mouse to a student to work on a problem directly from their desk. There are times and occasions that I want a student to show how to do something. This will be an excellent opportunity to simply give the student the mouse and have them work out and explain to everyone what they are doing.

Besides a direct help to the students I can advance a slide from anywhere in the room or I can point to something at the board without having to be at the front of the room. What a beautiful thing!

My daughter gave me the Logitech M215 wireless mouse for Christmas. I think it costs about $30. Although I just searched and found it at TARGET for $15. Someone else told me that it was on Woot.com for $5 at one time. As you can see in the picture the USB insert is very small. I really like that. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Thanks goes out to my Naperville Central Colleagues Flint Collier and Dan Olandese for sharing this tip with me. I love it!

Best,
Dave

How do you see it helping you?

Find all the Conics that you can in this 1 minute Video

2011-12-09T14:41:00.001-06:00

Conics are EVERYWHERE. I just took a flip video and taped of a few clips of some conic sections around town and then put them in a 1 minute video. I asked the students to remember as many of the images that they could. They were to try to identify the shape (parabola, ellipse, hyperbola, or circle) and what the object was. It was very interesting to hear the discussion.

Some observations the students made.

The Taco-Bell clip looks like the bottom of the bell is an ellipse, whereas the top part looked like a parabola. There were some arches that looked like a semi-ellipse.
Someone pointed out the circle that is the steering wheel and the tires on cars.
The tower was a parabolic dish.
McDonald's had two parabolas.
The gas station had an elliptical sign.
There was a big argument about the wires on the sidewalk. The only thing it was not called was circular.
The stone arrangement looked like a semi-circle. Since the video is from an angle it almost looks like an semi-ellipse.
The bridge had some discussion as well between a hyperbola and a parabola.
The last clip was simply a nuclear plant shaped like a hyperbola.

Most of all, it created some great MATH discussions. Give it a try.
Dave

13 Reasons I'm THANKFUL for being a TEACHER!

2011-11-22T15:48:00.003-06:00

Here are some reasons why I'm THANKFUL for being a teacher!

1. Every Day is Different
Actually every class is different, every student is different, every parent is different... and so on. I love the fact that the activities are always varied, and thus always fresh.

2. I get to answer questions.
There is a certain amount of pride in answering questions. If students ask questions, I know that they want to know something more.

3. My Students.
I love the energy of young people. I thrive working with students and the fresh ideas they bring. Spending time with young people keeps me young.

4. I get to use new technology daily.
SMARTBoard, Flip Videos, Laptops, Tablet Laptops, Computer Lab, and of course MY CALCULATOR.

5. Problem Solving.
Teaching gives me a chance to problem solve on a daily basis. I find the challenges engaging. They give me a sense of accomplishment. How do students best learn? How can I make the material engaging?

6. My Colleagues
I love working with the people in my department and my school. They are so supportive and downright fun to be with.

7. Coaching
Coaching gives me a chance to work with my students in a different way. I love working with a team to try to accomplish something you can't alone.

8. Our new facility

Our school finished the renovation project this year. It is gorgeous. Check out my room in this video.

9. Math

I love math. I love numbers. I get to work with numbers everyday.

10. Stories

First of all, I get to tell my family stories about my adventures in teaching. Secondly, I realize that I need to find out each student's story.

11. Former Students

It is so rewarding to have former students stay in touch with me. I recently saw a former student of mine and she is currently a teacher herself. It was terrific to see her passion for her students and for her profession.

12. I get PAID for doing something I love!

13. I'm also very thankful for vacations. Thanksgiving, Holiday Break, Spring Break, and SUMMER!

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving,

Dave

Sum of Three

2011-11-06T17:31:00.000-06:00

I got this activity from my brother-in-law and really like it. It is called "Sum of Three".   In essence you have students in groups of three each doing a different problem. Then you have them add the answers together to be the sum of the three answers. They will bring this number up to you and ask if this is correct. If they are correct, then they get to move on to the next problem set. If they are incorrect, then they must decide how to go about getting the correct answer. This is the best part of the activity. When the students get the problem wrong, they automatically think it is somebody elses mistake. They then will systematically go through the process of how to do the problem with everyone. It is a great group activity. Here are my directions. I have given a couple examples as well.
1. Get your class into groups of three.   I always do this on a random basis. Let's say you had 26 people in your class. Take 26 kids divided by 3 and you get 8 full groups of three. Count students one, two, three, and so on till eight, then start back at one, two, three and keep doing this until you run out of people. In this case, you will have 6 groups that have 3 in it and 2 groups that have 4 in it. Now the ones get together and the twos get together and so on.
2. Hand out a problem set A in paper form to each group. This will have three problems in it. A1, A2, and A3. Each student will work on a different problem. The group will then add the sum of all three answers.
3. When a group thinks it has a sum, they bring up THEIR PAPER to show you their answer. Don't have the students SAY the sum. This might give it away for the other students. If they are correct, give them the problem set B in paper form. If they are incorrect, then they must go back and find out where they made a mistake.
4. I have my students do all their work on a separate piece of paper to be turned in. This creates a little accountability as well as a place for them to work.
5.  You will have to decide how many sets of problems you will want. I typically have 3 to 4 sets. I have the last set as extra difficult.

Here are a couple of examples of the "Sum of Three" activity.

This is a problem set for multiplying fractions in Intro to Algebra

This is the answer sheet that I use when the students come up to give me their SUM.

This is an Algebra "Sum of Three" problem set. I have the students add the y-intercepts of the line.

PDF of the FRACTIONS "SUM OF THREE" ACTIVITY

PDF of the EQUATION OF A LINE "SUM OF THREE" ACTIVITY

Awesome Color Graphing Calculator ONLINE

2011-11-02T19:41:00.000-05:00

Now I really like this one. I like it because it is very easy to use. It can graph my lines in color. It can graph an inequality. It is absolutely free. Just go to the site below and use away. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that a TI-84 would have. I think I like it for displaying multiple graphs at once. This makes it so much easier to see the different graphs. You can say "Where the green function and the red fucntion intersect". Let me know what you think.
Best,
Dave
http://my.hrw.com/math06_07/nsmedia/tools/Graph_Calculator/graphCalc.swf

Online Graphing Color Calculator Click Here

I AM A ...Stand Up, Auditory, Randomly Chosen Students Activity

2011-10-20T17:33:00.001-05:00

1. Have your students stand up.
2. Have 5 "I am a..." questions ready to ask. (I have given you a few examples below)
3. Tell the students that they are not to shout out answers for this activity. They should think of the answer and be ready to give it when called on.
4. Explain to your students that you will be calling students at random for the answer.  Also explain that they will be doing this completely by listening to the question. They will not be allowed to write out anything.
5. Give the question and then give the students some "think" time before you call on someone.
6. Call on someone to answer the question. Have them justify the answer.
7. Call a new person to verify or change the answer.   Do this until you get 2 people in a row to verify an answer.
8. Verify the answer yourself and then move to the next question.

It is a great lesson on LISTENING and MENTAL MATH. It only takes a couple of minutes and the students like it.   You get a high involvement rate because you are being called on at random. This is an activity that I do not assess. It is also a great review session that breaks up the regular day. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

All the Best,
Dave

See the examples below.

Intro to Algebra Area and Perimeter

Algebra

Intro to Algebra Fractions

Precalculus Polynomials

My 10 Tips for Math Class

2011-08-31T15:20:00.000-05:00

Mr. Sladkey’s top 10 tips for Math Class

1. Do the example problems from the book.

Most math text books have examples that are completely worked out with the solution given. Take a piece of paper and hide the textbook answer and work, but show the question. Redo the problem and then check your work with their work and solution.

2. Study for Tests and Quizzes.

It is easy to just do the review homework and feel like you are ready for the test. You need to do this and more. Study for the test or quiz by going back through problems that have been given and solved in class. Actually redo them and check your work. Studying for math is DOING the MATH.

3. Make sure your homework is correct.

Check your answers with those that are in the back of the book while you are doing your assignment.

4. Do math EVERYDAY.

Do your homework every day. Try not to skip any days of homework. If you are cramming all your work into a short single session you will find this usually ends up in frustration as well as poor long term memory with the topic.

5. Attempt the most difficult questions.

The most difficult questions will usually teach you the most about the material. Never skip them. Try to get the most exposure to these problems as you can. Try to solve them on your own. Revisit them. Go in for help. Ask a question on the problems in class.

6. Take a break.

Give yourself a break when working with math. If you are being efficient, then three fifteen minute sessions in a day are better than one 45 minute session. Stand up. Stretch. Go for a walk. Move your work to a new place. A break is needed when working with math.

7. Have a good attitude.

Never think “I’m terrible at math”. You usually meet your own expectations. Believe that you can do it!

8. Go in for help with your teacher and bring a specific question.

When you bring in a specific question to your math teacher they can help you with where you are struggling. The teacher then can typically give you more examples that are similar to what you are struggling with.

9. 5 minutes.

Once your homework is done, then take an extra 5 minutes to look at these possible things: vocabulary, formulas, notes, projects, and book examples.

10. Go to http://www.khanacademy.org/

This is a collection of free video tutorials involving almost any math topic that you could think of. This is by far the most useful website that I have ever recommended for a math class.

What are your thoughts on these? Would you add to them? Would you take any away?
I have posted these in a word document if you would like to modify these in any way. Feel free.

.

Minute to Win it Circuits.....Move and Learn

2011-08-24T20:55:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I made a math problem so that it took up one whole page of typing paper. I cut it up into 6 equal pieces that were approximately 3 by 3 inches. I put it a random order and put a paper clip on it. I did this for 5 problems in all and 2 sets of each for a total of 10 questions. I have 20 students in my class. So I had my students work in pairs. It is real easy to cut these problems up with a paper cutter. See the above cut out lines that I took with the problem.

Then I put the 5 stations with 2 sets of the same problem around the room. Four people, or two pairs of partners would be at each station. I would then have them start on the problem and set the timer for ONE MINUTE. The partners together would have to unscramble the pieces and then solve the problem. They would write their answer down on their paper. Once they were done, they could check the answer that is provided at each station. After the minute was over and students had checked their answers, I told them to rotate. They went to the next station and we did the process all over again.

I was happy with the outcome because they seemed to enjoy trying to figure out the puzzle and do the math. It also helps the students to MOVE and LEARN. They are moving after each problem.

You take the Left side and I'll take the Right side

2011-03-20T18:10:00.011-05:00

As a math teacher, I give a lot of problems to my students that are equations. This provides a great opportunity for students to work together to solve a problem. Put one student on the left side of the problem and another student on the right side of the problem. Then they can only do things on their "side" of the problem. It was amazing. Basically, it forced my students to work in tandem and at the same speed. Even better was the fact that they had to talk the math out. So one person added something to her side of the equation. That meant that their partner had to add something to their side as well. They would each discuss what had to be done next. If one student tried to do something to one side, the other person would not do anything to their side until things were explained. It was a magical moment. So here is how I designed it.

I did a podcast on this very topic at www.teachingwithsmartboard.com . Check out Podcast #81.

We were doing 2 step equations in Introduction to Algebra

1. Have the students working in pairs. Have them move their desks next to each other.

2. Have one sheet of paper per pair of students.

3. Tell the student in the left desk that they are only allowed to write on the left side of the equation. Also, the person in the right desk are only allowed to write on the right side of the equation.

4. Give a question to your students that is an equation.

5. Watch your students work together to solve the problem.

6. Monitor your students to see when they might be getting done.

7. Pick a student at random to come to the board with their partner and explain the problem. The pair should bring up the paper they were working on to guide them.

8. The pair should "JUSTIFY" what they do. I like to have both students alternate talking.

9. Enjoy having your students engaged!

Using the Dual Touch SMARTBoard in Class

2011-03-09T14:51:00.015-06:00

Have you seen the new game called "Minute to Win It"? It is a great game. In the show there is something called the "Breakfast Scramble" where a cereal box is cut up in to 20 rectangular equal size pieces. Then they have two people working together to put the pieces back together again. Of course they have to do it in a Minute. Here is a video of the rules. While I was watching the show I thought of using my new DUAL TOUCH 800 Series SMARTBOARD. Perfect for our DUAL TOUCH SMARTBoard! Here is what I did in class. 1. I found a picture that would be easy to put back together. 2. Then I cut the problem up into 12 square pieces. (I used the screen capture tool by placing a light gray dotted grid over the picture) We did a podcast on this very topic with instructions. All you have to do is go to podcast number 81 at http://www.teachingwithsmartboard.com/ 3. I deleted the picture and scattered the 12 pieces around the page. 4. I put a timer in the corner. (optional) 5. Now I chose two students to come up to the board and UN-SCRAMBLE the picture. This was really engaging and it was fun to see people working together. Here are my students working on the new DUAL TOUCH 800 Series SMARTBoard. Today I made a problem in my Introduction to Algebra class and then cut it up into 12 pieces. I asked two students to come up and put the problem together and then solve it. The rest of the class has to wait until the problem is revealed before they could start on the rest of the problem. Check out the video below. It turned out to be a very engaging activity. I'm excited to learn more tricks with the board. This is my third day with the new board. I anticipate a lot of new FUN. Do you have a 800 Series SMARTBoard? Let me know. How are you using the dual touch feature? All the Best, Dave

Using Pipe Cleaners for Transformations of Graphs in High School Math Class

2011-02-17T14:13:00.010-06:00

I keep trying to find activities for my kinesthetic learners. This activity helped students to actually "DO" the math. There were some definite ahah moments for some of my students. I took out some pipe cleaners and handed them out to my pre-calculus class. Pipe cleaners are great for teaching transformations of graphs. Students had to physically move the graph up, down, left or right. We predicted shifts and we found multiple answers to graphs. See below.

1. Either have your student make their own scale on a piece of paper or hand out a scale for your students.
2. With the paper scale in hand, ask them to make a certain graph. I asked my students to make a y = sin x graph. They proceeded to bend the pipe cleaner into a sign wave. The graph could be a parabola, or cubic or even a line.
3. Then I asked them to shift the graph up. Explain what the new equation would be.
For my class I then had them shift the graph to the left until it turned out to be the same graph as the original. They shifted it over one period. we found our new equation to be y = sin(x-2π)
4. Have them shift it left or right and predict the new equation
5. Have them move the pipe cleaner into a certain location and then ask for an equation.

6. Ask them to reflect the pipe cleaner over an axis or the origin.

Here are some of the things we graphed and explored in my pre-calculus class.

Find 5 other graphs that are equivalent to y = sin(x+2π)including at least 1 cosine graph.
Find 3 other graphs including at least 2 sine graphs equivalent to y = cos(x)

Graph y = cos(x-π)+1
Graph y = -sin(x+2π)

Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

All the Best,

Dave

Kinesthetic Right Triangle Trig with the Flip Video

2011-01-19T07:52:00.013-06:00

I tried to reach my kinesthetic learners with this activity. Basically, the students are laying down on the floor and making right triangles. Then there is some right triangle trigonometry going on. I think it reinforced the SOHCAHTOA concept in a new way.

Here are my instructions:

1. Your group of four will make a single video of some Trig problems.
2. Each person will take a turn taking the video. (with a FLIP Video Camera)
3. The other three people will form a right triangle on the floor by laying down. Make sure you make a CLEAR right angle. When you are laying down, make sure you are in a head to feet order.
4. The person running the flip video will explain where the right angle is, and then call out a trig function and an angle like SIN of ALEX.
Once the trig function is named, the person who is the Opposite side will wave and say "opposite". Then the person who is the hypotenuse will wave and say "hypotenuse".
5. Change the person who is taking the video and form another triangle with the remaining people.
6. Repeat the process for each person who is using the flip.

We watched some of the videos after they finished. I think this just further reinforced the concept. You will get the idea with the video below. This is just a clip of a 2 minute video.

What are the 13 vitures of a TEACHER?

2011-01-01T11:25:00.018-06:00

What do you think should be in the list of the 13 most important Virtues for TEACHERS? It was extremely difficult for me to choose only 13. I'm sure that yours would differ. It is a good exercise for all teachers. Try it yourself and leave your 13 virtues in a comment to this post.
I got the idea from Ben Franklin, who came up with 13 Virtues that we all should live by. They are at the bottom of the post.

Dave's 13 Virtues of a TEACHER
1. Adaptable
2. Collaboration
3. Communication
4. Discipline
5. Empathy
6. Explanation
7. Helpful
8. Humor
9. Integrity
10. Knowledge
11. Patience
12. Organization
13. Respectful

Here are some words that were close but didn't make my list.
Attitude, Caring, Compassion, Consistency, Determination, Dignity, Facilitate, Fairness, Forgiveness, Hopeful, Humility, Instruction, Intelligence, Passionate, Professionalism, Organization, Questioning, and Trust.

Ben Franklin's 13 Virtues
1.Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
2.Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
3.Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
4.Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
5.Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
6.Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
7.Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
8.Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
9.Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
10.Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
11.Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
12.Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13.Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Using Flip Videos in High School Math Class

2010-12-15T11:22:00.010-06:00

Why don't you try to have your students use flip videos to videotape each other doing math problems and then post them on your website or view them in class? It is a great way to have students really know their problem. This is an assignment that I have not graded. The students want to do well for their classmates. They don't want to steer their classmates in the wrong direction. Here are my 3 reasons why FLIPS work in the class.

1. Accountability to know the material

2. Fun for Students.

3. Depth of Understanding with the Topic

I have posted before on the use of Flip Videos in the classroom. Click here to go to that post. Now I have some solid rules for the use of Flip Videos in the class.

FLIP VIDEO STUFF

Directions

· Each pair of students will be given a problem.

· Figure out the solution to the problem on paper and check to make sure it is correct. Check your solution with the answer key.

· Plan out a 2 minute or less presentation. See Presentation below.

· Write out the section/problem number(s) on your whiteboard or desk.

· Write out the question with any key information on your whiteboard or desk.

· Write out part of the problem’s solution on your whiteboard or desk.

· Remember each person will do some explaining in the video.

· Make sure that your writing is big enough to see through the video.

· Get a “FLIP” and read the instructions about “The FLIP”. See below.

· Once you are finished with your presentation, return the “FLIP” and begin working on the rest of the homework assignment. Make sure you put a note-card with your names and section/problem into the black bag of the FLIP.

Presentation: 2 minutes or less (redo your video if it is over 2 minutes)

1. Introduce yourselves: first names only.

2. Read the section/problem number(s) from the writing on your whiteboard or desk.

3. Read the question and any key information from the writing on your whiteboard or desk.

4. Explain the solution that you have written out on your whiteboard or desk so far.

5. Finish the problem by actually writing in front of the “flip” while explaining the solution.

6. Thank the audience for their time and to have a good day.

The FLIP

· Put a note-card or piece of paper with all the people who contributed to this video as well as the section/problem that was done in the bag of the FLIP.

· Delete all videos on your flip except your finished version including any previous videos.

· Do not video tape your partners face. These videos will not be posted.

· Do a practice video with your partner to start. Each of you should take turns holding and filming with the “flip”. Delete this video.

· The camera will not be able to pick up the calculator screen so any graphs will need to be written out on your whiteboard or desk.

· Here is an example of a “FLIP” video.

http://tiny.cc/theflip

Click here to get the document in WORD from my google doc's file.

Here is the structure of this activity

1. Give out 6-8 questions that are in the medium to difficult range that will be due the next day.

2. Assign a problem to each pair of students. Have them work out the problem before you hand out the Flip Video camera. Make sure they check their answers with some type of key before moving on to the videotaping step.

3. Each student will need to write out the question on a large piece of paper, a personal whiteboard or in our case, on their desk with a whiteboard marker. Have the students start solving the problem, but not completely finish it. This will be done while they are videotaping the explanation.

4. Give out the Flips and make sure the students know the rules like only 2 minutes, start with introductions, no faces, both people must talk, and so on.

5. Give them time to work.

6. When the videos come back just load them onto your computer. This is pretty easy with the flip video software.

7. The students will need to work on the other problems from the original problem set. If you are going to post the videos, they will be able to see them that night online. I use http://www.youtube.com/ to upload my videos. It is easy and free.

I have a couple of videos for you to see the students working in action.

All the best,

Dave

Classroom Timer

2010-11-23T11:27:00.005-06:00

I found a great timer to use in your class. You must use it online. It is almost full screen. It can be adjusted to count up or down. You can change the end noise to be different sounds. You can adjust the size and color as well. It is perfect for any standardized testing situation. I think it is perfect for a class to use in group work time.

ONLINE TIMER

Video Clip Ordering with SMARTBoard

2010-10-26T18:13:00.007-05:00

Here is an idea for you. In SMARTBoard these shapes have links to video clips. The idea is to order the video clips into the correct sequence. The video clips are steps to subtracting two mixed fractions together. Now you will want your class to order them. Here is how you can do that. Have pairs of students come up to the smartboard and click on a shape. Once they have watched the video clip the pair, as well as the rest of the class will discuss with each other where that video clip belongs in the sequence of the others. Maybe they will put it in the second place slot. Have them justify why they put it there. Have another pair of students come up and click on a different shape. They will watch the video clip. They then discuss with each other, as the rest of the class is discussing, where that clip belongs. This happens for as many steps or video clips you have. I think this really teaches a good example of how to do the problem, but more important it cements the order in which it is done. I have put the four videos that I made for this example in this post. I have also given instructions on how to do this with SMARTBoard Notebook software in a video below.
Enjoy

A Smartboard Notebook "How To" Book Now Available

2010-06-21T09:02:00.005-05:00

Easy Smartboard Teaching Templates
The book is finally here. "Easy Smartboard Teaching Templates" is a book full of great ideas for helping you make lessons for your Smartboard. It is a 'HOW TO' book of using SMARTBOARD notebook software. It is an excellent resource for beginners to advanced users. The book explains in great detail how to make and use any of the 25 teaching templates that we have covered in the Podcasts. It is full of color cardstock pages. It is spiral bound with laminated front and back cover. This is a great resource for people to have something in their hand to explore as opposed to just looking at instructions on the screen. The book is written by Scott Miller and David Sladkey who host the Teaching with Smartboard Podcast. For more information click here. To see some sample pages please click here. The cost of the book is $16.95 plus shipping.

Click Here to goto Teaching with Smartboard to purchase the book.

Battleship for Introduction to Algebra Students

2010-03-19T15:21:00.004-05:00

http://www.teachforever.com/2008/11/coordinate-plane-battleship-game-2008.html

I got this idea from Tom DeRosa and his blog http://www.teachforever.com/ I have modified his original document to work for my needs.

All the students will place their 3 boats on their grid covering the correct number of points.
The teacher will shoot random shot to all students in the class. Everyone will write this down on their paper. Students will put a O for a miss and an X for a hit.
The teacher will then call on a student to fire at back. Everyone will write down this coordinate on their paper. The teacher on the Smartboard will write a O for a miss and X for a hit.

This will go back and forth until someone wins. Usually the students will win since the teacher is randomly firing.

Tom DeRosa suggests having the student explain where the point is when giving it to the rest of the class. Such as "its in the first quadrant." It is on the y-axis. Or things like this.

I've attached the lesson that I have revised from Tom DeRosa .

By the way, I have included sounds in the smartboard lesson to add the fun of BATTLESHIP.

Give it a try.

Word Document Battleship Worksheet

Smartboard Notebook Document

PDF of Smartboard Notebook Document

Clicker Circuits

2010-03-18T14:17:00.005-05:00

My colleague Tony Schlorff made a lesson for our Introduction to Algebra Team. It was a Smart Response 10 question review. I used it the other day and it worked great. He has the questions set up all over the room. They are numbered. The students each take a clicker and log in with their ID. They then can walk around to any problem they choose. They then put their answer at the appropriate number on in the clicker. They then answer all 10 questions. They are constantly MOVING around the room to go to each question. Once they get all 10 questions, they submit their answers. They will then get a chance to see which problems are correct and which are not. Most importantly, I get a can get a printout of the types of questions that were most missed. I also get a idea from tagging my objectives which objective was most missed. I know now which problems I need to work on for the next review.

If you haven't used the CLICKER system, you should try it. It is a great way to get instant feedback on my students learning.

Another thing that I can do is identify my students in thirds for the next review. This little review sets up well for differentiated learning groups for the next day.

If you are interested in looking at the smartboard notebook document click here.

If you would like to see the document as a PDF click here.

The Cube A Differentiated Instruction Lesson

2009-12-11T22:26:00.008-06:00

In my Introduction to Algebra Class we did a lesson covering the area of a triangle, rectangle, and a parallelogram. We used a differentiated lesson idea of making a cube. The students wrote questions on 5 sides of the cube and then their answers on the 6th side of the cube. On the five sides students had a choice of what types of question s to put on it. They could choose easy, medium or difficult questions. The students would then use scissors to cut out and tape together their cube. Once the students were done with making the cube, they found another student to roll the cube with. They would then they would do the problem and then check with the answer side of the cube. It turned out to be a great activity of choosing problems and checking their answers. I have attached a link to the the activity that I did.

The activity

http://www.box.net/shared/otnppdx8x3

A PDF Cube

http://www.box.net/shared/ie9c57l7mn

So Many Flags on this Veterans Day

2009-11-11T17:12:00.009-06:00

The note read "I miss you Dad". It was a note that a son had written to honor his Dad at the Naperville 2009 Flag Memorial. The memorial has 2009 flags set up in a park in Naperville. It is amazing. It really struck me that this man gave his life for his nation. His son knows the meaning of that full well.
I took a 1 minute video of all the flags today. Hopefully you will just get a glimpse of it's power. It has made me reflect on this Veterans Day that so many people have died for my freedom. We are certainly blessed. I think it is worth while to discuss the importance of honoring our veterans this week with our students.

Changing Seats and Interview Questions

2009-10-30T16:45:00.004-05:00

I have my students change seats every chapter. I often have my students work in pairs throughout the class. So this change of seats is really a change of class partners. This change of seats and change of partners typically occurs on the first day after a test. We change seats and then I have the new partners interview each other. I just make up random questions for the students to ask each other. After they interview each other, I pick students at random to and ask them to introduce their partner, and then answer one of the questions from the interview. It does take a little time out of my class, however, I believe it is well worth while to create this type of community team spirit.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS and Changing Seats Directions (I give my students these)
We will change seats every chapter.
The purpose of Interview Questions is to get you to know your partner a little bit before you work with them on Math.
You do not need to write them out. However, you might be asked to share part of your interview with the rest of the class.
Students will be picked at random to share their interview with the rest of the class. Remember, to introduce your partner first, and then answer the question that we are on.

Interview Questions
1. What is your name?
2. What are your activities and interests?
3. What extreme sport or activity are you most afraid of? (like 1/2 pipe snowboarding) Why?
4. What former president (living or not) would you like to have a conversation with?
5. Rank the following restaurants from best to worst: Outback, On the Border, Mongolian BBQ and Maggiano's.
6. What insect do you like the most, and hate the most? Why?
7. Without giving a name of a person, give a few positive traits that you admire in someone.
8. Tell about your pets and their names.

Using Flip Videos to help students teach students

2009-10-03T21:58:00.006-05:00

We used the class set of Flip Videos last week. It worked out well. The students worked in pairs and solved a word problem from the section we were on. It was actually a homework problem. We have desks that can be written on. So the pair of students wrote some key information about the problem on the desks with their whiteboard makers. Then, they each explained how to do part of the problem. They watched what they did and if it wasn't good, they redid the problem. If they liked what they did, they gave me back the Flip Video and I downloaded the video to my computer. I then put the videos on YouTube and linked them to my site. Students then could watch the different problems from home with the added benefit of stopping and rewinding the video if they needed to.
The rules were simple. 1. Make sure your problem is correct before you explain it. 2. All people in the group must take a turn in explaining how to do the problem. 3. It must be 3 minutes or less in length. 4. You must do the video in one take, so plan out what you want to say. 5. Lastly, have fun.
See the video for an example.

Here is the link to other Flip Video Problems

http://dsladkey.googlepages.com/flipvideos

How have you used Flip Video's in your class?

Differentiated Instruction Site

2009-09-09T12:02:00.005-05:00

http://www.noycefdn.org/pom.php

This site is a great example of differentiated learning. It catches the student where they feel most comfortable starting. The site gives a math problem and then develops the problem into different stages A, B, C, D, and so on. I got this from my twitter friend johntaig.

This site has caused me to think about the way I present problems. I'm wondering if I should have a extention whenever I give a problem. For instance, if I give a problem to the class, I should consider posing a thought provoking question at the bottom of my queston to extend their thinking. Wouldn't this be great for that student who is always done early to chew on something that is a little more difficult, yet helps promote understanding?

See the example below

What do you think?
Dave

Email Your Students Day 1

2009-09-05T08:56:00.005-05:00

Welcome back to a new school year! Homework Assignment Number 1 was to have my students email me a few things about themselves. First, they had to write their name and class in the subject line. Second, they wrote some activities or interests that they have. Thirdly, they had to go to my website and find a quote that was posted there and explain it's meaning. Not a huge deal for the students, and a great amount of information for me. First of all, they realize day 1 that they can email me to get some information. I think this is a great thing. Secondly, I have found out some information about them that really helps me to get to know them. They feel a little more comfortable sharing about themselves in an email compared to talking in class or writing in class. Right after the emails started coming in, I really felt as if I knew them better. Lastly, I made a distribution list of the whole class off of these emails so that I can send information out to them when I need to. I did answer each email. I commented on things that they wrote. It took a little time, however, I really enjoyed it. By the way, my quote was this: “Attitude is the mind's paintbrush. Create a masterpiece.” Author Unknown

Uno Stacko Final Exam Review

2009-05-23T15:02:00.003-05:00

My brother in law gave me this idea. It is a uno-stacko review game. Uno-stacko is like Jenga. Here are the rules
1. Groups of 4.
2. Give a problem to the class.
3. Give time for them to solve the problem.
4. Call on someone at random.
5. If they talk you through the problem correctly, they pick two tiles.
If they don't get you through correctly, they pick four tiles.
6. If the tower falls when you are working on it, EVERYONE in the class gets extra credit, EXCEPT that persons GROUP of FOUR.
7. The students really get into it.
8. And yes, I have had students that want to knock it over and give the rest of the class extra credit. It never has happened yet.

Give it a try. Here is the video for it.

Pop Goes the Weasel and the Quadratic Formula

2009-05-15T14:51:00.003-05:00

I thought I would show a video of a couple of students singing the quadratic formula to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel. The students really like this. Give it a try.

Inside or Outside the District?

2009-04-12T20:40:00.005-05:00

Ben Grey has a great blog post that has prompted me to think about the question of housing our student and teacher work in or out of district. http://bengrey.com/blog/2009/04/technology-guidelines/ Thanks for the great post Ben.

Should we keep our students' work and our teachers' work within district? Why or Why Not. Is their a compromise on this issue?

My thoughts keep waffling on safety and collaboration. What do you think?

Finding the Regression Curve of a Sin Graph in Precalculus Class

2009-04-07T18:27:00.005-05:00

Wow. Today I approached Precalculus class a little different than last year. I asked my students to work in groups and guess the average high temperature in Naperville for the month of January. Then I gave them the answer which happened to be 32 degrees F. Then I asked them to find the average of all the months of the year. When they had finished this they graphed it with the month being the x-axis and the temperature being the y-axis. Then, in their groups I asked them to make as many observations about the graph as they could. We spent about 5 minutes going over many ideas such as there is a max point, and it is periodic, and then someone said it. They said it looks like a sin graph! Awesome! This made my day.
Then I had them draw in the midline and tell where exactly it hit the y axis and it's meaning to the problem. Quickly the students found that this was the average high temperature for the year.
We covered other things like the midline and the amplitude and the phase shift. The period seemed boring to them, but was an important fact.
Then, we looked the actual graph that www.weather.com has on it. We went to the site and typed in our zip code 60565. Then we scrolled down to find AVERAGES . This gave this terrific graph.
Then I asked them to predict what the graph would look like from Honalulu HI. They used all kinds of precalculus vocabulary with each other and described how it would be different.
We looked up other cities like Barrow AK, and Death Valley CA. We also looked up Sydney Austrailia and found that the graph was shifted over significantly.
This lesson was different than last year because they were very interested in their own predictions. I think they were much more engaged.
Thanks to my colleague Kevin Bell for introducing me to the www.weather.com site.

Reaching for a Star

2009-03-31T08:39:00.006-05:00

My father-in-law gave me this awesome quote and I thought I'd share it.

I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are;
because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star.
I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far;
for a might have-been has never been,
but a has-been was once an are.
Milton Berle

I'm going to give this quote to my students when I get back from spring break.

Free Virtual Calculator

2009-03-25T09:11:00.011-05:00

PLEASE NOTE: THE CREATORS OF THIS SOFTWARE ASKED THAT ONLY OWNERS OF TI 83'S AND 84'S USE THIS PROGRAM. (I ACTUALLY THINK THE MORE THIS PROGRAM IS DISTRIBUTED, THE MORE BUSINESS TI WILL MAKE) THE LINK BELOW IS NOT MY WEBSITE.

http://www.cecisafadi.com/virtualti/ti83.htm

Do you have a virtual calculator on your computer? It is easy to download. Follow the instructions on the website and you will have yourself a TI 83 on your computer and for the data projector in a snap. The best part of this is if you have a IWB, then you can have a student model the keystrokes that you should use when using the calculator. If you are not too techie, then ask someone who can help you to take these steps. It will not take too long. With a restart about 10 minutes.

Here is what I did to get the calculator on my laptop:
1. Make a folder called "Virtual TI83" in the Programs folder
2. Click the "vti.zip" file and all of the files should show (if you don't have a zip program, there is one at the bottom of the website "unzip32-312.exe" that you can install to be able to unzip the files)
3. Put the unzipped files into the folder "Virtual TI83" from step 1.
4. Download "ti83 Plus v1.03.rom" to the folder "Virtual TI83" from step 1.
5. Go to the folder "Virtual TI83" and click on the "vti.exe" file to start the program. It will ask you to set the ROM calculator version and then you will be ready to go.
6. When using the calculator and you would like to turn it off, right click while you are pointed on the calculator, and click on Exit without saving state or Exit and save state.
7. Now make a shortcut for your desktop. I do this by right clicking on the "vit.exe" file and sending it to make a shortcut on the desktop.

The Human Ambigous Case

2009-03-23T20:54:00.004-05:00

Today was something new for me. I put a masking tape angle on the floor. It was an acute angle. Then I had a tall person and a short person volunteer for the activity.
I had the tall person on the ground in line with the acute angle already on the floor. I had the short person forming a triangle with the tall person and the tape on the ground. It was quite a site. The students were really interested in what was happening. Keeping the same vertex, I asked the students to make another triangle if possible. The students found it quickly. I had a third student put masking tape on the triangle positions that were formed. I had the students talk with their partner and write down any observations they had about the resulting figure. We had a rich discussion sharing out their ideas.
Then I formed groups of three with the class. One of the three was to cut out a longer strip of paper, another was to cut out a short strip of paper, and the third was to cut out an acute angle. The were to physically make the SSA example with their paper Side, Side and Angle. All groups worked well with this and some interesting results occurred. The usual two case scenerio occurred. One group found that theirs did not reach. Another group found that theirs only formed one triangle. Each group of three drew their results on the board.
It gave me a way to describe something mathematical in an easy way. I used language like Side (Anthony) Side (Michelle) and Angle (Acute). After I felt like the students were much more engaged in the process. It took most of the period to do it. We did one problem at the end of the class and that problem went extremely well. I think that moving while learning is important for the brain to remember what is happening.

Pythagorean Theorem using an IWB

2009-02-21T07:53:00.003-06:00

First, this activity will take about 20 minutes.
Show the students the problem and make sure they know what is being asked. Don't give any clues as to how to solve it. Have them work in pairs to come up with a plan to solve it.
After about 3-5 minutes pick a pair at random to explain their plan. A class discussion will take place on the plan. Then that pair will start executing the plan and all in the class will do the math for that plan. Plans have differed from class to class. But, they will definitely need to use the Pythagorean Theorem to get the answer.

The students solution: Usually it will be to measure two sides with the ruler, and then find the third side using the Pythagorean Theorem. They now have the 3 sides in centimeters. Then they measure the key in centimeters. They sometimes use a proportion to convert the centimeters to miles.

It is great fun to watch the student trying to use the ruler on the IWB to measure. The students are using collaboration, problem solving, and math skills with this activity.
Hope you can try something like this in your class,
Dave

Pumping up the Brain Video

2009-02-14T15:33:00.002-06:00

CBS's Debbie Turner Bell came out to our school in December and she made a very nice 3 minute story called "Pumping up the Brain" It aired nationally in January. Debbie and her crew made us all feel very comfortable. Hope you enjoy it.
Dave

CBS Early Show Link Video

CBS Early Show Written Story

Fill in the Missing Pieces

2009-02-12T18:03:00.006-06:00

My colleague coined it scaffolding for our students. He is right. We need to build some structure help to our weaker students. Here is what I did. Instead of just solving an equation, I solved the equation myself and then took out key parts. I made labeled these "blanks" with letters so that the students could communicate with each other which "blank" they were referring to. The students then were given time to work this out with their partner. Then I randomly picked a student to go up to the board and fill in a missing spot. Interestingly the student who started picked the middle to start with. See video. Students came up one by one until they hardest spot was left. All of the explanations were very good. Things like, "you have to add it to both sides" came out. I like when that happens. I'm trying to build a little challenge for my stronger students as well as a little guided help for my weaker students.

The second video looks at a different class in a pre-calculus example. This uses the same idea as above, except it has some diagrams involved.

What do you think?

Remember to Take Time to Enjoy Teaching,

Dave

My Dream Classroom Design

2009-01-28T14:37:00.004-06:00

Our school is undergoing some renovation. Every room will be changed. We are trying to design the ultimate classroom. Will you help? I have put down a few of my ideas on the Voice Thread. I would love to hear your ideas on this. You can comment on Voice Thread by typing in a comment, or using a microphone and verbally giving your comment, or you could even phone in your comment. Just click on the comment button (on the Voice Thread above) and join in. If you want to hear or see other peoples comments just click on their image.
Hope to hear from you,
Dave

www.voicethread.com

Front of the Class A book by Brad Cohen

2009-01-20T20:01:00.004-06:00

I am amazed at how Brad Cohen overcame his Tourette Syndrome and became a wonderful teacher. Tourette Syndrome is a neurological condition that is exhibited through twitches, yelps, verbal outbursts, and more. The problem is that with TS you have no control over these behaviors. It is like blinking for most of us.
Brad's main theme in the book is that he would educate people about TS and they would generally accept it. He would honestly explain his condition to any audience that would listen. Most importantly he would educate his students. His students would then in turn ask questions which Brad answered frankly. As kids are, they accepted Mr. Cohen quickly. It is really a great story of how positive attitude and fortitude will get you to realize your dreams. In this case Brad's dream was being a teacher.
Brad's story reminds me as a teacher how I treat all my students. It makes me think of how sometimes I assume that students have complete control of themselves at all times. I always need to investigate before I make assumptions. It has been a great lesson for me.
Thanks Brad for your inspiring story. I hope you get a chance to read it.
Here is Brad's Website http://www.classperformance.com/

Move and Learn

2008-11-21T20:12:00.005-06:00

A colleague told me about an activity that she had done with her Intro to Algebra Students. She gave them each a card with a fraction on it. She then told them not to talk. They had to order themselves from least to greatest. They could write anything down that they wanted to.
I thought it was an awesome idea. I incorporated it the next day.
The first round I gave them numbers from -12/12, -11/12, -10/12, ...0 ... 10/12, 11/12, 12/12
They did this with only a couple of mistakes in about 4 minutes. I then made cards of the same exact numbers except all were reduced. -1, -11/12, -5/6, -3/4 ... and so on. The second round proved to be a little more difficult than the first round. However, there was a lot of computations going on. There was a lot of movement going on. And furthermore, after they set themselves in order, we checked to see that the order was correct.
And yes, there was some off task behavior when the students were lining up. However, I think they gained a better understanding of what a fraction is and where it belongs than if they had been sitting in their seats watching a fraction lesson.
Extend the Idea:
Give each person in the class an integer on a card. Then I will ask them to pair up with someone else and add their integers. Now ask the class to line up from least to greatest in PAIRS. The students cold multiply the numbers as well.
Move and Learn

Thanks Heidi Heslinga. I appreciate you sharing your idea with me.

Category Sort

2008-11-12T21:04:00.006-06:00

This is the latest structure that I have been using in my classes. The directions for this activity are "Sort these into three categories" This gives the students a little less structure than normal. This is how I set it up.

Partner work: I gave the slide to the students. Then, I had the student try to decide if they could combine at least two items together. They continued to put things into categories until they were all in three categories. The students worked together for about 3-4 minutes.
Student Sorting and Explanations: Then I had a student picked at random to come to the board and put two of the items together. That student had to explain why they put the items together. The next student came up and put two more items together, or added to the previous students work. This continued until all the items were in one of the three categories.
More Time: At times, I gave the students some work time with their partner to get the rest of the items into the correct category.
Closure and Summary: Then we reviewed the activity and the key points of what was important.

Always make it student Centered: My goal will continue to make my class student centered. I'm at the back of the class and the students are in the front explaining why they placed items in certain categories.

How would you mulitply 11 times 29?

2008-10-26T21:40:00.003-05:00

Does it matter what way you work 11 times 29 if you get the correct answer?

One way would be to multiply 10 times 29 which is 290 and then add another 29 which is 319.
Another way would be to multiply 11 times 30 and which is 330 and subtract one 11 to get 319.
Another way would be to add 11 plus 11 plus 11 ... and so on until you have done it 29 times.
Another way would be to use the column method. See below.
How about using a calculator?

Usually students are drawn towards the method that is easiest. Furthermore, students want what is easiest for them. Reviewing different methods is an excellent way to have students buy into a quicker method. So often I make the mistake of showing one way to do a problem. I think that I'm cheating some of my students when I do this because they lose out on the opportunity to add to their toolbox of methods of solutions. I think that by only showing one method, I'm sending a message that the way I cover is best, and whatever way you used to solve this problem is not as good.
So I think that I need to work harder at showing multiple methods to solve a problem. I need require my students to find multiple methods of solving a problem. At the high school level, it is more about how students are thinking to solve problems. I know they can get a solution. More importantly, how did you come up with it. Justify your thinking.
So, yes it does matter how you solved the problem. The way you solved it might just help me understand it a little bit better.

When You Teach, You Learn

2008-10-10T18:15:00.003-05:00

I have been a firm believer of the idea that when you teach something, you actually learn it better than you would if you just learned it traditionally. I have an example for you. A student today was explaining to another student how to find an equation of a rational function and stopped in the middle and said, "I don't know why there is a 3 in the equation." She realized that she had found the answer, yet didn't know why she had done something. In the middle of "teaching" it, she had to learn more herself. I thought, that was excellent. She taught herself by teaching someone else. Is it accountability? Maybe it is the idea that you genuinely want to help someone else do something correctly. I'm not sure. But it works.
I have been trying to have my students teach each other. Lately, when a student gets done with a math problem, I tell them they must walk around and help others arrive at the solution. By the time I have 3-4 other "teachers" helping me, the whole class catches on to the idea of the problem.
Give it a try. Students love to help others. Give it a try.

Text to Voice Lesson

2008-09-21T06:45:00.008-05:00

I tried a matching sound lesson with my class this week. It went really well. I gave a problem like 3x + 5 -6x - 4. I made eight sounds altogether of which there were 4 matching pairs. For instance, one of the sounds was the word "coefficients". Another matching sound was the words "three and negative six". Remembering that they can't see these words. They have to hear them. I think they even have to visualize the numbers. This to me reaches a whole different set of students that are auditory learners in a visual classroom.
Structurally, I picked a student at random to come to the Smartboard and to pick two of the sounds. The student would play each sound twice and then return to their desk. I would then pick another student from the class at random. They would do the same thing. Eventually, the matching sounds would be discovered. A student would then be able to pick the pair and put them together. Success! Students were called up until all four matches were found. Give a try and let me know what you think.

I have a podcast on Smartboard Lesson Planning called Teaching with Smartboard. It is a site trying to help teachers with the integration of Smartboards into the classroom.

I last posted about a site called Hearwho.com. Since this post, the site has added a clip at the end of the MP3 file that advertises their product. This doesn't work out well in the classroom. I have found another site that I'm now using called vozme.com. It works great. Let's hope this site will continue to be free without the added advertisement.

Have a good week!

Cool Site

2008-09-16T21:44:00.002-05:00

http://www.hearwho.com/
A colleague showed me this site and it is awesome. You just paste in some text to the site and it will change the text to a sound file in MP3 form.
You can change your text to a male or female voice (Mike or Crystal).
I see a variety of educational uses for this. Specifically for me, I can use MP3 sounds in SMARTBoard software.
I can't wait to make a lesson involving sounds with my Smartboard.

Brain Breaks

2008-09-14T07:09:00.004-05:00

I think we all need a break from whatever we are doing at least every 25 minutes. This keeps us fresh and engaged. I know myself that I get antsy when I sit too long. I usually get up and take a walk, or find a couple minute distraction. In my classroom my students can't just get up and do that. I feel strongly that I need to create a brain break every 20-25 minutes.
I first heard about these breaks from Jean Blaydes Madigan. She has a lot of ideas about movement within the classroom. She came and did a workshop at our school and it was excellent. Since then, I have just heard of different ideas that I can use in my classroom. They have come from colleagues, speakers, or blogs. I want to hear about other peoples brain breaks so I created a website that we can do just that. It is called Brain Breaks. It is at http://brainbreaks.blogspot.com. Check it out and you can write a post as well.

"Do Hard Things" a book by Alex and Brett Harris

2008-09-06T17:11:00.004-05:00

I have been reading an excellent book by Alex and Brett Harris called "Do Hard Things". The idea is that we have low expectations for teenagers and usually they fulfill them. However, I have been challenged in my own journey by this book to take a leap of faith and Do Hard Things. The section that I'm currently reading is "You can't get to success without risking failure". This is how we often are paralyzed by the fear of failure into doing NOTHING. I certainly can relate to that. The amazing thing about this book is that these guys are actually teenagers themselves. They are (were) 19 when they wrote the book. They are twins.

So get the book, and then Do Something Hard this Week!

Teacher Movies

2008-08-31T17:02:00.004-05:00

I saw a couple of teacher movies this summer and it made me think of my favorite teacher Mr. Voorhees. He was a math teacher. He has retired recently. I have made contact with him this past year and it was a thrill. He was always demanding, funny, engaging, and supportive. He believed in me. I will never be able to thank him enough. It makes me realize that the teaching profession has a lot of power. Teachers have the power to change someones life. We should not take this lightly.
I have seen all of these movies and would recommend any one of them. I have not put them in any particular order.

Mr. Holland's Opus
Freedom Writers
Lean on Me
Stand and Deliver
October Sky
Akeelah and the Bee
Dead Poet's Society
To Sir, With Love
Finding Forrester
Tuesday's with Morrie (TV Movie)

Diigo

2008-08-07T12:52:00.005-05:00

I just found out about http://www.diigo.com/ . It is very much like http://delicious.com/ in that it is an online bookmark system. However, diigo has the added benefit of being able to highlight something in the favorite site that you have saved. What a bonus. A further bonus is that it will simultaneously save your favorites at diigo and delicious.
Just yesterday, I created a new free diigo account and had all my Delicious sites exported then imported to diigo. It was about 10 minutes worth of work. Now I can use my diigo account, yet keep my Delicious account active.
Lucy Gray taught me this. Thanks.

Here are my two sites. Feel free to check them out.
http://www.diigo.com/user/dsladkey
http://delicious.com/inbox/dsladkey

Dave

Wordle.net

2008-06-28T14:29:00.003-05:00

I found a cool site on a blog the other day. The blog is called Practical Theory by Chris Lehmann. Click here to get to it. It is called Wordle. It is at http://www.wordle.net/. It makes a cluster of words that you place into the site. You can change the colors and make a new layout if you want. I love the result. It is very easy to use. Here is a wordle I did recently regarding a 350 mile, 6 day bike trip that the Naperville Central Fellowship of Christian Athletes took. Click on it to see it better. If you want more information about the bike trip see http://www.redhawkfca.org/.

Let me know what you think,

Dave

Enjoy the Journey

2008-06-09T21:02:00.003-05:00

I saw a child today taking a walk with an adult. The child would walk for a few moments and then stop to look at a something in the grass. Then, the child would walk a few moments more. And again the child would stop, and this time sit down. The child was enjoying herself so much. It was really refreshing to see a someone enjoying the journey so much. The child was not so focused on getting there. She was focused on enjoying now. We have much to learn from this little child.
I was thinking that we often do not enjoy the journey. We almost always desire to get to our destination as soon as we can. That means most of the time we are not enjoying ourselves because we are hardly ever at our destination. How about we start planning take some time to reflect and enjoy our journey. I know that I need to concentrate on this because I am far too often in a rush. I will work on thinking "Slow down and enjoy the moment".
Dave

School is a Place to Learn from your Mistakes

2008-06-04T05:55:00.003-05:00

Our principal has recently made a mistake. He plagiarized a speech he made to the senior class during the commemoration ceremony. He openly admitted that is was a mistake. He did not acknowledge the person who wrote the speech before or during the speech. He said he had intended to ask permission, and just never got around to it. I know that this is a grievous error. However, I know the man behind the mistake. He is a man who works hard for our students. He is a person who honest and upfront when dealing with issues regarding our school and himself. I believe him when he says that he meant to ask the person who wrote the speech. It doesn't make it OK. It just means it was a mistake. To me it means a punishment (like a suspension) and then let's move on. Let's all learn from the mistake. It is a teachable moment. It means that we as human beings can grow from the things that we mess up on. School is a place to learn from your mistakes. Right now, our principal is being "reassigned". This is unfortunate in my opinion. I think that the punishment is a little too severe for the crime.

There are a few mistakes that we can't allow to continue in our schools;
1. Repeated violations of integrity.
2. Physical and emotional abuse to our students.
3. Neglect of students.

Most mistakes are just are opportunities to learn. Isn't that what we do in our class? If a student makes a mistake in my class I often take this route with them. I talk to them individually. I give them a consequence (if needed). We reflect and then we move on.

I am going to remember this when I deal with my students. I must think..."School is a Place to Learn from your Mistakes".
Dave

Repetition

2008-05-27T16:44:00.005-05:00

How can we get enough repetition in our classes?
This years Super Bowl commercials paid $90,000 a second to try to get you to buy their products. What is their goal? To help reinforce their product to you by repetition. They are trying to get enough repetition and not bore the audience. It must work. Because a lot of companies paid the 2.7 million dollars per 30 second spot.
We need to translate this to HS math. If I have an important point to make in class, I need to find creative ways to have it emphasized. Maybe I need to have the students discovery the idea. Then I will have them see it worked out with another student at the board. Then I might have a video of the same topic. Then I could give some practice on their own. It could be that they use individual white boards to go through the problem. I love Senteo clickers for the Smartboard so maybe I could use those to get the point across.
The average person needs 10-12 repetitions to learn a new concept. I think I need to remind myself and my students that it is OK to repeat a topic in different ways. This is comforting to students that they don't have to pick it up the first time. They are not slow for needing a few repetitions of the same topic.

Yearbook Time

2008-05-26T21:47:00.002-05:00

I take it as a compliment when a student asks me to sign their yearbook. I try to write carefully that I really appreciated them in class. I don't always have the time to write as much as I want. For instance, I was about 1 minute away from starting my class when a student walks in and asks me to sign their yearbook. It was a senior and this was their last day. I thought, this is important. I took a moment to sign the yearbook and then was a little late getting my class going. That is OK. I feel that our students want our acknowledgment of them. For some of our students this is an easy way to have us recognize them. I find that some students that were complete goofs in class, ask me to write in their yearbook. I find it odd, but, I take this as a compliment. They must have thought my class was OK, otherwise they wouldn't have asked me to sign the yearbook. So we need to remind ourselves that our students want our support. Yearbook signing is one way to give it to them.

Pop Goes the Weasel and the Quadratic Formula

2008-05-23T20:28:00.003-05:00

A student teacher that I had many years ago taught the quadratic formula to my class by song and it was a hit. I have students coming back to my class and telling me they remembered the QUADRATIC FORMULA because we sang it in class. I just used this recently. It is a great time for the class. Of course I sing it. More importantly, I have many of my students sing it. (sometimes I give out extra credit) Let's try it now.

Hum Pop Goes the Weasel to yourself...
Hum it one more time...
Now put these word to it...

X equals negative b
plus or minus the square root
of b squared minus 4 a c
all over two a

I found someone else did it to on you tube. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo6GJv4Nvx8

Crabby

2008-05-10T22:09:00.003-05:00

It is usually May when this happens to me as a teacher. I get crabby. One of my students will ask question, and I think, can't you figure that out on your own? I then proceed to answer their question with an attitude. That is a bad attitude. It certainly doesn't make me feel great about myself, and more importantly, my students suffer.
Crabbiness happens to all of us teachers. It is what we do about it that will make us different. Let's brainstorm.

Share with another teacher your heart. Explain what has been happening and commit together to a positive outlook.
Give your students a heart to heart. Be truthful and apologize for being crabby. Your students will certainly lift your spirits.
Take a personal wellness day.
Make a list of why you got into teaching.
Commit to 100% concentration when the next student asks a question. Kind of like saying "Drop everything and Answer the Question"

What do you think?
Dave

Newspaper Generator

2008-05-04T21:31:00.004-05:00

I made this newspaper picture very easily at the site listed below. I can see this being a nice tool for students to have while creating papers or for entries for blogs. It is a free service. You put in the title, the date and some information and you can save the result as a jpeg to your computer. Newspaper Generator
Check it out.

Animoto

2008-05-04T20:36:00.003-05:00

It took me a total of about 20 minutes to make this 30 second clip. It is of my daughters and I during a daddy daughter dance in 2007. This is a free tool. It is very reasonable if you are interested in making a longer version. ($3 per video) I uploaded my pictures, and then picked some music from their selections. After that it took a few minutes to mix on their computer. Then it is finished. What a great product and very simple for students to use in their class. Give it a try at www.animoto.com.

Delicious

2008-04-24T10:12:00.009-05:00

Actually it is http://del.icio.us/ I love this site because it is a way to organize all my favorite sites and allow them to be seen by others. Most importantly, they are all kept online so that I can use them from any computer. This site is perfect for the person who browses the web and finds a sites they like. All they have to do is click on a button (this is a quick install and goes directly into your browser) to TAG your site. This tagging system will give you suggestions of what categories to put your site in. Tagging gives you the ability to access your site through multiple names. For instance you might have a site on factoring. You would might tag this site with these names: algebra trinomials teaching factoring interactive.
There are other sites that do the same thing. I know that http://digg.com also does some of the same things. I started on delicious and like it so I will probably continue with it.
One thing that was a great relief to me was that I can import from my browser all of my current favorites. Also, I can export them back if need be.

Here is my delicious account: http://del.icio.us/dsladkey

Magic Squares Revisited

2008-04-19T08:00:00.006-05:00

Remember that magic squares are where you can add the row, column or diagonal to be the same number. You could use guess or check or a systematic algebra method.

Guess and check works and is fun.

However, our algebra students will like the systematic method of solving these.

Check out the solution using systems of equations.

Now you can go try using these with your students.

New Growth

2008-04-16T13:35:00.005-05:00

Our house has 4 houseplants. They all have remained about the same size for as long as I can remember. Most of the plants look old. They have jagged leaf edges. Sometimes the leaves are brownish. I've thought it was amazing that they didn't grow. Also, I thought it amazing that they didn't die.
For some reason, I decided to make an effort to water the plants on a regular basis. Actually, it has been Sundays. Every Sunday, I am watering the four plants. Something very amazing happened about 5 weeks after I started. New Growth. These plants had new shoots growing. I couldn't believe it. The big plant is like a tree and it has a new growth upward. The little table plant regained it's color. Incredible. All I did was give them some regular water and they have done things that I never thought possible.
So after I had been inspecting the new growths for about a week it hit me. Plants are like our students. They need constant attention to grow. They need daily/weekly attention just like my plants need weekly watering. If our students don't get that attention, they often don't grow. I think of just a simple word of encouragement. I think we can "water" our students by showing interest in what they are doing. Also, we can notice when they are absent. I realize that I not only need to make random acts of encouragement, but I need to schedule these acts so that growth can occur. I know the math is important, but it is also important to genuinely care for my students.

Google Reader

2008-04-11T20:10:00.007-05:00

I found out about Google reader at a tech conference recently (ICE). It has been awesome. I get all the updates on many of my favorite websites by only going to Google Reader. It is like a customized newspaper. You can subscribe to many different publications like your favorite newsletters, newspapers, and blogs.
Here are some of the things that I subscribe to:
Focus on the Family
Teachers Love Smartboards
The Whiteboard Blog
What is School 2.0
Bulls Basketball Update
How do sign up? Just get a free gmail account at www.gmail.com. This will sign you up for all of the google services. Once you have a Google gmail account then you just go to google.com and you will see some Google services at the top. Click on where it says more. You will see Reader as an option. Click on that and you will be ready to search for all of your favorite publications for free. Now when you go to Google Reader you will be able to see which of your sites have new posts. Check it out.

Change the Atmosphere

2008-04-02T22:48:00.002-05:00

Why is it that some people have a knack at understanding driving directions? For instance, if you are explaining where a restaurant is and the person is completely engaged in what you are saying and can find it. Others will look at you with that glossy eyed look (we teachers see this from time to time) that says I have no idea what you are saying. I think it is because we learn differently. Another example of this is when someone says to me “do you know where Main and 15th streets are?” For me immediately I think of the picture of that intersection with the landmarks. I even remember the conditions of when I saw it the first time like cloudy or rainy. Others might remember the intersection from a map view. So, let’s relate this to the classroom. We set our classroom up to be the same for every learning experience. Maybe, just maybe, if we changed the atmosphere of when they learned something, they would remember it better. Just as I remember the conditions of an intersection, I think students remember the conditions of our classroom. So let’s alter it! I just thought of a few that I’m going to try:

Turn off the lights, and use flashlights to study the lesson.
Push the desks back and have everyone (even the teacher) sit on the floor
Turn on music while learning.
Have students bring in their favorite plant from home for the day
How about blindfold hour? You must learn only with blindfolds on.
How about everyone can only write with their weak hand for 30 minutes?
Turn all the desks 180 degrees.
Have all the students bring in a pet day
Teacher must sing directions.
Students must sing questions.

We will not reach everyone with this. However, I might reach some students that I have never even come close to getting through to. As teachers, let’s get ourselves out of our own comfort zone, because when we do, others are probably in theirs.

Self-Talk

2008-03-27T13:03:00.006-05:00

Have you ever felt like you have tried everything to reach a student? Maybe you have tried positive reinforcement, or calling home, or even a contract? I have. Often when I think these things, I am at the give up point in which I start my negative "self-talk". You know, the speeches we give ourselves when something happens to us. The natural tendency is to say to ourselves "this kid is not going to change". I have been battling this "self-talk". I believe very strongly that what we "self-talk" will usually happen. Therefore, I think it is so important for us to shake our mind of the negative "self-talk". Here are somethings that I do when my mind drifts to all the negative things regarding a student:

Try to think of one positive thing about this student. (sometimes this is hard)

Find a time in which to communicate this positive thing to them. (this is really hard)

Try to find an obstacle that this student has been battling and empathize with them. Maybe it's their home life. Maybe it is a lack of friends. Or maybe it is a lack of self confidence that is coming out in the wrong way. Then I use this to understand their situation a little better.

If you think this about this student, then probably others think the same. Therefore who is going to stop the cycle?

Think back to when you were in 8th grade. Do you remember? It was tough. I would like to think the adults in my life were rooting me on, instead of giving up.

Make a point to say hello each time you see this student.

I pray for this student and my attitude towards them.

"Whether you think you can or can't, you are right". Henry Ford

What are some techniques you are using to stop your negative "self-talk"?

I still believe each student can change,

Dave

Magic Squares

2008-03-25T13:20:00.008-05:00

Magic Squares have been around a while. It just takes me a while to find good things. For me, I just used them for the first time in my class today. Wow. They are awesome. There is so much algebra in them.

A magic square is where you can add the columns and rows as well as the diagonals to be the same number.

First, I gave the magic square problem with pieces missing. Which by the way was excellent for my introduction to algebra students. They had to do a ton of integer addition.

Then, the students who figured it out quickly, I challenged them to figure out the algebra of the square by placing an X in the middle square and branching off from there.

If students needed more challenges, I asked them to used this template and make a new magic square with their own numbers starting with X.

For me the next step is to ask what else can I use magic squares with? Polynomial addition? Fractions? What do you think?

Voice Thread

2008-03-24T21:17:00.003-05:00

I just came across the site Voice Thread. Basically, it allows people to comment in words or with audio about a picture or video. You can see from this picture that many people have commented on the sides of the visual image in the center which happens to be a picture that a student had drawn. http://ed.voicethread.com/#home I have not used it yet. However, I was listening to a great podcast about it today and it sounded really exciting. Check out the podcast at: http://teachersteachingteachers.org/?p=154The example to the right is at the link below:http://ed.voicethread.com/#q.b409.i3113

Thinking Blocks

2008-03-24T20:58:00.000-05:00

Reading a Blog called Tumbl'n Teachers today I saw a great site for teaching a visual approach to algebra word problems. And a bonus is that it would be interacitve for the Interactive White Board (IWB). It is flash based and there are some problems done already on it, or you can create your own problems. There is a video tutorial if needed. http://www.thinkingblocks.com/Index.html
Check it out.

Reflections of a High School Math Teacher

Use the Wireless Mouse from the BACK OF YOUR ROOM!

Find all the Conics that you can in this 1 minute Video

13 Reasons I'm THANKFUL for being a TEACHER!

Sum of Three

Awesome Color Graphing Calculator ONLINE

I AM A ...Stand Up, Auditory, Randomly Chosen Students Activity

My 10 Tips for Math Class

Minute to Win it Circuits.....Move and Learn

You take the Left side and I'll take the Right side

Using the Dual Touch SMARTBoard in Class

Using Pipe Cleaners for Transformations of Graphs in High School Math Class

Kinesthetic Right Triangle Trig with the Flip Video

What are the 13 vitures of a TEACHER?

Using Flip Videos in High School Math Class

Classroom Timer

Video Clip Ordering with SMARTBoard

A Smartboard Notebook "How To" Book Now Available

Battleship for Introduction to Algebra Students

Clicker Circuits

The Cube A Differentiated Instruction Lesson

So Many Flags on this Veterans Day

Changing Seats and Interview Questions

Using Flip Videos to help students teach students

Differentiated Instruction Site

Email Your Students Day 1

Uno Stacko Final Exam Review

Pop Goes the Weasel and the Quadratic Formula

Inside or Outside the District?

Finding the Regression Curve of a Sin Graph in Precalculus Class

Reaching for a Star

Free Virtual Calculator

The Human Ambigous Case

Pythagorean Theorem using an IWB

Pumping up the Brain Video

Fill in the Missing Pieces

My Dream Classroom Design

Front of the Class A book by Brad Cohen

Move and Learn

Category Sort

How would you mulitply 11 times 29?

More on When Students Teach

When You Teach, You Learn

Text to Voice Lesson

Cool Site

Brain Breaks

"Do Hard Things" a book by Alex and Brett Harris

Teacher Movies

Diigo

Wordle.net

Enjoy the Journey

School is a Place to Learn from your Mistakes

Repetition

Yearbook Time

Pop Goes the Weasel and the Quadratic Formula

Crabby

Newspaper Generator

Animoto

Delicious

Magic Squares Revisited

New Growth

Google Reader

Change the Atmosphere

Self-Talk

Magic Squares

Voice Thread

Thinking Blocks