Logo Transformation Project, Fundamental Counting Principle, Coke Project, 3 Act Tasks, & Einstein's Puzzle

Just have time for a quick update before I head over to a Paint Nite event with some friends, as I work to maintain a balanced work & social life. Teaching five classes across three grades this year has me in a constant state of being behind (especially when it comes to grading) but I must say, I have been pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying lots of new projects and activities with my classes this year, that I am proud of myself.

8th Grade/ Algebra 1 Geometry
Today my 8th graders started their end of unit assessment performance task on geometric transformations.  I was inspired by this Transformation Summative Assessment Project from Equation Freak and this logo transformation mini-project.  They were really into it during our double period today.  Later on this week we will start Say it With Symbols, and this Friday I will do my first 3 Act Task with them, Coin Counting!  I am nervous since it will be my first, but I've been wanting to do one for a while.

7th Grade Probability 
My 7th graders will be exploring the Fundamental Counting Principle this week with Pair-Analysis (and this TED Talk on the Paradox of Choice... hmm maybe there's a Socratic Seminar in there somewhere?) and VA-NITY PL88, both from Mathalicious, and then on Friday I want to try the Yellow Starburst 3 Act Task with them.  Look at me trying two different 3 Act Tasks in the same week ;)  I read through Confessions of a MS Math Teacher's blog post on it here, which led me to their post on their first attempt at a 3 Act Task using The Price is Right, which would fit in nicely with our unit on probability, since we've analyzed Wheel of Fortune twice so far this unit (both again through Mathalicious).  Next week, hopefully we will explore the probability of bottle flipping (which every MS teacher is probably familiar with this year).

6th Grade Geometry
My 6th graders started their Coke Engineering Design project this week, which, ironically, has a connection to 3 Act Tasks, that I just learned about this week, even though I did the project last year.  I do think that I am going to push back their presentations until after mid-winter recess in two weeks, instead of rushing them to be done next week.

Math Club
This week in math club we took a crack at Einstein's Puzzle (which probably wasn't made by him) and other logic puzzles, which they all enjoyed.  Engagement was really high, and I was really proud of the students who hadn't solved it yet, and didn't listen or watch when we played the rest of the TED Ed video with the solution because they wanted to keep working on it.

So I am excited for the next two weeks and then get to breathe a bit and enjoy mid-winter break.  Work hard, play hard, right? ;)

New Year, New Blogging Inspiration

After more than a month of not having the time to blog on here (or rather, not making it a priority) here we are in the new year and, after ten beautiful, work-free days (including my birthday), I want to get back into it.  December went really smoothly at work.  All of my classes ended their current units, and will be starting new units tomorrow, and I really enjoyed the projects and investigations my students did (which I hope to reflect more fully about in a later post).

I came across this post by Dan Meyer on his winter break in recreational mathematics and then by AJ Juliani on his 30 Day Blogging Challenge, so I wan inspired to write on here.  Coming off last year's MfA experiences, like Dan Meyer, on of my professional goals includes doing more math, which means doing more recreational mathematics, which I must admit, I have slacked on since last summer.  Hopefully I can use this space to change that.  As for the 30 Day Blogging Challenge, my goal is to write 100 words a day for 30 days (yes, I know it's small, but I want to stay realistic), and to publish one post per week.  So here we go, day 1.  As we enter into the cold, dark school month of January, it may be rough, but it also the half-way point of the school year, which reminds me that even though there's work to do, it goes by really fast, and I want to make my time with my students count.

Here's to an inspiring, reflective, thoughtful 2017!