So here we are in March, and ask any teacher, March is rough. No days off. Spring Break is still weeks away. The weather hasn't decided whether its still winter or spring (here in NY this week we has a gorgeous, warm, sunny Thursday, followed by snow yesterday). Oh yeah, and throw in the marking period ending, grades being due, bulletin board needing to be updated, parent-teacher conferences, state tests coming up and losing a hour of our precious weekend time (thanks Daylight Savings, NOT), March is pretty miserable. I didn't want too much time to go by without reflecting on here, so here goes...
6th grade
My 6th graders finished up their Engineering Design Coke Projects this week. It went much smoother than last year's and I am happy with how everything turned out. We are doing a super short mini unit this week on decimals and percents, and starting our last unit before the state test on algebra, Variables & Patterns. After the state test, we'll work on our last 6th grade unit, Data About Us and they'll do their Data to Make a Difference project, which I enjoyed last year. I'll probably combine it with what I am currently doing with the 7th graders now, Samples and Populations, since it is a lot of the same work.
7th grade
Like I said, my 7th graders are currently wrapping up Samples & Populations, which is kind of fun. I always used to skip this unit, but it's a short one, and has led to some interesting lessons, including comparing steel & wooden roller coasters, and
Counting Trees, which was supposed to be a homework, but they were so into it, I decided to go with it and gave them class time to explore it. Our next unit will be Thinking With Mathematical Models, which is typically the first 8th grade unit. As stressful as it is, it's nice teaching all three grades because I have all the freedom to teach whatever I want, and teaching all three grades at once has given me a lot of insight into what skills/ topics I can bring down into the lower grades.
8th grade/ Algebra 1
Finally my 8th graders, which got their high school acceptance letters this week, and I am proud to say 68% got into Specialized High Schools, are working on Say it With Symbols, which has been a nice review. I am feeling pretty confident about the Algebra 1 regents in June, and this week we got a class set of TI 84 graphing calculators! I have my formal observation with them this Wednesday, and we'll be exploring whether social networks make us more connected from
Mathalicious, and I am looking forward to it. I'm turning it into a mini-project also, because I think after doing the math behind it, they will have a lot to debate about. Since they are not taking the 8th grade math state test in May, the science teacher and I decided to give them a mock Algebra 1 regents one day and a mock Living Environment regents the other day. Speaking of regents, I've been giving the 7th graders performance tasks from constructed response Algebra 1 questions, and most of them have appreciated the challenge, so I am happy about that.
Math Club & Photography Electives
We have four more meetings of the Math Club elective. The students are currently working on their
gold level project, which we should be able to wrap up in time. We will be switching electives in April after Spring Break, and instead of continuing with a new group for Math Club or doing another round of the Harry Potter Elective like I did last year, I've decided to do a Photography Elective, which I am looking forward to. The spring elective cycle is only seven weeks long, so it is much shorter than the first cycle. I can't wait to share my passion with them and see what they come up with. A lot of students have already said that they were interested, plus it will be nice to go out when the weather is nice and take photos.
March Math Madness & Pi Day
Since
Ten Marks is not doing a Math Madness this year, I decided to do my own using masting Khan Academy skills as my tracker. I'm doing it with all five of my classes, and as expected one of my 6th grade classes blew the other classes out of the water. Week Two ends tonight, so we'll see how it ultimately shapes up. Pi Day is also coming up this week, although I haven't decided what to do yet. I can use last year's activities with my 6th grade classes, but would need something new for 7th & 8th grade. Any ideas?
Project-Based Learning, Standards-Based Grading, & Math for America
Three of my professional goals moving forward are to do at least more round of
PBL with all of my classes. I've done some great projects this year, including the Stock Market Game & Road Trip Project with my 7th graders, the Coke Project with my 6th graders, and the Lunar Rover Challenge with my 8th graders. I'd love to plan out at least one more for each grade.
We started a new marking period this week, and another goal of mine is to tag every assignment to a standard and track in on our school grading website. So far, I've been good with it, and I hope to keep it up.
Lastly, I am applying to
Math for America Master Teacher Fellowship again. Applications are due at the end of April. I was hesitant at applying again, but I decided to give it another shot. Lots of work to do for the application, but it's all worth it if I can get in. I reached out to my three letters of recommendation this week, and think I will use the lesson I will be doing with my 8th graders as my lesson design task. I know it's far away, but I am already thinking about what I could do for my ten-minute presentation on my own math exploration, should I get an interview. Any ideas/suggestions would be great.