Are you SURE??

Final reviews...I am kind of enjoying this time. Why you ask? Because I can give the students packet of problems and they have to do them. My room is quiet for the most part. I allow students to have side conversations, as long as they are doing math problems in between. I have given the students an answer bank, so as they do problems they can check to see if the answer is there.

Is it bad that I find joy in telling overly confident students that they are doing the problem wrong when they can't find there answer in the bank?

Now I am not mean about it. I try to tell them that they have only done half the problem or that they are missing a piece of information, or are they SURE that that's the height of the prism. But when they start to argue, I get a little defensive. I make mistakes...sure, and I admit them. But I have a few students that just never want to admit they are wrong.

End of the Year Review Woes!

I have NO idea how to review for the end of the year. My heart says, "Make it Fun, make it meaningful, make it so they REMEMBER!" But my head (or logically side) says "PLUG AND CHUG!"

There have been some great games posted on others' blogs lately. Miss Calcul8 has had Fish Pong and Ballon Pop. Bot of which I think are GREAT games. I think I may play Fish Pong in my pre-algebra class, but I am struggling with Geometry.

Why? Don't they deserve to have fun too?

Well, yes, but I don't know that I want to put myself through the stress. I am not up for the arguments that these students can put forth. I am not up to making sure that EVERYONE is participating, and trying to hold EVERYONE accountable. I am not up for making sure that my power point has no mistakes (I guess I could do problem on paper under my document camera) or taking the risk that my computer won't crash (you never know).

Is it harder/more time consuming to put together this review game, or to just make a review sheet? On top of continuing to unpack my apartment, to plan for Sophomore River Trip (I'm head program and more on JRT later), to try to find a summer job, and to try to figure out how to pay for a Grand Canyon Trip I have been invited on, I just don't want to be creative about end of the year review!

The positive...at least I am not searching for a job!