NTOTB

NTOB = New Teenager on the Block

I can't say that I have ever been the new kid or teenager on the block. I have been the new adult on the block, several times in the last decade, but that is sooooooo different than in those formable years.

We have a new student at school. How hard it must be to move to a new school with 30 days left to the school year. I'm going to call this student "Larry".

I received an email from our counselor on Tuesday afternoon with Larry's grades...straight A student. He was being placed into my Consumer Math class. And with only one male in their currently, I was excited that there would now be another one in there.

Yesterday, Larry joined us for class. He slept through a video that I showed on 'Extreme Couponing', and I thought "OH NO, is he really a straight A student". But when I passed out the worksheet on calculating discounts, he was the only student that didn't need some guidance. He responded to me with "Yes, Ma'am" or "No, Ma'am", something rarely heard in our high school. And I'll admit, I got excited.

Well my enthusiasm was short lived. Today, I couldn't get him to do anything for the first part of class. I don't believe he filled in any blanks while watching the video. When I passed out the worksheet for the day, he just sat there. When I approached him to see if he needed help getting started, he said, "Well, I'm just going to fail this class anyways."

This SHOCKED me. He is a straight A student coming into a class that everything is OpenNote. But then he elaborated:

"I don't want to be here. If I fail, I can go back to Florida. I'm never going to play football again, so why does it matter?"

I did speak to him in the hallway and tried to convince him to do the work because if he does get to go back to FL then he would go back with his straight As not with failing grades. And that he would want to keep up his grades so that he can play football in the fall.

Long story short: Larry is a new kid at school. He is lonely. He misses his friends. He probably misses the warm weather of FL on this February-like day in April in Colorado. I can't even imagine how he feels.

On my way home from school today, I saw Larry hitching a ride. I drove passed him and then turned around to give him a ride. I know, as a teacher I shouldn't be picking him up, but I just felt like I needed to.

I think he was surprise to see that it was one of his teachers. I asked him where he was going and if his father knew where he was. He was going to the restaurant (well, ok, its really a bar) a the bottom of the hill to my neighborhood. I asked him why. His response:

"Its the only place I get service so I can talk to my friends in FL". Ok, my heart officially broke.

So to add to the list of new school, feeling lonely, feeling cold, NOW he doesn't have cell phone service!?!?!???!?! (We live in a rural mtn community where only Verizon works).

Again, I can't even imagine. And yes, I have tears in my eyes, just thinking about this kid.

Facebook...a success?

Well, I think I did it. I think I made a Facebook page for my math classroom.

I was able to create a fan page, linked to my personal page. I created a fake account with an email that I don't really use to test it out. My fake account "liked" the page and the newsfeed post appeared.

I'm pretty sure that I am not able to link to my personal page because I am not "friends" with my fake page. When my fake account is on the classroom page, I can't find any way into my personal page. There isn't even a picture of me.

I went to a couple pages that I "liked", for example Kindle. I can't see other users profile pics, only when they post a comment. There are 799, 155 people that like the Kindle page, but I don't know who...this is what I want my classroom page to be like. And I think it is...

So why am I nervous to roll it out to my students...because I am afraid there is a super smart one that will be able to hack into my personal account.

ADDENDUM:

I now have 23 students that "like" my mathmaticious Facebook page. It seems to be working GREAT. My students had a take home quiz this week. One student posted he had about one of the questions...I am sure my response helped more than just him.

A student who was absent yesterday walked in today and said, "I was able to figure out the homework last night, I got the homework assignment from Facebook. It's so cool you have it." (P.S. this is a student that I had major problems with earlier in the school year...not sure what has changed, but she is doing soooooooo much better!!)

So if anyone out there is thinking about creating a page for their classroom...GO FOR IT!!!!! I am glad I did.

Not That I Really Had The Time...

But I created a review activity for my students. And I must say I am super proud of myself.

I have been trying to get away from just giving them review problems in worksheet form, and getting more creative about how I give them problems.

For CSAP Review I used the math dominoes (idea curtsey of Amy G), it was a hit in my Pre-Algebra class and with most of my Geometry students.

I also used a index card review, where a card

had 1

problem on the front and the answer to the previous card on the back. I don't remember who's blog I saw this on, but when I can find it (i.e. remember) I will give credit to them for the idea. This worked GREAT in 3 of my 4 Geometry classes. The 4th class is a huge class, and honestly, nothing works for them. I could put $1M in

front of them, 24 large pizzas and all the soda and candy a kid could want, and someone (if not 10 of them) would complain.

I'll post my versions in another post (probably sometime next week...SPRING BREAK '11, OH YEAH!)

But tonight I created a review activity for the Transformations & Symmetry unit. I got this idea from Miss Cookie. I created a puzzle from scratch!!

I got a quote from a website with math quotes, and then I used problems from the resource master from my text book. And here is the

final result:

I AM REALLY PROUD OF MYSELF!!! NOW I AM GOING TO BED!

FACEBOOK...anyone use it?

Well, Duh...everyone uses Facebook, right? Exactly why I want to use it in classroom, but I don't know exactly how to go about it.

There is a FB page for 'Educators using Facebook', but I really haven't found too many answers for the questions I have. I did find a post on someone else's blog titled 'Facebook in the High School Classroom', which had some good points, but as far as setting up a classroom page, I have some more questions.

These are my questions:

1) I currently have a FB page, where I DO NOT accept friend requests from students. Can I link a classroom page to my current login without my students having access to my personal page?

2) I don't want access to my students' pages, is is best to set up a Fan Page where my students can 'Like' the page? Mainly I just want my posts to come up on their newsfeeds.

I feel like I have more questions, I just can't think of them right now.

Scribing - A tech based instructional strategy for the math classroom.

For being a NCTM member I get the magazine "Mathematics Teacher". In the February issue there was a great article about using a tablet PC in your classroom for instructional time.

The article discussed the advantages of giving the tablet to a student and allowing them to be scribe for the day, which, hopefully, will increase discourse in your classroom.

I WANT ONE!!! I am not sure where or how I am going to find the money, but there has to be a grant out there somewhere for math teachers to use technology in their classroom.

My concern with using this is...I am afraid to give up control. I know, that sounds dumb and over-baring. Most students have a hard time staying organized when they are doing their math work, I think it is important to model for them, just to help them stay organized. But is this too much? Is this what the student meant when she said that I "over teach"?

Another concern is that the "advanced students" typically do not show all their work and have a hard time explaining themselves in class. They get frustrated when I slow them down and ask them to clarify their response; usually this means to give in a complete sentences. So what will happen when they are the scribe? Will they slow down and take responses from their classmates or will they just buzz through, which will then cause me to not allow them to be scribe.

Will my mid level students embrace this?

How do I get my lower level students to participate, i.e. be scribe, without putting their math skills in the spot light?

But regardless, I WANT ONE, and I am going to find a way to GET ONE!

I NEED A BREAK!

It has been 11 weeks since Winter Break. I am exhausted. Wait I am not sure that exhausted can truly describe what I am feeling. And we still have 2 weeks until Spring Break.

I need something to pick me up. I need something to pick up my kids.

CSAP Prep...Need Some Creativity!

I sit here on a Sunday afternoon, really wanting to go skiing, but the idea of driving 50 miles to ski just a few runs is not logically. So instead I am trying to make a CSAP prep packet.

I don't really just want to hand the kids a bunch of released items, but I am not really feeling very creative. CSAP is in two weeks, and I have to do something!

The first district I worked for had an assessment program that each month the students would take. When I left I printed out a bunch of grade 9 and 10 problems that are aligned with CSAP standards. So I have a lot more problems then just the released ones from the state, but what to do with them...