Agents of Algebra 1

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1g0UB6BxR4gK4tfgq2v5cNAI3BtY7EJeV_o3ZpnRrPd8/edit#slide=id.g3b843e102c_0_68

Common Core

Things I know:

1.  Indiana, before Common Core, had changed from 3( 3rd, 8th, and 10th) annual proficiency tests to help schools and the state understand general trends to a test at every grade k-10.  

2.  We changed from not requiring algebra to graduate to needing algebra 1&2 and geometry.

3. Concepts have never been a focus of standards as much as skills in the US. 

4. Normative tests can never show mastery, which many parents confuse. All standardized tests are used to compare and rank testers 

5.  The same schools who showed they needed more assistance with three tests; show the same thing with many more tests, except all the resources are going to testing companies. 

My solution:

Put two teachers in every classroom in every school that underperforms. Not a teacher and an aide but two qualified teachers. We've known for decades that teachers make a difference. 

Why this expense? We know it works, see Finland.

What to do when everyone has something to say

Coming back from break or just have a topic that everyone wants to chime in on?  My solution is to let them all talk. But if each student gets a minute you're going to have no time left. Here's how the day started right after winter break:
Please take out a piece of paper (my students know there is always some paper in the back of the room).  Now write down three good things that happened to you over break and three not so good.  I walked around the room greeting students and welcoming them back.  When it appeared many had completed I asked those who were done to stand. Students quickly finished. All were asked to sit again to hear the rules for a standing conversation.
A standing conversation is a structured conversation. Each person states their information uninterrupted. 30 seconds you tell your 6 events,  30 seconds your partner tells theirs and then 30 seconds of conversation about the topic. I set a timer, students must have a partner with whom they haven't seen over break and who is not seated nearby.   Then we switch and do it again.
Then we're back to our seats. I ask if anyone had a story told that they think should be shared. I've walked around during the standing conversation so I prompt if needed. I don't ask the original storyteller to share because I want students to listen to each other and I didn't want to get bogged down in detail.
Now in under 10 minutes everyone has gotten to share and we are ready to start the lesson.
This method also works well for helping students justify their own opinion. Have them write first,  then discuss, lastly share out.  One of the hardest things for students is stating conclusions. Try this to begin this high level of Bloom for your self.

Decorate your room while building a graphic organizer

I started to dread the papers being thrown up on the wall from the student generated team work. Informative sometimes but interesting to leave up long term not so much. So this spring I took back my walls and we started building flowers and a garden of ideas. Here is a pick of a flower the properties of a square are depicted.

PBL Golf,

Today we took a word problem and turned it into real life. We've all seen the problems in the geometry book or in the precalc book, if you hit a golf ball is such and such an angle, what will happen? Well today we got to live out in my class. We started over a week ago. We looked at possibilities of creations that would include the chapters that we had done on triangles rotations reflections trigonometry and properties of quadrilaterals.  Students set the goals.   A day for rough drafts. And a day for prototyping.  Add day for me to figure out how to help those who still need it without taking over. And a day to play golf. They had to show to find angle using trig. How to use similar triangles to find the sweet spot on their course Wall that would make the ball bounce reflect is a better word probably into the hole. There were no slopes just 4 foot pieces of lumber 8 foot pieces of lumber a lot of masking tape 1 being at H for the whole.

What does excellence in Teaching look like?

Have you seen these videos? http://videos.tntp.org/video/521  This is suppose to be an excellent video.  It is "whole brain"  which is the mimic back what I teach method.  If you are using the teacher appraisal model and checking off a list you probably checked:

students are involved

teacher gives praise

feedback used to guide lesson.

However do the kids know anything about slope when this lesson is done?  Do they understand the idea that positive slope means y grows as x grows?  Do they understand there is a ratio happening here?  Maybe it is in the next lesson. 

Take back the Math!!!

 I am looking at our Precalculus book, Larson, and every section could be taught as if they were child's picture books; no story connected but all suppose to be doggone interesting. I look at the AP calculus test with its multiple steps and many processes tied into one. There is no way we are teaching for the"test." We need to look at multi-step problems and put the puzzle, the pattern recognition and brain building back into mathematics. Math is not just a tool you may reach for later in life as you are solving a physics problem or cooking. It is training the brain to visualize, creating multiple neuro pathways in the brain, it teaches us how and when to question, and it teaches how to justify our opinions and show evidence. These are goals for us to instill in our students. Take back Math from the bureaucrats!!! The artists and dreamers and thinkers are thirsty!

I was looking at my school's Precalc Honors test for the algebra 1 review chapter (I say my school's because some bureaucratic somewhere decided we have to have common assessments and if you are in the minority opinion you get shut out of the process and most things done by committee they are watered down milk toast).  It was 8 pages long took 2 days to give, IN BLOCK SCHEDULE, and was worth 133 points.  What kind of feed back is that?  Each of the 100 skill was tested individually.  No questions had interest, application or depth.
No they weren't perfect, yes they should know all this stuff but they don't.  Why because we spoon feed them a bite at a time so we can accelerate them. Even though students never see that topic again until the next level of math in a traditional book, we expect them to have all these concepts at the ready. 
Kids are kids.  If we don't ask them to know something past the due date or the test, they will not absorb it.  Most books are written so teachers can dump or rearrange topics so the publisher can sell the more books without having to republish.