Skip to main content

Catapults and Algebra 2

In a previous post, I talked about how I used Sean Sweeney's catapult lesson in Calculus. I also used it in Algebra 2, as an enrichment project for two students while the rest of the class was gone for a sports event. I also talked here about how I introduced the project without actually being there.

Unfortunately, time for the actual project was cut short by an assembly that ran long. From what I could gather from sub notes and the notes that the students left, they enjoyed it. Unfortunately, with the short amount of time that Algebra 2 gets (and it keeps getting cut shorter when the kids leave early for sports games!!), they never finished it. It might be something I resurrect once the pressure of the SOL test is finished. There is just so much material to cover and I want to be able to take the time to actually *teach* the material instead of just showing it to them last minute.

Maybe it'll work better next year...?

p.s. this post was started on October 13th...it's now October 30th. Where does the time go?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Confession...I'm planning to use Khan Academy this year

It seems Khan Academy (henceforth referenced as KA) has a pretty bad rap in some math teacher circles.  I understand that the videos are somewhat lacking in the engagement factor, and motivating students with points and badges can seem somewhat elementary.  I also see that KA tends to focus more on a procedure/pattern than actual problem solving. 

All that said, I will be using KA this year in my resource classroom.  I have a group of students that are in my class for numeracy skill building/strategies instruction.  I'm supposed to be teaching them 25 mins/day and allowing them 25 mins/day to work on their homework or classwork.  I have students of all grade and ability levels in one resource class, so lesson planning becomes difficult.  Twenty-five minutes is not a long time when you think about it, seemingly less when you think about real problem solving tasks.

Enter KA.  Each student can be working on exercises related to what their individual math course is or will be addressi…
4 comments
Read more

ASL/English Vocabulary in the Math Classroom

My last semester in college, while I was student teaching, I had a class that emphasized different key topics in the field of Deaf Education.  One such topic was vocabulary development.  We all already knew that students who are deaf/hard of hearing have a lower vocabulary than their same-age hearing peers for a variety of reasons not least of which being their limited access to "incidental learning" that comes from listening to other people's conversations/tv/radio, etc.  In our class, we talked about ways to introduce new vocabulary in order to give students a more connected understanding of the new word in its five distinct forms.
PictureDescription/definitionASL sign (if applicable)English word (in print)Fingerspelling of English wordI try to be conscious of this as I teach.  It's very difficult sometimes, and many of the math terms to not have standard ASL signs, so it is more difficult for the students to attach meaning and use the new term through fingerspellin…
3 comments
Read more

The Birth of an Assessment

Sam recently blogged looking for feedback on an Algebra 2 assessment he gave, but mainly to start a conversation about assessment creation, etc.  My classroom assessments have changed drastically in my short 2 years of experience.

Here's a chronology of my growth:

1st year teaching (Algebra 1 - full year course)
Classroom instruction followed the sequence (and pacing to some extent) of the textbook we were using (McDougall Littel Algebra 1).Assessments were largely based on Chapter Tests from the end of whatever chapter we were in, re-typed/formatted but using the same problems with little thought to balance what was actually being tested.Points were assigned to each problem to award partial credit for being on the right track (this often ended up meaning the more difficult problems were worth more points than the basic problems - more steps = more points)Here's an example of one such test: Chapter 9 Test.  Point distribution is as follows (side note: what was I thinking with th…
2 comments
Read more