It's been a rough semester and there are 6 weeks left to go. I am having an awesome year in general and I love my classes and students, but 3 preps plus the other supervisory positions that I have are all adding up to too much on my plate. I am ready for this summer, even though it will be just as busy with the AP Reading, AVID training, and TMC14.
But enough whining... I want to
This past Wednesday, we met on twitter for a trial run of #EduRead, which is a weekly twitter chat where we read an educational article and discuss it. You can see the transcript and article on the #EduRead blog.
The article was about writing in math class and I really enjoyed it. I am very intimidated by the idea of writing, but I would definitely like to do more. On my drive home this week, I spent some time thinking about how I could incorporate writing in my classroom. I know I really want to do a better job with Exit Tickets next year, so I'm really looking forward to the #EduRead discussion on Exit Tickets on 4/30, but I know I won't be able to read those on a daily basis. I do think that a 3-2-1 on Fridays might be doable, and if it's a quiz/test day, they can do the 3-2-1 on the test/quiz paper. Maybe I need to come up with a 'schedule' for each day of the week so I don't have to do too much thinking about what to do each day.
One of the other things mentioned in the article was a portfolio. Several years ago, I created a "How To" notebook for my AP Stat classes, but I never could make it work the way I wanted to. I think it might be useful for my AP Students to have some sort of portfolio, but I'm at a loss of how to make it work. One of the former AP Calc teachers at my school using to do a "How To" type notebook that actually inspired mine and she loved it for calculus. She gave the students a list of topics, then gave them a prompt to fully answer for each topic. When I tried it, I was very disappointed in the student output, which led to me giving them something to copy down instead of doing it themselves, and I know that's not a good solution either. Of course, now that I'm thinking about it, it reminds me of earlier this week when students were working on some review material. I was so impressed with how they were using their class notebook to go back and look for the information from this fall, so maybe their portfolio is actually their INB? *Mind Blown* If that's the case, maybe I need to incorporate some writing assignments into the INB like the 'clock questions' and the 'parent review page' from some of the AVID training
So... Many... Thoughts...
:)
1. Welcome back!
ReplyDelete2. Yay for TMC14 coming up soon!
3. I just started ISNs this year, and yes, they are absolutely portfolios. I need to do a better job next year with giving more choice with left side assignments (most of the time I give them something particular and we've only done free choice a few times this year). What I have done that has improved work quality is a gallery walk followed by "nominations" for notebooks to be shown to the whole class. Students end up seeing really good work and can see if theirs doesn't really measure up.
Welcome back.
ReplyDeleteI just blogged about my attempt to address both writing in the math class as well as tackling the mathematical practices. I'm hoping for constructive criticism... Or advice.
I'm thinking the mathematical mistakes site will prove helpful, or I'll be submitting a lot of things...
Hope your school year has been going well.
Planting-ideas.blogspot.com
Scott.
The whole interactive notebook craze has been only on the periphery of my experience so far. The few I've seen (on blogs) seem highly guided. Is the idea that you provide prompts like "solving a quadratic by factorizing" and then the students write about it? Or do you provide a more structured fill-in sheet (like the one you did about parent functions)?
ReplyDeleteI'm also looking forward to the discussion about exit tickets. I read the article and wrote about it--due to be published tomorrow. Thanks for facilitating.