Gallery Walk - Stat Style

Remember that blizzard that hit the midwest two weeks ago today? Yeah, well, yesterday (Feb 14th) was the first day I had seen my students since Jan 31st. In AP, time is a very precious thing because we have a lot to cover and every day is really special to us. Thankfully I was a bit ahead before the storm AND the AP exam was moved to the 2nd week of testing this year, so I'm not frantic - yet! I was in the middle of teaching confidence intervals for proportions when the storm hit and I really feared that the cobwebs would take awhile to clear in order to get us back on track. Yesterday I did the half sheet review and it went very smoothly. The kiddos settled back into the routine like no time had passed at all! Since for each halfsheet, they have to come up for me to check it, I was able to clarify thinking and remind them of details quickly and more effectively than I could have through lecture. However, I knew I needed more practice on confidence intervals before the chapter quiz, and then a brainstorm hit - GALLERY WALK! :)

The idea behind a Gallery Walk is pretty simple and I had used it before in workshops, but never with my students. I didn't know how well it would work at all, but I really liked it! Last night, I took a worksheet with 7 confidence interval problems and printed it. Today, I cut those problems apart and posted the problem and a piece of chart paper around my room. When the students got to class, they worked on their warmup in their groups while I went around and gave each group a different colored marker. Then we got started. Each group went to a piece of chart paper and read the prompt. Then as a group, they decided what the parameter of interest was and wrote that down. When all of the groups were done, we rotated clockwise to the next chart paper station. The group then read the new prompt and the previous group's work. With a new group member as the writer, they corrected the previous group's work and then continued the problem by checking the conditions needed for a confidence interval. Again, when all groups were done, we rotated clockwise again. Repeat with a new group member as the writer, read the prompt, check the two previous groups' work, then continue the problem with the name of the procedure and the calculations of the interval. Again, when done, rotate to new station, marker goes to a new writer, read the prompt, correct the previous groups' work, and write a conclusion for the problem. Finally, the writing is all done. They rotate once more to read and check the previous work. Now comes the self-checking part. Each group rotates back through the posters they had written on to see what errors had been caught by someone else. Here is a completed poster:

So how did it go? I think today's activity was a success. For the most part, the kids did really well working together and moving about. When I read over their work, rarely was there an error, so I was glad to see that. I have pretty much taught this chapter with no direct instruction, so I am eager to see how they do on Thursday's quiz. Overall, I would deem this a success and will try it again when we do hypothesis testing... which reminds me, I need more chart paper :)

Til next time.... :)

Snowmaggedon

Yeah, so tomorrow is the 9th straight snow day we've had. The last time I saw my students was January 31st. Crazy, huh?

So during my second Winter Break, I wasn't nearly as productive as I should have been. Seems like each day was in limbo, waiting on the phone call that decided my fate for another day. However, since I've not seen my students in 2 weeks, that does create some issues when deciding what the heck to do with them after an unexpected and record-breaking blizzard and it's aftermath.

In AP Statistics, I had just introduced confidence intervals for proportions a few days prior to us being out. Based on an idea that I got a few years ago from an AP workshop, I created a lab where my students got the "big picture idea" of a confidence interval based on tossing around inexpensive inflatable globes with the task of predicting the true proportion of water on the Earth's surface. I love lab activities that require the kids to read, question, and discuss the big ideas without any direct instruction from me. At the end of the day, they had a pretty decent idea of the purpose of a confidence interval and the basic idea of how it is related to the Normal model. The next day (Friday) I did some direct instruction over the Margin of Error (MoE) and the more nitty-gritty details of the process required for a confidence interval. However during the weekend, the forecast started getting gloomy and I knew direct instruction would not work for Monday. Instead, I created another lab where the students were rolling Pass the Pigs pig dice to create confidence intervals for Razorback, Trotter, Sider, etc. This time, the lab was more detail oriented than the globe lab, walking them through a complete write-up of a Confidence Interval for Proportions. At the end of the hour, we quickly reviewed and that was the last time I saw them.

So now, here I am, thinking of the 2 weeks that I lost and trying to figure out how to get them back on track. Last weekend, I created a "half-sheet" activity to review what we had already covered about Confidence Intervals as well as introduce the idea of finding a sample size for a given MoE. I have done the "half-sheets" before and my students *LOVE* them. When they come to class, they sit with their collaborative groups and each group gets a copy of Card #1. As a group, they work through it, discuss it, make sure everyone is on board, then they bring it up to me to check. If it's correct, I OK it, then hand them Card #2. If it's not correct, I point out errors in thinking, etc and they go back to the group to find their errors. This continues until the end of class. Pretty much, any worksheet can be done as "half-sheets", but for some reason, they ASK to do half-sheets! Anyway, here's the confidence interval for proportions half-sheets in case you want them :)

For Algebra 2, Partner Teacher and I decided to review and quiz them on Monday/Tuesday over function operations, compositions, and inverses before moving on to the Radicals unit. I had found this neat "Ghosts in the Graveyard" activity a while back but hadn't had a chance to use it yet. Well, of course Monday is Valentine's Day AND we're going to review, so why not do Math Conversation Hearts? :) I created 8 heart-shaped cards with review problems that I will copy onto red and pink cardstock and laminate. Instead of Graveyards, I'm leaning toward possibly letting them choose some of the big Conversation Heart candies (or maybe just cutouts?) when they get their problem set correct, then at the end of the hour, determine which color is worth how many points. The prize will (of course) be yummy Valentine's candies!

Thankfully, it looks like we will be going back on Monday. Next week's highs are near 70, which will be sandal weather compared to this morning's -12!! To help make up the days that we missed, it definitely looks like I will be working on "flipping" my classes earlier than I originally expected! I'm ready to be back into my routine, although I'm pretty sure I have forgotten how to set my alarm.... :)

I *heart* my iPhone

About a year and a half ago, our phone contracts were up for renewal and hubby had been wanting an iPhone. A lot of my students had them, but I was not impressed, I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to spend that much money on a phone, plus an outrageous monthly fee for the data plan. So hubs ended up getting one while I got a "texting" phone that I thought totally fit my needs. About 6 months later, I finally saw the need for one as my students were studying for final exams and asked to take a picture of the review answer key so they would have it at home. *Shrug*, sure why not! One student offered to post the pictures on his facebook page and the kids were happily reviewing, but it got me to thinking about the uses of an iPhone in the classroom. A few days later, after stalking Craigslist for an affordable iPhone, I found a good deal and bought myself one. Now, less than a year later, I can't imagine what I would do without it!

For example, in Algebra 2, I use it as a scanner, to take pictures of files that I want to post on the class website (answer keys, etc), or when I want to point out specific instructions on a paper. When we were solving polynomial functions, I did a matching jigsaw like puzzle, but I knew if I just verbally told them that most of the expressions were repeated as equations, they would be clueless, so I snapped a picture, hooked up phone to my computer and projected the following onto the Promethean to show the kids what I was referring to.



I've also used it as a scanner in AP Stat, but I also like it for snapping pictures of students doing class activities or to embed into a Jing video later on as a remediation tool. I took pictures as we explored what happens when we flip a penny 10 times, recording the proportion of heads versus flipping the penny 20 times. Now these pictures will be put into a screencast for review of sampling distributions of proportions. (Note: I'm also fond of Post-It pad paper and Dollar Tree smiley face stickers when I need to make graphs in Stat). I didn't take a picture of all of the writing I did afterwards - we talked about the difference between p and p-hat, and talked about the overall Normal model pattern that would emerge if we were to continue flipping the penny and recording p-hats



(Sorry for the sideways graph....)

In addition to using my iPhone for about every avenue of my life, I sent my AVID kids on a snow day scavenger hunt to find cool education apps that they could use to help them study and/or get organized. Since I haven't seen them since I gave them the assignment, I'll have to update you next week on what they found :)

I know there has to be more awesome ways to harness the power of my little mobile computer, how do you use it in the classroom?

Snow Week....

So, in case you didn't hear, the nation got pounded by a massive storm system this week. In my neck of the woods, where a 3-4" snow is considered pretty big and closes us down for a couple of days, we got a whooping 21 inches! Needless to say, that set a few records, then we got another 3.5 inches today, with more forecast for Sunday *sigh*. The system came in overnight on Monday and hours before any snowflake even hit the ground, the schools were cancelling Tuesday's classes. Ultimately, we ended up cancelling the entire week due to the horrible road conditions. Tomorrow is the first day it is supposed to get above freezing, so I'm hoping for some melt as I go out to clear my driveway.

Anyway, so how did I use my snow days you ask? The first day or two was a total waste of course, spent the day gawking at the snow drifts and watching the news coverage while lounging under a warm blanket. But by the end of day 2, I started getting antsy, so I combed through blog after blog after blog stealing all of the good Algebra 2 ideas that I could find and organizing them by chapter of my textbook. I read through all of the Math Teachers at Play blog carnivals and brainstorming the various review ideas/structures and how I could increase student engagement in Algebra 2. There are some really awesome ideas out there, but it takes hours to comb through all of those sites and find the good ones.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a new math teacher blog (because she was awesome enough to post a comment here, or I would have never found her!) and totally stole this neat Math Stations activity. (Click HERE to read her instructions). We happened to have a short day a few days after I found her blog, in which I would only see one of my Algebra 2 classes, so I whipped up a quick review of the material we had been learning. I printed it double sided, but I did do the answers by hand because I didn't want to type that much :) I gave the kids 4 minutes per card and overall I think it worked REALLY well. Here is the file:



Now to watch the news again... they are forecasting more snow in my future :(

Function Dice

Today was a snow day (yay!), but we were supposed to teach function operations in Algebra 2. I had given a quiz yesterday and while they were quizzing, I had a brainstorm - function dice!!!

So today during my snow day, I found some foam dice in my closet (thanks @Fouss!) and using tiny post-its from Walgreen's Back to School sale, I made an f(x) and a g(x) dice set :)

By rolling the two dice, we have a large set of practice problems and example problems for tomorrow's lesson :)

Now I need to figure out an tetrahedral die for the four functions :)

(Although I wouldn't be opposed to another snow day either!)

Effective Integration of Technology

I try to be a pretty progressive teacher. I would like to think that most days I succeed at the attempt, but one area that I am lacking is in effective use of technology. Now, if you were to ask others, they might say that I'm one of the most tech-geek teachers they know, but I know the truth - that technology for technology's sake is not effective. I use my projector system every day, I can do online research with the best of them, but I want to explore technology that truly gets the job done, not just technology that looks pretty. It reminds me of a passage in Robyn Jackson's "Never Work Harder Than Your Students", which says something to the effect of needing to evaluate every lesson and if it doesn't get the job done, get rid of it - even if it's your favorite lesson, if it doesn't achieve the goal, it's not worth it.

Enter in my good friend @approx_normal - a few weeks ago she sends me a link to this video and it really gets my thought process going...



The basic idea is to flip your classroom - send your "lecture" home as homework (via podcast or CD) and then in class, do more exploration, assignments, activities, and labs. I LOVE the idea!! Ever since that day, I've been trying to figure out how to implement this for next year. How I could use Jing videos, etc to create an online virtual "textbook" for my students to watch and take notes.

Then, fresh on the heels of this video was a twitter discussion with @jasonchri, another AP Stat teacher. He uses technology on a daily basis, and I've been following his tweets with great delight as he is also trying SBG in Stat this year. He has his class set up so that reassessments aren't always formal reassessments, they could be updating the class wiki, working on an applet, etc. He also utilizes Google Docs for quizzes, feedback, data collection, etc. I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall in his classroom for a few days! Browsing around his website got me to thinking further - Could I integrate this idea and the idea from above? If so, what an awesome way to turn the learning over to my students!

I know it's crazy to be thinking about summer projects in the dead of winter - but here's where my PLN comes in... Tell me about technology use in your classroom. What technology tools do you use? How do you use them effectively? How do you decide a tool isn't for you?

Thanks in advance!!

Halfway there!

First semester is over :)

It's been a few months since I've blogged, but life has been overwhelming at times! Between new textbooks, new grading system, teaching at both HS and uni, and some personal stuff, I am so grateful for the downtime of winter break. Here's a quick recap of the semester...

SBG
If you go back, you will notice that most of my summer posts were about my foray into Standards Based Grading. This has been the biggest change for me professionally and I am very pleased with the results so far. On their semester final, I felt most student scores accurately reflected their progress through the semester, so for that I was pleased. However, I did still have quite a few kids up to the last reassessment day clamoring for the points they needed to get the highest grade they could going into the final. I'm okay with that though because instead of asking for extra credit, etc, the kids really had to show some demonstration of mastery for that grade to raise.

Technology
For all of the good that I had with SBG, Technology was the bane of my existence this semester. When I set up my room in August, my projector was not working and it took 15 weeks for them to get it fixed. Now I know there is a lot of red tape, etc, but seriously?!?! I could have gone to Office Depot and PURCHASED a projector and had it installed within days!! This meant that I was 100% crippled in terms of videos, applets, 2.0 tools like Jing, etc. The day the new projector was slated to be installed, we had a 2 hour lock-down that started 5 minutes before school was to be released - UGH!!! Once I did get my projector fixed though, I was like a kid in a candy store - I was giddy with excitement :) On another technology grumble, last year, I had ordered 15 laptops for my department - they have YET to be delivered.. WTH???

The Immediate Future
This next semester is shaping up to be just as busy as the fall. Partner Teacher and I have been asked to present at our staff PD day about SBG, a prospect that both excites me and makes me nervous. I look forward to implementing more technology this semester, with Jing, classroom wiki, etc.

The More Distant Future
While this year has been (mostly) amazing, I am always looking for improvement. Next school year will bring a mix of good and bad and I'm already nervous about it. I will be moving over to a new classroom in a brand new buildling, with the goal of math and science collaboration/integration. Part of me is excited about exploring new methods of reaching my kids and exploring collaborative ventures with the science department, but a huge chunk of me is sad to be leaving the building that has been my home for over a decade, friends that are like family, and current collaborative partnerships. Our close-knit department will be divided and that scares me to no end.

As with all semesters, I leave this one with mixed feelings. I am pleased with the improvements I've made, but I am always looking for ways to make things even better.

For now, though, it's time to work on my Christmas list :) I wish all of you a very happy holiday break!!