Helping students while I'm a "sub"

So today was interesting and exhausting!  One of my teachers was home sick with laryngitis for the 2nd day and  one was surprisingly out today.  I had told the one with laryngitis that I would be stopping by their room throughout the day to check in on their kids and I ended up having to step into the other teacher's classroom for a few periods to cover since we didn't have enough subs.

Actually 6 of the 21 math teachers on my campus were out today and only 2 had subs that picked up and showed up for the jobs.  But that's a whole different story.

What was so interesting to me today was as I bounced back and forth between two classrooms for the last half of the day I was able to help students understand the big idea behind what they were doing in their respective math classes in 1 or 2 examples and then they were able to go off and run with the crazy algebra skills tied to it.  

In one Algebra 2 class I was able to help some students understand how to find the least common denominator by giving them some examples from years ago when they were adding fractions by hand.  The sweeties asked if I could come into the classroom more and I had to remind them that today was their second day working on the material so it was going to make more sense now but it reminded me how on the fly some of my examples from previous classes were when I finally had break throughs with my own students.

It kinda makes me wish I had a class for a grading period or just a tutorial group of kids to work with so I can make sure and spend more time with many of them on areas that they are struggling with.  

I wish I could be an IC and a teacher at the same time sometimes!

Or I could just wait for summer school and remember that I'm going to get a handful from many students when we start working with the students that need to retake the EOC test.

I hope everyone else had a great day and was able to have some insights with their students as well!

#MTBoSBlaugust Day 25: I totally math geeked out last night

So my neighborhood has a Google Group where everyone is able to post if they are having a garage sale, dates and times of bird walks and nature hikes, about the issues with mailboxes (don't get me started on that subject) and the crazy traffic that has come up at an intersection near where 3 schools are located.  This gave me some inspiration for either a WCYDWT or 3 Act problem for the kids.  I still need to hash out all the details once I learn all the space requirements.

Here's the background:
Last year there was just 2 schools near this intersection and now there are 3 all starting at the same time.  

The stars are where the schools are located

There's lots of congestion and people have also noticed people blowing through the stop sign near the intersection.  Then I saw this in the email thread:

And I started wondering, why isn't there enough room?  How much room is required for a roundabout or traffic circle?  Could that be applied to properties of circles and area in geometry or would that be better attacked in Algebra 2 and try to maximize the restrictions?

I found this when I started researching the construction requirements for a roundabout:

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/intersection/innovative/roundabouts/fhwasa10006/

I'm still researching a lot about it and how much more space is required compared to traditional intersections but when I get a problem or project or something worked out I'll update this post with it for anyone else that is interested in using it.

Gotta love the random inspiration I get!

#MTBoSBlaugust Day 4: Lesson Inspiration - Audible Books, Shows, Random places

So a friend of mine got me started on Audible in December, which ended up being perfect in multiple ways.  It's been great since I've spent a lot of time in the hospital with my mom over the past 9 months and I've actually gotten some inspiration for various math lessons since then through the books I was listening to.

The first was from Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs.  This series is what the TV Bones is loosely based off of (if your read it expecting everything to be the same as in the TV show you will be disappointed).  

In it someone is killed and there is an in depth discussion of blood spatter evidence and how the point of origin was previously calculated using the string method, compared to how it is now calculated with a program and utilizing various functions.  I came up with an extension for some of the Algebra 2 students that dealt with using the absolute value function to find the point of origin and made an additional extension for the PreCalculus students to do it with trig functions.  Placing it in PreCalc really is more appropriate but I thought it would be interesting for some students to do it in both courses and compare their findings and see which is more precise.  I'll upload that lesson once I get it more flushed out after working it with some students.


Another inspiration that came to me just yesterday was from The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerriotsen.  These books are about Rizzoli & Isles (another great TV detective show, I might have an addiction to these) and again, the TV show is loosely based on the novels.  Lots of little differences between the books and the show.  In The Mephisto Club someone is leaving clues behind and at one uses the eye of Ra.  The eye of Ra, also known as the eye of Horus and the all seeing eye, is an early use of math and each part represents half of another piece.  

(from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/shayna-or-sheness-israel/all-seeing-%E2%80%9Ceye%E2%80%9D-proprioceptors-electrodes-pick-brainwaves)

I'm not quiet sure yet how I'm going to use this in an lesson other than maybe when doing geometric regression, but it's definitely something I want to try and incorporate next year.  Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Before I've also gotten inspiration for math questions or lessons while at live shows when thinking about where the best sound will be or watching a show being filmed when someone is using a Jib Jab.

(from http://jgbroadcast.tv/)

I'm curious what are some of the interesting or different ways you've gotten inspiration for a lesson or question to pose to your students.  I'm looking forward to hearing about it!

Campus Wide Intervention

So this year at my new school we're doing campus wide intervention for the entire spring semester in an effort to try and assist all students with the upcoming EOC exams, AP exams and their coursework.  It's been great to see the kids getting a lot of help and assistance out of the 30 mins each day but the planning portion of it on my end has been a little tiring.

We have 5 math sections that are happening; Current Algebra I remediation, Algebra I EOC Retesters, Current Algebra 2 remediation, AP Calculus Test Prep and AP Stats Test Prep.  The AP math teachers are doing a great job of getting their assignments and lessons together for the intervention time but I've been making the lessons, answer keys, copies, etc for the Algebra I EOC Retesters and the Current Algebra 2 remediation.  I really think my brain is about to short circuit from the additional planning it's been putting on my plate each week along with all the other new responsibilities that I've been trying to wrap my head around this year.  But hey, if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger, right?!

I do have to say I've found some great resources that I've used for both rotations on Teachers Pay Teachers as well as on She Loves Math for the Algebra 2 curriculum that I'm supplementing.

If anyone out there has any additional resources for the new Alg I EOC in Texas I would happily trade some of the assignments and activities I've created!  

Happy Test Prep Season!