Systems of Equations Fox Trot Version

Here's a great example of why kids seem to understand Systems of Equations better in a problem situation than in the "naked math" version.

Homecoming and the Day From Hell

Honestly, waking up today I'm surprised I'm still here and I haven't attacked any of my students.

So I spoke before about the Double Block (DB) Geometry class that I have.  As of now the class count is 25 students, 20 which are Special Ed and 1 is 504.  So only 4 students do not have any documentation that they need extra help or assistance. 

Of the 20 SpEd students 4 are qualify as ED (emotional disturbance) but only 1 has a BIP (Behavior Intervention Plan).  To me it logically follows that more than just one of those kids should have one of those because they have problems interacting with each others. 

Well yesterday with all the crazy mums and bells and garters going around the DB Geo class was crazy.  We were on a Pep Rally schedule so that also added to the chaos.  Oh and of course I can't forget to mention that it's the end of the grading period too.  WAY too much to happen on one day. 

So my class was practicing identifying parallel and perpendicular lines today with a puzzle worksheet and a parallel chain.  To start off with the kids got new seats because I had to break up some of the students that wouldn't stop talking and feeding off of each other.  Then one of the "wonderful" students decided instead of working to make signs that said "kick me i'll like it" and using the glue sticks to attach it to peoples backs.  It was a crazy day in there even though there were 4, count them FOUR different adults/teacher in the room (me - teacher of record, inclusion teacher - teacher of record for applied students, educational assistant I - goes into gen ed classes with one particular student but knows a lot of math and is a huge help!, educational assistant II - only gets to come in every other day and used to work with the applied students. ).

So at the end of the period as the class of 25 is putting up the material from the activity, which is a very noisy process, I end up hearing from the back of the room two punches while one of my autistic students was trying to tell me about the hockey game he was going to get to see that night with his dad.  Turns out one of my wonderful ED students punched another student twice in either the leg or abdomen.  There were only a few minutes left in class so I stood at the the front of the room and didn't take my eyes off of them until everyone else had left the room.  Oh and as the students were walking out of the room one of them asked me "Hey Miss, did you like my kick me signs?!" 

So, needless to say I spent most of the next period which happened to be my off period and when I was supposed to do lunch duty, writing referrals, calling parents and looking at students IEP pages and FIEs.

It wasn't until last night that I realized I still have received IEP (individual education plan) pages for about half of the students in that class.  Ugh!!!!

And to top everything off there's 2 layers of icing on the cake.

I'm also the Step Team Sponsor (sponsor meaning I don't get a stipend) and I do the books at the volleyball games (that I do get paid for).  At the pep rally first we couldn't find the music and then the music wouldn't play.  So technically we got two performances in during 1 pep rally.  One was a step performance and at the end was the dance they had been working on.  And when I finally got to the freshman volleyball game late the clock wasn't working so we had to use an old school flip pad to show the score.  Oh and the varsity volleyball and football team lost the homecoming games.  Not the best day or night. 

But hey, the kids that rode in my car for the homecoming parade were King and Queen so I'm pumped about that!

Well, it's time for me to relax and enjoy the weekend.  I'm gonna go plant myself on my couch and rest and relax all day!

Grading with Standards

So how do you grade assignments if the students do not finish assignments or tests?

I have students that are doing great on assignments but just were not able to finish.  Do I just grade them by what they finish or do I let them finish later?  I'm not dealing with any students that need to finish things in any time constraints.  Welcome for any ideas.

Creative Test Answer

I have some creative kids.  Here's an example of one of their answers for sketching a plane with noncollinear points and a line segment.  (NOTE: He didn't get the credit for the points not in a line and he didn't finish the test.  At least he feels good about the artwork he drew for me!)

So would that be a 2, 3, or 4.  I could see it being a 4 if there were 2 separate planes.


*** Got another answer similar from the same class.  This kid did better on it though.  He got the 2 separate planes and the guys love that pics of their test are on my teaching blog!

Too awesome not to share

Just followed a link from a blog to this and I LOVE it!!!
I hope everyone else enjoys it half as much as I do.

http://prezi.com/aww2hjfyil0u/math-is-not-linear/

Implementing SBG School Wide

As the school year has started and my campus has had A LOT of training on SBG practices and procedures it seems like all of the departments are in a rush to implement it now.  As we all are tripping and trying to find out how to exactly implement this in our classrooms I keep wondering if anyone has experienced the same problems on their campuses. 

Did everyone try to implement it at once or was it phased in through departments or levels of teachers?

While the school or district was in transition from the traditional grading system (percentage wise) did all of the PLCs or even departments decide to use the same conversion chart from a scale score to percentage or did different departments or levels have different conversions?

The current hot topic at my school is how do we convert the scale score to a percentage that GradeSpeed can handle.  For my students, and primarily the students I'm intervening with and my DB Geometry class I'm using the table below.

100% = 4.0 = I can do it well enough to make connections that weren't taught.
95% = 3.5 = I can do it well enough to make connections that weren't taught, but I'm not always right about those connections.
90% = 3.0 = I can do everything that was taught without making mistakes.

85% = 2.5 = I can do everything that was taught with a few mistakes.
80% = 2.0 = I can do all of the easy parts, but I can’t do the harder parts.
75% = 1.5 = I can do some of the easier parts, but I make some mistakes.
70% = 1.0 = With help, I can do some of what was taught.


Now that's just the student friendly version that I have posted in my room. In my opinion in those classes the students shouldn't have an opportunity to fail. They always will have receiving help as an option and they will eventually (fingers crossed) be able to get some of the work done.  But that's just my philosophy. 

I'm interested in other peoples experiences and thoughts about this subject especially.  We are having a math department meeting next week to discuss our grading policies.  I hope to hear from people!

I've got what kind of class?!?!

As the school year comes screaming straight toward me I'm starting to panic about the up coming school year. My current schedule stands with 2 sections of Geometry (1 each day), 2 sections of Keys to Math (TAKS math remediation class), and a double block Geometry with my inclusion teacher.

Now my double block geometry is an interesting story. Currently I have general ed and special ed inclusion students in there. At the same time and in the same class my inclusion teacher is scheduled to be the teacher of record for an Applied Double Block (DB) Geometry class. Now that class is a class for low level special education students that are supposed to be in resource classes from their IEP.

I have no clue how to instruct students that are super low, MR, lower level students, as well as general ed students all at the same time. I am very concerned that one group of students, probably either the extremely low or general ed students will not be receiving the necessary instruction or services. Does anyone know of someone that was able to work a skewed level of students such as this and still have them be successful?  I've heard that some of them are extremely needy and I don't know how many kids that are used to one on one instruction at once that I can help.  I do know that the Standards Based Grading would be perfect to use with all of them!