I really enjoyed Monday night's class. It is nice to be able to go outside the classroom and see the concepts that we are discussing be applied to our surroundings. I especially liked the Bell Tower activity. I was actually quite surprised at how close our estimate was to the actual height of the bell tower. Using sketchpad to model the situation was also exciting because it allowed you to complete the problem without knowing anything about the tangent function. However, it did require me to think about scale (something that hadn't been part of the lesson).
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Chp. 6 Linear Measurement
I was surprised at how poorly some of the students did on the activities. Especially the students were calling something 5 1/2 when it was only 4 1/2. I guess I understand the confusion, but it doesn't seem to make much sense. As I was reading this article I was reminded of my father-in-law who is always talking about teaching the grand kids "stuff." I think that response to him sometimes is "oh they are to young (1, 2, or under) they couldn't possibly learn something," however as I go through this article some to the issues are just misconceptions. My guess would be that not all of these students have a grandpa who is encouraging them to work with different toys or "equipment." I don't know if this is even making sense.......What I am trying to say is that this article really made me a believer of what my father-in-law does/says. He really is teaching our kids "stuff" that will be useful to them in the future.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
GSP!!!!!!!!! IT WORKS
I was working with my students today on squares and square roots. We started the lesson with finding the area and perimeter of different rectangles and squares. Then I gave the students squares with a given area and asked for the side length and perimeter. They all did fine until the they got to the square that had area equal to 110 sq meters. Some said 55 and others said 10 point something....maybe 10.5 they said. We then checked a square that was 10.5 by 10.5 and the area was to big. So others suggested 10.4 and the conversation continued.
I had GSP pulled up on the SMARTboard to see if we could make a square that had area 110 and then measure the side lengths. I was going to have the square ready, but I decided to see if they could create a square as a class. The initial response from the students was to just draw a square. I said how and they said with a ruler and pencil. I told them the program didn't have a ruler that we would have to do something different. One person said, "use that line thing and just do one that looks right." This brought up some debate about whether or not our sides were the same or if we had right angles. We used the measure tool and found that we didn't. We decided to erase everything but the line segment. I gave them a hint and drew a circle using the segment on the screen. From there they were able to create the square. They knew that radius would help them and they knew it had to be perpendicular. The most surprising part was that the students were telling me to make another circle. They wanted another circle that had the same radius with the center at the other end of segment.
After creating the square we measured the side lengths and area. We manipulated the square to make it match the squares in the exploration of area and perimeter.
The most amazing part.........these were Freshman taking Pre-Algebra extended. If you don't know what that means....they are the lowest 30 kids of the freshman class. They were able to figure out GSP and some were saying...."do we get to do this." I was shocked. I usually hear "I'm not doing this, it is stupid."
I had GSP pulled up on the SMARTboard to see if we could make a square that had area 110 and then measure the side lengths. I was going to have the square ready, but I decided to see if they could create a square as a class. The initial response from the students was to just draw a square. I said how and they said with a ruler and pencil. I told them the program didn't have a ruler that we would have to do something different. One person said, "use that line thing and just do one that looks right." This brought up some debate about whether or not our sides were the same or if we had right angles. We used the measure tool and found that we didn't. We decided to erase everything but the line segment. I gave them a hint and drew a circle using the segment on the screen. From there they were able to create the square. They knew that radius would help them and they knew it had to be perpendicular. The most surprising part was that the students were telling me to make another circle. They wanted another circle that had the same radius with the center at the other end of segment.
After creating the square we measured the side lengths and area. We manipulated the square to make it match the squares in the exploration of area and perimeter.
The most amazing part.........these were Freshman taking Pre-Algebra extended. If you don't know what that means....they are the lowest 30 kids of the freshman class. They were able to figure out GSP and some were saying...."do we get to do this." I was shocked. I usually hear "I'm not doing this, it is stupid."
Monday, March 2, 2009
Supplementary Angles / Colinear Angles
FYI I could not find a definition for supplementary angles that didn't involve the word "pair" or the phrase "two adjacent angles."
I also could not find collinear angles.
So I guess the proof needs revised.
I can see my blog now, I don't know what was wrong.
I also could not find collinear angles.
So I guess the proof needs revised.
I can see my blog now, I don't know what was wrong.
Testing Blog
My blog is not showing up. If you can see my blog, please let me know because I can't see it.
Algebra/Geometry and Frustrations and GO CUBS
Algebra and Geometry
This is my first year teaching algebra and I use geometry mainly by using area models as examples for distributive property. I used area and perimeter both last week when I was working with quadratics. I was giving students a fixed perimeter for a rectangle and asking them to come up with whole number sides that satisfied the perimeter. Then they were to find the area of each rectangle, make a table, and graph. This was one our our introductory graphs to quadratics. When using geometry ideas to teach algebra, I try to stop and ask students some questions about the vocabulary and explore any questions or misinterpretations.
Frustrations
So our corporation is cutting spots, just like every other corporation. We are thinking about combining our two middle schools which is creating a huge fight. As a result of this combining I may be moved back to the Middle School next year. In fact I may be moving back regardless. I said all summer that I didn't want to go to high school, but now I don't want to go back. I am excited about the prospect of teaching high school geometry next year and was planning to use my masters project. Now I might not even be teaching high school....and that's just the beginning. My wife is an art teacher in the same corporation and her job is on the line and she may be cut or only be half day.
GO CUBS
My CUBS are doing awesome 4-1 so far in spring training. I know spring training doesn't mean anything, but it is looking good.
GO CUBBIES
This is my first year teaching algebra and I use geometry mainly by using area models as examples for distributive property. I used area and perimeter both last week when I was working with quadratics. I was giving students a fixed perimeter for a rectangle and asking them to come up with whole number sides that satisfied the perimeter. Then they were to find the area of each rectangle, make a table, and graph. This was one our our introductory graphs to quadratics. When using geometry ideas to teach algebra, I try to stop and ask students some questions about the vocabulary and explore any questions or misinterpretations.
Frustrations
So our corporation is cutting spots, just like every other corporation. We are thinking about combining our two middle schools which is creating a huge fight. As a result of this combining I may be moved back to the Middle School next year. In fact I may be moving back regardless. I said all summer that I didn't want to go to high school, but now I don't want to go back. I am excited about the prospect of teaching high school geometry next year and was planning to use my masters project. Now I might not even be teaching high school....and that's just the beginning. My wife is an art teacher in the same corporation and her job is on the line and she may be cut or only be half day.
GO CUBS
My CUBS are doing awesome 4-1 so far in spring training. I know spring training doesn't mean anything, but it is looking good.
GO CUBBIES
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