Thursday, March 13, 2014
A Monkey Mistake - Is the Slope Negative or Positive?
One problem I find that students have with interpreting linear graphs is that they often mistake a negative slope for a positive slope and vice versa. Knowing this AND knowing that if I can make them laugh, I can make them learn (which is the philosophy behind this blog), I have used this video for this purpose.
Now if they confuse a negative and a positive slope, I can tell them they made a "monkey" mistake!
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Seeing Dan Meyer in Person
Back in October I attended a workshop run by Dan Meyer. Maybe you can't tell from my last sentence, but I am trying to play it cool. I GOT TO MEET DAN MEYER IN PERSON! WOW! To me, he is a superstar of the math teaching world. I must admit, I felt like a geek, telling everyone and anyone who would listen to me for weeks beforehand - "I am going to attend a workshop led by Dan Meyer!" Even my dad, who is a retired math teacher himself, gave me a polite smile and a blank look, even after I explained who he is...My husband laughed at me, but I didn't care. The day was awesome and inspiring, and I am going to include it in my Christmas letter, once I write it (yes, I am a big procrastinator).
My first impression of Dan Meyer as I walked in the room was that he was much taller than he looked on his TED video. He may be 6'5". At times I was worried he might hit his head on the projector hanging down from the ceiling as the day went on. As larger than life as Mr. Meyer appeared, he impressed me as a very real and down-to-earth individual.
I introduced myself, and we shook hands. He thought we had met somewhere before, and I explained to him that maybe he recalled me from the time I emailed him about using his website 101 questions. My picture appears in my email. He explained that the website is much easier to use now, and he was right. I was able to finally post a picture of my own that day. If you are curious, here's the link to it: Big Fish.
Since I posted it back on October 11th, as I write this, I have earned 8 skips and 1 question (my own). Yes, not a big perplexity rating, but it's a start. Some day I will write some rockin' 3 acts to go with more pictures.
Since that day I have shown several of my colleagues the website and how to search for certain grade levels and subjects, and I think they have found it helpful. What I really liked about learning about the Three Acts from Dan Meyer is that he explained how to use them and that they aren't an everyday thing. Not every concept can be taught or introduced with a creative video/picture activity. But they are a way to engage that math-phobic crowd, the crowd that Mr. Meyer spent his teaching years working with in California. This question that he asked sort of sums it up, "How do you motivate a student that is a homeless alcoholic?"
The answer to that question ended up being to inspire a student's natural human nature toward intellectual curiosity. Show them something awesome, something that perplexes them. Invite them to make a guess about these situations, and then invite them to try to come up with what is needed to solve the problem. If only math could be like that every day! Even Dan Meyer admitted that there is a need for "practice" a.k.a. "Homework" and that's not a bad thing, but even after 19 years in teaching I still work every day to find that perfect balance. That's why teaching is an art.
One last amusing anecdote from the day - we were working on a problem, and Dan was trying to inspire our perplexity by mentioning a time at another conference when an English teacher questioned his math. He wondered aloud who had let an English teacher into a math workshop, and I had to smile. I am another such "weirdo" certified in English and math. However, I was able to see the previous English teacher's mistake - she was reading a math problem grammatically. I wish I could remember the problem, something about assuming an exponential situation could be calculated in a linear way....what struck me as funny about Dan mentioning that was how sometimes math teachers can seem so exclusive even though we are trying to do the opposite and make math more accessible.
One thing Dan does inspire other teachers to do is to reflect in a blog, and network with other such math teacher bloggers to help refine this teaching balance, the balance between perplexity and practice. I am an English teacher, so it does marry my two interests - writing about math, a perfect match, now only if I had the discipline. It's not too late to start a New Year's Resolution, right?
My first impression of Dan Meyer as I walked in the room was that he was much taller than he looked on his TED video. He may be 6'5". At times I was worried he might hit his head on the projector hanging down from the ceiling as the day went on. As larger than life as Mr. Meyer appeared, he impressed me as a very real and down-to-earth individual.
I introduced myself, and we shook hands. He thought we had met somewhere before, and I explained to him that maybe he recalled me from the time I emailed him about using his website 101 questions. My picture appears in my email. He explained that the website is much easier to use now, and he was right. I was able to finally post a picture of my own that day. If you are curious, here's the link to it: Big Fish.
Since I posted it back on October 11th, as I write this, I have earned 8 skips and 1 question (my own). Yes, not a big perplexity rating, but it's a start. Some day I will write some rockin' 3 acts to go with more pictures.
Since that day I have shown several of my colleagues the website and how to search for certain grade levels and subjects, and I think they have found it helpful. What I really liked about learning about the Three Acts from Dan Meyer is that he explained how to use them and that they aren't an everyday thing. Not every concept can be taught or introduced with a creative video/picture activity. But they are a way to engage that math-phobic crowd, the crowd that Mr. Meyer spent his teaching years working with in California. This question that he asked sort of sums it up, "How do you motivate a student that is a homeless alcoholic?"
The answer to that question ended up being to inspire a student's natural human nature toward intellectual curiosity. Show them something awesome, something that perplexes them. Invite them to make a guess about these situations, and then invite them to try to come up with what is needed to solve the problem. If only math could be like that every day! Even Dan Meyer admitted that there is a need for "practice" a.k.a. "Homework" and that's not a bad thing, but even after 19 years in teaching I still work every day to find that perfect balance. That's why teaching is an art.
One last amusing anecdote from the day - we were working on a problem, and Dan was trying to inspire our perplexity by mentioning a time at another conference when an English teacher questioned his math. He wondered aloud who had let an English teacher into a math workshop, and I had to smile. I am another such "weirdo" certified in English and math. However, I was able to see the previous English teacher's mistake - she was reading a math problem grammatically. I wish I could remember the problem, something about assuming an exponential situation could be calculated in a linear way....what struck me as funny about Dan mentioning that was how sometimes math teachers can seem so exclusive even though we are trying to do the opposite and make math more accessible.
One thing Dan does inspire other teachers to do is to reflect in a blog, and network with other such math teacher bloggers to help refine this teaching balance, the balance between perplexity and practice. I am an English teacher, so it does marry my two interests - writing about math, a perfect match, now only if I had the discipline. It's not too late to start a New Year's Resolution, right?
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Back to Math
Unlike many other teachers who were unwillingly cut to part time in our district, I was forced into a full time job, in English. Carson, my son, is only 3. I am not ready to have him in daycare all day, so when a part time math job opened up, I jumped at it. So next year, I am back to teaching math - Algebra. I am excited!!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Best Joke So Far
We are reading Romeo and Juliet right now, and last week I quizzed the class to see how much they understood about the plot. I asked out loud, "Who is going to be the messenger between Romeo and Juliet as they plan their wedding?"
One boy blurted out, "Tybalt!!!" I don't know if he knew how funny he was being, but most of the class, including him, laughed. I took it as a good sign that they are understanding it somewhat.
One boy blurted out, "Tybalt!!!" I don't know if he knew how funny he was being, but most of the class, including him, laughed. I took it as a good sign that they are understanding it somewhat.
Monday, March 30, 2009
High School Students
Well, now I teach high school, part time, and I have been enjoying it. I'm not sure they provide as much material for a blog about classroom laughs as 7th grade students. Although, I haven't really been looking.
Looking back on the year so far, I think the most hilarious moment of this year was when a student of mine was trying to write on the SmartBoard. Those things are as difficult to write on as those signature machines that you see at every check out counter these days. What was so funny about it was that he would write and then get frustrated at us when we couldn't read it. Gosh! we were so dumb!
I guess I'm going to have to keep on trying.
Looking back on the year so far, I think the most hilarious moment of this year was when a student of mine was trying to write on the SmartBoard. Those things are as difficult to write on as those signature machines that you see at every check out counter these days. What was so funny about it was that he would write and then get frustrated at us when we couldn't read it. Gosh! we were so dumb!
I guess I'm going to have to keep on trying.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
I had a Dream - A true story
We have been trying for 8 years to become parents, and all our failures have been mine. Our first pregnancy was a burst ectopic that almost killed me, and our 6th and last pregnancy and miscarriage in October finished our hopes (or so I thought) of ever becoming parents. And then a miracle happened. It started with a dream. One morning in early April, the 10th to be exact, I woke up with a very vivid dream which was also funny, and I shared it with my husband. After sharing it, I forgot it until that night my husband reminded me.
My dream was about a girl we both know. When we first moved into our house eleven years ago, she was four years old, and almost every day since that first day she knocked on our door to see if anyone could come out and play, she visited us. She was like our adopted niece and shadow. Now, she is a teenager, and we hardly ever see her. In my dream, she had a baby and was not ready to be a parent, so she wanted us to adopt this baby. At one point in my dream, she complained about the baby being a hyper child, and all of a sudden, he was a rambunctious 8-year old boy, jumping on top of a table (my dreams are weird that way sometimes, like a play with no transitions between scenes). I reminded her that she was no picnic at that age either, and then all of a sudden Dave and I were driving on a path in a golf cart next to a lake to go and visit our baby. It was a completely silly and funny dream, and it gave us both a good laugh, until later that night as we were talking about the most important decision in our lives, and the dream became an indication of the future.
Later that day, I was teaching my second math class. The kids were working together on a project, and I was walking around the room like a waitress with 23 customers, helping, observing, reminding, motivating, and pushing them to learn when the phone rang. The phone ringing during class is not unusual, so I had no inkling about the impact this call would have as I picked up the phone. I said hello, and in response I heard Marilyn’s voice. She said, “Alice? Hold on. Your doctor is on the other line, just a minute.” In the split second that it took for her to transfer the call, I felt a flash of confusion. I hadn’t been to see the doctor since last October. My doctor greeted me and then said, “Are you sitting down?” So I sat down with a little twinge of fear. The fleeting thought occurred to me that maybe she discovered that our miscarriage in October really was due to cancer, and she had recently found new evidence; and so when she told me about the baby who was born yesterday, I was understandably slow to comprehend. She explained further. “The birth mother wants him to be adopted. He’s healthy. He’s beautiful. She didn’t have prenatal care before last week because I think the birth mother just didn’t want to face the fact that she was pregnant, but she wants him to have a good home. She asked me to help her with this, because she wants a completely closed adoption. I thought of you immediately.”
“Wow, I’d better sit down,” I thought. Oh, I was already sitting down. I wanted to say yes, what’s next. I wanted to say, no, we’re not ready. We were in the pre-beginning stages of this complicated process called adoption. She must have heard my thoughts because she explained how she would help us find a lawyer to help us through the process, so I thanked her for calling and told her I would call her back after I had spoken to my husband. Wow! The rest of the day was a blur, but I do remember that I did manage to reach Dave by phone at work to tell him of this miracle. My husband, more cautious than I, told me we would talk about it that evening when we got home. So we talked when we both got home that night, and in our conversation he reminded me of my dream. We recalled our last pregnancy and figured that this baby was born right around the time our baby would have been born had he survived. We decided to call and tell my doctor that, yes, we were 100% sure that we wanted this baby. And then the phone rang, right then. Just like it would happen in a movie, it was our lawyer calling to give us more information about how we would begin this wonderful journey - another sign that this was meant to be.
Since then we have spent a handful of hours with our son, Carson, who is right now in foster care with a very nice family an hour drive away. Every time we visit, it gets harder and harder to leave. The foster mother is very strict about her time, and I have been fighting my feelings of jealousy; but it isn’t easy when she tells me things like he smiled at her, even though she adds it might have just been gas. I just have to keep telling myself that this was meant to be, and that God has a reason for answering our prayers in ways we least expect, and then I think back to one more mystical detail of our experience so far that solidifies my feelings that everything is going to happen like it should. The detail is from the first trip we took to the foster home to see Carson. We had already spent time with him in the hospital that weekend and had met the foster parents when they picked him up the day before at the hospital, but this was the first day that we were visiting him in the foster home. We were driving into Manitowoc past this impressive, modern-looking complex. We were speculating about what it might be when my husband commented that they had a nice wide path on the grounds, and it looked like it was made for golf carts. Just then, I looked to my right and we were passing a small lake called Silver Lake, and that last, seemingly meaningless part of my dream came rushing back to me. “It’s my dream!” I shouted. My husband looked at me startled and concerned that I had finally completely lost my mind, and then I explained it to him because I had not told him the golf cart and lake part of my dream before. He accepted it as a matter of fact, another sign that this baby was meant to be.
Now our home study is done, and our court hearing is scheduled for the 23rd of May. After that date, the birth parents can no longer change their minds, and even though for 6 months after that we are considered a temporary placement before there is a finalization hearing, May 23rd will be the day we can begin truly rejoicing that he is ours. We have the option of having him come home sooner, and that is an opportunity that I am taking. I start my leave on May 16th, and ironically, now that we have a set date, it is harder to wait. I am more antsy for our lives to begin. As I write this now it’s only 6 days away, but this wait seems longer than any I have ever endured. What will be nice about having him come home the week before our hearing, because it is before the hearing, we will have a week with our baby that will be just ours before the flood of well-wishing friends and relatives begins.
We have been cautioned that if the birth parents change their minds that it is harder to accept once the baby has been home, and for that reason, most people wait until the hearing. However, either way with him home or still in foster care, I would be devastated if that happened. If we didn‘t bring him home before the hearing, the difference would be that I would never have had the chance to hold him for more than 2 hours, to sing to him, to comfort and care for him throughout the night, or to rock him gently to sleep as I told him this story of the miracle of his journey to us and ours to him.
My dream was about a girl we both know. When we first moved into our house eleven years ago, she was four years old, and almost every day since that first day she knocked on our door to see if anyone could come out and play, she visited us. She was like our adopted niece and shadow. Now, she is a teenager, and we hardly ever see her. In my dream, she had a baby and was not ready to be a parent, so she wanted us to adopt this baby. At one point in my dream, she complained about the baby being a hyper child, and all of a sudden, he was a rambunctious 8-year old boy, jumping on top of a table (my dreams are weird that way sometimes, like a play with no transitions between scenes). I reminded her that she was no picnic at that age either, and then all of a sudden Dave and I were driving on a path in a golf cart next to a lake to go and visit our baby. It was a completely silly and funny dream, and it gave us both a good laugh, until later that night as we were talking about the most important decision in our lives, and the dream became an indication of the future.
Later that day, I was teaching my second math class. The kids were working together on a project, and I was walking around the room like a waitress with 23 customers, helping, observing, reminding, motivating, and pushing them to learn when the phone rang. The phone ringing during class is not unusual, so I had no inkling about the impact this call would have as I picked up the phone. I said hello, and in response I heard Marilyn’s voice. She said, “Alice? Hold on. Your doctor is on the other line, just a minute.” In the split second that it took for her to transfer the call, I felt a flash of confusion. I hadn’t been to see the doctor since last October. My doctor greeted me and then said, “Are you sitting down?” So I sat down with a little twinge of fear. The fleeting thought occurred to me that maybe she discovered that our miscarriage in October really was due to cancer, and she had recently found new evidence; and so when she told me about the baby who was born yesterday, I was understandably slow to comprehend. She explained further. “The birth mother wants him to be adopted. He’s healthy. He’s beautiful. She didn’t have prenatal care before last week because I think the birth mother just didn’t want to face the fact that she was pregnant, but she wants him to have a good home. She asked me to help her with this, because she wants a completely closed adoption. I thought of you immediately.”
“Wow, I’d better sit down,” I thought. Oh, I was already sitting down. I wanted to say yes, what’s next. I wanted to say, no, we’re not ready. We were in the pre-beginning stages of this complicated process called adoption. She must have heard my thoughts because she explained how she would help us find a lawyer to help us through the process, so I thanked her for calling and told her I would call her back after I had spoken to my husband. Wow! The rest of the day was a blur, but I do remember that I did manage to reach Dave by phone at work to tell him of this miracle. My husband, more cautious than I, told me we would talk about it that evening when we got home. So we talked when we both got home that night, and in our conversation he reminded me of my dream. We recalled our last pregnancy and figured that this baby was born right around the time our baby would have been born had he survived. We decided to call and tell my doctor that, yes, we were 100% sure that we wanted this baby. And then the phone rang, right then. Just like it would happen in a movie, it was our lawyer calling to give us more information about how we would begin this wonderful journey - another sign that this was meant to be.
Since then we have spent a handful of hours with our son, Carson, who is right now in foster care with a very nice family an hour drive away. Every time we visit, it gets harder and harder to leave. The foster mother is very strict about her time, and I have been fighting my feelings of jealousy; but it isn’t easy when she tells me things like he smiled at her, even though she adds it might have just been gas. I just have to keep telling myself that this was meant to be, and that God has a reason for answering our prayers in ways we least expect, and then I think back to one more mystical detail of our experience so far that solidifies my feelings that everything is going to happen like it should. The detail is from the first trip we took to the foster home to see Carson. We had already spent time with him in the hospital that weekend and had met the foster parents when they picked him up the day before at the hospital, but this was the first day that we were visiting him in the foster home. We were driving into Manitowoc past this impressive, modern-looking complex. We were speculating about what it might be when my husband commented that they had a nice wide path on the grounds, and it looked like it was made for golf carts. Just then, I looked to my right and we were passing a small lake called Silver Lake, and that last, seemingly meaningless part of my dream came rushing back to me. “It’s my dream!” I shouted. My husband looked at me startled and concerned that I had finally completely lost my mind, and then I explained it to him because I had not told him the golf cart and lake part of my dream before. He accepted it as a matter of fact, another sign that this baby was meant to be.
Now our home study is done, and our court hearing is scheduled for the 23rd of May. After that date, the birth parents can no longer change their minds, and even though for 6 months after that we are considered a temporary placement before there is a finalization hearing, May 23rd will be the day we can begin truly rejoicing that he is ours. We have the option of having him come home sooner, and that is an opportunity that I am taking. I start my leave on May 16th, and ironically, now that we have a set date, it is harder to wait. I am more antsy for our lives to begin. As I write this now it’s only 6 days away, but this wait seems longer than any I have ever endured. What will be nice about having him come home the week before our hearing, because it is before the hearing, we will have a week with our baby that will be just ours before the flood of well-wishing friends and relatives begins.
We have been cautioned that if the birth parents change their minds that it is harder to accept once the baby has been home, and for that reason, most people wait until the hearing. However, either way with him home or still in foster care, I would be devastated if that happened. If we didn‘t bring him home before the hearing, the difference would be that I would never have had the chance to hold him for more than 2 hours, to sing to him, to comfort and care for him throughout the night, or to rock him gently to sleep as I told him this story of the miracle of his journey to us and ours to him.
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