Math was fun today

Yesterday I had a great day. I teach two different classes, I teach math 7 periods 2, 3, 5 and math 7 honors 1, 6, 7.

In math 7 today we played a review game; everyone had fun and there was candy involved. It was a fun day; we listened to Bohemian Rhapsody and taught the students about good music, and reviewed for the quiz tomorrow.

In math 7 honors I taught a lesson on Pascal’s Triangle. I team teach with another teacher first period and today was my day to teach the lesson, but it didn’t go as well as I planed and I was nervous to teach the same lesson two more times. The teacher I team teach with has a more follow the rules exactly way of teaching than I do. She’s a very linear person and does a, then b, then c and doesn’t deviate from it, so her students kind of just sit there quietly during lessons and don’t give you a ton of feedback. I finished the lesson in like 20 minutes and had 20 minutes left of class to entertain them, luckily I roll with the punches and decided I was going to learn everyone’s name by having them go down the row and say their name and I took a page from Dustin’s book and had them say their favorite smell. That got them talking, now they know that I allow talking and will talk with them.

During my prep period I slightly revised how I was going to teach the lesson for 6^th and 7^th period and it went great. I gave the students this handout:

I told them they were supposed to figure out the pattern and fill out only the left triangle with their best guess. I gave them plenty of time to establish their pattern then I called for volunteers to share what their next row looked like and how they got it. I got answers like: 1 5 7 7 5 1,     1 5 9 9 5 1,      1 5 10 10 5 1,     1 5 12 12 5 1. I wrote all their guesses on the board and in every class at least one person guessed the right answer so I told the students the right answer was on the board but before I explained the triangle and told them which was right we were going to learn about it. I then gave them a lesson on the history and a few of the patterns of Pascal's Triangle. During the lesson a few of the students would figure out which guess was right and try to remember how that person figured it out. They loved the patterns and asked me tons of questions and we talked about how weird zero is and all the weird rules with zero. At the end of the lesson I explained how to get the next row and had them fill out the right triangle.

 We had amazing discussions in both 6^th and 7^th period. After the lesson I gave them this worksheet:

I also gave them this completed Pascal Triangle to help them with the worksheet and had them color in a pattern for homework:

When students were leaving I heard them talking to their friends leaving the other math 7 honors class and saying how cool math was today. I love it when students leave class and ask if the other class had as much fun as we did. That’s how you know you’re teaching math right.

I hung the patterns they came up with in the hall.

This is how teaching is supposed to be

Lately I haven’t enjoyed teaching as much as I did at the ranch or teaching snowboarding lessons or even student teaching. This week I found out why.

We told the administration that we had too many kids and that made for too many papers to grade every day, too many formative assessments to keep track of, too many missed quizzes to keep track of, too many IEP’s and 504 (legal things to give accommodations to students) too keep track of, and too many conflicting IEP’s in the same classroom- one kid needs a silent testing area, one needs test read aloud, one needs music playing. I had classes with 40 students in them, if you’ve ever tried to get 40 twelve-year-olds to sit quietly after they’ve been to 6 other classes it’s nearly impossible.  I was recording the scores of 190 papers every day, grading 190 quizzes every Friday, grading 190 formative assessments every Thursday. Let me tell you, we need to bring penmanship back into the schools, parents were getting mad because if we couldn’t read it in about 30 seconds we just marked it wrong. But I did the math one day and actually graded a student’s paper that was extremely hard to read, it took me 20 minutes to grade one paper, so let’s times that by 190 students, that’s 63 hours I would spend on grading if I tried to read sloppy handwriting. That’s 63 hours of unpaid grading if we would just, as parents put it, ‘do our job’.  We explained this problem to the administration and told them that we had been putting in 12+ hour days to get everything done and they finally listened! They hired 2 more math teachers and now my biggest class size is 28!

This has been the best week of teaching ever! Do you know how much better you can teach when you only have 28 kids in a class? It’s amazing. We get so much more done and I can change the lesson according to the feedback you get from the students, classroom management is easier and it’s not as stressful knowing you only have to keep track of 28 students instead of 40. Now I teach 140ish students- I have graded all papers, wrote lesson plans, made up quiz retakes and been home by 5 every day this week. It’s been teaching bliss. This is how I imagined teaching would be.

What I wish parents knew

I do not know what assignments your child hasn’t turned in, I have 189 students I see every day.

Please read your child’s math book, there are very detailed examples. I also post the notes from class onto Canvas.

Please read your emails!

I also have a life and do not check my email after 5:00 or on weekends.

I really really really want your child to succeed. I need your help!

Please check your students homework daily.  

Please take the time to read the word problems, most of them are common sense and you can reason through them with your student.

I know that the math is different than when you went through school, we’re all learning the higher order thinking math together.

I don’t only work on school days from 7:30-3:10 (My hours add up to way more than 180 school days). I grade papers, make lesson plans, write papers on the data I collect to submit to the board, and think of ways to differentiate lessons for the students that need it every weekend. I stay late to help students who don’t understand, I use my prep period to help failing students, not just my own but all failing students with math.

I also wish the curriculum went slower and students could have more time to digest it, but I do not control what your student needs to know by the end of the year, contact the legislature to change the policy.

Teachers are trying their best to help your child be successful, we need your help! 

First term finished!

I made it through the first term of teaching! It had it’s up and downs and I learned a lot. I think I know how to make next term better than this first one. I ended this term with 171 students earning a B or higher out of 186, that’s 91% of my students with a grade higher than a B.

During a new teacher collaboration we watched a video about this math teacher that grades her tests by highlighting where the students went wrong. That’s all she did was highlight the tests, no score on it, no correcting the mistake, just highlighting the step that was wrong. Then she handed them back to the students and gave them a few minutes to discuss with their neighbors why they got it wrong. I’m excited to try this way of grading, I think it will encourage more learning and less I’m stupid’s.

I’m trying this new thing called class dojo this term; I’m hoping it will help the students who talk non-stop to be quiet in class, there are a few students that no matter where you seat them they will talk.

I’ve also gotten better at keeping track of what each student needs to fix their grade, and the students are getting better at looking it up also. I think this next semester is going to be much better than the first.

Also I almost forgot, since two of my friends that I went to college with also teach at my school we are continuing a joke we played on each other at school. I got a little green rubber rat from a math teacher in college and we would put it in each other’s rooms, cars, backpacks, wherever and now we hide it in each other’s classrooms. It’s really fun, the students enjoy it also.  

This is the rat we hide

I hid the rat in Ms. Dannelly's room.

Can you spot it?

Running and math class

WOW! So I’ve been like perpetually behind lately, but this weekend I got 100% caught up and have a plan that will hopefully help me to never be this behind again. 

So what has happened since the first week of school?

I have learned almost all of my students’ names. 187 names is a lot of names, especially when only half of them ever raise their hand. I did learn the really talkative students’ names very fast. I have learned about more paperwork that I need to do, also the fines associated with not doing them. I have learned the personalities of each class and how to change my lesson to fit that class. Each class is so different its fun to see the classes come in with different emotions each day. Sometimes they come into class very quiet and calm and sometimes they come barreling in full of excitement. Some days I wonder if anyone is home out there and other days we have the best conversations ever. We are all learning new words together and what is in and what isn’t in (by the way saying math is easy-cheese is not in) the whip is in, the science teacher wants 7^th period to be quiet (I learned this because all the Honors students have me 6^th, science 7^th and they are always saying that the science teacher is yelling at them. She doesn’t yell at them anymore than I do but somehow she’s the bad guy, sorry science), the English teacher still has the rat and hasn’t found it yet (in college I was roommates with two of the other teachers and we had this glow in the dark small Halloween rat that we would hide in each other’s rooms, cars, backpacks and now we hide it in each others classrooms), and I still love seeing that light turn on when a student finally understands, I especially love seeing it when they are working on homework together and they are explaining their answers and settle on who has the right answer and why it’s right.

Here's the little rat we hide in each others rooms                                                                                                                                  

 Here is where I hid it in the science  room, then it got hidden in English

I also ran the Disneyland half marathon over Labor Day weekend. That was a lot of fun, but might have contributed to my being behind on paperwork. I can’t wait to run it again now that I know how it works.

Since we ran it during the diamond celebration and the 10th anniversary of the 

Disneyland half we got a ton of commemorative stuff 

This is a pin of the medal, I put it on my lanyard I wear at school

Me and mom at the running convention being silly

The shirt we get for running, the lanyard and pins

and cellphone holder I got at the expo

and my bib and information book

The night before the race making sure we were all ready for the race!

Mom is Ariel and I'm Flounder

Grading at the hotel

At the start line. There were soooo many people!

It's finally our corrals turn to start running, I can now see the starting line

Cars land

Cinderellas castle

Small world

a little over half-way done and still smiling!

The roads leading up to Angles stadium were lined with old cars

it was so cool

almost inside Angles stadium

At the finish line

In downtown Disney

After you run they give you this box of goodies

the cheese was actually pretty good, although having been 

awake for like 5 hours and not eating anything might have

had something to do with it. 

Later that same day we went to Disneyland with Auntie Lisa and Sarah and Joseph

I don't suggest going to Disneyland after running 13.1 miles but we still had fun

I bought myself a diamond anniversary hat

I was also there for the 50th anniversary and have a hat for that celebration too

At the expo you could get green screen pictures they were fun

I have also learned that I am not cool unless I have read the Michael Vey books. I think I’ll need to buy them as audio books, I have found that I really enjoy listening to audio books on my way to work, and I also don’t get as mad that the light takes forever to turn green if I’m listening to a book.

Awhile ago I read this article so I decided to try it. We needed a new seating chart in a few classes anyway and I needed to see who the students who were struggling with would talk to so I tried it. The results are somewhat surprising to me. A few of them I expected, a few of them I didn’t expect. 

Holy Cow!!!!

Well I survived the first full week of teaching. I have learned that 45 minutes goes really fast with 7^th graders. Here is a list of things I wish someone told me for the first week of teaching my content area.

I wish someone told me:

1.      That they have no clue they need to write their first AND last name and period on every paper they turn in.

2.      That student’s will constantly tell you they know of a cute guy you should date. ( Well, mostly just the same 3 girls in 5^th period)

3.      That even though you told them to write the assignment on the top of the page they can’t do it.

4.      That you really really really have to explain that they cannot leave class unless they want to use their hall pass and once they use them both they can’t leave class anymore.

5.      That they are scared beyond all get out and have no clue what is going on. You need a ton of patience!

6.      That you really need to spend a long time talking about how to write your name, period, and assignment on their papers.

7.      That when you make math as fun as I do you will hear people whispering about your class while you’re standing in line at the movie theater, grocery store, climbing at The Quarry, in the halls and how to handle it. (Sometimes parents are just as awkward as their 12 year old)

8.      They can remember that you subtracted wrong but can’t remember to write their last name on their paper.

9.      That even though I have a sign that says Miss. Lee I was absent they will still ask you where to find the assignment from when they were absent. Also you will repeatedly tell them in class how to turn in late/absent work and they will ask you how right when you get finished explaining it

10.  That the light that turns on when you re-explain something in a different way is the best look you will ever get.

11.  That the paperwork that goes with teaching is why all the good teachers quit. I really care about the students but the paperwork is endless and pointless.

12.  That you can get even the worst class to have great class conversations with a bag of starbursts.

13.  Seriously the amount of paperwork is huge!

14.  That you will get a class that has conflicting 504 and IEP plans and you are expected to carry them all out at the same time. (504 and IEP are kind of special education plans)

Overall class is going great! I’m seeing a lot of great things and fixing a lot of bad things. Here are some pictures of my classroom.

Every teacher has a plaque with the school mascot of the college they went to

There is a ton of red at this school.

The sign that is hung crooked is that way on purpose. Students love to point

out when stuff isn't right but none of them have noticed so I know they are

not reading the sign that has the answers to their questions on it. 

This is a panorama of my classroom standing in front 

another picture from the front. This is what I see pretty much all the time.

Our school has no windows so it makes for a long day

The FOCUS has the clock for the O but its a crazy math clock

The students think it's cool but they are always asking me what time it is

The board with the grid on it says Miss Lee I was absent above it

the grid is a calendar will the assignment written on it

view from my desk

view from the door

Learning about integers, the fun way

I LOVE TEACHING!!!!!!

Not to say I’m the coolest teacher at the school, but I am. I had students who passed me in the hall counting down how many more classes until they got to go to mine. One student walked past and goes “Ms. Lee! Only 2 more classes!” He has me for 3^rd period, that means he hadn’t even gone to his first class and was already looking forward to my class.

On Friday I gave my students their math workbook and had them write their name (first and last), and period on the side of it in sharpie, we said together as a class like 10 times that they would need it on Monday, as they walked into class today I announced they needed their workbook, I had it written on the whiteboard outside my room Friday after school, and that morning, I had it written on the board when they got into class, but, in every class there was at least one student that did not have their book!!!! There were two students that asked me, yes me, where there book was!!! I don’t know what you did with your book I told you to put it in your locker and bring it to class Monday. There are a few things that I am learning about 7^th graders, one of them being they have no clue if they have two shoes on.

Back to how my class is more fun than any math class you’ve ever been in. Since I’m a first year teacher people constantly stop by my room to listen to my lessons, see how I’m handling my classes, etc., well today when my new teacher mentor stopped in on my class she stayed after class, which was odd, and told me my teaching makes her want to go to math class every day! That’s like the best compliment ever. No one wants to go to math class, I don’t even want to go to math class.

Now you’re wondering what on earth was your lesson about? I’ll tell you. Today we learned about integers and absolute value, nothing very exciting about that. But I don’t let that stop me from making it fun.

We graph the integers after we learn what they are and students are notorious for putting the negative number on the right and the positive number on the left, which is wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. So I ask them if they know the song that goes to the left to the left to the left to the right to the right to the right (I googled it and it’s called the Cupid Shuffle), and they all look at me like no, you’re weird and crazy, but I just keep going with it. I tell them the positive numbers are over here to the right to the right to the right as I slide over to the right then I go back to zero ( I have a number line above my smartboard) and I say negative numbers are over to the left to the left to the left and they all laugh at me then I make them repeat it. I say so the positive numbers are to….. and they all sing the right to the right while I jump over to the right and then I go so the negative numbers are….. and they sing to the left to the left while I jump to the left and they all look embarrassed, but amused to be singing in math class.

Then we get to the fun number, the number zero. So I ask them is zero negative or positive what is zero doing here in the middle? They usually give me one of two answers; 1. The book says it’s not positive or negative or 2. They stare at me like I have no idea there’s not a negative sign so it’s positive? Then I go “WHAT if I told you it’s not POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE!!” then some students look at me like well then what is it so then I go “Zero is like Switzerland!” and they have no clue why Switzerland is like zero so then we have a mini History lesson in math and learn about Switzerland’s neutrality in everything from war to joining the Euro.

They love it! And I love it, I get to jump around and have fun and it’s still aligned with the core.

I haven’t come up with a super fun way to remember absolute value but today I said that the absolute value lines are like the guards at Buckingham palace and only positive things are allowed out of the palace so if the number inside the gates is negative, when it comes out it must be positive (Fun thing about 7^th graders they don’t get the political undertones). It’s not as fun but they mistake absolute value lines for the number one a lot less if they remember that they are guards, guarding the number on the inside.

That was my lesson today. And yes I can teach this lesson with questions and all the fun in 30- 35 minutes.

Have I said I love my job?