These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

(I hope you sang the title…I totally did as I was typing it!)

There are two things that are currently among my favorites that make my life easier as a a teacher. One is the Remind App and the other is my favorite review game.

Remind App

I first encountered this app with my twins’ first grade teacher. She used it to send reminders and updates by text to the parents. It was quicker and more reliable than e-mail. I thought it was so great that I should use it with my own students (who all seem to be very connected to their own cell phones). Here is how it works. I downloaded the free app, signed up and created my classes. One day in class I had everyone take out their phones and text a code to a special number. That’s it. We were all connected! I can text every single one of my students now. They don’t have my number, I don’t have theirs, but I can send them a quick message anytime I want. I send them reminders about study sessions, a note if I happen to change an assignment, pictures of an example we didn’t quite get to during class, a note telling them when their tests are graded and are up in Aeries, and I even once sent a recording of a song I made up to remember a rule by. I can even schedule them to go out at a later time. It is awesome, I use it weekly and my students appreciate the communication with them!

Fast Track

I totally got the idea for this review game from someone else, gave it a new name and adopted it as my favorite way to review. It is basically “Speed Dating” without any of the weirdness you might get between students. In southern California many of our freeways have a Fast Track lane that you can go in if you have a carpool buddy or pay a fee. (I went with the carpool direction.) I make my desks into rows. Each set of two rows, I turn the desks towards each other so that when the students sit down they are facing each other. (I also make sure to put spaces between the desks in the rows so the students can get in and out easily.) I have them put all their belongings along the edges of the classroom too, so no one trips over anything. Each pair of student gets a whiteboard, marker and eraser. Then we get to work. I put up a problem on the PowerPoint, they work on it with their “carpool buddy” and then at an appropriate time record and hold up their answer on their whiteboards. I check the class, usually there is some high-fiving if they get it right, and then it is time to move on to a new “car.” Only one “side” of the row moves at a time – they move to their left (or snake around to a new row) – and then it is on to the next question with their new carpool buddy. The new pair works together, report their answer and then the other side of the row moves to their left. This way you never work with the same person twice! I even created a playlist in YouTube of songs that have to do with cars or driving or roads and I play it from my iPad connected to my speakers when the students are moving to their new car. I have done lot of different games over the years and this one seems to work the best for me as a teacher and, most importantly, for the students. They have told me that they like working with all the different people in class and that having a time limit for problems really keeps them on task. Here are a few links to a PowerPoint and a worksheet for one of the times I used Fast Track to review with my Precalculus class.

 

Here is a worksheet of the review problems Fast Track Ch 9 WS

Here is the accompanying PowerPoint PC Ch 9 Fast Track

Here is my YouTube playlist Fast Track Songs

A Day in the Life of Mrs. Fox

(Here is my #MTBoS Assignment #1 – Tuesday, January 12, 2016 Total disclaimer, not all days are this crazy, but many of them are!)

5:45 Alarm goes off

6:05 Finally roll out of bed (ooh, that snooze button) and start getting ready

6:31 Go wake up my three kids, go back to getting ready

6:38 Go back and wake daughter up again. (Two thoughts to self..1-I really need to buy alarms clocks for the kids on Amazon, 2-The blow dryer I picked up yesterday at Target is working great.) Boys start making their own breakfasts, I make mine and daughter’s and help son load up that dishwasher we forgot to do last night, and eat while doing a quick e-mail check.

7:22 We are all out the door, in the car and headed to school

7:37 Kids are dropped off in the loop and I am headed down the street. The line of cars to get into school at this time of the day is always so lovely (hope you sensed the sarcasm).

7:45 I am in my classroom, time to finish up the things that were on yesterday’s Things To Do post-it, put the finishing touches on the Calc project I am introducing today

8:03 Get in line for the only copy machine that will take colored paper that is working today

8:05 Short line, I am copying, woot! Drop by the main secretary’s desk to pick up something she printed in color for me, return the extra pink paper to the math office, remember I have to wrap that wedding gift for Faculty Club

8:22 It is back to my classroom, I need to update the side board with today’s agendas, locate the calc project notes for myself and remind myself how to introduce it and how to do the Excel spreadsheet, make a mistake, sort it out, look at precalc lesson for later today, draw picture from yesterday’s notes on the board that we didn’t quite have time for yesterday to do it justice

8:55 Time for class! Give Calc BC their warm-up quiz, call a colleague to answer his question about the precalc notes for today, go to stamp homework , get reminded that I am not stamping today (yep, oops!), talk about that problem from the notes from yesterday about rotating a region around a line that is parallel to an axis, answer lots of questions and what-ifs (this section is a doozy!). Introduce project, do a baby example and show how the Excel speadsheet works, set the students to work, they get into groups of their own choosing, and I rotate through the classroom checking in, offering advice and answering questions

10:03 Rinse, repeat. Remember to mention the previous classes “what-ifs” when going over that example from yesterday which inspire even more what-ifs.

11:04 Time for precalc, no time for homework questions today (Thoughts to self while I am teacning: bummer that notes take forever, I am probably taking extra time getting whiteboard feedback from them, maybe this chapter should have fill-in notes, I should talk with other precalc teachers about this idea soon for next year, and it is a good thing that we have an extra review day before the quiz)

11:58 Lunch! Time to find my math teacher friends and talk about things that have nothing to do with teaching

12:35 Head over across campus to a LAHS TOSA meeting we called ourselves. The Tech TOSA, English TOSA and Math TOSA are hashing out what is the best way to attack having practically all our students take the  SBAC ICAs right at the beginning of second semester. We chat, catch up, think about the best way to schedule and borrow some carts of chromebooks from the social science teachers and we think about what our less technological colleagues will need from us in terms of an instruction guide. We each have our assignments and we are going to pow-wow back together next Friday. (Tech TOSA was super excited to hear about my #MTBoS assignment and is proud that I am getting my Twiiter on.)

2:00 We are done, I head back to classroom, run into department chair and I quickly fill him in on what we just met about, he fills some in on a couple of other things, I rush out to head to a different TOSA meeting

2:20 Head over to one of the middle schools for a Math TOSA meeting. We meet every Tuesday at this time. Today I and my two fellow TOSAs from each of the middle schools are joined by the assistant superintendent. We have much to discuss as first semester is coming to a close. We talk about SBAC ICA, registration and class placement, some philosophical questions about what teaching looks like at the elementary level versus the middle school level versus the highs school level (that is a heavy subject, I am going to have to spend some more brain time on that one). When assistant supe heads off, we take care of some other TOSA business, Modeling Monday at the elementary level and last minute newsletter ideas.

4:18 Meeting over, chat for 5 minutes in parking lot with fellow TOSA whose daughter (who I had as my student a few years back) has just started a semester in Spain

4:40 Finally pull in driveway, super weird traffic on the freeway on the way home (it is only three miles…sheesh!)

4:45 Head right back out the door after changing into some comfy jeans and grabbing my Starbucks cup, stop at Subway to pick up a $6 special of the day dinner (Thought to self: radio advertising is really working, I am only here because of the commercial I just heard), get to Starbucks a few minutes early, get bummed because the one big table is already taken, but at least there are available tables, get my iced tea and get ready

5:00 My first tutoring appointment arrives, it is a precalc student from another school, we go over lots of stuff from trig. My principal calls during the session, but I can’t pick up, shoot!

6:00 Get a text saying my person is running late. Not a total bust though since I can eat part of that aforementioned sandwich I picked up plus check that voicemail from the principal. Big table becomes available, I swoop in and set up camp for the rest of the evening.

6:25 Tutoree finally arrives, (that was some traffic!), we cram in lots of precalc learning in 35 minutes, we make sure to schedule his times for his upcoming final next week (he is from a different school too)

6:45 Hair is officially now in a messy bun

7:00 Third tutor of the evening is here. Advanced Math Trig student from my school. He forgot his notes stuff at school, nice. We manage…at least he has his book. We bust out lots of work going over previous sections as well as hitting the current section really hard. (I see this student twice a week, he lets me take a tutoring selfie with him, gotta love him).

7:40 I get refill of iced tea (Thought to self: super love my Starbucks gold card and free refills!)

8:00 Fourth tutor, Advanced Math Trig again, so I am already in the zone! I have tutored her for several years now, so we take a tutoring selfie too.

9:00 Finally done with my marathon tutoring session!! So, so drained. Head over to my mom and dad’s to get my kids. (They have been there ever since my mom picked them up from school at 2:30. This usually doesn’t happen…weird schedule today with husband having to take in a dinner with the big bosses that are in from Wisconsin. So blessed to have them live so close and have my mom be recently retired from teaching herself that she can do this for our family.) They are bathed and homework is all done too. I catch up on the news of the day on the short car ride home.

9:20 We all walk in the door, husband got home just 5 minutes before we did. Kids make their lunches for tomorrow. I get all the homework signed off like we do every night.

9:31 Kids are in bed (Thought to self: yikes that is late, oops!). I get to work…first up, final edits on my To Infinity and Beyond newsletter that goes out tomorrow morning. Husband is watching the state of the union address, I am half listening. Add a section to request ideas for our net Modeling Monday, add a new link for Mathematics Framework from the CA Department of Ed, read over it two times, and schedule it to go out in the morning.

10:06 Catch up on emails, send out a few dropbox file requests for yearbook pictures (yep, I am the gal who foolishly volunteered to create the 5th grade yearbook), read the Marshall Memo I got this morning (Thought to self: Good stuff to think about, maybe for next time’s newsletter), check bank, Facebook (for just 5 minutes…okay, 8), back to emails, look over Coinstar Modeling Monday lesson I am previewing with the 4th and 5th grade teachers at my kids elementary school tomorrow (no pressure there).

11:04 Finally shut down computer, get out clothes for tomorrow, plug in phone (Thought to self: how in the world did it get all the way down to 17%? Probably all those pictures I and my students kept taking all day.)

11:35 Bed time (Thought to self as I am nodding off: I didn’t have time to write that precalc test I was supposed to, shoot…I will break news to the team tomorrow and promise to get it done on Wednesday.)

**When I choose this assignment for this day, I had no idea that the day would get so crowded. I guess it is because I kinda have three jobs…teacher, TOSA and tutor for my side gig. I truly do love all of my work, though, so I will keep at it. Here is I super funny thing I found out by taking on this assignment – I make all kinds of weird faces when I teach, maybe a good thing, maybe not. My husband says this is not a surprise to him. Another thing…the students I asked to take pictures of me teaching didn’t even blink an eye when I asked them to, I love those kids. One set of girls even made a little title on their whiteboard, too cute! I also had a fun thought that all jobs should have spots where the people around them just start clapping in appreciation at something well said like during the state of the union. I mentioned that to one of my calc classes yesterday, they dug it, they clapped a lot for me during the lesson – I admit it felt good!**

So, phew, there it is…a day in the life of Janelle Fox!

 

 

 

Instructional Rounds – Coffee Shop

What can I learn from visiting an English teacher’s class you ask? Turns out quite a lot. I had the privilege of being a guest in a veteran’s English class this morning as part of our school’s Instructional Rounds Program. We get to visit, see a model practice and then get to debrief together later that day at lunch. It is so nice to get out of my own four walls and see that else is out there! Even though I am a math teacher (of course!), there was much to take away that had nothing to do with content and everything to do with classroom culture, procedures and teacher to student affect. Here is what I learned and was reminded of:

-It is possible seamlessly transition from one event to the next without much chaos.

-That students can be responsible for their own learning and will actually learn just fine even if the teacher is not constantly the center of attention.

-We don’t have to just sit in desks, the floor can be a fine and intimate place to learn too.

-Groups are helpful to the learning process.

-There were different sized groups for different tasks during class, I usually end up doing the same size all the time.

-Students will advocate for themselves and distribute the weight of discussions equally when they have been trained in the etiquette of good group behavior.

-Students will rise to your expectations – I know this, but I like to be reminded!

I am ever thankful that I have more to learn and can have opportunities such as this to grow and challenge myself.

Bologna and Paper Towels

Sometimes all you need to illustrate a concept is calculus is a great picture you can refer back to in your proverbial “back pocket”. Finding volumes by rotating a region around an axis or a line is one such instance.

For me, I like to say that using the disk or washer method is likened unto a stack of bologna. You are finding the area of all those super thin slices and then adding them together.

The shell method is typically not as easily grasped. Enter a roll of paper towels. I can tear off a few sheets (the select-a-size version is best for this!) that represent one thin wrap-around layer, then another. We can “see” that the shell method is adding up all of the areas of these thin wraps.

I have been using the paper towels visual for a couple of years now and just thought of the bologna this year as I was teaching. I think I like it. Maybe next year I will actually bring in a pack of bologna. (Maybe also, I would then know how to actually spell it! Ha Ha!)

 

Whiteboard Actions

I quite often have my precalculus students use a whiteboard during our lessons. It is easy to have them come up with a quick response to a question I pose or report answers to a problem they have solved. But sometimes, the students don’t put up their boards when I ask them to. This happened today with a student.

So, the question I started to wonder about during class, was WHY he wasn’t putting up whiteboard? Did he not know how to to the question? Did I not give him enough time? Was he just not even paying attention at all?!

Later in the period, I changed what I asked the students to do. Yes they were to report the answer to the question in the notes, but this time I added – put a question mark if you didn’t understand it and leave it blank if I didn’t give you enough time. I think I got better feedback that second time!

I am now wondering what else I should be asking my students to put on their boards so I can get the best feedback possible.

Any suggestions?!

Joining the #MTBoS

Just because one is a teacher doesn’t mean that they stop being a student! In an effort to learn, grow and push myself to be a better teacher and TOSA, I felt it was time to “officially” join the Math Teacher Blog-o-Sphere (MTBoS) community! An opportunity provided by MTBoS to have a mentor who is more experienced was just the push I needed to get started. I have been following many people on Twitter for some time now – checking out and using what they post on their blogs – now it is my turn to be a contributor. So here is my effort at a photoblog to share what I do in my classroom. Thanks for opportunity #MTBoS, I can’t wait to see how this turns out!