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AP Stats – Better learning this year
via I have done some things differently this year in AP Stats that have paid off tremendously. I realized it today when I put up a Barron’s flashcard as a warmup and although almost everyone got it...
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A failure to communicate
A lasting line from the movie “Cool Hand Luke” I didn’t post on Friday because I gave exams all day. Which is really stupid of me to every every single learner I have an exam. Now I have to sit down...
View ArticleMixed bag today
Today was a mixed bag of, well, weirdness and frustration with some awesomeness. I will start with the awesomeness. This morning at 7:15am, a learner from last year walked in and asked for help with...
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Pictionary in Stats
I tortured my learners with a game, a game that was awesome and they all agreed was worth while. We played a Stats Pictionary! I used this document. Ch 5 – various distributions- Pictionary I...
View ArticleTired – So tired
Today wiped me out. I had all 3 sections of AP Stats today, and I heard the same comment from all 3 classes. It went something like this, “I never understood the z score when we did it in Alg 2. My...
View ArticleAn email I just sent to my dept
I just sent this email to my department today. The subject was “If you still assign drill and kill problems”. I am posting the text of the email without comment. It was spurred by a conversation on...
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Math organizations & the vacuum of leadership
On this bright,cheery Veteran’s day I took some time to clean up my reader, delete a bunch of feeds that I don’t read any more, organize the math teacher and other teacher feeds a bit and catch up on a...
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Rational function rules
Nothing annoys me more in teaching math than a bunch of rules to memorize, and rational function come with their own complete set of rules to memorize. I really find that annoying, and I have been on a...
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Additional Plot.ly v. JMP comparisons
My learners have been using Plot.ly for a week, and have asked me a ton of questions on how to do certain things with their data. I wanted to add details to my last post on Plot.ly v. JMP and tell you...
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(h,k) form – setting the stage
I begin the class with a “what do you notice?” “what do you wonder?” session. This is probably the 5th or 6th day of class, and sets the stage for the entire rest of year. What do you notice? What do...
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First month out of the classroom-A reflection
I have to be honest, I started, stopped, deleted, restarted, deleted and started this post again repeatedly over the last few weeks. Why? Well one reason is my computer died in the middle of a post,...
View ArticleSearching for purpose in blogging
I have not blogged much because I … well I haven’t been very reflective, more reactionary. I have been focused on building a program, recruitment, developing resources, and collaborating with my fellow...
View ArticleYou should make a mix tape
On Friday last week at the end of the Step 1 class we were talking about engagement, high fives, enthusiasm, and why we are teachers. The conversation started with these two questions: Write about a...
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#WhyiTeach
Anne Schwartz wrote a wonderful post this morning about “Why I am not quitting teaching.” It is a extremely thought provoking post, and it made me think. She wrote many times “I am not,” “I do not,”...
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My Critical Pedagogy / Theory Journey
This is a class assignment. Not to blog about it, but to write a paper about it. The “it” is critical pedagogy/theory. Do you know what that means? I didn’t (and probably still don’t) either. I...
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Why Don’t Black kids like math?
Learning is funny. There is an entire realm of things to know out there in the real world. Yet until you start looking, it is so easy to gloss over all of those things. I started looking with a more...
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Re-Writing AP Stats through Critical Theory
As I have been examining my practice through the lens of Critical Theory, I asked myself how would I teach differently now than I did even a year ago? Great question. It is time for me to look at AP...
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Teaching as political activity 2
Yesterday I posted about deciding if teaching really was a dichotomy between agency or conformity, and I decided that yes, it really is a dichotomy. It is impossible to be a teacher and straddle the...
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Noncomplementary behavior in teaching
I have been thinking about what the phrase “Teaching is a political act” means, and how the decision influences my actions in the classroom with learners. As I have been thinking about this, I realize...
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Questioning in a Theory class
Hitting number 5 for #BlAugust on the 5th of August. Excellent. So far so good! Transitioning from teaching mathematics to teaching theory is difficult. Not because of the content, that is just reading...
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