Friday, 27 June 2014
Graduation 2014
Today, the class of 2014 graduated. It was a nice ceremony that was clearly well planned as it ran seamlessly. I taught many of the students in this graduating class of 227 - I think I taught 139 of them. Many I taught twice or even three times. It is remarkable to have been there with them on their first day of grade 9, then be there with them on their very last day of high school. You would think that with 20 years in I would be used to commencement ceremonies, but I am usually at the Exeter math conference for the last week of June so I have actually attended very few graduations. Although not thrilled to have missed the conference this year, I was happy to have the opportunity to see this class graduate. These are special kids and I feel fortunate to have seen them grow up and to have helped them learn along the way. However I find goodbyes difficult (just ask @fawnpnguyen!) as I am such an emotional person. So today was tough for me. I'm an introvert so I'm not good with crowds of people, but I did find a few students that I needed to say congrats and goodbye to. I got asked by a few to have my picture taken with them (which, if you know me, is a big deal). Sadly though, I avoided going up to a few students because I knew I would start to cry. The last student I did talk to got the tears going so I had to disappear. So to all of those that I missed I say congratulations and I am so very proud of you. I will miss you and West will not be the same without you. I wish you all the best down the road...
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Day 85
Day 85
The school is quiet. The students have all left. It is the end of the last day of classes for the 2013-2014 school year. Traditionally, not many student show up for class on this day - it is "beach day" for the seniors. So I was a little surprised that among my 6 or 7 MFM2P students that were here today, was one who has missed a lot of school. And this student spent a good chunk of today at my desk working through math with me. Seriously working. Didn't go hang out with friends at lunch in order to finish the sheet we were working on. Beyond anything else today, I am immensely proud of this student. I got a lot of really lovely cards from grade 12 students today, which truly filled my heart, but my 2P kid who gave up half of the day to do math, that was the icing on the cake. This is why we are teachers.
The school is quiet. The students have all left. It is the end of the last day of classes for the 2013-2014 school year. Traditionally, not many student show up for class on this day - it is "beach day" for the seniors. So I was a little surprised that among my 6 or 7 MFM2P students that were here today, was one who has missed a lot of school. And this student spent a good chunk of today at my desk working through math with me. Seriously working. Didn't go hang out with friends at lunch in order to finish the sheet we were working on. Beyond anything else today, I am immensely proud of this student. I got a lot of really lovely cards from grade 12 students today, which truly filled my heart, but my 2P kid who gave up half of the day to do math, that was the icing on the cake. This is why we are teachers.
Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Day 84
Day 84
Today was pretty quiet as they reassessed on those curriculum expectations where they had yet to meet expectations. I loved how some used manipulatives and graphing calculators and really tried their best. I am dismayed by those who did not...
On another note - here are a couple of good (and positive!) blog posts about MFM2P:
* from Alex Overwijk, a post about introducing factoring by talking about area and length & width.
* from Heather Theijsmeijer, a post about a student-created scavenger hunt across classes.
Today was pretty quiet as they reassessed on those curriculum expectations where they had yet to meet expectations. I loved how some used manipulatives and graphing calculators and really tried their best. I am dismayed by those who did not...
On another note - here are a couple of good (and positive!) blog posts about MFM2P:
* from Alex Overwijk, a post about introducing factoring by talking about area and length & width.
* from Heather Theijsmeijer, a post about a student-created scavenger hunt across classes.
Monday, 16 June 2014
Day 83
Day 83
Three more days of classes, then they have their math exam. I find this time of year can be so tough. Many students just don't seem to care. I think that's the big thing for me - I seem to care more than they do. And that stresses me out. I have no idea what to do differently to change their attitudes. So, if you any of you have suggestions, please let me know! Despite that, we did do some work today. Tomorrow they will have an opportunity to test on only those expectations where they are weak. However, I told them that they would all write the "Manipulate algebraic expressions, as needed to understand quadratic relations." portion. I only evaluated this expectation once, so I would like them all to get a second crack at it before the exam.
We worked on expanding and simplifying binomials and talked about the relationship between the equation of a quadratic and its graph. It was rather like pulling teeth (see comment above), but we did get through it.
Then we factored a couple of binomials using algebra tiles. They seem to be pretty good at that.
I have not been counting down the days at all, but I think I just started to!
Three more days of classes, then they have their math exam. I find this time of year can be so tough. Many students just don't seem to care. I think that's the big thing for me - I seem to care more than they do. And that stresses me out. I have no idea what to do differently to change their attitudes. So, if you any of you have suggestions, please let me know! Despite that, we did do some work today. Tomorrow they will have an opportunity to test on only those expectations where they are weak. However, I told them that they would all write the "Manipulate algebraic expressions, as needed to understand quadratic relations." portion. I only evaluated this expectation once, so I would like them all to get a second crack at it before the exam.
We worked on expanding and simplifying binomials and talked about the relationship between the equation of a quadratic and its graph. It was rather like pulling teeth (see comment above), but we did get through it.
Then we factored a couple of binomials using algebra tiles. They seem to be pretty good at that.
I have not been counting down the days at all, but I think I just started to!
Friday, 13 June 2014
Day 82
Day 82
With the summative over, today was the first day of "exam review". I did give them questions to work on, but also spoke to each student individually about their progress. They each got a printout showing their current level for each curriculum expectation. Those who still have not demonstrated sufficient understanding of one or more expectation (level 1 or lower) will have the opportunity to write a quiz next week. I plan on making these up - 9 of them - over the weekend as I feel it's important to give each student another chance to demonstrate their learning before the exam (exams can be overwhelming and may not show students' best work). It was good to hear students thanking me for giving them this opportunity and even asking if they could do the same for expectations where they are at a level 2. I said yes, of course!
I spent my prep today marking their summatives. They showed a lot of good stuff and I love how they really tried to do their best. At some point I will attempt to write how I think this board-wide summative could be improved. The writing teams meet over the summer so I know I need to do that soon!
With the summative over, today was the first day of "exam review". I did give them questions to work on, but also spoke to each student individually about their progress. They each got a printout showing their current level for each curriculum expectation. Those who still have not demonstrated sufficient understanding of one or more expectation (level 1 or lower) will have the opportunity to write a quiz next week. I plan on making these up - 9 of them - over the weekend as I feel it's important to give each student another chance to demonstrate their learning before the exam (exams can be overwhelming and may not show students' best work). It was good to hear students thanking me for giving them this opportunity and even asking if they could do the same for expectations where they are at a level 2. I said yes, of course!
I spent my prep today marking their summatives. They showed a lot of good stuff and I love how they really tried to do their best. At some point I will attempt to write how I think this board-wide summative could be improved. The writing teams meet over the summer so I know I need to do that soon!
Thursday, 12 June 2014
Day 81
Day 81
Today was part 2 of the summative. Although I found this part more straightforward, my students weren't that happy about any of it. The group work today was more about doing some of the work as a group, then about coming up with strategies or brainstorming ideas. This was frustrating for some students who knew what they were doing and felt that some of their group members were simply copying their work. A number of students had issues with the need to estimate dimensions despite having done Estimation 180 all semester. I found this strange. I think that a lot of them have had summatives or other evaluations in many courses this week and are just at the end of their rope. Sadly, I think that many didn't put their best effort forward. There were a couple of students who stuck around into lunch to finish up and I am really proud of their efforts.
I have put part 1 and part 2 of the summatives for each student together, along with the rubric and alphabetized all of them. I guess I cannot procrastinate marking them any longer!
Today was part 2 of the summative. Although I found this part more straightforward, my students weren't that happy about any of it. The group work today was more about doing some of the work as a group, then about coming up with strategies or brainstorming ideas. This was frustrating for some students who knew what they were doing and felt that some of their group members were simply copying their work. A number of students had issues with the need to estimate dimensions despite having done Estimation 180 all semester. I found this strange. I think that a lot of them have had summatives or other evaluations in many courses this week and are just at the end of their rope. Sadly, I think that many didn't put their best effort forward. There were a couple of students who stuck around into lunch to finish up and I am really proud of their efforts.
I have put part 1 and part 2 of the summatives for each student together, along with the rubric and alphabetized all of them. I guess I cannot procrastinate marking them any longer!
Wednesday, 11 June 2014
Day 80
Day 80
Second day of the first part of the summative. I am really proud of the work they did today. Can't show you any of it though... (shortest blog post ever?)
Second day of the first part of the summative. I am really proud of the work they did today. Can't show you any of it though... (shortest blog post ever?)
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