2020 Thoughts and Quotes

"How's it going?"

What a loaded question right now!  If that's how you often greet people, you might want to rethink asking a teacher that one.  We might tell you.

The reality is that, for most of us, it is not going well.  This is a hell of a lot more work than I had anticipated, and I anticipated a lot of work!  I just spent my entire Sunday working.  From 8:30 in the morning to about 5pm, I did school work.  First I had to start by figuring out how to undo the damage I did last week.  I don't want to tell that story, but let's just say it ended with tears.  Then, once I figured out what I should do for this coming week (yes, I am only planning a week at a time, but that's better than the day-at-a-time I've been doing), I had to figure out what I was going to do, how I was going to do it, then get it all organized.  So, here I am, at the end of the day and back in my pajamas, finally winding down.  Just to get up early tomorrow and put it all into action.

Okay, enough whining.  I really don't want to whine about this.  I know I'm not the only person in this boat and that others have it worse than I do, so on to the positive.

I was at a meeting last week where we had to identify something positive that has come out of the last few weeks.  That was easy.  The first Friday before students were coming in, a colleague put out a frantic email asking for help on how to set up her computer with Zoom and Smartboard and all the other stuff.  No less than five teachers jumped to help her.  This experience has bonded us together, a faculty of 170 teachers, like nothing ever could.  Colleagues from all different parts of the building, and district, have jumped to help one another with even the smallest things.  One teacher taught me how to best set up my computer so I can work with all my students.  I was able to show that teacher how to use a certain software to get the kids to collaborate more from home.

So, though it's tough, and every single day is a struggle, there are some little victories and lessons and I'm planning to focus on those.  One day at a time!

Flipping 2020

 We haven't written anything in our blog for a very long time, but I thought this would be a good time to start again.  This coming year is going to be crazy!!  I am teaching AP Calculus BC, Algebra 2, and a class we call Topics in Algebra 2 for students who aren't quite ready for the full Algebra 2 curriculum.

Our school is starting on a hybrid plan.  Students are divided into two cohorts.  Cohort 1 will be in-building on Monday and Tuesday and Cohort 2 will be in-building on Thursday and Friday.  All will be learning from home for the other three days.  So, teaching will be more of an adventure than usual!

I have always wanted to explore flipping my classroom but have never felt like the time was right or that I had all the tools I needed to do it.  Well, I'm not sure if the time is right and I'm pretty sure I don't have all the tools I need, but I'm going for it anyway!  I work with a great (much younger than me) teacher who inspires me to try new stuff and I will be sharing "our" stories as well.  Caitlyn Gironda (givemeasine.blogspot.com) gives me a lot of great ideas and has made me a better teacher as a result.  It's so nice to have someone to brainstorm with and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to pull this off.

I have purchased and read the book Flipping with Kirch by Crystal Kirch, which has given me a foundation upon which to build my flipped classroom.  She has so much to offer but I will be doing my best to keep it as simple as possible for both me and my students.  I have developed a simple version of the WSQ ("whisk") to use on Canvas (our district's choice for a learning management system) that I will be using with my two algebra courses.

To be honest, I am way more concerned about the structure and pace of my AP class.  The schedule we have gives us less contact time than I am used to and there have been no changes made to the course.  I will still be flipping the class but using the notes and assignments I have always used in the past.  I have a feeling that this class will be going full speed ahead right from go!

I have chosen to look at the year as an opportunity to try something new, probably more than one something, and that will (hopefully) keep me sane!

Statistics Day 1

I have never felt comfortable teaching statistics in Algebra 2 (particularly the common core version) and that's because I never took a statistics class.  I know - how can I be a math major without taking stats?  I'd like to say that I got lucky, but I'm getting more and more interested in statistics that I almost (ALMOST) want to take a class.  Since I don't teach Regents-level Algebra 2 this year, I thought I'd be able to spend a little more time with my stats unit.   I'm going to use my blog to reflect on how things go and then be able to make adjustments for next year.

While some of my students will go on to take a statistics class either in high school or college, my main goal is for them to have a basic understanding of statistics and it's "ishy-ness."  We are constantly bombarded with statistics (politics, sports, health) and it can very easily be used to sway public opinion with innuendo and implications.  As an educator, I want to teach my students to love mathematics, but I also work on preparing my students for real life.  Having some knowledge of statistics can be very powerful.

Our first day was learning some basics of statistics.  I posed a question that I found at Sarah Carter's blog mathequalslove regarding the hiring practices of airline pilots and whether or not a discrimination case could be made.  The scenario describes an airline with 25 junior pilots, 15 male and 10 female.  The airline is going to promote 8 of these pilots and all are equally qualified.  To make it fair, all names are put into a lottery and the promotions go to the 8 people randomly selected.  When the results of the lottery are announced, 5 women and 3 men receive promotions.  Some of the men claim that the lottery was not carried out fairly and want to file a discrimination charge.

The question I posed to the kids was whether the men have a case?  I have not asked a question all year that got such strong, vehement responses!  It was beautiful to witness!  No one really said anything that was unexpected

The male:female ratios should be the same so they have a case.

But it's not impossible to get the results they did so they don't have a case.

Yeah, but how likely was that to happen?  It must have been rigged!

We should find the probability of this particular result.  (This was followed by lots of murmuring about how to do just that.  Since combinatorics are no longer a part of our curriculum, they had absolutely no idea how to do this.)

Then I dropped the bomb - we're not going to answer the question yet.  The plan is to learn about stats and re-visit the discrimination claim at the end of our unit.  I wanted my kiddos to start statistics by understanding that it is not about finding a specific value, which is their belief about anything with math, but more about interpretation.  This was a great intro.

The next task for students was to write their reactions to two different studies and the subsequent news articles written about them - no conversation, just gut reactions.  The first study was funded by a tobacco company claiming that they made "healthier" cigarettes.  The reactions were thoughtful regarding the statistics themselves, as well as the danger of smoking cigarettes.

22% less tar and 34% less nicotine means there is still tar and nicotine in the cigarettes.  You shouldn't put any of that crap into your system!

I don't think people should use statistics to make something bad look good.

The second study was regarding the IQ scores of first-born males vs. second-born males.  It was a well-presented study, giving a margin of error with a 95% confidence interval (which we haven't discussed at all).  My favorite comment:

It's only a 95% confidence level, so they really shouldn't be making such a strong statement.

We went on to discuss different types of studies, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as what types of questions should be asked when evaluating a study.  There was a lot of really good discussion and debate.   Then, they broke out into groups to discuss the class' reactions to the smoking and IQ studies.  The conversations were rich and insightful.  Even the students who are generally not the "talkers" in class were speaking up and mostly because of the issue being presented, not the mathematics behind it.

The goal for day 1 was to get students thinking about claims that have roots in science or psychology or the law and whether the information presented to them was meaningful or actionable.  The next goal is to demonstrate how statistics can support (or collapse) their arguments.

AP Calc Review

We finished our last lesson of new material for BC Calc on Monday (to a round of applause!) and started review for the AP exam in May.  Review is divided into three acts...

Act I started in February.  I gave my students the AB-level diagnostic test from Master Math Mentor (www.mastermathmentor.com).  This is a great resource that diagnoses each student's areas of strength and weakness.  I charge the students to work on the test without looking anything up.  Then I send them their results analyzed by the MMM formulas. This is great because all the work has been done and I don't have to correct anything, I just hand over the results.  I then printed the material from the MMM calculus manual and organized a file system by topic.  Students can select which topics they need and can work through them as needed.

This is directly beneath our picture of Sir Isaac Newton (drawn by a former student)...

Act II started this week and for this, I use the material and information from Lin McMullin's blog teachingcalculus.com for our full-class review.  He offers ten different problem types for the free response questions and insights and advice for each type.  I've taken that advice, printed it out for my students as a packet with the referenced FRQ's and MC questions.  Each day is dedicated to a different topic.  I started this review system last year - everyone works on the different types together as a class.  The point of this is to not only review the material, but to work on what is expected for credit on the actual test.

Act III also started this week.  We don't do a lot of multiple choice practice during the year, so it's important for them to see it in the review.  I use the D&S review books and students are assigned 15 questions each night for homework.

This may seem like a lot, and it is.  But, the results will speak for themselves.  My students will perform well on the exam (we have posters with the names of our "double-fivers" in the classroom) and they will be ready to tackle college and, they will really know their calculus!

A little introduction...

In 2003, I began teaching grade 4 in Greenwich Central School District, a small, rural district (approx 1,000 students in K-12) in Upstate New York. Upstate, as in north of Albany. I remained at the grade level for 12 years. In 2014, I had the opportunity to loop with a group of 4th graders to grade 5 and thoroughly enjoyed that unique experience. As a general education, elementary teacher, I taught 5 content areas per day, not just math. Math, as a specialty, began to work its way into my professional life around the same time as the new standards were being rolled out and my district was adopting a new math curriculum. At the same time, it began to spill into my personal life in the form of nerdy math conversations over dinner with my favorite mathematician, aka my wife, which lead me to seek out my current position in my district.

Following the year in grade 5, the AIS (Academic Intervention Services) Math position opened up and I expressed interest in filling this role. Since 2015, I have supported students in math in grades 3-5 and added grade 6 this year. I have also built an enrichment math program for students in these grades. During the 2017-18 school year, I worked as a Curriculum Fellow for Great Minds, the writers of Eureka Math. I spent half my time in my district and the other half working from home revising and updating the Eureka Math curriculum.

Before I knew it, my Amazon wish list began overflowing with professional books in the area of math. The more I read, the more my interest grew. Next, I was looking for opportunities to share what I had learned beyond the "four walls" of my district. Over the past two years, I have sought out opportunities to share my curriculum and pedagogical knowledge by presenting at local and statewide math conferences.

And now, as husband and wife, we present to the world our math blog.

Come along as we take this journey from Counting to Calculus!

Why We Have This Blog

Randy and I have been married for 13 years.  We are both triathletes and you can read about my triathlon adventures on my other blog here.   While we met through our triathlon experiences, we are also both teachers, which has given us even more to share with each other.  We want this blog to be a place where we can share with other math teachers at all levels.

Randy is an elementary teacher and has spent a big chunk of his career in a 4th grade classroom.  A few years ago, he made the switch to become his school's Academic Intervention Services (AIS) teacher for grades 3-5 mathematics.

I am a high school math teacher.  While I have taught most courses from Algebra 1 on up, I am currently teaching a class called Topics in Algebra 2, as well as AP Calculus BC.

As you can imagine, there are some nerdy conversations at our dinner table most nights!  We both work with some great teachers and have learned a lot from them.  However, we have discovered the value of sharing our thoughts on teaching math with one another.  Yes, there are many differences in what we do, but we have come to discover that there are many similarities.  We find that what one is doing with their classes can often be adapted for the opposite grade levels.

We have two goals with this blog.  The first is to individually share our experiences within our own classrooms.  The second is to share the connections we make between elementary mathematics and high school mathematics.  We plan to each write posts and occasionally we will write some together.

Thanks for reading!

~Karen