This is a repeat of a song I performed a few months ago -- I describe it in my October 19th post. Indeed, I played it in the fall for my Math III class -- and in that post, I even wrote that I'll be playing it again for Math I someday, once that class reaches the chapter on systems. Well, someday is today.
I don't provide a Mocha link or discuss the music theory behind the song, since I already do all of that back in my October 19th post. Keep in mind that the song is written in 10EDL -- the scale I was using for my October songs -- rather than the current 15 or 16EDL.
I think I'll do "A Day in the Life" today -- well, sort of. As I wrote in my last post, by now the observations for the principal and WASC are complete. So I'll write only about the observation periods.
Thursday:
11:45 -- Fifth period arrived. This was a Math III class.
Since I knew that my principal wanted to see real-world applications, I labeled this as Lesson 8.3.3 of the CPM Math III text, which is on applications of polynomials. But I didn't do the actual problem from that lesson of the text.
Instead, I went to the DeltaMath website and find some questions on real-world applications. These were on projectile motion, so they were all quadratic functions with -16 ft./s^2 as the leading term.
Then, since the principal wanted to see student interaction, I set up a DeltaMath assignment with exactly nine questions -- one for each group, with the same questions assigned to the whole class. Then I assigned one question for each group. Some of the questions were on the originally planned topic for the day, difference of squares (with difference of cubes delayed to 8.3.4 the next day), and one question was on projectile motion. (Notice that these are somewhat related -- an object dropped from 64 ft. follows the equation f (t) = -16t^2 + 64, which can be solved using difference of squares.) I had a member of each group describe the problem to the rest of the class so that everyone could complete the assignment on DeltaMath.
1:15 -- Fifth period left for lunch.
Monday:
9:40 -- Second period arrived. This was a Math I class.
The original plan was to teach the elimination method today -- and I stuck to it, despite several other Math I teachers rearranging the lessons to avoid teaching new material during the WASC visit. It was early in the period when the WASC committee arrived. This meant that the committee indeed saw me teach the new material. It was on Desmos, but the committee mostly saw the first example, when meant that they mostly saw me lecture since the kids were seeing elimination for the very first time.
10:35 -- Second period left.
1:25 -- Fifth period arrived. This was a Math III class.
Unlike Math I, in this class I really had completed the Chapter 8 material. So instead, I set up the first review assignment on DeltaMath and had the students work on it. Unlike the day of the principal's visit, today's assignment contained different problems for each student. I invited students to ask questions about the material, and I did some problems on the board. The WASC committee saw me call on random students using the TI, and I'd ask each student how to solve one step of a particular problem.
2:20 -- Fifth period left.
So as you can see, the principal and WASC kept observing the same classes -- second period Math I and fifth period Math III. As you already know, these aren't my best classes. Fortunately, at least second period respected the principal and WASC and grew quiet during the visits. Fifth period was a bit talkative for the principal, but they were quieter for WASC.
Today after school, the principal finally speaks to me about his observation. He said that he appreciated seeing the group interactions in fifth period that day. So even though the class was talkative that day, at least some of them were talking to each other (and me) about math.
As for the WASC observations, perhaps I could have taught elimination last Friday so that today would be guided practice for the students. Then again, many students in this class just sit there and do nothing during practice or groupwork time. Thus I masked the fact that the students don't work independently by teaching a new lesson (when they have a valid reason not to work independently -- they're learning new material) in front of WASC.
And in fifth period, maybe I should have assigned the same problems to all students on Monday, just as I had during the principal observation on Thursday. Indeed, today I do assign the same problems to all students as they continue reviewing for the Chapter 8 Test.
Today is Sevenday on the Eleven Calendar:
Resolution #7: We earn our grades through hard work and dedication.
My students definitely worked hard to earn their grades on the progress report. And we as teachers worked hard during the WASC visit -- thankfully, the observations are finally over.
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