This week the Big March starts in earnest. As I've written before, the first week of the Big March isn't terrible, since at least it's a four-day week. The second week starts the string of five-day weeks -- these are what actually make the Big March the Big March.
Today I subbed in a special ed high school math class. Because it's a math class, I will definitely post a "Day in the Life" for today -- Day 108 in this district.
Before 9:15 -- There are several things different with today's schedule. First of all, many of the high schools in this district, including this one, has late days on Mondays. This was also true at one high school in a previous district I subbed at. But I never wrote a "Day in the Life" for any such late Monday, and thus I never mentioned it on the blog.
Late Start Mondays, of course, occur so that teachers can have a morning Common Planning meeting just as many K-8 schools have early out Wednesdays. As it turns out, the reason this special ed teacher called for a sub is so he could hold IEP meetings with parents. Therefore he actually attends the Common Planning meeting, then has enough time to meet me and give me the lesson plans before his first IEP meeting.
It turns out that all classes are doing the infamous holiday graphing worksheets that I've posted many times before on the blog. (Actually, I find out the name of these graphs -- "Cartesian Cartoons.") I inform him that I'm a math teacher. So often, math teachers don't get math subs, and so he's prepared the "Luck O' the Irish" worksheet (for St. Patrick's Day) so that students work independently. Perhaps if he could be assured of a math sub like me, he could've had me help the students more substantially with their math.
This teacher doesn't have a first period (which is really zero period in this district). On Mondays, first period is after the Common Planning meeting. At other districts with both a zero period and late day Mondays, either there is no zero period on Mondays, or zero period actually occurs before the PD meeting (which was the case at the district where I no longer sub).
9:15 -- Second period begins. This is an Algebra I class, but of course all classes are actually working on the "Luck O' the Irish" graphing worksheet.
The official name of this class is Algebra 1B. These students are all sophomores who are enrolled in a two-year Algebra I course. Many schools spread out the content of Algebra I over two years for their struggling students -- especially the special ed students. Last year they took Algebra 1A, and this year they are in Algebra 1B.
10:05 -- Second period leaves and third period arrives. This is the only class that's officially a Geometry course. The students are all juniors who completed Algebra 1A and 1B their first two years of high school.
While the students work on their "Luck O' the Irish" worksheets, I decide to take a closer look at the textbook for this class. This is, after all, a Geometry blog, and on previous special ed math subbing days I've written about the different texts that I find in the classroom.
This district apparently uses the Glencoe Geometry text. I've written about the Glencoe texts many times on the blog -- most recently two weeks ago when SteveH, the traditionalist, recommended "proper Glencoe textbooks."
This text is also the one used by the student I was tutoring three years ago. Thus I wrote extensively about this text that year. I'll repeat the table of contents here.
The Glencoe Geometry Text
0. Preparing for Geometry
1. Tools of Geometry
2. Reasoning and Proof
3. Parallel and Perpendicular Lines
4. Congruent Triangles
5. Relationships in Triangles
6. Quadrilaterals
7. Proportions and Similarity
8. Right Triangles and Trigonometry
9. Transformations and Symmetry
10. Circles
11. Areas of Polygons and Circles
12. Extending Surface Area and Volume
13. Probability and Measurement
There are two chapters here that I don't recall from my tutoring days -- Chapters 0 and 13. Let's look at these two chapters in more detail.
0. Preparing for Geometry
0-1. Changing Units of Measure Within Systems
0-2. Changing Units of Measure Between Systems
0-3. Simple Probability
0-4. Algebraic Expressions
0-5. Linear Equations
0-6. Linear Inequalities
0-7. Ordered Pairs
0-8. Systems of Linear Equations
0-9. Square Roots and Simplifying Radicals
13. Probability and Measurement
13-1. Representing Sample Spaces
13-2. Probability with Permutations and Combinations
13-3. Geometric Probability
13-4. Simulations
13-5. Probabilities of Independent and Dependent Events
13-6. Probabilities of Mutually Exclusive Events
Note that the Common Core Standards for high school include a Stats and Probability strand. Here in California, these standards are incorporated into the Algebra I and Geometry courses -- in particular, stats appears in Algebra I, and probability appears in Geometry. This explains why Chapter 13 appears in the Glencoe text. I can't find the word "California" anywhere on the front cover -- so perhaps other states are following this pattern as well.
As the title of Lesson 13-3 implies, Geometry and probability are linked. Lesson 8-9 of the U of Chicago text hints at geometric probability. The only other mention of probability in the U of Chicago text is in Lesson 6-1. Here P(E), the probability of an event E, is given as an example of function notation to prepare the students for transformation notation T(x, y).
I've never posted a probability unit on the blog before. Perhaps I should consider posting such a unit this year. After all, I can't call this an authentic Common Core Geometry blog if I'm leaving out a key part of Common Core Geometry classes -- the probability unit.
10:50 -- Third period leaves for snack.
11:10 -- Fourth period Algebra 1B arrives. Of course, they work on the Cartesian Cartoon page.
12:00 -- It is now fifth period. As we've seen before a few weeks ago, special ed teachers often move to another room to co-teach one period. This teacher is scheduled to co-teach what appears to be a freshman Algebra I (not 1A or 1B, but just 1).
These students are in Chapter 7 of the Glencoe Algebra I text, which is on exponents (as an introduction to polynomials). The main teacher demonstrates two laws of exponents (product of powers and power of a power). She uses key phrases like "multiply the little numbers" and "distribute the outer number to the inner numbers" to help the students remember these laws.
12:45 -- Fifth period leaves for lunch.
1:30 -- Sixth period Algebra 1B arrives. Of course, they work on the Cartesian Cartoon page.
2:15 -- It is now seventh period. This teacher is a football coach -- but football season ended three months ago. And so my day is now over.
Let's look at our focus New Year's Resolutions for today:
6. If there is a project-based curriculum such as Illinois State, then implement all components of it.
7. If there is an official assignment to review for state testing, then implement it fully.These resolutions are important for me to fulfill if I were a regular teacher, but these are, of course, special situations that aren't always applicable when I'm just a sub. For now, we'll just repeat only the first five resolutions.
1. Implement a classroom management system based on how students actually think.
This resolution is often tricky to fulfill on special ed days, when there's usually an aide to take care of the classroom management. But this aide leaves after fourth period (and I myself am the "aide" for fifth period). This leaves sixth period as the only class to manage -- and before she leaves, the aide warns me that this class might be a difficult one.
I watch the main teacher for fifth period place some papers on the sixth period kids' desks right when lunch begins. And so I do the same -- at lunchtime I place the "Luck O' the Irish" papers so that they are already on the desks when sixth period arrives. This reduces some trouble at the start of class, since the students already know what they're supposed to be doing.
As it turns out, sixth period is already a small class, with only a dozen students -- and almost half the class is missing. Two guys are summoned to other rooms, while three girls are absent. Earlier, during lunch, another sub has told me how she kicked out one girl for talking back instead of putting her phone away. This could very well be the same as one of the girls who's absent from my class. With the biggest troublemakers out of the room, this class is actually the quietest of the day!
Today I should post the Lesson 11-6 worksheet. But two and three years ago, I never made one. In the past, I switched the chapter order and covered Chapter 11 before Chapters 9 and 10. I didn't really want to cover three-dimensional coordinates before the main chapters that describe the Geometry of three dimensions. And of course, once I reached Chapter 10 I never returned to Lesson 11-6.
It's my tradition, on days I sub for Geometry, to post the lesson I sub for instead. In other words, what happens in the live classroom takes priority over the U of Chicago order. And besides -- at least today's "Luck O' the Irish" actually fits in Chapter 11 on coordinate geometry, albeit in only two rather than three dimensions. If you wish, you can pretend parts of the graphs are in different planes and make it into a 3D lesson.
Ordinarily I don't post copyrighted material. But Cartesian Cartoons are so easy to find online that I see no harm in posting yet another copy of it. (And besides, I've posted some of them before during years past.) Some students today do remark that this is a bit early to be doing a St. Patrick's Day assignment, but oh well!
One girl has trouble understanding how to do the graphs. I try to help her a little, but her points are still a bit off. I tell her that she is "almost smart"and that she should work harder to make the graphs look right. I hope my words can motivate her.
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