Lesson 0.3 of Michael Serra's Discovering Geometry is called "Daisy Designs." Yesterday the students used rulers or straightedges to make designs, and today they'll use a compass.
Serra begins:
"The compass is a geometric tool used to construct circles. You can make some very nice designs with only a compass."
The students are then directed to create a "daisy" using a single compass setting. Serra points out that this construction is related to that of a regular hexagon -- which is required under the Common Core.
On today's worksheet, I take one question from the exercises -- and the other, as usual, is taken from the project. I found a website that teaches students how to form the daisy designs:
http://geometry2014.weebly.com/daisy-design.html
(The creator of this website is Monica Zimmers, a New York high school teacher.)
The second question directs the students to use a graphing calculator to graph r = a sin (n theta) in polar coordinates, for various values of a and n. The graph of these are, well, "daisies." Of course, I don't expect all students to have graphing calculators (though I do expect them to have compasses).
Here is the Blaugust prompt for today:
#made4math - Create something you can use this semester, such as a tarsia puzzle, question stack, game, card sort, etc. (Or share one you have previously created)
Well, technically I did make the worksheet for today -- and it's definitely something that can be used this semester (even if just as an opening activity). Then again, you can argue that I didn't really "create" it, as the entire worksheet comes from Zimmers and Serra. (By the way, Zimmers is definitely not a Blaugust participant. Her blog link above mentions 2014 in the URL, and indeed she hasn't touched her blog since that year.)
In my post last year for the third day of school, I wrote about how I attempted to create lessons for my science class. But as you already know, that didn't go too well:
I think back to my own days as a student. A classic project is for the students to construct a model of a DNA molecule, and I did so as a sophomore taking Integrated Science II.
I don't know whether the Illinois State text includes a DNA molecule project or not. The Illinois State science text was divided into three volumes -- earth, life, and physical science -- and the life science text was the last to arrive at my school. Therefore I was less familiar with the projects in this text than in the other two science texts.
In fact, part of the reason for my failure to teach science was the lack of science texts. You see, Illinois State didn't supply us with enough science texts (as opposed to math texts) -- in fact, the students never received science texts. There were teachers editions of the earth and physical science texts -- and they were both delivered to our sister charter school.
The thing about our sister charter is that they didn't have any eighth graders. This made a huge difference when looking at their bell schedule. (See my November 9th post for more information.) At both schools, the day was divided into four main blocks followed by P.E. time. Over there, sixth and seventh graders had two blocks with my counterpart teacher -- one for math, the other for science. At my school, meanwhile, I had each grade for one STEM block and the last block was for IXL with one of the grades.
I think this was what confused me about teaching science. The administrators intended me to start teaching science, possibly by going to the Illinois State website for science materials. But I didn't, because I thought that the STEM projects in the Illinois State math text counted as science! Notice that some of the math projects in each text could double as science projects (e.g., research projects in Grades 6-7, solar system project in the eighth grade text). But in reality, I should have taught science using the Illinois State materials -- online only until my teachers editions arrived.
So there was a perfect storm of confusion regarding why I didn't teach science properly:
- lack of science texts at start of year
- nonappearance of science on daily schedule (replaced by mystic "STEM" block)
- projects in math "STEM" text resembling science projects
- lack of other middle school science teachers on campus to ask for info
- counterpart on other campus unhelpful as she didn't teach eighth grade (the critical testing year)
- counterpart on other campus unhelpful as her specialty wasn't science (it was kindergarten!)
- transition from California Science Standards to NGSS
My earth and physical science texts finally arrived at some point -- I don't recall exactly when (though it might have been close to that aforementioned November 9th date). Neither my counterpart nor I had a life science text. In fact, she ended up using the earth science text for sixth grade (which she knew matched the old standards) and thus, by default, physical science for seventh grade. (Some physical science topics, such as atoms and molecules, do appear in the seventh grade NGSS.)
Of course, I knew that at the very least, my eighth graders needed science for the state test. One day, some eighth graders complained, "Why aren't you teaching us science? In fact, do we even have any science textbooks?"
There were some old texts near the back of the classroom -- but unfortunately, they were only for sixth (earth) and seventh (life) grades. Then I tried to teach an eighth grade NGSS lesson from the seventh grade text -- but of course they rejected the lesson. And of course, no one accepted my explanation of what NGSS was, or why Illinois State didn't provide any student texts. Interestingly enough, science and math suddenly appeared on PowerSchool just in time for me to assign separate grades at the end of the second trimester (as opposed to the first trimester, when the students received only a "STEM" block grade).
Notice that it was right around the end of the first trimester when the Illinois State teacher texts arrived -- perhaps that should have been the hint that skipping science first trimester was understandable without the texts, but as soon as I had them, that was the time to begin teaching science -- to all three grades.
Well, I did start teaching science to the eighth graders at that point -- the DNA lesson. The shape of the sugars in the molecule is important. It is the pentagonal shape of deoxyribose which makes the shape of the spiral and requires 10 rungs to complete a turn. When gene copying (or DNA replication) takes place the DNA double helix is unwound at breakneck speeds of over 8000 rpm, and splits along the bases separating into two strands. Again, I could have tried to keep the mathematical models of DNA structure and replication in mind as I taught this lesson to the proper grade level -- the seventh graders.
Did I ever actually create anything at all for my classes? Well, for the most part my hands were tied since I was required to use the Illinois State texts and materials. But for the third day of school I did create an opening activity worksheet on number patterns. Even though many of the patterns came from other sources, the collection is still original to me.
Outside of the year that I actually taught, some of my posted Geometry worksheets, while based on the U of Chicago text, present the material in new combinations. A typical example is my worksheet for Lesson 9-2 (from my January 19th post), which combines a list of vocabulary words with two Exploration questions from that lesson to create a short activity worksheet.
But actually, I doubt that Shelli, the Blaugust leader, had worksheets in mind when she came up with the Made 4 Math label and prompt. In fact, today Shelli herself blogs an example of something she created for her class:
http://statteacher.blogspot.com/2018/08/myfavfriday-new-year.html
These DIY pencil pouches (made from a zipper bag and duct tape) wasn't my actual #Made4Math post this week, but they are my favorite new thing I made for my classroom! :)
It took me about an hour to make 8 of them, but I just love how they turned out. Next week will be our first table bucket time, so we'll see how they hold up to teenagers. But, it can't be any worse than the snack size baggies I had before, right? :)
In the accompanying photo, Shelli makes it clear that these pouches are for dry erase markers. And notice that this isn't her "actual" Made 4 Math post of the week. Both her Monday and Wednesday posts this week have the Made 4 Math label. On Wednesday, she writes about the pouches in more detail, and on Monday, she describes a notebook cover sheet that contains Geometry formulas -- and a pouch to put a protractor in. Yes, Shelli calls herself "Stat Teacher," but she has Geometry too. (And meanwhile, "My Fav Friday" is the name of a weekly series of posts -- Shelli's "attempt to reflect on the week in a positive manner.")
Another Blaugust participant is middle school math teacher Cheryl Leung:
https://matheasyaspi.wordpress.com/2018/08/18/get-ready-do-done-get-done-executive-function-take-two/
(That post is dated the 18th, but I don't know what time zone that is -- her post became visible to me about an hour and a half before I make this post, dated the 17th.)
In this post, Leung describes something she created for her class -- a graphic organizer:
To help support students with the process, I have made the organizer shown below. There is a blank box for each section. I have laminated it so that it can be used over and over. Students simply write/sketch on it with dry erase markers and then wipe it clean for the next time.
Leung writes that her graphic organizer is for her sixth graders, many of whom are special ed. Many of them need the extra help to complete a multi-step procedure.
Once again, I compare Leung's class to my own from two years ago. Many of those students were also special ed, particularly in the sixth grade class. If I had made a graphic organizer like Leung's, could it have benefitted my students? For that matter, could a marker pouch like Shelli's have helped my sixth graders keep track of their materials?
Notice that both Shelli's and Leung's "Made 4 Math" objects are for interactive notebooks -- Shelli's protractor cover sheet is to be the first page of an interactive notebook, and Leung's organizer is to demonstrate how to create an interactive notebook.
Many MTBoS teachers use interactive notebooks in their classes. To me, an interactive notebook is a cross between a foldable and an ordinary notebook -- various worksheets are folded and pasted into the notebook.
I actually did consider using interactive notebooks in my class two years ago. I agree that students are more likely to enjoy taking notes on foldables (and hence interactive notebooks) than in their ordinary notebooks. But my concern was that many of the students wouldn't purchase a notebook, and the ones who do would forget to bring them half the time.
In any case, Shelli and Leung created things for their classes, and I didn't. And this could be one reason why Shelli and Leung are successful teachers, but I am not.
Here are the worksheets (that I didn't really create) for today:
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