Since today is August 10th, let's look at the tenth topic on Shelli's list:
10. Share your #MTBoS Photo Challenge photos (#MathPhoto22)
And you know my problem -- I have an old flip phone rather than a smartphone, and so I can't take photos very easily. Sometimes I would ask my students to take photos and send them to my email address, but I didn't want to do that on the very first day of school, when I know no one and no one knows me.
This isn't to say that my phone lacks a camera. Indeed, my phone does have a camera -- and somehow, my phone took two photos today. Of course, I don't even need to look at them to figure out what they are photos of -- the inside of my pocket, which is where my phone was when I unwittingly took photos.
Then again, even if I had lucked out and taken photos of something other than my pocket, I wouldn't have been able to send them from my phone to the blog for Blaugust. So it appears that I'm unable to complete Shelli's prompt #10.
Instead, I'll begin with a description of today, in "A Day in the Life" format. This is for the special day "my first day of school." (Actually, that's one of Shelli's Blaugust prompts as well -- prompt #33.)
7:17 -- This is the time stamp of my first pocket photo, just as I leave home for work.
8:30 -- First period arrives. This is the first of two Integrated Math III classes.
In all of my classes today, I give opening week activities. This is Sara(h) week, when many teachers give activities promoted by two famous teacher-bloggers -- Sara Vanderwerf and Sarah Carter. But, as I mentioned in my last post, the lead Math III teacher has already created a pacing guide with opening activities, and so I was torn between giving those activities and the ones I already know from Sara(h).
Well, the first activity has students log into a Google Slide and fill it in with personal info. Much of this info is exactly what would be included in a Sara Vanderwerf name tent:
https://www.saravanderwerf.com/week-1-day-1-name-tents-with-feedback/
I know that I'm going to have trouble learning student names this year. Last year, it was easier because I had smaller classes at a smaller school. Now I'm at a full-sized high school with full-sized classes. And I know that it's easier to learn names when I can just look at the name tents and learn to match names with faces, rather than have to check Google Slides to learn names. (And besides, chances are that some students won't bring a charged Chromebook on the first day, no matter how many emails are sent beforehand directing them to bring it.)
And so I decided just to do the Vanderwerf name tents instead of Google Slides. I might pick up some of the opening activities from the pacing guide later on, but I'm starting out with Vanderwerf. The first prompt is "What are you looking forward to this year?" While they fill out their name tents, I fill out a seating chart -- and hand out pencils for the special day "the first day of school."
For the main task of the day, I decided to try Witzzle, from our other Sarah -- Carter this time. This is one of the tasks that I tried out at the end of last year and wanted to introduce this year:
https://mathequalslove.net/witzzle-pro-math-game/
I play the game the way Carter suggests -- use the TI to choose a random number from -12 to 36, then use that as a target number and have the students call out "Witzzle!"
I'm slowly introducing some of my rules each day. Today I introduce Rule #9: "We value instructional time," just as I discuss tough enforcement of the tardy and restroom rules.
Indeed, notice that first period now starts at 8:30, due to the new California law. In theory, a later start time might reduce tardies a little, but not completely -- and I know that because last year, with school starting at 8:00, some students arrived after 8:30 -- the future start time. (And of course, some students would be late even if school didn't start until 8:00 PM -- they'd arrive late because they want to shave off time from an undesirable task such as going to school, not because they can't get there in time.)
So anticipating that there will still be many tardies this year, my new policy is that standards must be written after every fourth tardy. Also, there will be a limit of nine restroom passes in the first semester -- once every two weeks, beyond which there will also be standards. Failure to write the standards will lead to detention, and failure to attend detention will lead to parent contact.
The class ends with an Exit Pass (as the Vanderwerf prompt counts as a Warm-Up). Since the last number for Witzzle is 10, the students write the final equation from Witzzle, 5 + 6 - 1 = 10 -- and of course, today's date is the tenth.
9:25 -- First period leaves for nutrition.
9:40 -- Second period arrives. This is the first of three Integrated Math I classes.
Yesterday, there was a CT meeting for Math I (which I attended instead of the Math III meeting). There was a pacing plan for this class as well, but it's a little looser than Math III -- especially when it comes to setting the opening week activities. So I just follow the same Sara(h) activities as in Math III.
In first period, and even more so in second, I spend too much time on the name tents and start Witzzle late, forcing me to rush the description of Rule #9. This also sends the wrong message -- our new math class is more about answering personal questions (the name tents) and basic arithmetic (on Witzzle) than high school math, and they won't even have to worry about following rules -- not the best message to give a class of mostly freshmen.
10:35 -- Second period leaves. Third period will be my conference period this year.
11:40 -- Fourth period arrives. This is the second of three Integrated Math I classes.
This class is a little longer than the others, since this is when announcements are given. The students use this as extra time to work on their name tents. So this provides me with more time at the end to tell them what to expect in a high school math class.
12:40 -- Fourth period leaves for lunch.
1:20 -- This is the time stamp of my second pocket photo, just as lunch ends and fifth period arrives (if only my phone isn't in my pocket). This is the second of two Integrated Math III classes.
This time I finally shave a few minutes from name tents -- but in my zeal to get to Witzzle quickly, I end up not passing out the first day of school pencils.
2:20 -- Fifth period leaves and sixth period arrives. This is the third of three Integrated Math I classes.
And not until this last period do I finally put it all together and time the class properly. I pass out the pencils and start Witzzle at or just after the 20-minute mark (around 2:50), leaving plenty of time to discuss some rules.
3:20 -- Sixth period ends, thus completing my day.
All in all, it's a successful first day of school. But one thing I worry about is whether I spend too much time on activity and not enough time on the rules. During my third period conference, I can hear my two neighbor teachers discuss the syllabus with their students. I know -- I've heard that syllabus on the first day isn't the best idea (as students get tired of hearing six syllabi that day). But still, after hearing their classes, it seems as if my first week plans are so light.
And this also might have been a factor in the parent complaint about my songs last year. My first song immediately followed Sara(h) week, so it seemed as if all I did was play games and sing songs. The parent might not have complained about music if I'd started with a syllabus and solid academic content.
Of course, part of the problem is that I haven't completed figured out my policies. I've written so much on the blogs about what I want my classes to look like, but some of that is clashing with what I'm hearing during the CT meetings.
Most, if not all, Math I and III assignments are going to be on DeltaMath or Desmos. Thus neither an interactive notebook nor a weekly Technology 1955 day makes sense. There's no point in forcing students to have notebooks if all the assignments are online.
Then again, I saw some Math III students today taking out phones during Witzzle -- suggesting that they are using calculators to solve one-digit arithmetic problems. This is the main reason that I wanted Tech 55 in the first place -- at least once a week, students need to do simple arithmetic in their heads. So Math III could use a weekly Tech 55 day. But if all assignments are online, they can still use Google calculator on their Chromebooks, even if their phones are put away. So this is what I need to finalize over the weekend, before that first Monday arrives.
As is typical in high schools, my classes are fluctuating, so I don't wish to talk about the demographics of my classes just yet. The size of all classes are in the 30's. There are 35 desks in my classroom. Some of my rosters have more than 35 students, but in no period do more than 35 actually attend (although one class has exactly that number attending today).
As you'd expect, most Math III students are juniors. There are a few seniors in the classes, as well as a total of three sophomores (working at Steve level, headed for Calculus). And of course, most Math I kids are freshmen, but there are some older students, including one junior. The lone Math I junior is one of the first students to ask for a restroom pass today -- and you can probably figure out how this student feels about math and would want to leave class as much as possible.
The rest of this week will be more opening week activities. Some come from the CT pacing guides -- indeed, both of them have an assignment similar to Sarah Carter's Twos through Nines challenge. (For Math III it's For Four 4's, and for Math I it's 5-4-3-2-1.) Also, Math III appears to have a Number Talks activity, similar to one mentioned on Sara Vanderwerf's website. Thus even by following the pacing guides, I'm still having some special activities for Sara(h) Week.
By the way, my blogging schedule will follow the block schedule. As I mentioned last year, the main high school has three block days with four periods each -- Tuesday 2-3-4-5, Wednesday 1-3-4-6, and Thursday 1-2-5-6, with all classes on Mondays and Fridays. The block schedule will begin next week.
I've decided that this blog will follow the fourth period block schedule, and so I'll post on its block days, Tuesday and Wednesday (and not on all classes days). So my next post will be on Tuesday.
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