This is a song that I first posted to this blog six years ago. It's a parody of the fight song of UCLA -- my alma mater. It has an artefact title -- originally, I wrote this song at the old charter middle school, when my eighth graders were learning the laws of exponents at the same time my kids in Grades 6-7 were learning about unit rates. (Nowadays I no longer attempt to incorporate Math I and Math III material as verses of the same song.)
So perhaps I should change the title and hook to refer to something about exponents. But it's just so to drop U-N-I-T, which starts with the same letter as U-C-L-A and so links the parody to its parent song -- thus far, I can't think of a suitable replacement line.
For parodies, I don't post any melody, since it's similar to that of its parent song. On the guitar, I usually play the song in the key of D major. (I wish to sneak in an extra line, playing a D scale without any sharps or flats, D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D. This is called the Dorian mode, which I want to play in order to honor the fifth-year quarterback for UCLA, Dorian Thompson-Robinson. But I need to figure out what lyrics, if any, to sing over that scale.)
Since I'm not posting any Mocha code today, there are other things I wish to mention in this post. First of all, last weekend was the first big library book sale since before the pandemic. I found no recreational math books (and we no longer do side-along reading on the blog anyway). But I did obtain three textbooks that are indirectly related to the classes that I'm currently teaching:
- The U of Chicago Algebra I text (second edition, teachers edition, part one)
- The IMP Integrated Math I text
- A college-level Intermediate Algebra text
Meanwhile, today's not an official "Day in the Life" day. But it's such a strange day that I can't help but describe it via "A Day in the Life":
8:30 -- First period begins. This is a Math III class. But a sub (actually another teacher) arrives to cover my class, because I have a special ed meeting. (A few years ago, I was the sub who surprised regular teachers who've forgotten their meetings, and now I know how it feels to be on the other side.)
The meeting is being held via Google Meet, so I depart for the classroom of another math teacher who has first period conference. But a few minutes before it's set to begin, there's a power outage. The blackout lasts several minutes, and it takes a little longer for Wi-Fi to be restored. So the big meeting ultimately turns to a short discussion.
9:55 -- First period ends for nutrition. On Wednesdays, the next block is third period conference. But now I'm scheduled for another meeting, this time with the TOSA who's assisting us with Math I. He meets with me and another Math I teacher who also has third period prep.
I discuss the scores from last week's group test. There are a few strong students, but also many students who are still struggling. I also inform the TOSA that I've been struggling to get my students participate during group work -- too many spend the time discussing non-math entertainment, then claim "I don't know" when I ask them a question.
The TOSA, in turn, talks about the path ahead. I was considering giving the exponents quiz this Friday and the individual part of the Chapter 1 Test next week. But he suggests letting last week's group test be the only Chapter 1 assessment, so we can dive directly into Chapter 2 (on linear equations and slope) next week. According to the original pacing guide, we should be starting Chapter 2 this week. But all Math I teachers have fallen behind because many of our students are struggling with equations (1.1) and functions, domain/range (1.2).
Let me now compare our CPM text to the U of Chicago text that I purchased over the weekend. This text appears to start slowly. Chapter 1 is a review of Pre-Algebra, then Chapters 2-5 are all about solving one-step equations -- one chapter for each operation (add, subtract, multiply, divide), as well as one-step inequalities. Not until Chapter 6 do we get to solve two-step equations. (Second edition has these same chapters but in a different order -- and Part 1 of the teachers edition ends with Chapter 6.)
But after seeing my actual students struggle in the classroom, I'm now starting to appreciate the U of Chicago approach of introducing equations slowly. If our school were following the U of Chicago text, we might be in Chapter 3 by now -- but we'd still be working on Pre-Algebra and solving one-step equations with addition and subtraction (multiplication and addition in the newer edition). There would be no functions, domain, range, exponents, or slope for the students to worry about.
Of course, this is an Algebra I text, not Integrated Math I. In the past, I spent several posts discussing a possible integrated course based on the U of Chicago text. While my proposal was needlessly complex, perhaps we couldn't do much worse than naively covering the first half of the Algebra I text and then the first half of the Geometry text (Chapters 1-7), with the second halves saved for Math II. (The only awkward part is that slope would be delayed to Math II, with many might find to be especially late.)
The IMP book is a very progressive (that is, anti-traditionalist) text. Indeed, its units are titled "Patterns," "The Game of Pig," "The Overland Trail," "The Pit and the Pendulum," and "Shadows." So it's difficult to imagine what my current Math I course would look like if we were using the IMP text.
Let's return to today's meeting. The other teacher reveals that she hasn't given the group test yet -- this week she'll give an extended version of the test with an extra question on exponents.
She also gives me some pointers about keeping students engaged in groups. She regularly has her groups do work on one of two Promethean boards, or at least on smaller whiteboards (VNPS). They are never simply answering dry questions from the text, since, as I found out earlier, there is less chance of students being distracted or doing no work.
11:45 -- Fourth period arrives. This is a Math I class.
Before today's meetings, I'd already planned to continue group work on exponents. But I want to incorporate some of what the TOSA and my fellow Math I teacher has shown me. I still need to learn more about how to use my own Promethean board, but I can implement VNPS right away -- indeed, I'd already used VNPS for quiz reviews before learning more about CPM group roles, and so it's rather straightforward to get right back to using them now.
And so far, it seems to be successful -- there's much more engagement during VNPS than when the students are answering book problems. This is something I should think about for future groupwork.
1:15 -- Fourth period leaves for lunch.
2:05 -- Sixth period arrives. This is a Math I class.
Due to the block schedule, sixth period is always a day behind fourth period on Wednesdays. So this means that sixth period got yesterday's period 4 lesson -- no VNPS for them until tomorrow. And so I had to deal with the frustration of students not working during group time -- indeed, I had to assign one group a short detention because they kept saying "I don't know" instead of discussing the problem (just as I had to do with fourth period yesterday).
Given a choice between using consequences like detention to keep the kids on task and using structures (like VNPS and my Math I colleagues' other suggestions), the latter is almost always preferable. So I'm expecting a much smoother ride in sixth period tomorrow.
3:30 -- Sixth period leaves, thus ending my teaching day.
At this point, one girl from my first period arrives. She's done well in her previous classes up to Math II, but she's having a little trouble in Math III. It doesn't help that I had to leave an entire lesson on completing the square/vertex form for the sub due to the semi-expected meeting.
And so I tutor her on completing the square and a few previous lessons. I believe that she is now starting to understand the material. The trick is to make sure that she, and her classmates, understand the material the first time without need for extra tutoring sessions.
Speaking of Math III, the recently acquired text for Intermediate Algebra (that is, Algebra II, which is nearly the same as Math III) starts out with lots of Algebra I review. Completing the square and vertex form don't appear until Chapter 8 of the text (along with x = -b/2a, the formula I mentioned in the song from yesterday).
4:25 -- The tutoring session ends, and so I finally get to go home.
I'll make my final decision regarding Math I Chapter 2 next week, after meetings on Monday. That's right -- Monday is the student free day. It's still the Vortex or DEVOLSON, since teachers won't get a day off until Veteran's Day. My next post will be on Tuesday, which will be Day 38.
No comments:
Post a Comment