ECST Mathematics Department

Newsletter

February 22-26, 2021

REMINDER!!! Mathematics Department Meeting

Wednesday, February 24th immediately following Dr. P's 1:30PM meeting.

(Next meeting is March 17, 2021.)

Budgets are due!

Please submit on EdData for approval.

Shared Resources in Google Sheet

On February 4^th, you received an email with a link to a shared resource spreadsheet containing links and resource files for our curricula. It is a work in progress and more will be added. Any suggestions about organizing the content would be appreciated. I have made you all editors so you can also add to this shared document. Please BE CAREFUL not to delete any links, tabs or the whole file.

IM DESMOS Resources & More

Notice & Wonder

The Notice and Wonder routine invites students to reflect independently about a situation or visual prompt and then share with a partner what they notice and wonder about it. The teacher then brings the class together and publicly records the things that students noticed and wondered about.

Here’s the magic for students:

Everyone has an entry point. Even the seemingly obvious things that students notice establish a common framework for students to talk about the prompt. There is no wrong answer.
Everyone gets to engage. Talking with a peer first establishes a degree of safety and allows every student to participate.
Diverse perspectives enrich the class. Students learn to think and question by hearing other students think and question.
Open-endedness invites depth.

Taken from this BLOG

ATTENDANCE QUESTIONS for SEL

Taken from HERE and HERE.

The idea is that every day you post a random question and each student must answer it at the beginning of class to account for their presence. These questions can be personal, content-related, or quick would-you-rather type questions. Attendance questions definitely beats the incessant “here” you typically hear after calling each student’s name.

When we take attendance, we are essentially asking each student, “Are you here?” But are students actually present when their minds are elsewhere? By asking the attendance question, I am indirectly asking my students, “Who are you? How are you? What matters to you?” Through their consideration of a response, I hope they stretch their minds toward presence in the classroom.

A few collections to get you started:

Review of Calculus

Calculus 1 in 20 Minutes by Thinkwell is a fast-paced review of Calculus 1. This effective video gives you an overview to see how all the topics fit together. Enjoy!

Calculator Activity

for Students from TI

Algebra 1 -Graphing Quadratic Functions

Students graph quadratic functions and study how the constants in the equations compare to the coordinates of the vertices and the axes of symmetry in the graphs. The first part of the activity focuses on the vertex form, while the second part focuses on the standard form. Both activities include opportunities for students to pair up and play a graphing game to test how well they really understand the equations of quadratic functions.

Summer 2021 PD Institute

In early August the Kendall Hunt IM Professional Learning certified facilitator will provide PD for the ECST Math Department. Originally this was scheduled for Summer 2020 in person, but you know … Covid-19 had other ideas. I wanted to schedule it virtually asap, but I was convinced by a few individuals to re-schedule it for a time when there are no other interruptions. I will let you know the exact dates as soon as the paperwork is signed.

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