Post date: Nov 3, 2017 7:12:30 PM
MSM2 Periods 1 & 2
SOLs Covered: 7.2 Practical Problems with Real Numbers
Math Unit: 09 Practical Problems with Real Numbers
Daily Agenda: Oct. 30-31, 2017 & Nov. 1-3, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Integers & Practical Problems Involving Proportional Reasoning
Upcoming Assessments: 2.01 Practical Problems with Real Numbers & Verbal Translations FORM Quiz (Fri. 11/10/17)
Math 7H Period 3
SOLs Covered: 8.15a (8.17) Solving Equations (Including Properties)
Math Unit: 11 One- & Two-Step Equations
Daily Agenda: Oct. 30-31, 2017 & Nov. 1-3, 2017
CCPS Student Digital Resource: Equations & Properties
Upcoming Assessments: 2.01 Equations Part 1 Quiz (Mon. 11/13/17)
After School Help Session: Thurs. 11/9/17, 3-4PM
That's a wrap! Well, for the first term at least. We finished strong, though with our final test taking place over two of the days this week, it was a relatively boring week. I'm super proud of all the kids who took advantage of the extra credit opportunity, but I'd love it if there could be 100% participation next term. Please help me with encouraging the kids to take advantage of every opportunity to improve upon their grades whenever possible. In addition to the extra credit opportunity that will be available at least once each term, this includes completing an Error Analysis on assessments, using their Liberty or Lambie Points to turn in assignments late, and using Points to correct and earn points back on tests. Not only will it help improve their overall grade, it ensures they are learning from their mistakes (whether it's a mathematical error or a responsibility issue) and will help them eventually move past those mistakes.
Grades are now set for my class, so when you next sign into ParentVUE/StudentVUE, the grade you see for math is the grade that will be on the report card. Please be aware that some teachers might still be working on grades as we technically have until mid-day on November 7th to send them. Aside from wanting kids and parents to know grades as early as possible, I also prefer to have them finished early since time next week will mostly be devoted to other obligations (conferences, training, meetings, preparing for next term, and website updates).
Now onto the weekly happenings. Monday was entirely devoted to reviewing for the test while Tuesday and Wednesday were set aside for the test. While there were a few students still needing to finish testing on Thursday, the rest of us moved onto new topics. The MSM2 classes covered a brand new SOL, practical problems with real numbers. Since it is a new standard, there aren't a lot of materials available to know exactly how it will be assessed next year (2018-2019; only field tested this year), but it looks to be a mix of a whole bunch of topics the kids have covered in the past: fractions, decimals, percents, integers, measures of center. Because of this, the kids were given quite a few notes to add to their math notebooks. The "practical problems" part of the standard essentially translates to "word/story problems." While this is probably the most hated part of any math class for any kid (and let's be honest, many adults, too!), we're working on breaking down problems into smaller, easier to handle portions that will make the overall problem easier. This will merge into next week's topic of verbal translations of expressions and equations (which I like to call translating from English to "Mathish"). With next week being a short week, the assessment will only be a formative one, but kids should still put as much effort into it as they would for a summative.
The honors class reviewed one- and two-step equations for the last two days of the week. Equations can be tricky for some kids, especially those who lean more towards the geometry side of things, so I've got a few tricks up my sleeves that I pass along throughout our entire algebra unit. This week we started with an index card foldable that reminds students to use inverse operations and which operations to eliminate first. I also try to jazz it up a little by describing the variable as a diva; pretty cheesy I know, but it generally sticks with the kids. We'll be starting multistep equations next week, so they'll get a few new tricks then. We'll keep things fairly simple at first, but the problems will get even more complex by the following week, so it will be super important that they take the problems a little slower and show all steps. Grades for the last two days in both classes will be the first grades of next term. This allows students who were behind on testing or out at all this week to catch up without having to worry about ending the first term with zeros.
Well, I'm going to close things out here, especially since I feel like I'm rambling in this update a bit. I attended the GRCTM fall conference last night and while it was super interesting and I left with a few cool new ideas to implement in class, it ended too late for this old math teacher. As always, let me know if you have any questions. Hope everyone has a great weekend!