Math fun, REALLY!

Ok, so you think that's impossible. Check out this project on sarcasymptote and tell me it can't be fun.

How can I not be an amazing teacher with all these brilliant, talented teachers to inspire me, guide me, uhhh, copy! Going through their blogs, I have been constantly reminded to be less helpful. Don't give away the punch line, easy road.

My long term goal is to eventually be certified in Physics. Physics is where the rubber meets the road, the heart of the matter, where we go from talkin' the talk to walkin' the walk. I want to show kids that math is real and all around them; get them to see it, question it, extend it.

So many blogs, so little time

I have gotten to the point in my Literacy in Content Area class where I am choosing article/writing topics that I am interested in and can connect to the class focus. I have been wanting to research SBG and now I have the justification to take the time to do it. I have to justify it because I get consumed by the obsession. I spent 3 hours last night searching on the web for journals, articles, anyting that would help me navigate the merky mire of assessment.

At 10pm I realized I had the knowledge/wisdom of some amazing thinkers at my fingertips. I began with Dan Meyer's blog because, when I grow up, I want to be like him. I linked to Shawn Cornally and David Cox blogs because they are the SBG kings. From there I found Jason Buell and hit pay dirt: the how-to of SBG. It's not so much the how-to part, but the evaluation of different subtle angles you can take in developing your own SBG program. Like setting up your standards according to skills or topics. Dan, a math teacher, does skills, and Jason, a science teacher, does topics. I see how topics can connect concepts and that is huge. I also see how grading topics for a struggling math student would be less intimidating. It almost seems like the choice is strictly preferential, but I think it can make a huge difference to the lower performing students. In UDL design, I've learned that teaching to the extremes is beneficial to all the students as opposed to teaching to the middle leaves those at the extremes out in the cold. Since I'm not in the classroom yet, all this is theoretical and a little overwhelming. Can I assess the skills and still, at the culmination of every unit, make conceptual ties. Does comprehension of these ties get assessed and graded?  I guess for an honors class.

I have a pile of print-outs (I'm so old-school. I like to be able to flip through the pages) and so much content to go through and organize in my folder and brain. I only have to do two articles for the next class. I will pick two of Jason's posts that connect with formative assessment, summarize them, reflect on them, and connect CAR (Content area reading) strategies with them.

BTW, I've had the privledge of tutoring a student for the graduation exam this semester. He had taken the math exam and had a print-out of the 15-plus standards and his score for each on a scale of 0-4. OMG, it's SBG. It was amazing to have this in my hands and be able to skip over sections and focus on specific areas.