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Monday, August 27, 2012

Monday: Introductions

Monday:  Introductions
  
   10 Warm Up
          About me worksheet
                   
   15 Introductions
          Teacher Introduction
      Student Introductions - Pair Share
                Choose 2 things from About Me to share

                      Trade papers & write down one compliment on your  partner’s page
                 Turn in about me into boxes
                 Get Jupiter Sign Up sheets from boxes
  
    10    Lesson
             Class Website
             Syllabus
             Assignment Boards
             BINDERS and NOTEBOOKS
             Class Jobs
  
  18    Classwork
             CAHSEE Packet
             July Birthdays
 
  2       Exit Procedure
           Group leader checks for trash
             Stay seated until bell rings
            
  HW   Return Syllabus Signed
            Email me from Gmail account
            Parent Supplies Check 1 (make form)
            Jupiter Grades Sign in Sheet
            CAHSEE/ SAT Packet

Friday, June 24, 2011

Geometry Work Group June 20 - 24, 2011



It occurs to me that this exactly like all the work we did in the collaboration teams two years ago at Oakland High. 

The district is trying to do what we did ... but district wide in terms of creating common assessments.
We could use these as our marking period finals.

The district will be providing 6 assessments roughly by marking period.
The common core piece is different.


As I led the Oakland High groups for 3 years here is some feedback:

Good
1. I suggested we divide standards each of us creating a part of the assessment. This worked well ... everyone's school and point of view is represented.   this is what we did with the O High Group.


2. We got a lot done this week! Each test has test questions, practice questions (or additional questions) challenge questions, mars questions.
Each unit has activities and there is a scope and sequence for the the whole course aligned to core standards.

BAD

1. As usual only a few teachers are involved.
At Oakland High the personal relationships allowed more people to be involved.

2. People tend to only consider what's going on in their classrooms and we tend to be experienced teachers who have been working together.  So the process in insular which is not good.
At O High we had new teachers mixed with old teachers. Good class management and not so good. So if people felt like it was too much they could say so OR we could offer support.


This process involves a lot of mentoring so hopefully the OEA can incorporate that piece into what we're doing in terms of working across generations.








There will be assessments for:
Geometry
Advanced Algebra
Math Analysis
Algebra 1 (will not replace the modules)

The Geo 10-12 PLC has our plan for next year. Mark N.  you're welcome to join us if you like.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Geometry Work Group June 20 - 24, 2011

Thoughts on District Assessments

This week we looked at Jacobs, Serra and Holt math texts. We matched the chapters and common core standards with chapters and units in each on the three books.


Teachers throughout the district frustrated with the bench mark because:
1. The are usually not when the bench mark is
2. The questions come from out of left field. No practice problems to help prepare the kids.
3. There is no time to really go over the data and discuss the problems.
4. Teachers have to input into or feed back on the assessments.
5. There is littles emphasis on projects, activities and conceptual understanding.

This week the Geometry team is developing 6 assessments based on 6 units in Geometry and tied to the core standards.

To address the above problems, here are some on my ideas.  These ideas follow what O High successfully did a while ago (see the email I sent)
For the OEA perspective, hopefully this can be duplicated across subject areas and grade levels.

1. Teachers would get assessments/ practice problems at in AUGUST  so they can better prepare their students.
2. Teachers would have a online resource with a variety of projects, links and activities to chose from (on the OUSD website) so that they can focus on more that just preparing for the test, but also on discovery and conceptual understanding.
3. Assessments would be by unit and there would be a bigger window for completing the assessment. This would allow for differentiation and flexibility (this is the biggest complaint from OEA members). For example, the Geo 9 and 10 kids would assess earlier and the Geo 11 - 12 would assess later.
3.5 The OUSD timeline would have the ideal Geom 9 timeline and and end of year unit that is optional in case new teachers or 11-12 teachers couldn't get that far. That way the goal is to complete at least 5 of the 6 assessments even for the really slow classes.  This would cause a lot more teachers to do common assessments and use them in grades as opposed to just giving them (or not) and ignoring the scores. Like they do with the benchmarks.
4. There would be a Geo 10 class to follow Geo 9.  Then a Geo 11-12 if needed. This would be optional site to site. Geo 10 kids are slowed down by the 11-12 kids.
5.  There would be a math resource center and workshops at the start of each unit so that teachers could learn about activities/ supplements and get an overview on assessments.
6.  There would be a publicity campaign with the OEA/ OUSD to get math teachers more involved with the math resource center workshops.
7.  Eventually there would be vertical teams with elementary/ middle school teachers.
8. In the summer, teams would be able to help create or modify the assessments.
9. After each assessment, there would be an OEA/ OUSD survey for feedback on how things went.
10. Schools would be encouraged to make their own assessments with the understanding that they would be incorporated into the next years district assessments.
11. Use websites, word of mouth, OEA, and blogs for communication as opposed to only department chairs.
12. These assessments are in addition to the OUSD benchmarks and are optional, BUT the goal is to get as many people as possible to do them.
13. Really look at the necessity and usefulness of benchmarks. Some really great but a lot suck. They are really out of tune with what teachers are teaching the classroom. So a LOT of OEA people would like to be able to give feedback on all benchmarks OR if not, people don't take them seriously and it's a huge waste of money. I think personally only two benchmarks are necessary.
14 Ideally the assessments would be a marking period final for each marking period. At Oakland high these exams were 30% of each students grade. Kids took them VERY seriously.
15 Professional Development would support this work! New activities project. Better ways to assess the exams or write exams, etc ...


More later ...



Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Geometry CH 2 Test Standards Allignment

Geometry Chapter 2 Test


Topic 3: Geometric reasoning
Students can:

Standard 1.0

A    Identify patterns and reason inductively from the data  1, 2
B    Make conjectures and argue deductively for the truth of the conjecture 3, 7, 8
C    Identify the parts of a conditional statement  5, 6
D    Write the converse, contrapositive, inverse, and negations of conditional statements 9, 10, 11
E    Write definitions in biconditional form 14, 15

Standard 2.0

F    Prove algebraic statements 16 -18
G    Follow a geometric proof 24, 25
H    Complete a two-column proof 23

Standard 3.0

I    Judge the validity of an argument  19-22
J    Use Aristotle’s square to determine truth or falsity of given statements 12, 13
K    Understand what a counterexample is   4

Monday, September 13, 2010

Advanced Algebra Chapter 1 and 2 Test Outline

Advanced Algebra Chapter 1 Test


Topic 1: Algebra review
Students can:


Standard A1 1.0

A    Identify sets of numbers
B    Use set builder notation to specify sets
C    Use properties of real numbers to solve problems
D    Use the properties of real numbers to simplify algebraic expressions

Standard A1 2.0

E    Find opposites and reciprocals of numbers
F    Simplify square root expressions, including by rationalizing the denominator
G    Use the properties of exponents to solve problems


Topic 2: Functions and relations
Students can:


Standard A1 16.0

A    Identify the domain and range of relations
B    Determine when a relation is a function by using the vertical line test
C    Determine when a relation is a function by looking at the ordered pairs

Standard 25.0

D    Evaluate functions by substituting into expressions

Standard 24.0

E    Transform functions by changing numbers in the equation
F    Understand how changing numbers in a function changes the graph of the function
G    Knows what is meant by “parent function” and can use that knowledge to graph a given function


Advanced Algebra Chapter 2 Test


Topic 3: Linear functions
Students can:


Standard A1 4.0

A    Simplify algebraic equations before solving them

Standard A1 5.0

B    Solve multistep equations
C    Solve multistep inequalities
D    Solve proportion problems, including percents

Standard A1 6.0

E    Graph linear functions using slope intercept
F    Identify from an equation slope and y-intercept
G    Change linear equations into other forms of linear equations
H    Find an equation of a line given two points
I    Graph inequalities
J    Transform linear equations to graph from the parent function

Standard A1 8.0

K    Identify when lines are parallel or perpendicular from their slopes

Standard 1.0

L    Solve compound inequalities
M    Solve equations with absolute value
N    Solve inequalities with absolute value
O    Understand what an absolute value or equation represents on the number line
P    Graph absolute value functions