Wednesday, August 8, 2012

It is finally here...

After all those days on Edjoin and various interviews, I finally have a job and a place to go this fall.  I got hired at a charter school in Escondido to teach 7th, 8th and 9th grade math, which is a lot, especially for my first year.  This school seems to be a good fit for me, the staff is young and friendly and I have a lot of freedom in which I can teach since I am at a charter school.  They have already conducted orientations and they sent me to the AVID Summer Institute last week which has given me a lot of good ideas in which I can start getting my class together.

As I sit at home on my final day off before 2 days of meetings before the first day of school (Monday) I am in awe that I have a job and I feel so lucky.  I know so many of my friends from my program last year weren't able to find anything (although the fat lady has not yet sung) and I hope they can experience the same feeling that I am soon.  I am just so excited to finally be doing what I have worked on for the past 5 years and that I can start teaching kids REAL math the right way.  


Thursday, May 31, 2012

Wrapping up

I can't believe that the school year is almost done.  University classes are over, job applications are piling up and interviews are exhausting.  As much as I am enjoying my time with my student teaching assignment I am definitely ready for summer break to come.  I look back to who I was when I started the program, and I feel so much different than before.  I have learned so much about the different "hidden" aspects of a classroom like student dynamics, ways to use visuals, and making sure that what you are teaching is actually interesting.  When the hidden things are addressed, a lot of the bigger issues like classroom management simply work out.  Overall, I am mostly excited to have my own classroom and really try these techniques from the beginning.  I just hope that things work out next fall!    

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

You Know You are a Teacher When...

As I have been integrating into the world of education, I have been noticing a lot of common things that teachers do.  Here is the list that I have come up with so far:

1. You think that when you wake up at 7am on Saturday that you are sleeping in.
2. You ask your friends if they have any questions when you finish telling them a story.
3. You are suddenly self-conscious about your appearance for work.
4. You laugh about jokes related to your content matter and when you tell your students, they think you are crazy.  (ex: Why was the obtuse angle upset? Because he could never be right!)
5. Germs are suddenly really scary.
6. You carry around red pens with you all the time.
7. You get worried about seeing your students when you go on errands around town.
8. You make graphic organizers to help you make decisions or to organize your own thoughts.
9. You start using acronyms for phrases other than education terms.
10. You think Kleenex and whiteboard markers are valuable.

Feel free to post more in the comments!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

The Homework Conundrum

After being back this week from Spring Break, something has really got me thinking about the structure of school.  Homework is a tool used by teachers for many types of reasons, but what is the best use of it?  There is the issue of too much homework, and understanding what students can handle within a night or two, and you have to think about what other classes the students have homework in and what other extracurricular activities they are involved in.  If students get too much work then they might not have the motivation to do it.

The other question is what is the real purpose of homework?  Should it be used to get ahead and for students prepare for the next class or should it be used for extra practice after class?  Could homework be a waste of time since so many students don't even complete it?  And if so do you give them easy problems to practice or do you give them something challenging to make it interesting?

There are even extreme cases where teachers are completely flipping their classroom structure to do homework at school and instruction at home with videos online.  This is seen with an article from The Washington Post.

As of now, my opinion of homework stands as both practice and a challenge, but shouldn't be too much work.  Homework from a single class shouldn't take up more than 20 minutes of the student's time.  I also think it is a time where students should work through the homework and use the tools they learned in class to figure out things on their own that might not have happened in a group setting.  I am still contemplating this and I am sure I will continue to do so within the next few years.  

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Possible or Impossible?



This is probably one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. It is modeled after MC Escher's Waterfall painting, which is an optical illusion about water flowing against gravity.  MC Escher is a well known artist in the mathematical community for his artwork depicting ideas of infinity as well as patterns, fractals and tessellations. 

But what you should be asking: "Is this actually possible?"  The mathematician in me wants to say no, but the video is pretty convincing.  So immediately I turned to my good friend, Google, and saw what this thing really looks like.  If you are curious, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwm-yGCjOjU&feature=related or this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpcIIa2hKRo&feature=related

I might bring in this video to a classroom at a higher level of math to explore the idea of infinity.  It would definitely be a good conversation starter on a concept that is difficult for students to grasp.  Maybe it is an illusion, but it is definitely interesting.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Oh no!

Today I had probably one of my most disastrous lessons while teaching math analysis. Not because I was unprepared, not because it was Monday (although I tried to blame it on that), but just because of what was going on at the time. Well the lesson started off okay, but I had prepared myself for material that was extremely difficult: teaching the students about the Angle Sum and Difference Trig Identities and the Double Angle Trig Identities. The first disaster was a student asked me why something worked. I knew it, but at that moment, my brain just stopped thinking. "Uh oh...how do I explain this??" But as I took a step back I realized a different way of looking at the problem and I was able to explain it to the student.

 Another problem came up about a typo on the reference sheet that was given to students. This was not as bad since I simply corrected it and told everyone to immediately change it on their copy. The worst part of the period was the fact that I had lost track of time. I told the students to work through a difficult identity and right when I decided to go over it, the bell rang. The students had to continue to struggle with that problem until we could discuss it tomorrow.

 Okay, so maybe I am being a bit dramatic, but it is hard to have so many mistakes in one period when you are a new teacher. I am glad that I took on the challenges head on and I didn't want the students to see how much of an issue it was for me. I learned to keep cool in that type of situation and focus on the students learning rather than my small mistakes. I think the class did end up to be a success since there is always time tomorrow to continue with the explanation. Anyone else have any disastrous lessons? Please feel free to share!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Should we be laughing?


When I saw this video on the national morning news, my first inclination was to laugh.  Sure it's funny, there is a woman who clearly doesn't understand the fact that she was given a trick math question. But the real question is should we be laughing at her?  If this was in a classroom environment, this would create a horrible situation.  It would make the student who didn't understand feel embarrassed and ashamed.  We need to make sure that things like this don't happen, and if it does, the attention needs to be taken off the student.  If the classroom culture has been created to have a comfortable environment, then this may not happen.

I had two more thoughts while watching this video.  The first one was that I need to become a math teacher...fast.  People shouldn't be making these sorts of mistakes once they leave high school.  I want to change that, and show how math can be useful like figuring out how long it will take to drive somewhere if you are going a certain miles per hour.  The other thought was that the husband was incredibly mean, and that I would never put a tape of a loved one doing something foolish on youtube.  

Monday, March 19, 2012

First day of Clinical Practice

I am so excited that I am back in the classroom full time, it just feels so right.  I love the classes that I am teaching (Math Analysis and Geometry) and the kids are great.  I am beginning to feel more and more comfortable in front of the students, and I am starting to set my expectations for them.  The only thing that I can't stop thinking about it how I can make the students' learning experience better, what can I do to improve the procedures or they way things are taught to make information "stick".  My strategy is to just work with the students as to how the teachers have all this time, and gradually bring in different things in the class so I won't throw anyone off.  Right now, the biggest thing that I need to figure out is how to get kids awake quickly in the morning for first period, I know the students are interested in the material, they just can't seem to wake up.  Any suggestions are welcome!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

#edchat: Social Media

So I just finished up participating in #edchat, and what an experience.  There was a lot going on and a lot of topics being thrown out.  I found it distracting when people kept retweeting the same comments over and over. I also think it was distracting because there are just too many people on there with so many strong opinions.  It was good to see the pros of allowing social networks in schools, but no one really talked about the potential issues it can cause, and how much you are able to allow and monitor it.  I think that social media has a time and place and can be a good thing in classes, but not all the time and not for every project.  It should be an allowed resource for interest, but definitely in moderation.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Technology in Math Classes

Today, my program went to visit some high schools in Oceanside to observe the use of ipads in the classroom.  Before going I was expecting something with a little chaos.  If a student is given an ipad, aren't they going to want to play games and download apps?  Actually no.  This class knew the drill and understood their purpose in the classroom.  Each student has a task to do and uses the proper resources of the calculator and the use of evernote to take notes and capture pictures and compile their thoughts all in one place. 

The teacher also effectively used moodle to generate tests and practice tests so each student gets a different possible problem in a different way so students have many opportunities to practice on their ipads.  One good thing about this is that some kids just think it is the coolest thing that they are able to do school work on an ipad which creates interest for them to want to do it.  Even if it was the same work as if the ipads are there, it is a new and interesting medium that makes it a little fun.

It also promoted an environment for student to talk to each other especially while working on practice tests since each person had a slightly different problem.  Students couldn't simply give each other the answer but had to explain how they got the answer.

Overall it seems like fun, but a lot of work from the teacher.  I would definitely be interested in incorporating something like this into my own classroom, if given the opportunity. 

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Job Fair

This weekend I went to my first official teacher job fair, which was concentrated towards the Catholic Schools in the area. Overall, it felt like Disneyland, but not in the fun way. Mostly because I think I waited longer in line than actually talking to prospective principals and administrators. There were so many people and so few jobs, which made it a little discouraging, especially since there were only 4 High Schools at the fair (as opposed to about 32 elementary schools). Each of the High Schools only had between 1 and 4 jobs open, which means it is competitive. Although I am not 100% about what type of school I want to be working at (private, public, charter or alternative) I am open to anything that will give me experience with teaching. This fair did teach me about how I should act, dress, and what to expect. I realized that I should be confident about my experiences in teaching so far because I do have what potential employers are looking for even though I am fresh out of college. Now I just have to buckle down and get those job applications in, because if there are openings, I am going to do my best at showing that I have what it takes.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

an attempt at #mathchat

So this was a failed attempt. As directed, I logged on to twitter at 5pm Pacific to check out what everyone had to say on #mathchat. Well I had a few issues. First of all , right at 5 my computer needed a reboot since it was acting a little funny, so I figured I had enough time to reboot and get back to the chat. Then the doorbell rings. It's my brother coming over since I was supposed to babysit my 6 month old nephew. So he was hungry, which means that I have to get him some food. That battle turned into a crying fit. Well to make a long story short, I didn't get to go back to #mathchat until 6:30 when everything is all over. I guess there is always Monday?

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Tau Day or Pi Day?


I have just be exposed to the new revolution of Tau. Apparently people believe that Pi is way to confusing when it comes to the unit circle since a whole circle represents 2pi. So Michael Hartl decided to change this and use the Greek letter Tau to represent half of Pi, so one turn around the unit circle is now 1 Tau. I think this would be a fun video to show my students, especially since one of my classes is learning the unit circle, to show them a new perspective on the subject. Even though this new Tau notation is not at all accepted on standardized tests or in college classes, it is an interesting topic to bring up and shows that math can be creative and logical at the same time.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Disrupting Class

After Reading the book: Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns By Clayton M. Christensen, I thought about the way that technology is embedded into schools.  I know  that my own learning experience with technology reflects Christensen's description, where all my teachers used in high school was presenting with powerpoint, or sending out emails and the use of internet for word processing and research.  With this, I am definitely keeping in mind ways to use more technology in class, especially with math.
Response To the Reading

What if we took away Grades?

This is something that I have wondered a lot about, especially from my own education, that I was all about getting the best grade that I could. This pressure also came from my family to get as many points as possible, and that's how I was able to measure learning for myself. It wasn't until I got to College that I realized how much I learned after I got over the fact that there was no way that I could get straight A's while taking upper division mathematical theory type classes. This is when I concentrated on really learning and understanding, and I got so much more out of classes this way. From this video, I agree with Dan Pink in the sense that so many kids think it is all about the grades and what is not learned. I think we need to begin adjusting our grading system to where we are grading upon understanding rather than completion.


Thursday, March 1, 2012

For the Love of Math!

I had so much fun this week at my school site. I have been able to teach more and more parts of class. Today, I was able to teach my students about the sine and cosine graphs. I was able to bring in an example of connecting it a model that I had seen in a conference that discussed the feelings of a girl and a boy in a dating relationship. The more that a girl likes a boy, the more he doesn't like her, and the less that she likes him, the more that he likes her. So it ends up going along a sin/cos curve. While I shared this with students I actually got some to laugh, which feels really good since math doesn’t have to be serious. I also helped teach the geometry class that I am helping with since there was a substitute, so I taught them about why the interior angles of a triangle is 180 degrees. This proof is an old style proof that was generated in ancient Greece, and I think that teaching some of these older ideas are good to teach the reasons why things happen and where they came from. At the end of the day, I found that if you are passionate and love the subject that you teach, the students are willing to listen and understand it better. They see your enthusiasm and that you care about it, so maybe they should too.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Teaching Jobs, Where are You?

My next step in this quest to become a math teacher is to find a job. However, this piece is stressing me out. It doesn't help to go on the news and hear that teachers are getting laid off and jobs are being cut everywhere around the state, like in this article from NBC: SDUSD Teachers Brace for Possible Layoffs. The only thing that is keeping me sane is the fact that I am constantly told that "We need good math teachers." I don't know where this will happen, I guess I just have to hope for pregnancies and retirements from math teachers so I can snatch up their jobs. I just have to be persistent and constantly be looking for opportunities to network and make myself look marketable which is far outside of my comfort zone. But at this point, I want to work so bad, Teaching is what I want to be doing, and I can't imagine doing anything else.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Learning in New Media Environments

The idea of introducing new technology into a culture is an interesting one. We all hope that it will benefit us and help us to get to information, connect to other easily, among other things. There is the concern, according to the video, that this might change our culture for the worst. In some ways this is already true. The concept of texting and using Facebook has caused so much distraction when used too much. There are so many accidents caused by texting and driving, and so many students are distracted by using Facebook in class rather than paying attention. I also think that new media has changed the way that we interact with each other. I know for myself, that I rarely call anyone on the phone, it is way more convenient to text them. Sometimes it is easier and cheaper to Skype my friends from far away rather than visit them like I used to. So really less face to face interaction is needed. It connects us in ways, but it in a way limits us from becoming more personable. The thing that hit me the most during this video was the idea of learning should be applied. Since we live in this technological world full of information that is easily accessible, then why do we need to learn it in class. I think that learning should be more in application and refining skills. For math, I think that this can be done by giving students assignments that use problem solving skills in a problem that directly applies to them or an interest of theirs. It will force them to better understand the material and practice their logic and reasoning skills in which a lot of students lack. This way, students will get more out of the lesson than simply learning facts.


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Japanese 2

When my OSL told me to observe a Japanese 2 class, I thought she was crazy. Oddly enough, she had a good point. Even though the extent of hearing Japanese was while tourists were speaking it over my Coast Cruise spiel at Legoland (That's another story), I learned a lot from the class. I had no idea what they were talking about, but I could understand the structure of the class. These were mostly 9th and 10th graders and it seemed to be a very squirreley class, but I learned if you keep them moving and keep the class going at a fast pace, then there is no time for bad behavior. I saw them playing games to remember the kanji, using hand movements and motions to remember the vocab, and were rewarded with a Japanese movie at the end of the period for being good. Since I had no clue as to what was said, I was able to focus on the pacing of the class as well as the way that the students react and are behaved. Overall it was a very fun and interesting experience.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Confused...

Today was another observation day at my school site.  It was not a bad day despite a suspected gun man running around the near by neighborhood causing the school and other schools in the area to go on lock down. Although my issue was not exactly about my day, but about what type of teacher I want to become.  The more I observe the different types of teachers, the more I question what types of things that I want to do within my class.  I want to incorporate group work and conceptual problems (like POW's), but I also want to make sure that the students have strong algebra skills that will help them in later, and more difficult classes.  I have seen classes (at many sites) that have a more student centered environment, but it seems like they don't get much done.  I have also seen classes where the teacher stands up in front of the class and bores the kids so much it drives them to text, doodle, and talk to their friends.  I feel like there is a middle route here.  I feel like there should be a way to use group work and self discovery of concepts but still be lecturing and making sure that the students understand each concept by sharing proofs, and the history behind them.  I guess this is something that I will continue to be pondering well on through my first years of teaching, but it is definitely bothering me now!

Monday, February 6, 2012

A Weekend of Conferences

This weekend was jam-packed full of conferences for me.  I went to two different education related conferences, with different perspectives and ideas, but overall it was very valuable.

On Thursday evening I went to the Education Re-Energized conference which was on the USS Midway.  Not only was the location amazing, but everything that was happening was more than what I had expected.  There were booths to view before the main speaker and they were mostly high school and middle school students representing different after school programs which bring science and math awareness to young students.  I thought this was amazing, and it is something that I definitely want to be part of when I get into a school.  The speaker of the conference brought new insight to teaching and education.  The speaker was Steve Farber, normally a speaker of Leadership to the business world, he then was notified by educators about how his theories can be related to educators.  He discussed his acronym: LEAP.  Love, Energy, Audacity and Proof.  He presented some great thoughts and ideas.

On Friday and Saturday, I attended the GSDMC (Greater San Diego Mathematics Council) Conference which was focused on teaching math.  Some speakers were good, I learned about the use of Hollistic problems, getting kids interested in puzzles, and working with the new Common Core Standards.  The best talk, however, was Dan Meyer, who talked about the phases of word problems and how they relate to a good movie.
Act 1: The hook, students need to be interested in what they are solving.
Act 2: Students gather the tools, resources and information (it's better if they do it on their own)
Act 3: The done moment, when students get to see if they are right.

Even though it was a long weekend, it was well worth my time. I was able to network with other teachers and think about they way that I want to set up my own class.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Visitor vs. Resident

Technology has always been a part of my life, since my family had owned a computer before I was born.  (They purchased an Apple 2 in 1984.)  This then influenced my brother to become a Software Engineer, and has influenced me to not only be technology literate but to enjoy and understand it as a tool.   I learned math on Math Blaster, reading on Reader Rabbit, had my own email address by the age of 5, and an AIM account at 7.  With this I have been familiar with the idea of cyberspace, and as soon as Facebook was available to high school students, I was quickly on top of it.  I like the fact that I can easily connect to my friends that I might not have been able to stay in contact with due to crazy lifestyles and moving across the country for school or work.  I constantly read blogs, use skype, twitter and other sites which gives me a presence, which according to Dr. White, makes me not only a resident, but a fearless one.  Since I am fearless, it allows me to try all sorts of tools with education.  I am already being more exposed so some social networking tools that I can use for education, and I am willing to try anything as long as I can connect my students to the math. 

Friday, January 27, 2012

The New Semester

I am so excited to be back to school after the long holiday break.  I get to be a teaching candidate at my own high school and work with teachers that I had.  It's a little weird since not a lot has changed at my school since I graduated, but I love the math department.  The teachers are extremely helpful in giving me advice right away, and their ideas about teaching are right in line with my own.  They are starting to bring in a lot more project based learning which has changed since I was a student.  It looks like I have a lot to learn, and I can't wait to start to teach full time in a few weeks.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Intro

I am a Single Subject Teaching Credential Student at CSUSM, working towards become a High School Math teacher.  This blog serves as a purpose for homework assignments in the program as well as to discuss my experience in the program in and out of the classroom.  I have had so many amazing experiences so far, and I know that there are so many interesting ones to come.