Today Was A Good Day, Reflection.

A good day, reflection.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to be observed by a principal of another local elementary school and a fourth grade teacher from that school.  It was an activity that I had not done before.  I talked myself into doing it by thinking about risk-taking and telling myself that it would be okay to fail.  In all honesty, while I think you can learn from failure, I don’t like failing.  I don’t even really like risk-taking.  I consider myself to be a creature of habit.  I also think that taking risks is easier said than done.  I don’t like change either, but change is necessary.  The premise of the lesson was using the Educreations app to have each student teach another student how to do the order of operations.  There were no guidelines specifically about how they could create their lesson.  There was no time limit for the duration of their lesson, they could use their math book- or not.  I told them- you will share your lesson with another student and have discourse through the SMP lense of attending to precision and constructing a viable argument and critiquing the reasoning your partner.  I told them spelling is not up for critique.  And that was basically it.  They did it.  They shared their lessons.  The app worked seamlessly.  Some students shared their lessons with the whole class.  The lessons from each iPad projected through the SmartBoard seamlessly.  It was good.  I was glad I took the risk.  It was a successful risk because I thought it would work anyways.  I’m not afraid to try something new, but I do get flustered if it goes wrong, or there are bumps in the road.  I like to live as close to perfection as possible.  It’s lonely at the top.  We debriefed the lesson.  They loved it.  They saw value in it.  The stress and nerves from Monday and Tuesday were worth it for the Wednesday observation.  After the debrief and lesson, I was on cloud nine.  Happy with myself and happy with my perceived perfection.  After they left, I checked my phone.  I had a missed call and a voicemail from my mom.  I figured she needed to know what time pick up my daughter from Spanish class that day, so I just called her back without listening to her voicemail.  Here is how the conversation went:

Me: Hi, I saw I missed your call.
Mom: Have you talked to your brother?
Me: No. Why?
Mom: He didn’t tell you?
Me: Tell me what?
Mom: He is interviewing Buster Posey in San Francisco for Bleacher Report at 11am.
(it was 11:33am)
Me: Whaaaaaaaaattttt??!?!? OMG!!!!!!! Seriously!!!!!

My brother had a better day than me.  And I thought my day was good.

 Here is the link to his article.

Dolphin Toothpaste

I thought this was a pretty catchy title.  And you might enjoy the catchy story that goes with it.

Today we were comparing pictures of different types of waves.  I thought it was a relatively interesting  area of curriculum.  The 6th graders probably had their own opinions....which I didn't ask for.

So as we compared one of the questions was, "How are the waves changing?"  The answer is the waves are breaking at the shoreline and more white, instead of blue.  Everyone got this, easily.  So, to make things more challenging, I said, "What causes waves to turn white?"

I called on a student who I knew would have the right answer.  The student said, "Waves turn white because it's dolphin toothpaste!"  Although this wasn't the right answer, it made my day!  I kindly said, "You are incorrect, but that was the cutiest part of my day and TYVM for that!"  While this student had the wrong answer, the answer immediately made me think of everything I love this year (but not limited to): llamas, unicorns, llamacorns, rainbows, glitter, fainting goats, mermaids and dolphins!

The Annual Summer Post

I am at the yearly Project LEAD week-long seminar.  For those of you who aren't familiar with it-- it is Monday-Friday, 7:15-4:15.  That time frame includes, wake up time to get home time.  I always feel compelled to blog during this week because it puts me back in the school mindset.  This is the last year of the LEADership program.  This is what I have learned from the program over the past three years....(in no particular order) 1) Teachers will pick through a bowl of fruit salad forever, regardless of how long the line is behind them. 2) Teachers get mad when there is not any regular Coke or Pepsi selection at lunch.
After three years in this program, this is what I have learned....  1) I am going to go into administration, then work in a county office.  LEADership does not equal poverty.  I am grateful for the opportunity that this project has given me to realize my leadership skills and the direction that I want to take my career in.  I will end with an Alice In Wonderland quote that I relate to and you can draw your own conclusions as to why...

The caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.  


'Who are you?' said the caterpillar.  


Alice replied rather shyly, 'I-I hardly know, sir,  just at present, - at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'  


'What do you mean by that?' said the caterpillar sternly.  'Explain yourself!'


'I'm afraid I can't put it more clearly,' Alice replied very politely, 'for I can't understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.'


-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Flipped

I'm watching Cee Lo Green perform on The Voice right now in a gold metallic shoulder pad, dress-like ensemble outfit and I all I can think is, "I wish I could wear this outfit while I am teaching math."  The thing is I could possibly make it happen.  The Flipped Classroom was introduced to our school district and teachers were super-excited about it.  For me it was like a pandora's box of sorts.  A teacher videotapes him or herself teaching a lesson.  The students watch it at home and come in ready the next day to work.  Here is a super cute teacher example!  After I watched this video, and I believe I was at our district office the first time I saw it....I immediately thought- "This is my big break! My own little way to be on television!" Yes!!!!!!  But then I had to remind myself that the Flipped Classroom isn't my audition tape for The Bachelor, Top Chef or American Idol for that matter. I'm sure my Flipped Videos would have some type of entertainment value, besides just being annoying and me flipping my hair around a lot...one can only imagine.  I mean, this is how I feel after I teach every 6th grade math lesson.  We will see....I'm sure my sister-in-law would record my flipped classroom math lesson with my flip video camera.

It's the end of the 3rd trimester.  I've found that I've invented a new word, which I'm really proud of-  "cutiest" (adjective), sentence, "As the year has gone by you keep doing the cutiest things like talking with English accents." Pronunciation cu-tee-est.  Definition: a way to describe something that is beyond super cute, but borderline annoying.  Maybe I could make a lot of money off of inventing this word.  I'm sure it could be used as an adverb too.  I thought I invented this word too: chittered (verb), but apparently it's already a word.  I've used it in my own sentence a couple of times....like on the last vocabulary test: "I couldn't cross the bridge to the cabin at camp because a raccoon was chittering at me."

PEMDAS- Ain't No Thing!

I gave my anti-PEMDAS monologue to the 6th grade this morning at math.  I think it was well-received to say the least.  Most of them had tuned out in 5th grade when exposed to the misconception of PEMDAS in the first place.  PEMDAS is the most misleading part of math that I have ever heard of.  PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction)-- aka-- Order of Operations.  I'm pretty sure that one will not be successful in Alg. I w/out attending to precision in the Order of Operations.  The acronym PEMDAS implies that first one would evaluate within the parentheses, then evaluate exponents, then multiply, then divide, then add, then subtract.  When in actuality, yes one would complete the parenthesis and exponents first, then one should multiply and/or divide (whichever comes first) left to right, then you add and/or subtract (whichever comes first) left to right.  To use such an acronym that suggests multiplication would come before division and addition before subtraction is just as offensive as calling a fraction greater than one an improper fraction.  PEMDAS- you are improper and incorrect!

Back to today's math lesson: after they wrote the notes down and learned how deceiving and manipulative PEMDAS was towards them and their future math careers, they tried about 6 or 7 independent practice problems from the textbook.

Then I asked, "Who is ready to see into your near future?"

Much to my chagrin, no one raised a hand, no one said, "YES!  We never knew you had a crystal ball!"

Alas, I continued on....I took out my Alg. I book and wrote twelve Alg. I Order of Operations problems on the board.  There were a few gasps (which I love), some expressions of disbelief (which I love even more), and then it felt like all of the air was sucked out of the room (which is my most favorite thing ever)!  After a few seconds, all of the 6th graders started breathing again and decided to rise to the occasion and meet their futures a little bit early.  I told them, "This will be the hardest part of your day!  Please-- embrace it!  I promise we will do buddies, art, computer lab and class meeting the rest of the day, people-- this is it!"

I think they surprised themselves.  There were no tears of sadness or joy for that matter.  Order of Operations exists in a mathematical world, where you need to Attend To Precision #6 (scroll down) and appreciate the exactness and preciseness of the Order of Operations.

2012 (Twenty Twelve) And Happy Anniversary!

We returned today.
My blog turns one this week.  LOL!  This is the best relationship I've had in a while!! LOL!  LOL!
I felt like I was gone for a month or so.  It was actually 11 school days off.  I returned to an assembly, an art docent lesson, cleaning out desks, changing seats, and then it was finally my turn to talk around 10:50.  This is what we talked about in the following order:

1. Everyone gets a new neon eraser cap and a new Ticonderoga pencil! (Happy New Year gift- and this will guarantee that your writing for the upcoming trimesters meets and exceeds grade level standards). 

2. We are going with the Green Peace calendar that my sister has donated to the classroom. I was too depressed about the Raiders last game to even consider hanging a Raiders calendar for 2012. But in the same breath I told them I was soooooo excited to wear one of my Raiders jerseys; Sapp, Kaufman, or Woodson to a Super Bowl party.

3. The highlight (of my vacation) that was classroom appropriate that I could share with them was seeing the Warriors beat the Knicks in Oakland. REPRESENT, West Coast.

4. The highlight that was not classroom appropriate and I could NOT share with them was New Year's Eve, 12:01, Knocti Vista Casino, Pai Gow, Straight Flush, Spades, $150!  Although I'm sure there is a way I can get that one into the probability topic.

5. Then I informed them that May 20: Giants giveaway Brian Wilson garden gnome This is right up my alley for a couple of reasons: I have always dreamed of having a garden full of gnomes. Brian Wilson is my all time favorite Giant (after Barry Bonds.) Getting the first gnome that day is one of my short term goals for the 3rd trimester. 

Then it was back to reality.  The reality of 6th grade math.  The reality that I am asking them to solve one and two step equations.  I am required to make them do something that I didn't do until 9th grade.  I was successful at this in 9th grade, would I have been in 6th?  Probably not.  

A Meaningful Power Struggle

It's been a while...I know.....I've been busy. I'll blog about my trip to Washington DC in another post, but will take the time to mention this quickly- night one in DC, hotel bar, 10:15 DC time, 7:15 Cali time. I asked to get the Giants v. Dodgers game on the TV and was told this was not going to happen. So I ordered another cosmo. Welcome to the East Coast and it only got better from there!

I'm excited and happy to report on a wonderful power struggle that I engaged the class with during math this morning! Usually I try to avoid power struggles with 6th graders, but I figured since it was all 26 v. me, what better way to start a math lesson, than with a power struggle stare down? We started math with a Least Common Multiple Interactive Learning Problem. A guy washes dishes on every 2nd day of the week and he folds clothes on every third day of the week type of schedule. So the 6th grade had to figure out when both of these exciting activities would occur on the same day. I asked them to talk with their partner about how they would go about solving this problem. Fast forward 60 seconds. Me: "Who would like to share how they would solve this problem?" Student 1: "I got 5." Me: "Okay, well that's an answer. How did you get it?" Student 1: "I added 2 + 3 and got five." Me: "Okay, since we're at the answer, who else got five?" Student 2: "I got 6." Me: "Okay, how did you get six?" Student 2: "I multiplied 2 and 3." Me: "Well, which is the answer and how can we prove it works for this problem because yes, 2x3=6 and 2+3=5."

Start power struggle here: staring contest-- me and 26 ten, eleven and twelve year olds. Time elapses for what seems to be eternity. No one said anything, we were all just thinking. I wasn't timing, but when I had had enough time to think about the Raiders winning the Super Bowl this season and picturing Darren McFadden running in the game winning touchdown coast to coast in OT, I knew it was time to disengage the power struggle and move on.

Me: "Can anyone help me prove which answer is correct?" Nothing. Nothing and more nothing. Maybe this was a mini stare down. Regardless, I don't think I blinked the entire time. Me: "Would anyone object if I wrote a chart on the board listing the days of the week or something to the effect of Day 1, Day 2 etc.?" No objections. I wrote the chart, they wrote the chart, we checked off the 2nd and 3rd days and found that both activities would occur on the 6th day.

I guess the moral is I've got to figure out how to get students to demonstrate Standard for Mathematical Practice #3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.