A couple of folks have asked about the actual contents of my sick days reading folders but I must confess I haven't gotten it wrapped up yet. I have until Jan 27th for crying out loud. Sheesh. Surely today is soon enough to start?
Procrastinators of the World - Unite. The day after tomorrow.
I do plan on putting up the list (once it's been decided upon) and the questions but I'd also love to hear your thoughts on this.
Showing posts with label Lesson Plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lesson Plans. Show all posts
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Sick Daze - a thought.
Labels:
Lesson Plans
Our principal called for five days of emergency plans from all of us, plans that could be used at any time in the school year for, well, an emergency.
I'm a math teacher and it's difficult for me to plan THAT far ahead with any specificity - who knows what the sub can or can't explain, what the kids can or can't figure out - so our department is going to try something along these lines:
Instead of some worksheet that might or might not get completed or understood, we're going to collect articles and other readings, bind them into those folders with fasteners and leave 30 of those in the corner of the room. We'll include some questions and leave instructions to "have them read article number 13 and discuss the questions afterwards." It's not a math assignment but it's not a day off either.
Things like "The Median isn't the Message" by SJ Gould, "Flatland" by Abbott, "Clever Hans the Math Horse" from dangerouslyirrelevant.com, Asimov on Physics, and other articles and pieces that have some connection to math.
It should be an interesting change of pace and we feel it will be good for the students to read short pieces with a different tone and focus than what they might get from the English or History Department.
Reading such as this isn't in the same vein as Sustained Silent Reading, (or Self-Selected Reading if you'd rather) but we also have to placate our principal who foams at the mouth if we aren't DOING SOMETHING about our math test scores.
I'm a math teacher and it's difficult for me to plan THAT far ahead with any specificity - who knows what the sub can or can't explain, what the kids can or can't figure out - so our department is going to try something along these lines:
Instead of some worksheet that might or might not get completed or understood, we're going to collect articles and other readings, bind them into those folders with fasteners and leave 30 of those in the corner of the room. We'll include some questions and leave instructions to "have them read article number 13 and discuss the questions afterwards." It's not a math assignment but it's not a day off either.
Things like "The Median isn't the Message" by SJ Gould, "Flatland" by Abbott, "Clever Hans the Math Horse" from dangerouslyirrelevant.com, Asimov on Physics, and other articles and pieces that have some connection to math.
It should be an interesting change of pace and we feel it will be good for the students to read short pieces with a different tone and focus than what they might get from the English or History Department.
Reading such as this isn't in the same vein as Sustained Silent Reading, (or Self-Selected Reading if you'd rather) but we also have to placate our principal who foams at the mouth if we aren't DOING SOMETHING about our math test scores.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Lesson Plans
Labels:
Lesson Plans
So we've got lesson plans due later this month - hand in all of your plans at the end of the semester so Principal PJs can review them.
I took the easy way out. I made'em electronic.
Course by course, day by day, I've been transcribing them. I don't have to do every class, of course -- I have a few left over from last year. There are some updates and changes but math doesn't change that much from year to year. Shocking! Redoing all those lesson plan books was annoying and time consuming - thank God I saved them.
But now? Now the curriculum map is one aspect of it, daily lesson plans another, and substitute plans are a third. I have even less desire to do lesson plans now that I've actually compared a couple of years - I've always been a wing it and teach from the seat of my pants kind of person anyway. Really, I don't need a roadmap anymore. I have them if I need to prove I can do them.
Algebra started as a collection of assignment lists, then daily notes. The Calculus one is essentially an expanded version of what I did for the AP audit, along with the assignment list and various powerpoints, display, and labs. I don't have them dated with the actual date. Instead, they're day 1, day 2, day 3 etc. It's so much more useful and the whole "hand them in" thing is much less stressful. I just print. It's not my nickel.
Why did I wait so long? Why do I feel like I've caved in to the man?
I took the easy way out. I made'em electronic.
Course by course, day by day, I've been transcribing them. I don't have to do every class, of course -- I have a few left over from last year. There are some updates and changes but math doesn't change that much from year to year. Shocking! Redoing all those lesson plan books was annoying and time consuming - thank God I saved them.
But now? Now the curriculum map is one aspect of it, daily lesson plans another, and substitute plans are a third. I have even less desire to do lesson plans now that I've actually compared a couple of years - I've always been a wing it and teach from the seat of my pants kind of person anyway. Really, I don't need a roadmap anymore. I have them if I need to prove I can do them.
Algebra started as a collection of assignment lists, then daily notes. The Calculus one is essentially an expanded version of what I did for the AP audit, along with the assignment list and various powerpoints, display, and labs. I don't have them dated with the actual date. Instead, they're day 1, day 2, day 3 etc. It's so much more useful and the whole "hand them in" thing is much less stressful. I just print. It's not my nickel.
Why did I wait so long? Why do I feel like I've caved in to the man?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
