Groupwork, Grading, and Geometry - oh my!

A Terrifying Realization

2011-12-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

I have not left the country in almost 18 months. Life just starts passing you by and all of a sudden there you are, your passport glaringly devoid of stamps. My passport is not even taunting me because it's buried in a drawer somewhere. Drastic times may call for drastic flight itineraries. I could use a little of this right about now:

Sometimes high schoolers are cute

2011-12-20T14:11:00.001-08:00

I already gave my final exam, so there is now some down time for my kids who don't also take algebra. I had nothing planned for today, so I broke out the pattern blocks. This group decided they wanted to work together to make one giant, cooperative pattern. Now they are sitting in almost complete silence, completely engrossed. Every once in awhile they discuss what color or shape to place

Who Can't?

2011-11-22T23:19:00.001-08:00

There was an interesting letter published recently from members of the Palo Alto High School math department about why they disagree with the proposed change to their graduation requirements that all students pass algebra 2. While I am disturbed by the tone of their letter and some of its implications, I will say that I sympathize with what they're dealing with because lately I have been

What kind of filling do you think is in the middle?

2011-10-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

The Venn Piagram! A geeky math joke, I know. But it makes me excited for Thanksgiving.

On the Job

2011-10-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

My friend and co-worker Maura once pointed out that it's not very often that we get to see our friends and family actually performing their jobs, so she posted a picture up on her blog of herself in the middle of teaching. I write all about my experiences teaching, but what does it actually look like? Here's a picture: I like this photo because it captures a number of my teaching values:

Appreciations

2011-10-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

Phew, it's been a long time since I've posted anything on here. I've had things I want to post, but just haven't done it (obviously). Since this week has been challenging, I want to post about something positive. Even though school has been stressing me out, there are still a lot of good things happening that can be easily overshadowed by not-so-good things. A nice little pick-me-up that's a

Just a few Life-Changing Revelations

2011-06-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

I spent the last five days in a professional development with Lee Mun Wah of Stirfry Seminars. The official title of the workshop was "Cross-cultural facilitation skills for diversity trainers," but it was so much more. The biggest thing that I took away (and I think this was true for everyone in the workshop), was what I learned about myself. And there was a lot that I didn't even know that I

Unfair

2011-06-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest--and best--things about being a teacher is getting to know students beyond the academic content I cover in class. Yes, I know my students as learners of math, but sometimes I forget how much else they have going on outside of school. Thursday felt like one of those days where I was hit pretty hard with some painful reminders of who my students are beyond the classroom: So at

What My Gang Affiliation Would Be

2011-06-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

After school today, a couple of students were trying to convince me to let them give me a henna tattoo. M: "We could write 'I love math' on your arm." Me: "I'll think about it." E: "We could write 'M.O.B.'" Me: "No, you could not write that." E: "Math over biology!"

Royal Wedding, California Style

2011-05-17T18:42:00.000-07:00

So this post is a little late, but there's never a bad time to re-hype the Royal Wedding, right? I'm not going to lie: I woke up at 2am to watch the Royal Wedding live. It was our last day of classes, so why not go through the day with a little less sleep than usual? Maura and I talked it over and decided that it was definitely worthwhile, especially given that it will probably be a good 30+

Best Accommodations Ever

2011-04-29T14:53:00.000-07:00

My travel style tends to focus more on the experiences I have when out and about and less on the actual place where I sleep. I fall into the category of "budget traveler," which in part means that I favor hostels over hotels and rooms over resorts. I'm above the level of saving money by camping everywhere I go (although I did that for a couple weeks in New Zealand when I had a very stingy travel

Spring Break 2011: The Drive North

2011-04-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

Who knew that California is that big? It takes about 6 hours driving south to get to LA from the Bay Area. If you drive north for 6 hours, you'd think you would make it to another state. It was kind of fun traveling without a GPS or a real map. I got on highway 101 about a mile from my house and just kept going. The drive took me a little longer than expected, but only because there were so many

YOLO of the Month: April

2011-04-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

True, I didn't really have a YOLO of the month in March. I did spend the night in a YMCA with 110 ninth graders which is something you should only live through once, but I can claim that experience twice (thus far) so I guess it doesn't count. Fortunately, I think my April YOLO counted double. In an ongoing attempt to fulfill my self-promise of actually seeing the sights that California has to

I Like It When Kids Value Each Other

2011-04-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

I make my students work in groups pretty much every day. It's hard work (for me and for them), it can be extremely frustrating (for me and for them) and it's often the most challenging part of my class (for me and for them). But one of my fundamental values as a teacher is that kids learn better when they talk about their ideas. I believe that verbalizing their ideas is the best way for them to

What I Learned about Teenagers this Week

2011-04-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been rough at school. In particular, we had two racially-fueled incidents in the span of a just a few days. First, a white supremacist page on Facebook "friended" most of our Latino freshmen and spewed frightening hate speech. Second, a white student very directly used a racial slur against a black students, clearly with the intention to hurt him. I'm really proud

Still Missing New Zealand

2011-03-28T20:53:00.000-07:00

The other night I had a dream that I took a trip back to New Zealand. I don't remember why I was there, but I do remember it was a very short trip (like 3-4 days actually in the country). The main thing I remember from the dream, however, was the pure happiness I felt when I was in New Zealand. I stepped off the plane and was immediately happy. Most of the dream consisted me walking around the

YOLO of the Month: February

2011-03-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the magic of deal sites like Groupon and HomeRun, it's a little easier to YOLO these days, or at least get inspired to do so. Maura found a deal for a sourdough breadmaking class, so over President's Day weekend we headed up to the city so we could master one of San Francisco's most famous foods. The workshop took place in the back kitchen of this amazing panaderia, La Victoria, in the

One Way to Get a Date

2011-03-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

About a week before our school's recent winter formal, these signs popped up all around the building. (click to enlarge) My favorite part: "the choosing will be at random or to my liking." Good call. At least he's keeping his options open.

Month of YOLO: January, Part 2

2011-02-27T10:39:00.000-08:00

After a weekend of adventuring in LA, the obvious California destination for the following weekend was Lake Tahoe. Five teachers, one cabin, lots of fun. Again, the weekend involved a lot of gastronomical delights, most importantly Fred's Steak. Also not too shabby was the sampler of wines from Trevor's uncle's cellar. I'm not gonna say I can tell the difference between a $100 bottle of wine and

Month of YOLO: January, Part I

2011-02-26T19:38:00.000-08:00

Given that it's almost February, yes, this post is a little behind. But better late than never. The thing about January is that my school is in "intersession," a time when the students take their electives all day every day and teachers are in meetings. All. Day. Every. Day. I'm not always a huge fan of the meetings and by the end of the month I'm pretty sick of adults and ready to be around

Gay A's

2011-01-27T22:37:00.000-08:00

Today after school I was helping some of the 10th graders on Algebra 2. I spent a long time with A., one of my former students, working on revising his final exam. A. has more than a few mathematical difficulties, especially when it comes to the grunt work of math problems. He understands concepts fairly well, but has a terrible time with calculations and simplification. Other relevant things to

Signs of Aging

2011-01-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

This morning our faculty community building was a game of "Celebrity" with names of teachers at our school. When we got to the gestures-only round, someone was doing the "time out" motion with his hands. Nobody knew which teacher he was referring to, so someone jokingly guessed "Zach Morris." Everyone had a good laugh... until one of the student teachers asked "Who's Zach Morris?" I don't feel

I Resolve to Not Make New Year's Resolution

2011-01-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

True, I'm not making any per se, but there are always things that I tell myself I am going to do or want to start doing more regularly. If I were to make a New Year's resolution, I would definitely inspire myself with one of these amazing designs from something call the "To Resolve Project." http://motherlanddesign.blogspot.com/ http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com/

Return to School

2011-01-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

Teacher 1: What time is it? Teacher 2: 10:15Teacher 1: Weird, it feels like it's 12:15. Because I've already been up for 2 hours. Coming back from breaks might be the worst thing about being a teacher.

Merry Christmas from the Pressminarayanan Household

2010-12-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

To you and yours from me and mine: (Sorry, this was last year's Christmas card that I forgot to put up). Note that the Christmas sweaters are imported from Michigan. You just can't find that level of sequined detail out West. And this year's card: Sarah and I at the Foster City Tree Lighting Ceremony. This was a big one, folks--the first year that they lit a real tree instead of tree-shaped

Is She STILL Talking about Asilomar?

2010-12-21T23:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am. Partly because the conference is always amazing and inspiring and partly because I just now finally got a chance to upload these pictures. This is what the Asilomar conference grounds look like. So even if the conference had been professionally useless, at least it legitimately counted as a weekend away. By the way, these are actual shots of the conference grounds and Asilomar State

Asilomar Reflections: Jo Boaler

2010-12-17T11:05:00.000-08:00

I should preface this by saying that I have a pretty major bias in favor of Jo Boaler's work. This is not for reasons of blind faith, but because of how I have been "raised" as a math teacher. The teaching methods I've learned and successfully used have been the study of her research, not to mention that most of my math teaching heroes were either her research subjects or worked/studied with her

Acorn Squash

2010-12-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

Sometimes Sarah and I buy produce that we don't get around to using before it goes bad. And sometimes we buy produce and completely forget about it. This used to be an acorn squash. Then it imploded into itself. It wasn't gross, just kind of weird. (The butternut squash is there for scale)

Asilomar Reflections: Lucy West

2010-12-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

Don't make fun of me for being nerdy, but the California Math Council (North) annual conference is one of my favorite events of the year. Who can pass up a weekend at Asilomar State Beach talking about interesting math and teaching topics with some of the biggest names (and nicest people) in math education? I can't believe I missed it last year. This year, as is true for the other times I've

Gift Ideas

2010-12-07T08:04:00.000-08:00

Just in case you're having trouble figuring out what to get for that special someone (i.e. me): http://theorymine.co.uk

The American Dream

2010-11-29T18:08:00.000-08:00

Conversation with three white students: N: Ms. L., do you think I could be president? Me: Sure. I'd vote for you [Not true; he is too spacey to be president]N: See, Ms. L. thinks I could be presidentC: You could run for president, but you wouldn't get electedA: You can't be president--you're not black.

StuckK

2010-11-21T11:59:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago (5 weeks to be exact) I was reading this post from the Freakonomics blog. I'm fascinated by the idea of what motivates people, for myself, for my students, and just for my interactions with other people. The post discusses "commitment contracts," which I make in my mind all the time: cooking dinner more often, going to bed at a reasonable hour, eating healthier, not checking

Banned

2010-11-14T13:39:00.000-08:00

I very much understand that there are many different ways to teach math well. I see other teachers sometimes and think, "WOW... but I could never do that." It's often a matter of personal style and most importantly, assessing and meeting the needs of your specific kids. Somewhere in all of that, however, are best practices that we (should) learn in ed school or from each other. In the same vein,

Spirit Week 2010

2010-11-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

Pictures, as promised. First, crazy hair day. It's hard to see well in these pictures, but my quasi-mohawk/stegosaurus impersonation was quite the hit. The flowers were a last-minute addition in the morning that I'm glad to have made. There were only two problems: first, by the end of the day I had a terrible headache, which I eventually realized was from having my hair pulled so tightly for 9

Cross Dress Day

2010-10-26T23:05:00.000-07:00

This week is Spirit Week at school, one of my favorite events of the year. I love ridiculous costumes for any reason, so Spirit Week gives me five days worth of entertainment. Plus, how can you pass up wearing pajamas to work? (BTW, if anyone finds good/awful footy pajamas, I'm in the market). Pictures coming at some point--I have to say I'm proud of what I came up with for Crazy Hair Day. When

We Lived this Picture

2010-10-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/travel/24galapagos.html?pagewanted=2 The NY Times probably had a slightly better camera, but really it doesn't look that different from all of my pictures. Also: when I opened up this article, the ad on the side was for New Zealand tourism. Has targeted marketing gotten that good (i.e. is Google selling the contents of my email/brain?), or is the universe

Yolo of the Month: September #2

2010-10-08T15:02:00.000-07:00

Inspired by our boating adventure this summer and aided by the wonders of Groupon, Maura and set out a few weekends back on our very first sailing lesson. We were rewarded with stunningly beautiful day with sun so warm and wind so mild that we didn't need the fleece jackets and long-sleeve layers we'd so diligently prepared. Seeing the Bay from a boat is by far my favorite way. I love the San

Yolo of the Month: September #1

2010-10-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

Somehow in my life of doing nothing but teaching, I've found time for a few out-of-the-ordinary adventures. First up: eating. Every couple of months, a group called SF Food Wars hosts a cooking compeition based around some theme. Attendees get to sample the entries and vote for their favorites. September's theme: salsa. So we spent a lovely Sunday afternoon outside the Ferry Building dipping

Extra Credit

2010-10-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the first Geometry test of the year. The first bonus question: "What is Ms. L.'s last name? Spelling counts!" Out of 110 students... -How many will even attempt the question? -How many will get it right? Place your bets now!

Speed Demon

2010-09-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

More thoughts on how teachers spend their time: I started grading projects at 11:30am this morning and finally finished the grading portion at 5pm (plus about another hour of entering grades, sorting papers, creating and emailing lists of kids who need to revise, and all that other business mess). I'd say that I took about a total of 45 minutes in that time for little breaks--checking email,

Dinner Guest

2010-09-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

Every fall, teachers at our school hold individual meetings with our mentees and their parents to talk about strengths and weaknesses, set goals, and talk about the important things that will happen in the upcoming year. This year I offered to meet with families at their homes instead of at school. Most families still wanted to come to school, but a few took me up on the home visit offer. When

Fabulous

2010-09-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

This is how one of my advisees approached me in the hall on Thursday: E: "Ms. L., I'm just so fabulous I don't even know what to do with myself!" Me: "Um... I don't really know how to respond to that." E: "I guess you're just so blinded by my fabulousness." And then she walked away. At least they don't have self-esteem issues like normal teenagers?

Mike Birbiglia

2010-09-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I picked up some CDs from the library and have been listening to them on the way to and from work. I just finished Mike Birbiglia's stand-up comedy show "My Secret Public Journal." You may already be familiar with Birbigs from his semi-regular/every-once-in-awhile appearances on This American Life, where I would dare to say that he is equally as funny as David Sedaris. I know

When is Enough Enough?

2010-09-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

L. is one of my dear, sweet, wonderful mentees. He is very smart and doesn't have much trouble understanding the content in class. He's very curious about how things works and loves anything mechanical. However, L. has a long history (his 9th grade year felt like an eternity) of not producing ANYTHING. At the end of the semester last year, he was literally still doing assignments from the first

One Thing Teachers Should Know about You:

2010-08-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

"I'm really loud. Positive!!! (Lk doctor Phil)"

Intro Letters

2010-08-29T17:37:00.000-07:00

The first assignment I always give my students it to write me a letter about themselves. This is my favorite assignment of the year because they're so hopeful and honest. As usual, some of the things they wrote are ridiculous, some funny, and some heartbreaking. Here's a sampling. Who are you as a person? As a student? What are your interests? Dislikes?· I really hate spiders. I believe

Back Again for the First Time

2010-08-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

First week of school, check. Only 5,000 more to go. Monday was my fourth first day of school as a teacher (or at least quasi-teacher because I am counting student teaching in that number). The difference this year was that for the first time I was actually returning to the same school instead of starting somewhere new. Obviously this was better just because of all the challenges of starting a

Yolo of the Month: August

2010-08-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

There's a mindset that I'm able to get in--particularly when traveling--of wanting to and then actually following through on doing whatever suits my fancy. I think it comes in part from knowing you have a limited amount of time and wanting to pack in as much as possible, but there's also that emotional state of just feeling very free. Maura calls this "yolo"-- "You Only Live Once." I think I

The FC in The NYT

2010-08-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

Even the New York Times recognizes the magic of our fair city. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/us/08bcintel.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1281924002-6h4/f5XG5sNVkXkdEPnTcQ Points of note: -I have said it over and over that the water is dyed. No water anywhere is that color, except maybe in a toilet bowl. Also, I highly doubt that the dye's main purpose is to keep algae from growing.

Black Sea Turtle Cove

2010-08-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

Alas, we are coming to the end of my Ecuador pictures and stories. If you've actually read all my posts you may be sick of hearing how awesome our trip was. But not as sick as those people whom I forced to look at all ~1,000 pictures and video clips while I sat next to them babbling. On our final day in the Galapagos, they managed to pack in one last excursion before we had to catch our plane.

Punta Suarez

2010-08-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

Note: the videos seem to be doing some weird cropping when they're embedded, so click on them for the full view. Just in case sunning and swimming with sea lions wasn't enough for one day, we spent the afternoon walking around Punta Suarez on the western tip of Isla Espanola. By this point I was getting used to everything exceeding my expectations by infinite proportions, but I don't think I

Snorkeling Espanola

2010-08-10T11:52:00.000-07:00

We did two snorkels on Espanola. The first was right off the beach in Gardner Bay. I didn't get very good pictures because this was when my camera lens was at its foggiest. Boo. There was, however, a sea lion who decided to take an active role in my film, and inadvertently created a clip for my Galapagos blooper reel. It's a little embarrassing because you can hear me yelling as the sea lion

Gardner Bay

2010-08-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

After only a day and a half in the Galapagos, we had already seen a good share of sea lions. They were hanging out on buoys and boats in Puerto Ayora, basking on the rocks and beaches of Floreana, and one even swam close enough to me that I got a picture during our first snorkel. But we should have known by then that everything in the Galapagos ends up better than you ever imagined. You want

Snorkeling Floreana

2010-08-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

Before I get into any descriptions, let me make one comment: an underwater digital camera was the best investment ever. So worth it. We went snorkeling twice on Floreana--another example of how well GAP Adventures, our highly recommended tour company, packed so much into a very short period of time. The morning snorkel was in a rocky area near the shore. Check out the pictures of the rocks

Floreana

2010-08-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Overnight from Isla Santa Cruz we sailed to Floreana. We were advised that the ride should be smooth, with little chance of seasickness, but that didn't actually help me sleep any better. Instead, I spent most of the night hearing every little creak and clack and clang caused by the boat's movement and trying to figure out if we were moving and if so, how far we'd gone, and did I accidentally

What We've all Been Waiting for: Day 1

2010-08-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

Did I mention that it has been a life-long dream of mine to visit the Galapagos? This has been up there on the list with, well, nothing really because it was basically the top of the list. And oh man did it live up to (and exceed) every expectation ever. And almost two weeks after leaving this dream destination, I've finally gotten around to getting pictures on this blog. I probably would've

The Equator?

2010-08-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

So here's the thing about the Equator in Ecuador: nobody really seems to know where it is. But they do know that all the places it's claimed to be are wrong. The giant monument at "La Ciudad Mitad del Mundo" is off the mark, supposedly, but still claims to have picked the right spot. (A postcard I obviously purchased says that if you visit on the equinox you'll have no shadow at noon, which

Otovalo & Cotopaxi

2010-08-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

(As always, click on the slide show for access to the album and corresponding captions) Day 2: Trip to Otovalo Market Not a lot to comment on. Otovalo has what's supposed to be the biggest and best market in Ecuador and comes highly recommended by the guidebooks. This is where my spoiled brattyness around having traveled so much comes in. It was definitely a good market, but it wasn't

Quito

2010-08-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

We spent six nights in Quito altogether, so I'd like to think we got to know the city at least well enough to give directions to other tourists. We spent most of our sightseeing time in Old Town Quito, which reminds me a lot of other Latin American cities I've visited. Lots of colonial buildings, cobblestone streets, beautiful churches. I liked the atmosphere of Quito--quite cosmopolitan but

Delicious Things and Not-So-Delicious Things

2010-08-02T22:47:00.000-07:00

It took a REALLY long time to upload, sort, edit, caption, etc. all 1023 photos from Ecuador (and that's after deleting about 100 on the plane ride home). But finally I'm getting to a place where I can post them. Let's start with the most important: food and drink. We learned from a fellow traveler who lives in Japan that most Japanese vacation photos are pictures of food. I do not have 1023

Teaser

2010-07-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Got back from Ecuador late Saturday night and have spent most of the last two days dealing with my pictures. Anyone want to place a bet on how many I took? Two categories: (1) How many pictures did I take overall? (2) How many pictures were left after deleting the bad ones? The winner in each category gets a giant tortoise or exotic sea bird of his or her choosing. In short, the Galapagos

Ecuador, in Brief

2010-07-19T19:38:00.001-07:00

No time to write about everything (using the free internet at our hostel), but here's a quick rundown of the highlights so far. All will be more interesting once accompanied by pictures:-People (and animal) watching at the Otovalo market-'Mi Otavalito' where we had lunch in Otovalo to the dulcet tunes of a mariachi band playing 'The Sound of Silence'-Tianguez, a restaurant in the bottom of the

Another Check on the Bucket List

2010-07-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo! As of about midnight last night (local time), I successfully achieved my life goal of visiting all the inhabited continents. Fear not, Antarctica is still on the to-do list, but I´m counting this as a major success. My only disappointment is that I had to renew my passport a few months ago so this is stamp is separated from all the others (and it's a lame stamp--computer printed rather

Happy Birthday America

2010-07-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

When I went back to Michigan in June, my very wonderful, very Californian roommate requested that I bring back something that represents Middle America. I don't like to brag, but if there were a rubric for awesome gifts from the midwest, I would be in the "exceeds standard" column. It all started when we were in Lowell, MI. That should give you an appropriate context (even if you have never

Oh Summer

2010-07-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

Does anyone still read this anymore? I can't imagine why you would, given that it's July and I've only posted seven times this whole year. I keep thinking of things I want to write about, but then things like teaching get in the way. Here are some topics I truly intended to post about during the school year, but obviously never got around to (and probably never will, ugh): -A summary of my

The Next Alexander Calders

2010-03-08T18:44:00.001-08:00

Back in January when our school was in intersession, one of the courses was a math class just for 9th graders. Students were selected to participate, with the goal that it would support struggling students. Of course, if you take the 20 kids who need the most help in math, they're probably also the kids who like math the least and are least interested in doing it for three hours straight every

Found: Note

2010-03-07T20:41:00.001-08:00

Although most kids these days send their in-class communications via text message, there are still those hold-outs who pass notes in class. I guess it's less detrimental to get a piece of scratch paper taken away than it is your iPhone. And it's generally more entertaining for me, the teacher. I feel too guilty to go through text messages, but I definitely do not feel guilty reading whatever note

Just Instructions

2010-02-17T23:14:00.000-08:00

It's true, the worksheet I gave in class today was a little more text-heavy than usual. The first bit of text was almost four sentences long and contained important mathematical information. The general format of the worksheet was this: -Approximately four sentences of text reminding them what we did yesterday and explaining how the picture below is a picture of what we did yesterday. ---Picture/

London, you've got to do better

2010-02-13T10:15:00.001-08:00

All signs pointed to disappointment. First, the nanaimo bars I so desperately tried to make turned out too lumpy and too gooey at the same time. Even my sugar-loving roommate pronounced them "cloyingly sweet." Then, in search of Canadian beer, the guy at BevMo had never heard of Labatt's or Molson and led me to the European section. I know I'm no longer living in a state where Canadian pennies

Lions, Tigers, & Bears, Oh My! HELP!

2010-01-27T19:14:00.001-08:00

One thing I really like about my school is the rotating periods. Rather than having my classes and prep periods in the same order every day, they rotate each week. For example, there's a class that I'll see 1st period in an A week, 3rd period in a B week, and 5th period in a C week. On first glance it's kind of confusing, but it's definitely worth it. Seeing kids at different times of days means

Almost Normal

2010-01-21T20:04:00.001-08:00

My school, being a charter, makes some creative decisions about, well, pretty much everything. Take, for example, our calendar. Like most schools, our academic year is broken up into two semesters. During that time kids take five classes (math, science, English, social studies, and Spanish) and a study hall. For the elective portion of their high school experience (art, music, things that they

The Pythagorean Leash

2009-12-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

One of the most important things I think that I can train kids to do in geometry class is to draw pictures. Any time they come across a word problem, they need to be able to translate it into a picture because 90% of the time, word problems aren't that challenging if you can get the picture right. Furthermore, translating word situation into a mathematical model/equation is a skill that will be

Math in the U. S. of A.

2009-11-19T20:32:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to get kids focused on problem-solving strategies without getting caught up in the details of formulas and procedures, over the last two days I've given kids tricky area and perimeter problem with no numbers. Here's an example: S., a student whose dry humor never fails to make me smile, was getting frustrated with one of the problems. In exasperation, he literally threw his hands up

2-3 of my Favourites

2009-11-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

If I were to make a list of things that I love, included on that list would be New Zealand, Google, and--depending on the day--kids. So what happens when three of my favourite things come together? This.So cute my heart almost stopped.

Finishing School

2009-11-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

In my advisory last week we were did a lesson on the basics of college. I often forget how little ninth graders know about college beyond "It's more school after high school," so it was fun to hear things like their ideas about what a B.S. is. We got to talking about different degrees you can earn, which jobs require or indicate that you have what kind of degree, how long different degrees take,

The Awkward Triangle

2009-11-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

In our recent area unit, we've talked a lot about how "every shape is a rectangle" and if they can just find the rectangle, they can find the area. For example, a triangle is half of a rectangle, so because we can find area of a rectangle by base x height, we can find the triangle by dividing the rectangle's area in half. On the test there was a question that showed an oblique triangle, noting

Appreciation Friday

2009-11-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

Dear Mrs. L, You are officially the best math teacher ive ever had! Everything you have taught was explained thurroly (don't know how to spell), which I am so thankful for. Becaus I appreciate you so much I've put a sticker of a ninja on my letter! Keep up the good work. Sincearly, N.L. ----------------------------Dear Ms. L, I am writing this letter because I appreciated when you helped me when

Best/Worst Assessment Ever

2009-10-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

My roommate came up with a pretty ingenious costume for me this year. See if you can guess what it is (sorry, I didn't take any pictures): I wore an outfit that was all pastel (green plain bermuda shorts and a pink sweater vest), my hair in pigtails with ribbons, and freckles on my face. On the front of my sweater was a big sideways "V". On the back I had a sign that said "<90degrees". Get it? I

A Way with Words

2009-10-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

First major writing assignment of the year: a "problem of the week" about angle relationships and a cheesy real-life context. The "problem" was that there's a billboard being built on the highway next to our school and given a diagram with a bunch of angles in it and limited information, they had to figure out if a certain angle was more or less than 30 degrees in order for the billboard to be "

Hopes & Fears

2009-10-09T08:47:00.001-07:00

Okay, yes, this post is about six weeks late, but that should tell you how crazy this year has been that only now in October have I had the 10 minutes it took to transcribe this list onto my computer. I wanted to kick off the school year by acknowledging for my ninth grade advisory the magnitude of the experience they were beginning. It's exciting, it's scary, it's overwhelming. And as a 14

Style

2009-10-05T22:55:00.000-07:00

A: "Ms. L, you don't look like a math teacher today. You look like an English teacher." Me: "Why? Because I'm wearing a scarf?"A: "...yeah."

Top 10

2009-09-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

Helen would've been funnier, but I'll take what I can get.

Zero Tolerance

2009-09-22T20:03:00.001-07:00

My new school basically has a "zero tolerance" policy for drugs, alcohol and weapons. It's not technically written into the school handbook, but historically students have been automatically expelled for possession of any such contraband. Two more recent incidents (within the past six months) have strayed from this expulsion policy, with students were put on a sort of probation and expected to

Cutest. Thing. Ever.

2009-09-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Every year, my school takes all ~400 students on an overnight camping trip to kick off the year. Although I've chaperoned a lot of high school trips in my day, 400 kids plus the dustiest place on Earth made for a whole new animal. I was not prepared for how chaotic it would be or for how long I would sleep afterward (6pm-8am; yes you read that right). In general, it was not my favorite way to

First Week Observations

2009-08-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

One year and one week into my teaching career, there continue to be 10,000 new things that I notice everyday. Just as I want to work on my students' skills around what's important to "notice" in math, I continue to think about the ways that the things I'm noticing are actually serving to improve my practice. Useful things I've noticed: -Cooperative learning and inquiry thrives when the content

The Quiet

2009-08-24T22:26:00.003-07:00

I love the feel of a fresh school year and a fresh classroom. The tables are arranged and chairs are still pushed in. The signs I've taped at each seat have yet to be picked at and drawn on. The markers still draw bright bold strokes and they even all still have caps. Even the white board has been cleared of that residue from ink that wasn't erased soon enough. There's so much promise. Especially

The Theme from Jaws

2009-08-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

Remember that song? The way the creepy music gets faster and faster and scarier and scarier as you feel the deadly shark approaching? I would say that this pretty accurately represents my life's soundtrack right now. And that deadly worst nightmare creeping up on my with ever increasing speed is, of course, the impending school year. Really, it's already started. It started on Tuesday (exactly

Lago de Atitlan

2009-07-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the delay in actually posting pictures and anything interesting about my trip to Guatemala. Subsequent trips to Yosemite and now Philadelphia have led to a backlog of blog posts. For all of my five readers. So here is the first weekend of my trip, a visit to Lago de Atitlan. (If you click on the slideshow it will take you to the Picasa album so you can skip the boring pictures)Lago

Soy Gringa?

2009-07-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

My Guatemalan home, Queztaltenango (AKA Xelaju or just Xela to mot everyone), is second only to Antigua in its number of Spanish language schools. As such, it's easy to find--and in fact difficult to avoid--other foreigners. During the day I see teacher-student pairs wandering the streets on field trips to museums or local markets. In the evenings the gringos flock to the bars and restaurants

Comida Guatemalteca

2009-07-08T13:27:00.001-07:00

Obviously there is much else to write about Guatemala, but since most topics of interest necessitate accompanying pictures, I'll wait until I get home to blog about that. People have been asking what the comida tipica is here, and I'm not sure I've actually gotten a good handle on that. My host family has been hosting students for 15+ years, so they definitely serve me food that is a little more

Spanish: Improving

2009-07-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

I am now on my fifth day in Guatemala. There's much to report and remark on, but my main focus (and cause of exhaustion) thus far has been learning and attempting to speak in Spanish. It should be noted that the last time I had any sort of formal education in Spanish was elementary school, and I'm not sure I can really count that. My more recent education has been from listening to my students,

Little Red Schoolhouse Update

2009-06-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Remember this adventure that I had back in March? Good thing I snapped those pictures when I could as I pretty much got in at the last opportunity. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/22/AR2009062202971.htmlFarewell, Little Red Schoolhouse. Now that we've gotten that monstrosity out of the way, I can think of another monstrosity that we could stand to change. Any guesses?

Summer Update

2009-06-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today I accomplished something crucial that I would like to add to yesterday's list of things I've done so far this summer: -Took a nap in the sun by the poolStay tuned for further updates. There are still a lot of napping places on my to-do list.

Yes.

2009-06-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

I'm all about breaking down teacher stereotypes, like the ones that teaching is easy, that we're not very smart, that we only work until 3pm and live for summer vacation. But after Day 3 of summer vacation (Day 5 if you count the weekend), I have to say that summer vacation might be the greatest invention since breathing. Here are some things I have done so far: -Gone to bed early-Gone to bed

And So It Goes

2009-06-11T21:44:00.001-07:00

This was it. This was my last day of teaching for this school year. There are so many ways to summarize, reflect, analyze, consider, but right now my feelings are not the elated, accomplished exhaustion I'd expected upon completion of what's supposed to be the most difficult year of my teaching career. Right now it's just bittersweet. The sweetness of all the things my students have actually

To Answer your Question

2009-05-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

I am so ready to be done with this school year. My students are driving me absolutely crazy. And from the looks of it, I'm driving them crazy too. The freshmen are especially displeased that unlike their past nine years of schooling, this one will not conclude the year with parties and field trips, but with exams. Welcome to high school! I think we all agree that summer is long overdue and are

Living Well

2009-05-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

What would happen if you took a whole bunch of factors that I don't care about and used those factors to rank the top towns/cities in the United States? Well, according to Forbes magazine, you would find that my current location comes in at #10. http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/04/towns-cities-real-estate-lifestyle-real-estate-top-towns_slide_17.html?thisSpeed=15000Turns out Sarah and I made a good

Singing a New Tune

2009-05-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

I happened to have observers in my classroom today as we were doing a review activity for our quadratics unit and one asked me whether I'd taught them a quadratic formula song. Obviously that was the only way I know how to teach it (this year my 4th block was even treated to an R&B remix courtesy of another math teacher). Then the observer had a brilliant suggestion. He noticed the Michigan shirt

On the Bright Side

2009-04-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

Things lately have been, shall we say, less than ideal. Yeah my new car is fun, but not as much fun as if it had been purchased out of necessity. Finding a new job is also fun (okay, that's not true at all), but once again the whole necessity thing adds a damper. (As a side note, California residents would be doing me and the children of our fair state a personal favor if you were to vote "yes"

Knight Rider

2009-04-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

I know that there are a lot of things to look for when purchasing a new car. How reliable is it? What kind of gas mileage does it get? Is it safe? After growing up with a safety engineer father, I definitely made sure I paid extra for the anti-lock brakes. The dealers, of course, took one look at the fact that I'm female and tried to sell me on the more superficial aspects. "Can you see yourself