{Geo B} Weekly Update

I know it has been a great point of stress this week so I want to apologize for my tardy update.  I have lost count of the emails pouring in to tell me what a great resource this has been and so I know exactly how many of you were probably noticing countless new grey hairs from the anxiety of not knowing this week's plans.

Joking asside, this week has it's ups and downs.  Monday was the BA exam.  Some students were able to complete it but a few bled into 3rd period.  Fortunately 7th hour on Tuesday did not have that time restriction but as a result we lost some class time into finishing up and did not get through much content.

Grades for the BA will be posted before holiday break.

This week it is my hope to get through 7-2 before the end of the week but I have a feeling Mother Nature, Father Winter, Cousin Bear of the Snow or who ever is in charge of that 12" of white stuff I had to shovel is going to interfere with this process.

I lied.  I have a snow blower.

{E2020} Weekly Update

Some thoughts specifically targeted to the group of students assigned to work 6th hour on their online classes:

1)  Your course progress is calculated with the assumption that you will be working over the holiday break next week.  That means that if you are caught up now, and you do not log in during the vacation, you ~will~ be behind.

2)  From here on out I will be recording your "Actual Grade" in the class every week in Skyward.  For those not familar, here is how it is computed:

First they compare where your student is in the course and where they "should be".  Every assignment that they are behind is assigned a grade of a zero.  If a student is caught up or ahead, then there are no zeroes to record.  The grade is then calculated based on the average of all grades.

So, if they are behind a few assignments their "Overall Grade" may be a B but because of those zeroes it shows as a C.  Likewise if they are ahead, then their Overal and Actual grades will be the same.  If you are unsure you can ask your student to log in for you and you can see their progress in the class for yourself, along with grades.

Also as a reminder, notebooks are required for me to approve them for tests, and there are ~no~ retakes of quizzes unless I have evidence that the system glitched while they were testing.

{Geo B} Reminder!

The Chapter 6 BA test is on Monday.

Students should review the packet from class (posted in Skyward) as well as all the assignments to date.  Also students may check the document attached to the test itself as it contains a breakdown of the 7 objectives they will be tested on and provides examples of each.

Could this be your student?

From class today:

Me:  If I take the time to write on the worksheet "Show the work for problems 3 and 4 on a seperate peice of paper", it is because I expect you to put the work for those on a seperate piece of paper.  In the future, if you don't, I won't grade it.  I'll take it to the office, shred it, and when you walk in, throw up in the air an shout "Look!  It's snowing!"

Student:  At least it's not a W.I.N.

The reality:

I expect students to show work for problems when they do their homework.  This work is essential for two things:
1)  To help them organize their thoughts and track their own understanding of the material.
2)  To help me review their work and identify weaknesses that we can together target for success.

I made a commitment in Septemeber to never assign more work then I felt was nessecary to arrive at mastery.  Every problem I assign, be it in classwork or homework, is targeted specificaly at skills students need to practice.  To that end I do expect students to complete every problem ~to the best of their abilty~.

So as I am collecting and reviewing all homework I will be looking at their work and I will not be grading incomplete papers. 

I will also not comment on students who attempt to turn in work totally unrelated to the assignment in an attempt to bamboozle me into thinking that they have actually done the assignment.  I do not believe comment is needed.

Hope you all have a great weekend.  Go Saints!

{Geo Essentials} Weekly Update

This week we've got some real creative opportunities for students:

Due Wed (4th hr) or Thrus (3rd hr) is the School House Rock song that helps students remember the relationships between the various quadrilaterals.

On Friday we'll be doing an art based project to explore the concept of Similarity.  Students will need to bring a picture from the comics about 2 inches by 2 inches in size.  We'll be then drawing a similar picture using the rules of Similarity covered in chapter 7.

{Geo B} Weekly Update

We're at February finally and things are starting to shape up.  This week's highlights include:

• Quiz on Monday (2nd hr) or Tuesday (7th hr).
• BA Reviews will be passed out on Wed (both classes)
• We need to finish chapter 6 which includes talking about:
• Coordinate Geometry Proofs
• Trapezoids (and their Isoceles cousins)
• Kites (as in Let's Go Fly...)

Remember that next week Monday (2/8 for 2nd) or Tuesday (2/9 for 7th) is our BA test on Chapter 6.  If you look in skyward you 'll see that there are listed the 7 Objectives students need to master to get 100% on that test.  With them is also a collection of example problems for each objective.

Speaking of, kudos to two students who were absent last week, went to Skyward, printed the worksheets and turned them in today.  Good initiative guys!

Death of an Icon

I apologize for the off topic post but as a teacher and a student I feel I can't let this pass without comment.

NY Times:  JD Salinger dies at 91

With its cynical, slangy vernacular voice (Holden’s two favorite expressions are “phony” and “g-d--m”), its sympathetic understanding of adolescence and its fierce if alienated sense of morality and distrust of the adult world, the novel struck a nerve in cold war America and quickly attained cult status, especially among the young. Reading “Catcher” used to be an essential rite of passage, almost as important as getting your learner’s permit.

I pulled that portion of the article to post here because I have come to think of Cather in the Rye as a rite of passage myself, a common experience that we as adults (and teachers) share with our students coming through the grades.  As students come into my classroom with that book in hand I know that they will love it, hate it, not care about it, but we have a common place to talk as I read it too when I was in school. 

For my part I enjoyed the novel mostly because I blessed with an amazing teacher to cover it with me.  Mr. Horschak (no, not from Welcome Back Cotter) was a brilliant instructor and lecturer with a style of discussion that I can only still hope to aspire to someday.  His class "Utopia and the Search for Human Identity" was my favorite of all English classes in school, and a contender for top class of all.  Holden Caufield was someone we all knew like a brother by the end of our time on the novel, and I think many of us felt we knew him better than we knew ourselves. 

Catcher in the Rye remains one of my favorite books.  Salinger's death is a loss for all of literature.