Nice to Have A Week’s Lectures Up

http://www.edline.net/pages/Wapato_High_School/Classes/4080-101/Calendar

That way students can get to them if they miss a day. Phew!

Thanks,

John Weisenfeld, Math/Science Teacher

Wapato High School

Technology Investigations / Applications / Tools [2012-2013]

This is a reprise/extension of a prior blog post where I discussed some things I had learned during the 2011-2012 school year when it comes to technology, applications and tools.  So here goes, what I have learned from another year (so far).

Description	Student Learning Impact	Teacher / Practice Impact
Dropbox	A more prepared teacher is a more confident teacher.  A more confident teacher is a teacher that projects an air of organization and control.  Students can sense that.	Absolutely nothing beats being able to create a student homework assignment, worksheet or powerpoint at home save it to a Dropbox folder and know that it will be on your computer at school when you need to look for it.
Microsoft OneNote	I can grade student assignments quicker and more reliably when I have electronic access to my answer keys.	I store all of my Algebra assignment answer keys in OneNote.  It replicates over Dropbox since domain live.com is blocked by my school.
Edline.com (now Blackboard Engage)	Students who miss school and who have access to Edline can now go to the class they missed, click on the calendar for that day and download homework or view pictures of the whiteboard that was created during that class.	This has helped my practice in being able to know that if one class is slightly different from the other I have a record of what was different and why.  This frees me up to improve classes that are repeating each day, but exempts me from the fear that I will be inconsistent or tell students the wrong thing.
KUTA Software	Students freak out when they don’t know something.  They scramble to get answers and will copy homework and collaborate inappropriately on quizzes without qualm or thought to the damage they are doing to the learning process.	Using KUTA Infinite Algebra 1, I can create homework assignments and quizzes quickly and easily.  However, most importantly, I can create 30 *different* versions of a quiz on the same material and thus remove cheating from the equation altogether.  Quiz retakes are not an issue, I just regenerate a new version of the quiz.
DataDirector from Riverside (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)	Students can take quizzes or tests on bubble sheets that are familiar to them from other standardized tests. Question banks can also be used to help prepare students for the style or content of some questions.	Teacher can grade quizzes and tests quickly using a scanner or using other bubble sheet manual grading tricks. I have found occasionally that there are problems with the questions in the question bank, but that there is also a way to submit your feedback on a question.  And, someone will read and act on that feedback!
Gradecam plugin for DataDirector from Riverside (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)	Students can do short formative assessment in class, and get results quickly. This should revolutionize student motivation and ability to get formative feedback on their classroom work.	Teachers can set up bubble sheets that are graded quickly merely by holding them under the document camera. Frees up the teacher from having to grade in real-time, and allows for discussion around what is not understood.
Holt McDougal Online (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)	Students can access the book and other educational resources over the internet.	Teachers have exercises, quizzes, powerpoints, and other resources that help them differentiate their teaching quite easily.  Good stuff!
OfficeMax IMPRESS Print Center	Students get homework that is well organized and printed in time to be useful for their learning.	When a teacher needs copies and can’t get them in time from the district print shop, OfficeMax has a great service where you can upload PDF files and have them printed and ready to be picked up the night before.
Tyler Technologies Schoolmaster Web Classroom	Students benefit from quicker and more accurate feedback on their grades.	Allows teachers to access Schoolmaster from home, so that grades can be immediately entered, even when teacher is not at school.
Whiteboards and markers
A laser pointer and clicker.
RedOxygen as a provider for Outlook Mobile SMS	“Johnnie, if you don’t get to work, I’m going to text your parent/guardian right now and ask them to have a talk with you when they see you tonight.”  Can you please focus?	Ability to communicate quickly and directly with parents via mobile SMS from my desktop computer at school has been invaluable.
Teacher Created Materials		Another source of great content for instructional drill and homework.
DataScanner from DataDirector	Quick turnaround on formative assessment has been shown to have positive effect on student learning.	Having a page-fed scanner of my own that is compatible with ScanDirector has helped me provide quick turnaround to quizzes and tests that I have administered in classrooms.

Why We Teach, By Terrance Terich

Why We Teach

By Terrance Terich

You … the quiet and complacent

You … the overly defiant

You … those who sit, patient and placid

You … who burn so bright

That we are left blinded by your brilliance.

You are why we teach

You the heavy-lidded, sleepy-eyed

Head on the desk, can’t wake up

Deeply drowsy dreamers and

First period somnambulists

You are why we teach

You, the misspellers,

Miscounters, Misquoters

Missteppers, Misbehavers, and

Mistaken, It is no wonder

You feel so misunderstood.

You are why we teach

You solvers of mysteries

Makers of history

Athletes, musicians,

Artists, and discoverers,

All to all and each to each,

You are why we teach.

You world shakers

Earth quakers

Rabble rousers and rule breakers,

Romantics, idealists and visionaries.

You are why we teach

You, the 17-year-old who thinks Coolidge was nicknamed Silent Cow (C-O-W)

You, the history student who thinks that Woodstock happened in the ‘70s

You, the junior who said one of FDRs four freedoms was the freedom to dance

You made me laugh, and there is no rubric for that.

You are why we teach

You, the sophomore who apologized to me for not participating

You, the angry young woman who finally cracked a smile when I asked about California

And you, the shy, reserved young man who approached me in the hall

Just to say, “Mr. T, thanks for coming to my baseball game.”

You are why I teach.

POTUS-SOTU-2013

[The Education section of the State of the Union Address]

Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than 3 in 10 four year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives.

Tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America. Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on – by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, and form more stable families of their own. So let’s do what works, and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. Let’s give our kids that chance.

Let’s also make sure that a high school diploma puts our kids on a path to a good job. Right now, countries like Germany focus on graduating their high school students with the equivalent of a technical degree from one of our community colleges, so that they’re ready for a job. At schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York Public Schools, the City University of New York, and IBM, students will graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree in computers or engineering.

We need to give every American student opportunities like this. Four years ago, we started Race to the Top – a competition that convinced almost every state to develop smarter curricula and higher standards, for about 1 percent of what we spend on education each year. Tonight, I’m announcing a new challenge to redesign America’s high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy. We’ll reward schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and employers, and create classes that focus on science, technology, engineering, and math – the skills today’s employers are looking for to fill jobs right now and in the future.

Now, even with better high schools, most young people will need some higher education. It’s a simple fact: the more education you have, the more likely you are to have a job and work your way into the middle class. But today, skyrocketing costs price way too many young people out of a higher education, or saddle them with unsustainable debt.

Through tax credits, grants, and better loans, we have made college more affordable for millions of students and families over the last few years. But taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize the soaring cost of higher education. Colleges must do their part to keep costs down, and it’s our job to make sure they do. Tonight, I ask Congress to change the Higher Education Act, so that affordability and value are included in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal aid. And tomorrow, my Administration will release a new “College Scorecard” that parents and students can use to compare schools based on a simple criteria: where you can get the most bang for your educational buck.

To grow our middle class, our citizens must have access to the education and training that today’s jobs require. But we also have to make sure that America remains a place where everyone who’s willing to work hard has the chance to get ahead.

[Obama, B.H. (2013). State of The Union Address. Retrieved February 12, 2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/politics/obamas-2013-state-of-the-union-address.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all]

Daily Lesson Summaries

Second semester has started and I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to document my daily lesson plans (whiteboard, powerpoints, handouts) for Physical Science and for Algebra.

Here’s the February Calendar:

http://www.edline.net/pages/Wapato_High_School/Classes/4080-101/Calendar

Here’s an Objective, Entry Task and Lesson for 2/4/2013:

http://www.edline.net/pages/Wapato_High_School/Classes/4080-101/Calendar/8332228874114989844

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 10,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 17 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Algebra 1/Physical Science/Pack Prep Week In Review: 2012-10-29

Hi Parents & Guardians,

If your student hasn’t ever checked out Khan Academy, then have them take a look some time. It is a web site with free lessons on a wide range of topics including computer programming, math, and science.

A big part of this week was spent helping students write their LEAP worksheets. LEAP is a required reflection by all students in all their classes (except Pack Prep) on some assignment they did in that particular class and what they learned on that assignment, how it helps them with their goals, and how much effort and quality they feel they put into those assignments.

Here’s what we did this week in our classes:

Physical Science	· We had a worksheet this week reviewing density. It was graded and as usual, students can submit this worksheet and correct their mistakes. · We had a quiz this week on density. Students can correct their errors on that quiz for credit as well. · On Halloween we did a demonstration/experiment in class where we tested the density of some popular candies in a density column. Good clean science fun! · Students worked on LEAP worksheets
Algebra 1	· This week students took Benchmark exams. These diagnostic tests are run in all Algebra 1 math classes and across the Wapato School District. Look for some announcement of results soon. · Students worked on Math LEAP worksheets.
Pack Prep	· This week the final draft of the “High School and Beyond” essay was due as well grade reflections.

NOTE: links in this e-mail go to Edline, where you will have to sign in with the username and password you created. If you haven’t gotten access yet, I have access codes for you and for your students. With access codes you can sign in and create a username and password, some of you did this with me at parent conferences last week.

Thanks,

John Weisenfeld, Math/Science Teacher

Wapato High School

Algebra 1/Physical Science/Pack Prep Update 2012-10-29

Hi Parents/Guardians,

Physical Science	In preparation for a Density Quiz on Tuesday, students started a Density Worksheet. That worksheet is homework and is due on Tuesday 10/30.
Algebra 1	Students completed the first of two days of testing using the Math Benchmark Assessment. There are 3 of these assessments each year, and they culminate in the Algebra End-Of-Course (EOC) Exam.
Pack Prep	A final version of the High School and Beyond Essay is due on Tuesday 10/30. All students will be working on LEAP sheets this week and Pack Prep will be collecting those Next Monday/Tuesday.

Thanks,

John Weisenfeld, Math/Science Teacher

Wapato High School

Physical Science / Algebra 1 Update (2012-10-09)

Hi Parents/Guardians,

Edline is up-to-date as of work handed in last Friday. Take a look and see your student’s grades. If you have questions, let me know.

NOTE: Deadline for work assigned in September is October 31. Please work with your student accordingly if there is homework missing. This also applies to re-work of notebooks, quizzes, other homework.

Physical Science

We are wrapping up a unit tomorrow with student presentations of a homemade sports drink that they made in the lab (but didn’t drink, we made sure). Students should be able to describe the 3 main ingredients in a sports drink and what the concentrations need to be. They should also be able to describe the 3 tests we used to determine if a drink contained sugar, electrolytes and water.

Algebra

There is homework tonight. There is a quiz on Friday. There is a Benchmark Exam throughout the high school at the end of the month. We are studying inequalities now. If you want to see some tips on the homework we are doing tonight go to: http://go.hrw.com and when it asks for Keyword type “MA7 Parent”, to get student-related help do Keyword “MA7 3-4”

Also, I am sending text messages now if I have a valid mobile number for you. Let me know if you do *NOT* want to get text messages because you have a right to opt out.

Thanks,

John Weisenfeld, Math/Science Teacher

Wapato High School

First Week Observations

Against all advice, I went into my first week smiling, friendly, unflappable, gregarious. As such, my students as of Friday aren’t taking me seriously. It probably didn’t help that I had freshman sitting in tables of 4 without much guidance from me on what that was all about.

A course correction is thus in order, so the desks will be back in rows by Monday, and I will start using the school’s discipline policy. I still feel as though I will never be a “yeller”, I don’t believe in punishing all students for the deeds of a few rowdies. (Note, I reinforced that message this past week when I tried whistling to get order. It worked but hurt some ears, which I repented of pretty quickly.)

On the technology front, I should be able to get my document cam and projector set up over the weekend, it has been hard to lecture without a little powerpoint/projection of some sort, and without ready access to a copier for the day’s materials. I have started reaching out to parents through classpager.com (for text messages) and through e-mails. I will work on a way to get to parents without e-mail next and whose primary language is Spanish. I have also started getting students into Holt McDougal’s Algebra 1 online book and supporting resources, which do absolutely no good when they don’t have internet at home!

On the pedagogy front, my lessons are all over the place in terms of transitions and timings, loose logical progressions and weak communications of expectations (rubrics, i.e. “this will be graded”).

In short, week one could have been a lot worse!

I was jazzed today (Saturday) to meet some people from the Yakama Reservation who are working to get kids involved in STEM. Met them at a Rocket-Day at Toppenish High School, which, incidentally is the home of the Top Principal of the Year.

Looking for people with some tips on cool resources available for the following books:

Holt McDougal. (2011). Algebra 1.

BSCS. (2006). Science Level 1: An Inquiry Approach.