Easy Homework Pass

This is another idea I adapted from The Nest Effect/The Learning Effect.  (Here is the original post.)  I assign homework every night (except after a test).  I wanted to reward the students that consistently complete their homework, so I incorporated homework passes.  I'm tough.  I only give homework passes to students that have perfect homework for entire marking periods.  Many students complained that this was an impossible feat, yet I'd have at least 8 students earn a homework pass every marking period.  I gave students that had perfect homework for the entire school year a king size Hershey's chocolate bar.

Like Tiffany, I made my homework passes for free on Vista Print.  I just had to pay for shipping.  Prior to distributing the homework passes, I write the student's name on the back and the date that I hand it out.  Students turn in their homework pass on a day that they did not complete their homework, and I give them full credit.  When I receive the homework pass, I rip it in half and throw it out so that it cannot be re-used.

New & Hopefully Improved Retest Policy

After much thought and consideration, I've made changes to my retest policy.  Last year, I just had straight test corrections.  I have an organized form for students to fill out and re-work problems.  I have a list of error codes for students to analyze their mistakes and a to-do list for students to make sure the form is complete before they turn it in.  I gave students half the points that they lost on the test back through test corrections.

The problem with test corrections was that students wouldn't follow the rules.  They would only re-do the problems that they wanted to, they wouldn't write in the error codes, they would write down any multiple choice answer that they did not use before, and if they actually checked their work over with another student, they didn't stop there, they would actually copy that student's answers.  I didn't have the time or energy during the year to address any of these things to fix my policy.  I didn't have the time to find better solutions.

This year, I want to incorporate a retest component.  I will still use the same test corrections form.  I will not accept the form without everything being completed correctly.  Since there really is no way to deter copying, students will have to complete a retest to earn a higher grade.  Students will not be eligible to retest until they complete the test corrections form.  This will ensure that students are accurately assessed for the skills that they have, not the skills that they've copied.  Once students have completed the retest, I will average the grade on the original test with the grade on the retest for the final test grade.  (Unless of course they somehow score lower on the retest.)

I know that this will be more work for me overall.  (By the end I will have graded the same assessment three times.)  I'm hoping that it will be worth it.  I'll try it for a year, and we will see how it goes.

Want my test corrections form?  It's for sale on TPT.

DIY Bulletin Board

As I've mentioned in a previous post, I only have one bulletin board in my classroom.  Last year this did not stop me from using every bit of available wall space to hang posters.  However, I would love to have additional bulletin board space.

As I was packing up my classroom last June, I found foam board that the teacher who had the classroom previous to me had ordered and left behind.  I wondered what I could possibly do with so much foam board, and then I thought about the possibilities of creating my very own bulletin boards.  Push pins and thumb tacks fit in the foam board perfectly, and so I was ready to start this project for the next school year.  (The foam board that I have is 20" wide, 30" long, and 3/16" deep.)

Initially I wanted to have two, but I couldn't think of any way to actually use them.  Long story short, I decided on having just one (for now) to display exemplary student work.  I measured paper to cover the board, and hot glued the paper to the foam board.  Last, I added duck tape to protect the edges.  At first I tried using blue tack/sticky putty (whatever you want to call it), but the board was too heavy for it to hold.  (This foiled my initial plans of creating several bulletin boards to switch out periodically.)  So I had to use the permanent foam tape.  (The custodians are going to LOVE me when I ask them to paint the room in a few years.)

So here is the finished bulletin board.

 I used our school colors for the board, and named it the "Star Students" board in reference to our school's celestial theme.

Next I implemented an idea I've seen floating around on Pinterest.  I hot glued thumb tacks onto clothespins.  This will allow me to easily hang student work without damaging it.   (Because I'm the type of person that if someone hands me back my work and there's holes all over, I get annoyed.)  Then I covered the clothespins with Washi tape that I have for SMASH books.  

So here is my proud achievement for today, all set and ready for student work.

Interactive Notebook Progress So Far

As I said in an earlier post, I'm incorporating interactive notebooks this year.  Last year, my students had such a difficult time taking notes.  They lack the skills to determine what information is important, and I gave too many notes, and maybe even too many examples.  I'm looking forward to using interactive notebooks because it will force me to really think about what information needs to be included in student notes.

As I go through the process of creating interactive notebooks with my Geometry classes, I'll post what I've done on my blog.  (There aren't too many resources for Geometry notebooks yet.)  If I find success with interactive notebooks this year in Geometry, I'll incorporate them into Contemporary Math next year.

At this time, I wanted to share what I've planned so far.

• I have my own notebook to use as the master notebook as advised by EVERYONE. 
• I planned for the topics I need to cover using these pages, and I'll have enough pages for sure.  I found my favorite page organizer here.
• I checked out a Dinah Zike book from our library to research foldables.  (We have the greatest school librarian.)
• I purchased a foldable pack from TPT.  This looks so great, I cannot wait to use it.
• I am not giving my students time in class to decorate their covers.  Maybe I'll assign it for homework.
• I have not decided if I want students to take their notebooks back and forth (and introduce a much greater probability that they will lose the notebook) or if I want students to keep their notebooks in my classroom (and quite nearly defeat the purpose of having notebooks in the first place).  Guess what I'm already leaning toward.
• If I let students take their notebooks home, when will I grade them?  I cannot grade them during the test.  Cheating runs rampant in my school, and I have to circulate the entire time.  The thought of grading them the night that students take the test is enough to start me hyperventilating.  Need to figure this out ASAP.
• I want to put the notebook rubric on the front cover, but I like the idea of a learner profile like this one on the front cover so much more.  Also, to not waste page space in the notebook, I can glue this on as a pocket and keep the actual surveys inside.
• If I put the learner profile on the front cover, where I will I put the rubric?  Back cover?  That's actually a good possibility.
• I want the first page of the notebook to be a key of symbols used in Geometry.  I am absolutely, definitely without a shadow of a doubt doing this.
• I planned a table of contents for the first several pages, but I'm replacing that with unit tables of contents like the one from this blog post.  (I seriously hate the thought of using up 10 pages right off the bat.)
• I want each unit to start with a pocket page.  On the pocket page I want to have a tab so the units are easy to find.  I want to put the unit table of contents on the back of or opposite the pocket page.  Some better planning needs to happen here, but I like the overall idea.
• For a glossary of terms, I want to use the Frayer model foldables from here.  (See the picture at the top?  I want to use that, but a whole page of them.)  However, I don't want to put the glossary at the end of the notebook.  This will take too much planning, and too many pages from the notebook at the very beginning (which for no good reason, I just hate).  Instead, I want to put the terms used in each unit right after the unit pocket page.

This what I have so far.  I need to remember that even though I don't have specific pages planned, or a full perfect list of topics of the pages I need filled out, I do at least have this general guide of how I will set up my notebook, and that this is essential for getting my interactive notebooks started this year.  (So in short, I need to stop panicking already.)

Geometry Timeline

This was an idea I had from when I student taught.  When you review a topic that your previously covered, or when you need to build upon a topic that you previously taught, kids always seem to have a way to be completely dumbfounded.  Then you hear it, "We never learned this!"  I knew that when I started teaching, I wanted to keep track of the things we learned and display it for the students.

This year I set up a Geometry Timeline on my only bulletin board in the classroom.  I kept track of each unit, and the posted the vocabulary and postulates/theorems we learned.  Here is what it looked like:

So here's my reflection:  I did not keep up with it after the seventh unit.  (We had 12 total.)  Which is just as well, because I was clearly about to run out of space.  It became one more thing I had to do, and I was already overwhelmed (you know, first year and all).  There was also so much to include.  I had to use a small font, and it could not be read from across the room.  If I try this again, I am going to simplify it.  This is really not representative of the original idea I had; I think I would want to go with something closer to that if I were to do it again.  I might try this sometime in the future, but this year, I want to do a vocabulary wall to archive our vocabulary words for the year.

My other project is to create more bulletin boards in my classroom.  I hate only having one.  The teacher that had the room before me ordered a ton of foam boards, so I want to use those to somehow create more bulletin boards.  Stay tuned for how that project turns out.

Math Banner Freebie!

I absolutely loved the banner Tiffany from The Learning Effect designed here.  The best part is that I have a window just like hers to showcase such a beautiful banner.  Unfortunately, it wasn't something I could use for high school.  (See what I'm saying with this whole elementary "vs." secondary thing?)  So of course, I just had to make my own.  I designed the banner to say "Welcome to Math" (because Geometry would not fit and I didn't want to exclude my Contemporary Math kids).

Each triangle measures 7.5" wide.  My window is only 32" wide, so I had to hang my banner by overlapping each triangle by about 3".  I printed, laminated, and cut out each triangle.  Then I hung each triangle individually with Scotch Mounting Squares.  (I used temporary ones to keep everyone happy, and they work very well.)

Here is the end result:

Here is your free copy of the math banner.

Parent Survey

During the last #geomchat that I participated in, other teachers seemed interested in the survey I give to my parents the first night of school.  It only seemed natural that I share and expand on the topic.

The first day of school, I go over my course information with my students.  I have it formatted as a letter to them and their parents.  Their homework is to share the letter with their parents, and have their parents fill out their contact information and sign that they have both read and agree to the course requirements.  On the back of the contact sheet is a survey for the parents to respond to in regards to their child.  Last year I tried this not expecting great results.  I was pleasantly surprised by the volume and quality of the responses I received.  They were so helpful in planning my class activities.

I was also given the suggestion to offer the survey on Google Forms for parents to fill in.  I am seriously considering this as it will organize all the information into one spreadsheet.  However, the drawback is that not all of the families I work with have a home computer/internet access/smart phone. 

Here for you is the parent contact information and survey sheet that I use.  My contact information sheet is thorough, and I will scale it back this year since we have SchoolTool.

I also found a similar parent survey for free on Teachers Pay Teachers.  It's a shorter version, and I like that it's in a 3-2-1 format because I use them with my students all the time.

Geometry Curriculum - Take Two

I've let the professional development I had last week sink in.  Here's what I'm thinking now.  I'm going to teach the curriculum that I've put together this summer.  I went over it once more and added in commentary about what is coming out for the following year, and what is not being tested this year.  It's still a little rough, but I know what's missing.  (Other resources and different assessments - I only included textbook pages for resources, and I just copied and pasted the same assessments throughout.  I also have yet to incorporate the mathematical practices.  That's the only thing I will definitely add.)

My state is basically handing us a course outline for next year, and I'm going to adapt it when the time comes, but I'm not going to worry about it this summer.

Here is my updated curriculum for this year.

New Folder Organization

I have a whole system set up for students to pick up the work that they miss when they're absent.  This is not what im talking anout here. Toward the end of the year, I was no longer able to assign homework from the textbook, so I had to assign worksheets.  The thing about worksheets is that about one third of them mysteriously disappear once students walk out the door.  So I had to make extras.  Lots of extras.

The other thing about worksheets is that students will ask for the ones that their missing at the worst times.  (Like immediately after I've filed them because it seemed that no one else needed them.)  This was my solution.

It worked.  Students had access to the worksheet they were missing, and I did not have to go out of my way to find them.  For this year though, I wanted to streamline my folders.  Literally.  Have you seen these?  I found some at Wal-Mart and their price range was $9.99 and up, and had more pockets than I needed, so I decided to make my own. 

This is what I came up with.

I made new signs for each day of the week and glued them onto a manilla folder.  I also decided to cut the tabs off of each folder.  I used some cute new duck tape (a smaller version called "Duckling").  I first taped each folder shut on the right and left sides.  Then I taped one folder to another on the right and left sides again.  I taped it so that the folders are inside of each other (so I don't accidentally insert papers between the folders).  Finally, I taped a border on each side to keep it sturdy.  I also added a tape border to the top and bottom to make it look "complete".

The only drawback is that once papers are inserted into the folders, they will cover the labels.  That's okay, though.  I think by high school kids understand the sequence of the days of the week.

The only thing I would actually change is that I set the digital paper to 50% transparency.  I should have left it at 100% because now the colors look washed out.  But oh well.  I wasn't about to waste supplies.

Want to make your own?  (The transparency is set to 100% for bright, vibrant colors.)