Good Things [MTBOS Blogging Initiative Week 1]

I posted recently that I was thinking about starting a gratitude journal directed at teaching.  The week 1 MTBOS Blogging Initiative inspired me just post my gratitude entries on my blog.  It kills two birds with one stone.  I hope to post good things regularly; we'll see if that actually happens.

Monday:  I connected with a student that I've been having a hard time connecting with.  (The student appreciated my fair grading policy, and it encouraged him to turn in late work. Yay!)

Tuesday:  I gave input for making changes in our math department, and my opinion was valued.

Wednesday:  I've always been susceptible to strong, random cravings.  In the middle of teaching today, I just blurted out that I wanted ice cream really badly.  The next period, one of my 9th grade students came in with an ice cream sandwich from the cafeteria.  I couldn't believe it.  It was the sweetest thing ever.  We also had a two hour delay, and I was so grateful for the extra sleep.

Thursday:  (Two hour delay again!)  A student that graduated last year called to find out when I'm free during the day so he can visit while he's home from college.  I really miss last year's graduating class.  They were the best. <3

Friday:  I had my post-observation for my mini-observation from Thursday.  My principal had awesome feedback and ideas for me.  Then he told me that I am being recommended for tenure this year!  :)

20 Minute Challenge

This post falls under the "Taking Care of Me" theme from my last post.

I hate clutter.  It prevents me from being productive, and distracts me from what needs to get to done.  I tried to eradicate it as much as I could over winter break.  I made progress in my kitchen.  (I still need to go through my cabinets though.)  I made progress with putting away holiday decor.   I made progress in our hallway closet, and I made major progress in my craft area.

The one area where I still need to de-clutter and re-organize is my desk/office area.  This is a little more difficult now that I'm back at work.  I come home and I want to exercise and relax, but I also need to get some work done. (Our mid-year self-evaluation is due this Friday!)  I also need to eat dinner, clean up the daily kitchen mess, etc.  With my work schedule I come home and have about three-and-a-half hours to get everything done before I start getting ready for bed.

Enter my 20 minute challenge.  Every day this week, I am going to come home, and set aside 20 minutes to work on something.  My schedule is listed below.  I will have 20 minutes, and 20 minutes only to complete the task of the day.  By giving myself this time limit, I am pressuring myself, and I move a lot faster that I would without a time limit.  (I noticed that this worked for me when I do laundry, and take the time I have while my load is washing or drying to complete a task.  When I'm really energetic, I like to complete as many tasks as I can in that period of time.)

Monday:  Desk surface and office area surfaces
Tuesday:  Paper clutter and mail
Wednesday:  Desk drawer
Thursday:  Kitchen cabinets

Hopefully, completing these tasks will help be more productive overall when I'm home.  (So I don't end up working on the couch and watching TV because the desk area is too cluttered.)

Taking Care of Me First

This current school year has me feeling absolutely burned out.  I feel like I've done a 180.  I spent my Thanksgiving and Winter breaks without even thinking about work (almost).  I was sick this fall, and was able to take a sick day without feeling any guilt what-so-ever.  Most people would say that these are good things.  Especially the people that know me in real life.

But I just don't feel the love I used to for teaching.  I feel my focus has shifted from teaching to all of the other nonsense that comes with being a teacher.  In other words, more of my thoughts and energy are being invested in all of the paperwork, communications, planning, etc. instead of on what is going on in my classroom when my students are there.  I seriously groan when the bell rings at the end of my preps because now I have to spend my time teaching instead of getting things done.  It used to be the opposite!  

I have done nothing for school over Winter break.  Truthfully, I needed the break.  On the other hand, I now feel that I have wasted time by not making progress in all of the things that I have to do.  Since I am dreading going back to work tomorrow, I wanted to take a moment to adjust my attitude, and reflect on what is going right.  

In regards to burn out, I keep hearing/reading about taking care of yourself first.  The repeated analogy is that when you fly, you're told to fix your oxygen mask before someone else's in the event of an emergency because if something happens to you, you won't be able to help anyone else.  The same principle can be applied to teachers.  We constantly give of ourselves, but when you don't take care of yourself, you will have nothing left to give.  

One thing I've been trying to do is spend time relaxing and doing the things that make me happy.  This has meant more time scrapbooking and crafting!  I've been using yoga to relax.  I had a hard time keeping up with it during the holidays, but I've been doing it more regularly over break.  (I just have to remember not to beat myself up if I miss a day or two.)  I plan on incorporating more strenuous exercise as well starting this week.  Ideally, I would like to get to the gym twice during the week, but when I don't get home until 5, and have to change clothes, and then drive 15 minutes to get there, and it's cold on top of it all, I know it's not very likely.  My solution is to do HIIT workouts at home, I just need to actually do it.  

I'm trying to become more mindful.  I've been reading a book called "Mindfulness for Teachers".  It's helped so much just from one chapter, but I started reading it in November, and I'm still on the second chapter because by the time I have time to read, I'm exhausted.  I need to make time to read.  One thing I'm doing to help me read more is learning how to speed read.  I installed an app called "Acceleread" on my iPad.  So far I'm enjoying it, but I don't know how well or if it's working yet.  I've only done three lessons so far.  (Be careful if you look this app up.  I did the first two free lessons, and then got suckered into buying the full version of the app because I felt I had to continue this program after investing so much time into it.  I really do like the app though.)

Another app I'm using to become more mindful is "Stop, Breathe & Think".  It's a meditation app.  You check in by explaining how you feel at that moment, and the app offers you a few meditations to choose from.  You listen to a guided meditation, and then you are rewarded with virtual stickers.  The app is free, but some of the mediations require a purchase.  The app is fair in offering both free and paid mediations.  I enjoy this app, and plan to use it daily.  (And by "daily", I mean I'm eventually going to end up skipping a day here and there.)

So for now the plan is to do these few small things, and hopefully turn things around for the rest of this year.  I may start some kind of gratitude journal.  I want to focus on one good teaching thing each day.  

Sorry for the rambly, less teacher-y post, but I feel better about returning to work tomorrow, and hopefully I can help someone else out that may be feeling the same way.

Line & Rotational Symmetry

This year is my first teaching line and rotational symmetry.  I taught this lesson in one class period.  I believe my students learned line and rotational symmetry at some point in elementary school, so the lesson went smoothly.  (However, my past students also learned that 1 is a prime number, and that rhombuses are tilted squares in elementary school.)

I put my students into groups of 4.  With their groups, students filled in their interactive notebook insert.  It was a table depicting each shape with space to list how many lines of symmetry and how many degrees of rotational symmetry each shape has.

Each group had a sheet of cardstock with seven shapes printed and labeled on them (square, rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, isosceles trapezoid, regular hexagon, and regular pentagon) and seven-ish sheets of patty paper.  Students were able to trace each shape, and then fold the patty paper to determine the number of lines of symmetry.

 

Each group also had a manila folder.  Inside the folder I had taped down seven 360-degree protractors, and then cut out each shape and attached it to the folder through the center of the protractor with a brad.  (It was also super handy for holding each group's materials.)  Students were able to spin the shapes to determine the degrees of rotational symmetry.  (This was very helpful for the pentagon and hexagon.)

Overall, it was an easy set-up and totally worth the little bit of time it took.

Constructions Tech Tip

My first year of teaching constructions was a disaster.  I never learned constructions when I was in high school, so I had no frame of reference of how to teach them.  We constructed circles.  That was it.  In college, I learned about constructions with Geometer's Sketchpad, but it is so different from doing constructions by hand.

My second and third years of teaching constructions was much improved because I'd discovered http://www.mathopenref.com/tocs/constructionstoc.html.  I was able to play animations of constructions while helping individual students that needed more help.  There are still some drawback's however.  Firstly, we don't use the same type of compass presented in the animation.

Our school has these:

(These compasses are the worst.   The red part that is for the pencil slides while you're trying draw arcs.)

We used to have these:

(We still do, but we only have 15 or so, which isn't enough for one class, let alone for everyone to use on our state test.  These compasses are the best.  They have a locking mechanism so arcs can be drawn without any issues.)

We currently use these:

(They're not my favorite, but they get the job done, and I find that the flat compasses are easier for students to handle than the standard compasses.  The biggest bonus of these is that they are cheap.  I have enough for all of my students have their own, which means that they can do constructions for homework.)

The second issue with the animations is that they don't always show exactly what I need them to.  Sometimes they show extra steps, and they make partial arcs instead of full arcs.  These are small differences, but they are enough to confuse students.

So now that I am in my fourth year of teaching constructions.  I found another solution, and it was right under my nose the whole time.  I am one of those teachers that cannot imagine teaching without a SMART Board.  I have been trained in the use of SMART Notebook during my undergraduate education.  I knew that SN had construction tools available for awhile, but I never fully explored them.  It was daunting, and I had a mile-long to-do list, so I forgot about it.

This year, I needed to show my students a construction, but it was too different from the one available on Math Open Reference.  I took a look at the tools, and found that the compass was so much easier to use than I ever imagined.  I thought it would be helpful to show a brief tutorial on using the compass on the SB.  It takes some practice, but I think it's going to make a big difference in how I teach constructions next year.  Take a look at the compass directions I have posted below.

Quick Tip for Constructions

The one thing I always complain about my school is that it's so small that I'm the only Geometry teacher.  Being the only Geometry teacher is tough sometimes.  I have no one to bounce ideas off of, or to guide me through the ins and outs of being a Geometry teacher.  I pick many things up from MTBOS, and Pinterest, but I often have to figure things out for myself.  This tip is one that I figured out myself.  (It seems so simple though, that I feel it must have been known to many teachers before me.)

Grading constructions can be tricky.  At first, I grade for process.  Making sure that students remember the steps necessary for completing a construction.  Over time, as students become more familiar with the compass, I grade for accuracy.  When I grade for accuracy, I look much more closely at the arcs and lines to make sure they are placed almost exactly where they are supposed to be.  In the past, to be sure, I would often end up completing the construction over top of the student's construction in colored pen.  (And if I made some sort of mistake, there would be a mess.)  What I figured out is that I could complete the construction on patty (or tracing) paper first, then lay my construction on top of the student's construction to check for accuracy.  This has saved me so much time and frustration.   I also suggest taping the patty paper down when completing the construction, as it is prone to shifting.

There you have it.  Quick and easy construction grading.

What's New...

I've turned into one of the things that I seriously hate.  It annoys me to no end when bloggers post constantly all summer, and then as soon as school starts they go silent.  I completely understand of course, but it just bugs me. I need more ideas and inspiration!  I always have a goal to post weekly, but things get in the way (just like they do for everyone), and it just doesn't happen like that.

So to end the silence, I thought I'd just post a quick update on what's new this year.

• It was decided that I'd be the new advisor of the Senior High Math Team.  I'm happy to do it, and the kiddos are happy to have me do it, but I feel so unprepared for it.  I don't remember all of the super fun things that come up in the crazy questions that are assigned, so I feel kind of useless.  The kids that participate a great though, and very self-directed.  It's a pleasure to work with them.
• I actually have to teach Common Core Geometry this year.  Last year my students took both the non-Common Core and the first ever Common Core exam.  They got to keep their highest grade, and I got a chance to learn about how the Common Core exam is without the pressure.  This year Common Core is the only option, and I've been preparing to step up my game.
• This year I have a new course!  Ever since I began my current position, I wondered, why do we not offer a non-Regents Geometry course?  I teach a course called Contemporary Math, which is a basic math course for math credit.  I've always wanted a no-pressure Geometry course where I could spend as much time teaching topics as each topic required.  I'm quickly learning that some topics need more time than I predicted, but it's a wonderful and an interesting experience so far.
• I've been journaling daily.  I love reflecting on my day, and finding ways to improve for next time.  I hope to start a routine where I come home and immediately start journaling.  So far my routine has been come home, eat snacks, collapse on couch, and eventually do some sort of work so I'm less stressed for the next day.  I end up journaling before bed, and therefore forgetting some of the wonderful things I could be journaling about.  #workinprogress
• I've been doing yoga approximately 6 days a week.  I love it.  It's so relaxing.  It's the thing that I do for me.  I follow along with videos on YouTube, and the ones I use take 20 minutes or less.  The most interesting thing about doing yoga is that my back feels so great.  I seem to have near constant back pain, and it's pretty much gone away since I started doing yoga so frequently.  In fact, on the days that I don't do yoga, my body feels like it needs a good stretch.  
• I've become something of an organization guru in my school, and decided to start an after school program to help students get organized.  I had my first meeting on Thursday, and no one showed up.  I've since put up an advertisement in my class room window, and hopefully I can draw some students in.  I'll also make announcements in my classes (which sounds like the obvious thing to do), but I feel sort of awkward doing it.  I'll give it a try.  (If I don't have a regular attendance rate of 5 students or more, the program will be canceled.)  So if this thing takes off, I'll have more material to post about. 
• I'm sort of addicted to YouTube.  This isn't exactly new.  I binge watch scrapbooking, DIY, and room re-decorating videos.  What is new is that I am considering adding a video/vlog component to my blog.  I'm thinking about sharing organization tips and tricks via video.  Writing and using pictures is great to get a message across, but I think a video would be even better.  No promises, but I'm seriously considering trying it out.