I have the privilege of living with several teenagers who have friends that visit often. I have said for quite a while that my teenagers are my favorite part of parenting...then I had a grand baby and that is pretty amazing as well.
I gathered my children and about six of their friends to have them do the concept/definition map acticity with me. We of course had to talk about factoring...they all know of my love for math. Most of them at some time or another have asked for help with their math homework. It's a sight to see me and a bunch of teenagers at the kitchen table all working on homework.
Anyway, we started with factoring and then explained what it is like. You know, like, perfect squares, polynomials, quadratics and using the quadratic formula. Then came the hard part...giving examples. The group came up with four examples and it was actually helpful for them with the homework they are working on right now. Factoring seems to be hard for students and I think it's because they don't remember the properties...mostly because it's not that important to them.
I felt like we had a good discussion on factoring and the teenagers asked questions about how to recognize when to factor a perfect square or how to know when to use the quadratic formula. We also then talked about other ways to factor like completing the square and a perfect square trinomial. It was a productive evening with them and they all told me they actually learned something from having the activity. I think there is always room for improvement and felt like it wasn't as hard as it can be in a large classroom. My subbing experiences have taught me that. When you have a full class and are trying to help students understand these concepts it can become tricky since the learning level of the students will vary. I think a way to improve this lesson would be to help every student, no matter how much information they have, learn about factoring.
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Thursday, January 22, 2015
For the Love of Reading
I can not remember a time when I didn't have a book in my hand. My mom always had books around the house and I just packed them around. In kindergarten I would get my work finished quickly so that I could go to the play area. However, toys weren't at the top of the list. I would find my favorite book and climb into the beanbag chair and read. Most of the time I have enjoyed reading anything I have been given to read.
I can remember the first time I started hating reading...it was a sad day. I had a history teacher that had us read out of a textbook and then memorize dates to take tests. It was the worst and I started to not like history very much. It then continued on for the rest of my high school career. It's been interesting to read the textbook and watch the videos because it made me realize why I started hating those history textbooks. First of I was reading a book two grade levels higher than I could understand so it was hard to read. Secondly, there was not the reminder of background knowledge that I could refer to. We were just given the book with questions and expected to answer them without instruction.
So the big question becomes...how do I foster a love of reading math and not make it the worst subject on the planet? Maybe expecting students to read the text and figure out math for themselves will make it an awful experience. I have a love for math and feel that students can at least learn math if they have an understanding of what they are doing. I find that math is a lot more fun if you are working with it not drilling it into your head. There are so many ways students can explore math and really come to understand why math is going to be part of their everyday life. I took a History of Math class a few semesters ago and the idea that I kept thinking about was sharing where math comes from with my students. I like to know background information because it helps me relate better and I feel like my students would feel the same way.
So...reading whether for pleasure or for knowledge is an amazing thing when you love what you are reading!!
I can remember the first time I started hating reading...it was a sad day. I had a history teacher that had us read out of a textbook and then memorize dates to take tests. It was the worst and I started to not like history very much. It then continued on for the rest of my high school career. It's been interesting to read the textbook and watch the videos because it made me realize why I started hating those history textbooks. First of I was reading a book two grade levels higher than I could understand so it was hard to read. Secondly, there was not the reminder of background knowledge that I could refer to. We were just given the book with questions and expected to answer them without instruction.
So the big question becomes...how do I foster a love of reading math and not make it the worst subject on the planet? Maybe expecting students to read the text and figure out math for themselves will make it an awful experience. I have a love for math and feel that students can at least learn math if they have an understanding of what they are doing. I find that math is a lot more fun if you are working with it not drilling it into your head. There are so many ways students can explore math and really come to understand why math is going to be part of their everyday life. I took a History of Math class a few semesters ago and the idea that I kept thinking about was sharing where math comes from with my students. I like to know background information because it helps me relate better and I feel like my students would feel the same way.
So...reading whether for pleasure or for knowledge is an amazing thing when you love what you are reading!!
Sunday, January 11, 2015
All About Me
The past several years have been filled with lots of change in my life. Five years ago I decided to return to school to teach Elementary, preferably 5th or 6th grade, and as I started taking classes realized that was not what I really wanted to do. When I started school I had four children and my life was going along pretty good except I felt there was something I was missing. I felt like school would give me the direction I thought I was lacking. I soon found out there was more for our family than just having me go back to school.
I had this plan that I would go to school for four years and then find a job teaching and then send some kids on missions and then whatever else might happen after that...that was a great plan, but there was more instore for me that I wasn't expecting.
Shortly before I would be getting my associates I realized that I wasn't that excited about teaching elementary and just wanted to teach math all day. I talked to a few people who suggested that I teach high school math. So I decided to start looking into that and finding out what it might take. I found out that I would need a teaching minor so I choose Psychology as my minor and talked to my advisor and worked out my schedule for the next four years.
Things were working out so nicely when we realized that our niece needed a new place to live and so we invited her to live with us. We have two children that are 20 months apart and as it would be our niece is right exactly in the middle of them. So we started her going to high school with my daughter when she was a sophomore. The next year we had a senior, junior and sophomore in high school. We then had to fight her dad to keep her at our home which turned into a mess and him hating my husband and I. About 2 years after she moved in with us her dad committed suicide and we then realized why she needed to be living with us. It has been hard adding a teenager to the house, but we finally made it official this last year and adopted her.
So we now had five children and one of them was off to college and the other four were finishing up junior high and high school. My daughter, Chelsea, has wanted to serve a mission since she was 12. I always asked her what she would do if someone wanted to marry her. She would always say I'm going on a mission so they will just have to wait for me to come home. At that time the age of missionaries was 21 and my plan was to be graduated from college before we sent our missionaries. Then the exciting day came that girls could serve missions at 19. Chelsea has been out serving a mission for 7 months in Latvia. She is loving every minute of it and has been able to learn Latvian to communicate with those around her.
Now think back to the three teenagers who are ten months apart. It means that all three of them could serve missions at the same time. Not what we were expecting, but happy to have them serve if that was their choice. Our daughter, Tanya, has been called to the California, Irvine Spanish Speaking mission and leaves in March. Our son, Austin, is getting ready to submit his papers and can leave in June. So yep, I don't graduate until next spring and we will have three missionaries out serving. I am grateful everyday for the choices my children make because they are their choices not mine.
Remember the son that was in college...well he has added to our family as well. He was married a little over a year ago and three weeks ago they had a baby boy. Being an Oma has been the best in the world. My mom always told me that having grandchildren was better than kids. I didn't believe her, but I do now. It's the best and I'm sure I have the cutest grandbaby on the planet!! I love my daughter-in-law and think she is the best thing that ever happened to my son.
I do have one more child, Brayden, he is in 9th grade and loves to wrestle. Poor kid is skinny as can be and weighs 90 pounds. The lowest weight class in high school is 106 so he is learning a lot about being tough and finding ways to beat kids that are 15 pounds heavier than he is. It's fun to watch him.
My kids have mostly participated in soccer, which is my favorite sport to watch. We went to England this summer and stopped by the Chelsea stadium which happens to be Austin's favorite team. It was cool to see a professional soccer stadium. We have also attended dance recitals, piano recitals, wrestling meets and swimming and water polo events.
Last December my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. It has been an amazing adventure being married to him. There have been lots of up and downs, but we have been able to make it through all the rough patches. I couldn't ask for a better friend. He is always there for me.
Literacy is important in Math. If you don't understand how to read math statements it will be hard to solve those statements. Math is not just numbers, those numbers are sentences that tell you something. Literacy is more than reading and writing. It helps shape who we become as we explore the world around us. It is becoming a life-long learner and having a thirst for knowledge. Teaching in the high school will be a challenge that I look forward to, especially teaching math. Most students tell me they hate math and I just tell them they haven't had a teacher who made math fun for them. My goal is to make math fun.
I had this plan that I would go to school for four years and then find a job teaching and then send some kids on missions and then whatever else might happen after that...that was a great plan, but there was more instore for me that I wasn't expecting.
Shortly before I would be getting my associates I realized that I wasn't that excited about teaching elementary and just wanted to teach math all day. I talked to a few people who suggested that I teach high school math. So I decided to start looking into that and finding out what it might take. I found out that I would need a teaching minor so I choose Psychology as my minor and talked to my advisor and worked out my schedule for the next four years.
Things were working out so nicely when we realized that our niece needed a new place to live and so we invited her to live with us. We have two children that are 20 months apart and as it would be our niece is right exactly in the middle of them. So we started her going to high school with my daughter when she was a sophomore. The next year we had a senior, junior and sophomore in high school. We then had to fight her dad to keep her at our home which turned into a mess and him hating my husband and I. About 2 years after she moved in with us her dad committed suicide and we then realized why she needed to be living with us. It has been hard adding a teenager to the house, but we finally made it official this last year and adopted her.
So we now had five children and one of them was off to college and the other four were finishing up junior high and high school. My daughter, Chelsea, has wanted to serve a mission since she was 12. I always asked her what she would do if someone wanted to marry her. She would always say I'm going on a mission so they will just have to wait for me to come home. At that time the age of missionaries was 21 and my plan was to be graduated from college before we sent our missionaries. Then the exciting day came that girls could serve missions at 19. Chelsea has been out serving a mission for 7 months in Latvia. She is loving every minute of it and has been able to learn Latvian to communicate with those around her.
Now think back to the three teenagers who are ten months apart. It means that all three of them could serve missions at the same time. Not what we were expecting, but happy to have them serve if that was their choice. Our daughter, Tanya, has been called to the California, Irvine Spanish Speaking mission and leaves in March. Our son, Austin, is getting ready to submit his papers and can leave in June. So yep, I don't graduate until next spring and we will have three missionaries out serving. I am grateful everyday for the choices my children make because they are their choices not mine.
Remember the son that was in college...well he has added to our family as well. He was married a little over a year ago and three weeks ago they had a baby boy. Being an Oma has been the best in the world. My mom always told me that having grandchildren was better than kids. I didn't believe her, but I do now. It's the best and I'm sure I have the cutest grandbaby on the planet!! I love my daughter-in-law and think she is the best thing that ever happened to my son.
My kids have mostly participated in soccer, which is my favorite sport to watch. We went to England this summer and stopped by the Chelsea stadium which happens to be Austin's favorite team. It was cool to see a professional soccer stadium. We have also attended dance recitals, piano recitals, wrestling meets and swimming and water polo events.
Last December my husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. It has been an amazing adventure being married to him. There have been lots of up and downs, but we have been able to make it through all the rough patches. I couldn't ask for a better friend. He is always there for me.
Literacy is important in Math. If you don't understand how to read math statements it will be hard to solve those statements. Math is not just numbers, those numbers are sentences that tell you something. Literacy is more than reading and writing. It helps shape who we become as we explore the world around us. It is becoming a life-long learner and having a thirst for knowledge. Teaching in the high school will be a challenge that I look forward to, especially teaching math. Most students tell me they hate math and I just tell them they haven't had a teacher who made math fun for them. My goal is to make math fun.
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