Asked the kids today for some jokes.
My favorite:
How do you wake up Lady Gaga?
You poke her face (say it aloud).
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Kids today
The latest fashion thing seems to be wearing thick black giant glasses with no lenses; just the frames.
I guess this makes me officially old, because no matter how I look at it, it just seems completely ridiculous-looking. Definitely one where in years to come they will look at pictures and say "what was I thinking?".
I guess this makes me officially old, because no matter how I look at it, it just seems completely ridiculous-looking. Definitely one where in years to come they will look at pictures and say "what was I thinking?".
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Point, students
I hosted a potluck for school staff on Sunday afternoon. I was a little disappointed with the turnout; 3 teachers (one with spouse), one admin with spouse.
In class on Monday I was talking about this with the class (just trying to get them going, the first period on Monday they were all zombies). They thought it was pretty funny.
Later I was doing a spot check to see who had come to class with all their stuff: I asked everyone to take out their protractors. For 21 kids, there were only 10 protractors. I was making a big deal about this, "10 protractors!! I can't believe it, for 21 students only TEN PROTRACTORS!!!".
In the silence that followed, one girl called out "At least it's more people than you had at your party."
In class on Monday I was talking about this with the class (just trying to get them going, the first period on Monday they were all zombies). They thought it was pretty funny.
Later I was doing a spot check to see who had come to class with all their stuff: I asked everyone to take out their protractors. For 21 kids, there were only 10 protractors. I was making a big deal about this, "10 protractors!! I can't believe it, for 21 students only TEN PROTRACTORS!!!".
In the silence that followed, one girl called out "At least it's more people than you had at your party."
Test 2
Got the second test all graded (second major unit test). This one went pretty well. The averages were higher than last time. Another student from the resource class (the extra class for kids who have had trouble with math in the past) got an A.
The challenge is balance. My first and second period classes are a more typical mix of kids but the fourth period is the accelerated track. For the first and second period the grades fell out on a normal histogram: some A's, more B's, a few C's, a D or two. For the fourth period class the average was over 100.
I need to redesign the tests. Like the first 70 points are a cakewalk, the next 20 points are more challenging, and the last 10 points are really challenging, and the extra credit is super-challenging.
The challenge is balance. My first and second period classes are a more typical mix of kids but the fourth period is the accelerated track. For the first and second period the grades fell out on a normal histogram: some A's, more B's, a few C's, a D or two. For the fourth period class the average was over 100.
I need to redesign the tests. Like the first 70 points are a cakewalk, the next 20 points are more challenging, and the last 10 points are really challenging, and the extra credit is super-challenging.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Inspiration
New thing in class. I brought in 4 silly hats: a Santa hat with a giant spring on top (and a bell at the end of the spring); a construction hat, a sailor hat, and a green military commander hat. These are question hats. When the class starts I give them to a random students. They have to wear the question hat until they ask a question (like a good question). Then they can take it off and give it back to me. If anyone still has a hat at the end of class the whole class loses points.
This has been pretty successful. The kids are motivated to ask questions, and they generally jump on the hat-wearer if they are being too shy. And I get a kick out of looking out into the classroom and seeing a bunch of silly hats. One of my students came in wearing these big silly glasses with tape on them. That plus the construction hat was just too funny.
This has been pretty successful. The kids are motivated to ask questions, and they generally jump on the hat-wearer if they are being too shy. And I get a kick out of looking out into the classroom and seeing a bunch of silly hats. One of my students came in wearing these big silly glasses with tape on them. That plus the construction hat was just too funny.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Computer Science
Sitting in on the computer science class for the first time today. They are learning C++; writing "Hello world" using a function.
I am trying to think of a good analogy but I can't; there's nothing like the anxious, twitchy feeling of watching over the shoulder as someone writes error-riddled code at a painfully slow rate. I had this huge urge to just shove the kid aside and type it myself. Which I realize makes absolutely no sense. I don't understand it. Perhaps 14 years of "Hurry, write the code" just makes it unbearable to be patient with someone else.
It also reminds me how much there is to learn. Functions, arguments, control flow, recursion, syntax, debugging, etc. When it all seems like second nature it's hard to get oriented on how to help someone who has none of it.
Right now they are demo-ing games they wrote in Alice, a drag-n-drop based system for building customized games. I gotta say they've made some cool games: the student presenting now essentially made Frogger.
I am trying to think of a good analogy but I can't; there's nothing like the anxious, twitchy feeling of watching over the shoulder as someone writes error-riddled code at a painfully slow rate. I had this huge urge to just shove the kid aside and type it myself. Which I realize makes absolutely no sense. I don't understand it. Perhaps 14 years of "Hurry, write the code" just makes it unbearable to be patient with someone else.
It also reminds me how much there is to learn. Functions, arguments, control flow, recursion, syntax, debugging, etc. When it all seems like second nature it's hard to get oriented on how to help someone who has none of it.
Right now they are demo-ing games they wrote in Alice, a drag-n-drop based system for building customized games. I gotta say they've made some cool games: the student presenting now essentially made Frogger.
Conferences
We just did parent conferences.
Eastside has a pretty slick way of handling this. Teachers submit grades and write narratives; a few paragraphs about how the student is doing. Kids get the narratives and create a presentation. For each of the schools ESLRs (habits of work, habits of thought, communication, community service) they describe how they are doing well and where the need work. For each point they need to support their statements with quotes from the narratives. Then they come up with a detailed plan on how they will do better.
For the conference, the kid meets with their parents and a few (2-3) of their teachers for about 30 minutes. The student does their presentation for their parents. Then parents & teachers can ask questions.
On the bad side, this gets repetitive. We did it for 3 hours on Thurs, and all day 8 to 6:30 on Friday and Monday. I have heard a *lot* about habits of mind.
On the good side, it's a very satisfying experience to see the kids take ownership of their performance at school. Kids who are doing well get great positive feedback, in front of their parents, which really makes them beam. Kids who have been a little checked out have this moment of clarity where they see how their work habits affect their grades and ask themselves "Is this really the way I want my school career to unfold."
I feel a little guilty about it, but my absolute favorite is watching kids who have been sassy and disrespectful have to read quotes about how they're sassy and disrespectful right in front of their parents. Mmmm, sweet sweet revenge. It's petty.... but there you go.
It is also really interesting to see the range of public speaking skills. Some kids are comedians; totally funny, engaging, entertaining, throwing in little asides to keep the mood light. Others are very business-like; this one student was seriously ready to anchor an evening news show; straight ahead, clear, slow, measured, pauses for eye contact, everything. The hardest was a student who read his whole thing in mumbling, quiet monotone.
Eastside has a pretty slick way of handling this. Teachers submit grades and write narratives; a few paragraphs about how the student is doing. Kids get the narratives and create a presentation. For each of the schools ESLRs (habits of work, habits of thought, communication, community service) they describe how they are doing well and where the need work. For each point they need to support their statements with quotes from the narratives. Then they come up with a detailed plan on how they will do better.
For the conference, the kid meets with their parents and a few (2-3) of their teachers for about 30 minutes. The student does their presentation for their parents. Then parents & teachers can ask questions.
On the bad side, this gets repetitive. We did it for 3 hours on Thurs, and all day 8 to 6:30 on Friday and Monday. I have heard a *lot* about habits of mind.
On the good side, it's a very satisfying experience to see the kids take ownership of their performance at school. Kids who are doing well get great positive feedback, in front of their parents, which really makes them beam. Kids who have been a little checked out have this moment of clarity where they see how their work habits affect their grades and ask themselves "Is this really the way I want my school career to unfold."
I feel a little guilty about it, but my absolute favorite is watching kids who have been sassy and disrespectful have to read quotes about how they're sassy and disrespectful right in front of their parents. Mmmm, sweet sweet revenge. It's petty.... but there you go.
It is also really interesting to see the range of public speaking skills. Some kids are comedians; totally funny, engaging, entertaining, throwing in little asides to keep the mood light. Others are very business-like; this one student was seriously ready to anchor an evening news show; straight ahead, clear, slow, measured, pauses for eye contact, everything. The hardest was a student who read his whole thing in mumbling, quiet monotone.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Progress
Little by little the proof stuff is sinking in.
During tutorial (study hall) I had them break down into teams, and each team handled a problem from the homework. I stacked the teams to make sure there was one stronger student on each team. Then I circulated around the teams, checking in to see how they're doing, offer ideas, etc. This worked well; as one member of a team began to 'get it' they would teach the other kids. Then the teams would share answers with each other.
All of this worked assuming the kids actually participated in the teams. Some folks sat there with notebook, pens, homework all in their bag, bag on their lap, staring off into space. When I check in to encourage them to participate, they say "I'm lost".
We had the second dorm dinner last night - a formal dinner with the kids who live in the dorms. I really like these. I taught my table how to play liar's dice (and I beat them twice, ha ha ha). They really liked it. I would much rather play with the kids than teach & grade them; it's so fun to just goof off. I also took about 20 minutes with my resource class to play hot dice. Also a big hit.
During tutorial (study hall) I had them break down into teams, and each team handled a problem from the homework. I stacked the teams to make sure there was one stronger student on each team. Then I circulated around the teams, checking in to see how they're doing, offer ideas, etc. This worked well; as one member of a team began to 'get it' they would teach the other kids. Then the teams would share answers with each other.
All of this worked assuming the kids actually participated in the teams. Some folks sat there with notebook, pens, homework all in their bag, bag on their lap, staring off into space. When I check in to encourage them to participate, they say "I'm lost".
We had the second dorm dinner last night - a formal dinner with the kids who live in the dorms. I really like these. I taught my table how to play liar's dice (and I beat them twice, ha ha ha). They really liked it. I would much rather play with the kids than teach & grade them; it's so fun to just goof off. I also took about 20 minutes with my resource class to play hot dice. Also a big hit.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
My brain just exploded
We are doing formal logic proofs and it's been like the bubonic plague of geometry topics; mass, brutal devastation. With other topics it seems that about 1/3 totally get it and can do most of the problems right, another 1/3 kind of get it and can do some problems right, with some ghost of an idea how to do the other problems, and the final 1/3 struggling.
With this it's like 98% of the kids are completely, totally lost. Can't even make a first step. Don't even have an intuition where to start. Look at me like I just asked them to sing in Chinese.
An example problem:
You are smart and you are rich.
If you are rich then you have a nice car.
If you eat too much then you are not smart.
Prove: you have a nice car and you don't eat too much.
We talk in class about how to symbolize this, and various 'logic laws' you can use to draw conclusions (ponendo ponens, law of simplification, etc.) But no dizzle, they are just not feeling this.
I am going to take some extra days and see if we can get it going....
With this it's like 98% of the kids are completely, totally lost. Can't even make a first step. Don't even have an intuition where to start. Look at me like I just asked them to sing in Chinese.
An example problem:
You are smart and you are rich.
If you are rich then you have a nice car.
If you eat too much then you are not smart.
Prove: you have a nice car and you don't eat too much.
We talk in class about how to symbolize this, and various 'logic laws' you can use to draw conclusions (ponendo ponens, law of simplification, etc.) But no dizzle, they are just not feeling this.
I am going to take some extra days and see if we can get it going....
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