Blackboard Notes

It's not been the smoothest week, but I get to start new concepts with my intermediate algebra class, factoring "completely." With my algebra 1 class I'll be reviewing for their lesson quiz on problem solving with inequalities, and with my applied statistics class, we'll be starting with mean, median, and mode. Still looking for a way to include students to help them feel like contributing, and not just more of the same "blog me" stuff. Perhaps I shall try an experiment with Flickr and see how it goes.

Finally! I've been home 2 days because of a cold (which some would call a "warm,") and I'm ready to come back to school even though I'm not 100% there. This week the Intermediate algebra students are continuing to work on factoring by grouping, the applied stats group will be going over a project called "A Matter of Survival," taken from NCTM Mathematics Teacher, and Algebra I (my class) will be finishing up the topic of box and whisker plots this week. Please see the school's webpage at http://www.usc.k12.mn.us to check on my scheduled assignments for the week.

Right now, the Intermediate Algebra students are working on factoring polynomials, and may want some extra practice as we go into factoring by grouping (Distributive method). The Algebra I students are wondering "how much longer are we going to do inequalities?" And the Statistics class seems to doing okay as long as they don't have to take home a lengthy assignment. If you have questions or comments or positive add-ins, they're welcomed! --Mr. Sheldahl

I haven't looked into managing multiple blogs yet, but it seems that with students desiring expression, that I may have to open the door to do it. Hopefully, this will encourage my hesitant students (who already feel they have to do this unnecessary task for another teacher) to do it. I already feel a kind of disparity among students, who only want to type certain things for certain teachers. Just imagine these students, after overcoming a anxiety or assurance of anonymity, to have a different teacher, let's say "B" read their material from what they created under teacher "A." Besides the fact that they shouldn't feel this way, it would really be good to observe a student in an environment other than the one they come to in my room every day.

One of my favorite blogs come from Mr. Dan Meyer, also known as dy/dan, http://blog.mrmeyer.com/ . He's a math teacher I've been following for a few months now, and has some good insight. Another is http://www.freetech4teachers.com , which is a must see, and I have both on my start page at iGoogle.

This my first blog on Blogger. I originally had setup a blog on a small business website through Microsoft (underwritten by Melbourne IT), but I made the mistake of not renewing it thinking that the email reminders to pay the renewal fee was bogus. As it turns out, the email was legit, and it went to my inbox that got "swept away," therefore I was not able to click on the link to renew once the deadline passed by. This is a continuation of that endeavor, to bring students, parents and teachers together to improve ways at communicating about math, and increasing inquiry about mathematic topics. My symbol for my business is the portable blackboard, so I find it fitting to post it here.