Blackboard Notes

I decided to try the beard again, especially since we have gotten cold weather this last month. I used this picture to create a composite pic that Richard Byrne recommended (look up Practical Ed Tech). I used the Hawaii beach background to create it after running the pic through remove.bg. Then put it into a Google slide over a background of your choice, and depending on the lighting, voila! However, that’s not the reason for this post. I’m trying new things, decreasing the amount of work students do (though I’m sure they’d tell you no), and increasing critical thinking. This seems to be (slowly) working, though some of the better students would rather have it back to traditional way of doing math.  It is given the students that don’t normally like math, or normally have a voice in their learning to express themselves better.  I’m working with sources like Jo Boaler (youcubed.com), Kyle Pierce and Jon Orr (makemathmoments.com), and Jennifer Gonzalez (cultofpedagogy.com)...

I am working like a 1st year teacher, having a new district to work at. As challenging it is re-establish my set of curriculum, procedures, and communication habits, it’s refreshing to form new ideas. It just takes time to hammer out the new things I’m trying....and I am teaching subjects I have not looked at for six years (Algebra 1 and Geometry). The students are excited to try new things (at least until the honeymoon phase wears off). Update: for some reason this never posted, so will post now and put in a new post.