Geometry I have my Geometry classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Because of the Labor Day Holiday, we didn't have school on Monday. On Wednesday, we talked about Points, Lines, & Planes.  I intended to start with this PowerPoint that I got from Dan Meyer's website, but completely forgot to do it.  It worked out, though, because between setting up their INB's and the rest of the lesson, I had just enough time in the class period to get through it all. I used these foldables that I found on Sarah's blog, Everybody Is a Genius. Then I had the students complete this ..read more

This week I continued with my Week of Inspirational Math (WIM) inspired by Youcubed.org. On Monday, we started with Sarah Carter's Guess My Rule Game.  The kids really enjoyed it and it reinforced the idea that math is about finding and describing patterns. Then we did the Building Shapes activity from Week 3 of the WIM on Youcubed.org.  This activity was really a challenge for the kids, especially a couple of the 3D shapes.  I only had one group succesfully make the octahedron, and many struggled with the cube as well.  But the struggle was a good struggle - the student ..read more

The first week of the 2017-2018 school year is done!  We started the week with a solar eclipse and ended it with a hurricane here in Texas!  Lucky for me my week at school wasn't as crazy as an eclipse and a hurricane! I decided to put off going over things like the syllabus and rules and procedures until at least the second week of school this year.  I dove right into working on establishing group norms and what good group work looks like as well as introducing mathematical mindsets and growth mindset to my students. I'm on a block schedule and I have three preps.  I did t ..read more

For a variety of reasons, I am the only one of the four teachers who were at my school last year who came back this year.  My principal decided to have me move rooms just so that all of us would be prepping a new room together.  I didn't mind - I find moving to be cathartic and it motivates me to declutter and streamline things. In the spring last year, I received a DonorsChoose grant to create flexible seating in my classroom.  I implemented it a little before the school year was over and my students LOVED IT!  I added to it over the summer and am so excited to see how th ..read more

Yes, yes, I know - I'm doing the #SundayFunday post on a Monday!  But I wanted to participate in the blogging challenge even if I'm late.... I would not have the plans that I have if it weren't for the amazing people in the #MTBOS who are always so ready and willing to share their stuff! This year I'm teaching Algebra 1, Geometry and Algebra 2.  I am THE math department at my school - we're only in our second year and with a student body of 150 kids, it was determined that one math teacher would do.  So here I am! My plans for the first day (for the first week, for that matt ..read more

I work at a public high school in Texas, but my school is a school of choice - students must apply and be accepted into my school.  We are an Early College High School - our students will (ideally) graduate with a high school diploma AND an associate's degree in four years.  We just opened last year with a freshman class of 76 students and will add a new class each year (we're adding about 80 students this year). The target demographic for our school is first generation college, low-socioeconomic and at risk students.  Since we just opened we do have some students who don't f ..read more

Tomorrow I'll start my 18th year of teaching at a brand new school.  I'm THE math teacher at Burleson Collegiate High School in Burleson, Texas.  We will have 76 students in our inaugural class of Collegiate Panthers.  Go Green, Black and Silver!  Here's a peak into my new classroom.  I love love love the student desks that we have!  So many different ways to arrange them!  And I'm thrilled to have such a huge space and two big windows in my room!  It's been a long time since I had natural light in my classroom.  You'll notice that there's lots in ..read more

I recently took a position at an Early College High School that is opening in my town.  I'll be the only math teacher the first year, and I'll be teaching Algebra 1 and Geometry.  Right now we're set to have about 70 freshmen next year and we'll add a class each year for the next three years. With this new beginning comes renewed excitement and creativity.  I look forward to the fresh start that this opportunity provides!  One of the things I want to implement next year is centers, like what they have in elementary room classrooms.  Here's a rough description of how I ..read more

I learned this "trick" at an APSI several years ago.  I know lots of people use the "hand trick", and I do teach that to my students, but I like this trick better because I can write it down on paper and "see" what I'm doing a little easier.  I taught it in Pre-Cal and I review it in AP Calculus.  I tell the students who take the AP Exam that the first thing they should do when they get their test is write this down.  If you combine it with a trick for remembering what's positive in each of the four quadrants of the unit circle, they can evaluate most any trig function on t ..read more

In the spirit of the last post, I wanted to share another one of my favorites from my trig unit. When we are wrapping up transformations of trig graphs, I assign a t-shirt project to my students.  I love this project because it's easy to grade - they just stand in front of me and I check their work.  It's also great because the back of the shirt really lets them show their personality and sense of humor.  I'm always surprised by some of the stuff that they come up with as "reasons for studying trig"!  I could only find one example to share - not sure what I did with all th ..read more