The lastest news with LotusHead!

[LotusHead]

I'll start with Mean Median and Mode, Range, Quartiles, outliers, and so forth.

I have to try and figure out how to incorperate "blooms taxonomy" to get various levels of thought/learning happening.

Next we move into "bivariate data sets" (comparing 2 pieces of data like ht/wt, l/w, hours of studying/test scores) and making best lines of fit, conjectures about the data, etc, all while making things interesting for the kids.

It sounds like I know what I'm doing, but I don't.  I'm terrified. Anyone got any suggestions on bi-variate data to analyze? 

I'm thinking of a "project" for kids to come up with 20 people they know outside of school (but they can include their closest friends at school), and collect data involving Age, Height, and possibly a 3rd metric to graph, analyze and so forth. (if they can't come up with 20 people they know, then they can insert celebrities, or other famous people, for the sake of coming up with 20 data things)

Next week will be line of best fit, figuring estimations for an item based on one of the variables, etc.

In short, terrified.

[Archae]

I am a math teacher, so if you do have questions, you can always ask.

In terms of the bivariate data, I would suggest you think about what type of data you want your students to find. Then you can find/come up with a scenario/data that will give your students the very data you want to model.

For example, if you decide to go the age/height route, you will most likely find logistic data. If you want to explore this type of data, go for it.

I hope that helps some.

[nataz]

Try reaching out to Ray/iamfishman onTMD.  I think he was a math teacher and he always seemed very passionate about combining gaming and math. 

[BC]

Have the kids fill out a survey on the first day of the section.  Questions can be about anything: height, weight, political lean (0-100, 0=conservative, 100=liberal), how many hours per week do they do homework, how many texts do they send per week, do they play sports, etc.  Mix it up with quantitative outcomes and binary outcomes (Y/N).  Then when you give examples of data and statistical tests you can use the data you got from those surveys.  I also suggest teaching a good amount of probability (coin flips, dice rolls, deck of cards, etc.).  I took a statistics class this summer, so I have a whole bunch of Powerpoint slides I can give you if you want.

[LotusHead]

So while finally grading/recording about 9" of papers, I have really tried to dig into just what I'm supposed to teach, and how I'm supposed to teach it.

Monday's warm-up is to have each kid draw a rectangle on their paper (using a ruler), then draw a picture inside it while I pass back said 9" of papers.  Then I take roll, talk about what we are going to be learning about, then have each kid measure their rectangle's Lenth and Width (or Hertical X Horizontal) in Centimeters.

Then we will make a chart of everybody's stats, and ask questions from there, make a scatter diagram, and so forth.

Homework will be for kids to come up with their own set of bi-variate data, and a reason why they want to investigate the relationship between them (I'm still working on this part, as I grade the last 2 inches of papers).

I spent about 4 hours planning/researching how to start this (by obv stealing lesson plans from the internet), then played a little Sunday Keep What You Draft Drafting, then 6 hours of grading papers (so far).

In short, I'm feeling much more optimistic now.  I have like 3 days worth of stuff mapped out, with the additional knowledge that we will have to cover the "Probability" part later (once I design/steal some HW)

Phew!

Also, bought a tradebinder and 2 backpacks (one for school, one for magic) as the ones I have I use until their skeletal remains no longer have any purpose.  That and a playset of Deathrite Shamans have been my big splurge with newfound income.

[Paul]

Questions can be about anything: height, weight, political lean (0-100, 0=conservative, 100=liberal), how many hours per week do they do homework, how many texts do they send per week, do they play sports, etc.

Cool, but back in the day, two topics to be avoided were religion and politics.  Political leanings might be distracting to a math class and can easily devolve into propaganda.  Even in political science, I never knew the political leanings of my best instructors; they just made sure that our arguments were sound.

[BC]

Questions can be about anything: height, weight, political lean (0-100, 0=conservative, 100=liberal), how many hours per week do they do homework, how many texts do they send per week, do they play sports, etc.

Cool, but back in the day, two topics to be avoided were religion and politics.  Political leanings might be distracting to a math class and can easily devolve into propaganda.  Even in political science, I never knew the political leanings of my best instructors; they just made sure that our arguments were sound.

It's an anonymous survey.  The only information the class would get is the mean, median, standard deviation, distribution, etc.  I fail to see how this would devolve into political arguments.

In any case, it was just an example question.  You can replace it with "how many hours of TV do you watch per week", or something equally as banal.

[Paul]

Questions can be about anything: height, weight, political lean (0-100, 0=conservative, 100=liberal), how many hours per week do they do homework, how many texts do they send per week, do they play sports, etc.

Cool, but back in the day, two topics to be avoided were religion and politics.  Political leanings might be distracting to a math class and can easily devolve into propaganda.  Even in political science, I never knew the political leanings of my best instructors; they just made sure that our arguments were sound.

It's an anonymous survey.  The only information the class would get is the mean, median, standard deviation, distribution, etc.  I fail to see how this would devolve into political arguments.

In any case, it was just an example question.  You can replace it with "how many hours of TV do you watch per week", or something equally as banal.

Ah…I didn’t realize this would be anonymous.

[LotusHead]

Hey Blaine, you're a scientist...

What are some common bi-variate data sets do you use (that kids would have any understanding of)?  I might have to dig through that medical paper you got published to find out!

Also, since I have no actual resources for this section, I am forced to use the actual state standards as the basis for what I teach and how. 

Tomorrow's project: 20 questions on each class's bi-variate data set. Each with a complete sentence for an answer.    Writing to learn folks.

[LotusHead]

So after having an awesome Tuesday, I was pumped and ready to go for Wenesday, things went well enough 1st and 2nd.

As kids entered my class 3rd period (I stood at the door, holding it open for kids), one student thought it would be a good idea to call another student "terrorist" since he's ethnically Arabish.  The outburst after that, plus flashbacks to my own "being bullied days" in middle school, with all the pressure, I teared up in front of my kids.

I did my best to teach, but I felt so much empathy for the kid who will likely have to face this issue every year on Sept 11th for the rest of his life.  (same with any other kid that is ethnically Arabish/Indian/etc.

As a sub for the last umpteen years, I've kept a careful eye out for actual bullying.  There's been an active anti-bullying campaign (that didn't exist in the 80's), and I haven't seen much bullying.  I saw some bullying in my class (the same period, but involving a different kid for different reasons), so I took steps to minimize bullying possibilities, while encouraging/insisting more academically rigorous work from the kid.  Then someone pulled the fire alarm during lunch. Chaos.

My day was sabotaged.  Sign.

Tomorrow's a new day!

[The Atog Lord]

That sounds like a difficult thing to experience. I hope that the student who was calling the other student a terrorist is taught that he can't go around calling any Arab a terrorist. Clearly, he is ignorant and ill-informed, to assume that any Arab is a terrorist. Not at all acceptable. I don't envy being in the position that you were put in by this, but I hope that it becomes an opportunity to fix an ignorant person.

[Paul]

As kids entered my class 3rd period (I stood at the door, holding it open for kids), one student thought it would be a good idea to call another student "terrorist" since he's ethnically Arabish.  The outburst after that, plus flashbacks to my own "being bullied days" in middle school, with all the pressure, I teared up in front of my kids.

If you don’t mind my asking, how is bullying handled in school these days?  That is, what happened to the kid who made the moronic crack?

[LotusHead]

He was held in front office area all day, but returned to class the next day. Imma gonna email the principal about it.

[The Atog Lord]

I really hope that someone, hopefully the principal, takes the time to explain to this boy why this is a problem -- that one will be very wrong, very often, if one assumes the worst about someone based on his race. So, it isn't just that one should avoid insulting someone based on race -- more than that, these sort of ignorant assumptions are inconsistent with rational thought.

As for the kid who was insulted, well, I hope that he is sent a message that the majority of people disagree with the view expressed by the bully.

[LotusHead]

Today I figured out that even if I have to teach "Bi-Variant Data Sets" with few resources, I actually DO have resources at my other job (Sylvan Learning center, after school tutoring thing). They have stuff with worksheets on Scatter Plots, lines of best fit, etc).  Just have to use my GS3 to use cam-scanner to copy page into pdf format, email it to me, download into iPad, set as background in Notability app (check out $4 Notability app for iPad if you don't know about it. It's worth $4), then off we go to further my career at age 41!

Whoot!

Also, they have workbooks on grades 4-8 math stuff that I can use for my "lab Math 7" class.  Whew.

[LotusHead]

So teaching is still hard (not giving up! Staying optimistic!).

But a parent showed our principal the magic tickets I gave out as positive reinforcement (She was aware of this previously). But upon further investigation, some of the pictures had some kind of "occult" theme. A family found this offensive, so ixnay on the agicmay ardscay.

I converted to generic "Mr Neilson Bucks" with my pick and denomination on one side, and school mascot on the other.

Even though "land cards" have art of "land", which would be an easy fix, there are some battles I will fight, and some I wont. Mr Neilson bucks it is.

[LotusHead]

So times have been hard, but now that I know what I'm supposed to be teaching, I started teaching it. But still dealing with control issues in the class.

On Sep 30 (a Monday), I got called in to a meeting with the Principle, union rep, HR person, and someone else to let me know that a studend made an accusation against me (inappropriate physical contact, but obv not the sexual kind or cops would have been there), and I got put on Paid Administrative Leave while an investigation ensues. They took my ID badge, keys, had me remove my personal effects from the room, forbade me to go onto any school with children, and was told to be availiable if the district needed to call me in to ask me some questions about the incident.

Now due to people's schedules needing to coincide, I finally had that meeting yesterday (Monday  Oct 14), lawyered up with union lawyer.

It was then that I finally was took which period the incident supposedly took place, and which student.  It was just an average student in that period (ie, not one of the super problem students). They asked me about the day, situation, etc (there was an assembly that day, so schedule was not normal, etc). 

They were satisfied enough with my responses (Uh, I don't push or shove my students ever.  Maybe a High Five here or there...), and they put me back in the classroom the next day.

It sucked sitting around doing nothing (and keeping totally mum about it), but as a new temp teacher (I'm just filling in somebodies slot this year, someone took a year off), they could let me go for any reason. Luckily, that was not the case.

The sub who took over my class (who I had no contact with), actually got a hold of all the resources (like curriculum, printed worksheets, etc) that I have been trying to get these last six months, got para-educators in 3 of my 5 classes, and my printer was finally installed).  Thank god!  The sub will be with me for at least today/tomorrow, but hopefully all week, to get me caught up to speed.  He's a techie, so he is gonna help me set up a scanner for kids to scan their work into, and have it go to a dropbox, and hence be availiable when I get home, on my computer, ready to go, etc.

My students assumed I quit or got fired since I left so suddenly, and I have to tell them I was gone for personal, private reasons, but have no intention of quitting "I love you guys, I want this job!", and now I will have the tools to do it, finally.

Still a lot of hard work ahead, but I am ready for hard work. 

Oh, the other new math teacher they hired quit while I was gone.  Pressure too much.

Mr Neilson

[LotusHead]

So this is the end of my third week back.

I now have a better grasp on classroom managements (went to some trainings, got a lot of advise/feedback from the guy who took over while I was gone).

This week, I was able to mostly run business as usual.  There are still some bumps in the road, and a LOT of hard work ahead, but I am finally getting a grip on things.

I also found out that one of the biggest problem kids of my 6th period hates me LESS than all his other teachers.  He's going through being basically abandoned by his parents (they're losers who can't even figure out which parent can take care of him) and hence is a ward of state living with an Aunt.  He has anger issues and takes it out on teachers/school.  But he doesn't actually say "Fuck You" to me, like he would to other teachers. So there is that.

[LotusHead]

My phone was stolen today, probably during 3rd period. There was a fire drill. I led my class out of the classroom. I guess I left my phone on my desk.

I replaced it already, and luckily, my contacts are still there, and I've changed my passwords to Facebook and Hotmail. (and let school know what happened).

What else should I do?

If luck, or a reward gets my phone back to me tomorrow, then I can donate the GS3 to a deserving friend. Otherwise, the person that stole it now knows how awesome my music collection is and has pics of my friends.