I am still cementing ideas for teaching Algebra 1 through getting my students to paint my room.  In the meantime, I was able to go to LACUE 2013 (see my notes here).  I saw some amazing ideas that I am still sorting through, several of which I will probably have to shelve until the summer, but there was one that I had begun thinking about the week before school, but ran out of steam with all of the time spent readjusting to a new school, resettling, and doing all of the SBG stuff.

But, there was the one.  Flipping the classroom.  It wasn't so much the presentation, which was good, but the people who were cited as the Godfathers of Flip:  Dr. Lodge McCammon and Katie Gimbar.  When I got home and Googled them, I found out they have organized a curriculum teaching teachers how to flip!!!    I watched all of their videos, ordered a flip camera and tripod, and have begun thinking about the implementation of it.  I think this will fit perfectly with SBG and solve a lot of my questions with the PBL Algebra curriculum.  Now I don't have to worry about how to fit in the skills with the application--I can simply direct them to the videos during class or for homework and let them come to their own conclusions.  It will also allow class time to be used for differentiation and, possibly one day, self-paced instruction.

I have been following the infinite rabbit holes through the blogosphere and, just like every time I begin reading up on SBG, I have 10-15 tabs open.  The two I've been reading most are Carolyn Durley, Crystal Kirch and Graham Johnson.  I don't know if they are well known.  I don't really remember how I stumbled across them 2 hours ago.  But they seem to have a wealth of experience and knowledge that I will gladly consume.

Looks like I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

Cementing Details

So, I am going to try to use the process of painting my classroom as a vehicle for teaching my remedial math class algebra (or major portions of it).  I am debating between having it structured and having it be free learning.

If it were structured, we'd have daily tasks such as:

1. Determine the area needed to be painted.
2. Determine how much paint will be needed.
3. How much will it cost?

From there, I can branch out and give them alternate scenarios and link to other, similar problems (making a patio, etc.).

If it were student-driven, it would basically be:

You are being considered as a contractor for Sabine Parish School Board for the job of painting Mr. Morris's classroom walls.  Please submit a completed bid, no later than Friday, that includes the following information:  cost of materials (including calculations), estimated hours to completion, number and name of workers, hourly rate, and total amount you will charge.

From there, I would let them loose to work at their own pace.  After they have completed this and made any necessary corrections, I can give them other problems relating to these skills and buy the paint of their choosing.  Once they start painting, I can have them re-estimate time to completion and relate that to linear equations, including graphing.  At any point, I can jump in and help, or jump in and enrich, giving harder scenarios (paint the outside of the school, etc.).  I would interrupt them and make them solve the same thing different ways or apply what they have learned to other applications.  I can have them predict (and validate their predictions) who is going to finish first between the groups and at what point one group will overtake another (systems).  Through all of this, they will get percents; ratios; proportions; unit rates; unit conversion; writing expressions; writing, graphing, and solving linear equations and inequalities; writing, graphing, and solving systems of linear equations and inequalities; various aspects of measurement; and statistics.

I'm sure you can tell toward which way I am leaning.

One of the problems with letting them run amok is that they are severely lacking.  I attempted to do Dan Meyer's three-act about time it takes light to get to the moon with them last month.  It took two weeks.  I kept having to backtrack to add scaffolding, which is fine and enjoyable, but I'm worried about how that will go here.  For example, two students didn't know how many minutes there were in an hour.  That was a smack in the face.  I was asking kids to "go for it" and figure out how long it takes light to travel to the moon and they didn't even know how many minutes there were in an hour.  I don't want to group by ability level and have the weaker group get discouraged by falling behind, though I could arrange it to where their group has the easiest portion to figure out.  But I also don't want to have mixed groups where the lost stay lost and the ones who pick it up do all of the work.

Ideas?