Chromebook Pilot, Week 2, Tuesday

2nd Period - Honors Math III

Half the class was gone to an assembly.
I let those who remained catch up on anything they had to catch up on for the first 45 minutes. They asked some good Q's about the Application problems from last night.

I took the questions from the rubric and cut/paste them into Socrative. I wanted to experiment and see if they liked it, etc. I did the teacher-driven option. I didn't like that very much (as opposed to student-driven). Kids didn't keep themselves busy when they were done with the question. But I found out that I could close my tab and keep the quiz open! This would be even awesomer if I could have more than one "quiz" at a time...

3rd Period - Math I
I decided to use Socrative as they went through the video. I made a quick quiz with generic questions relating to Examples 1-4 in their packet. "How do you know an ordered pair is a solution to a system of inequalities, given the inequalities?", etc. They were supposed to type in their summaries after each example and before moving on the the next example. When (most) everyone was done, they discussed their responses for 90 seconds and we came together as a group to talked about it. This went alright. Some people moved a lot faster (which is the point) but I hated waiting soooo long to do the first question because everyone is SOOOO quiet and I have nothing to do but walk around and snoop their work (bug them).

4th Period - Honors Math I
Most of the class wasn't finished with their homework from the night before and some complained when I told them we were moving on. I told them to finish practice, review, and application. I was very disappointed. On the flip side, I spoke to the ones who were complaining and personally invited them to watch the video with me. They said that now that we've had class a few times, they are understanding it. Go figure. I'll take it, though.

Problems:
Still working out the kinks with getting them to engage in math talks.

Solutions
Have the class vote on the best summary/summaries or have them get back in groups once we've read through them to make the best one they can. Write them down. I think that there will be more discussion once they get used to the routine and when we hit more difficult material. For now, I'm going to focus on writing high-quality summaries together.

Back to 2nd...
So, I don't like drama. I run away from it. I avoid confrontation. My friends are laughing if they are reading this, but in social settings, I ALWAYS avoid confrontation. Anyway, the parent who scheduled the meeting I was supposed to have on Wednesday cancelled via email. Highlights below.

We feel like it would be wasting your time as well as ours...She has always done well in Math and likes to learn from her teachers. It's difficult to learn Math on your own and feel like you have no support....We feel like it doesn't matter what we say, things will not change...I really hope you will think about all the concerns that your students are having and will do your best to make them all feel successful.

I was blown away! Should I send a link to my blog? Just kidding. But, seriously. I've never met them. They didn't come to open house. And I was really looking forward to discussing the situation with them and their daughter. I wanted to explain that she has more support in a classroom than she has ever had. That by doing what we are doing, I have much MORE time for one-on-one help. That she has peers she can ask and the WORLD at her fingertips. I wanted to explain standards-based grading and our remediation/enrichment time. I wanted to explain my skill rubrics and our guided notes. And that these are things I had done AS a response to student concerns THIS semester. But, instead, I get this.

After class, I asked the daughter why she felt she wasn't being supported and what else I could do. I pointed out that she hadn't scheduled a reassessment for the one she did poorly on (she currently is two points from an A) and that, the past two classes, when I invited people to come over for direct instruction, she didn't come. Her response: "I don't want to be taught by you." My ears are still burning 5.5 hours later.

I lose sleep at night. I take things very personally. It doesn't get any more personal than this. I guess the good thing is that I have 12 weeks to change her mind...