Nov 24
Sep 22
End of Term Blues - well actually Grumps
As the end of the winter term comes to an end, I am exhausted.
While I am normally a positive teacher, those students that I can normally deal with are now really annoying me.
Students who:
Do not get to class on time
Feel the need to start eating when the bell goes
Eat during lessons
Walk out because they have better places to be
Do not bring pens etc to class
Have to have conversations about their lives rather than the learning they are doing
Do no, or little, work in class
Play games on computers rather than do work
Throw paper around the classroom
Make paper planes
Need to work out issues in the community space rather than the allocated places in the school
Make excuses using other teacher’s names – oh Miss so & so said I could
Among many others are currently making me grumpy.
I know students and other staff members are also tired.
The wind, rain, and temperature, along with spring allergies – mixed with an annoying cold that I just can’t seem to shake- just mean I am tired and grumpy.
Also the reality that this year, I am going to have senior students that do not gain any credits in maths, a first for me, is highly stressful. The lowest credit count for any student for me in the past was 6 – an acceptable number in level 2.
How am I going to ensure that every member of the class has math credits for the year without disadvantaging those that have gained credits throughout the year?
1) Invite students to afterschool classes on Wednesday & Thursday for the rest of the year
2) Invite all students to holiday school on Wednesdays (10 am – 2pm)
3) Create a workbook for the external topic for students that are doing well so they can do the external assessment. Students to complete this work for homework
4) Create workbooks of the basics of all the topics so students can work independently during class on the topics they have failed
5) Create a workbook for the final topic so students can do this as well if they want.
I know there is very little that can be done about the end of term blues, however the season, weather, and wind all effect how I feel, and how to go about getting me in a good mood.
Just in case you want to know how
1) if you wish to use the resources in the community ask
2) come to class on time with a pen or pencil, and paper - a book would be even better
3) clean up the room before leaving
4) put dishes in the dishwasher, clean up the community kitchen
5) if you move something put it back
6) wear correct uniform - get an exemption before school if not
I don’t think that I am being unreasonable – but hey what do I know, I am a grump
Sep 16
Level 2 thoughts
Level 2 Maths
Some of the issues I am finding with my class this year are about the levels of knowledge held by the students in the class
One of the reasons I have so many students in my class is because they need a few more credits to complete numeracy and they do not want to be a yr 12 in a yr 11 class.
I am not completely satisfied that running a course based on standards rather than the curriculum (yes I know the two are related, but they are not the same thing) is the right way to teach Maths.
I would like to see a course designed around a topic where standards at different levels are offered.
Both year 11’s and yr 12’s would be able to succeed in the class, some yr 11’s may even gain yr 12 credits, yr 13 work could be looked at, however the jump from yr 12 to 13 is again very big and I have never taught yr 13 classes.
For example:
Geometry (10 weeks)
Triangle
Pythagoras & Trigonometry – AS1.8 (2 credits) External
- US 5236 (2 credits) Internal if it still exists
Trigonometry – 2.8 (2 credits) Internal
- US 5251 (3 credits) Internal
Trig Graphs – 2.9 (2 credits) External
- US 5355 (3 credits) Internal
Co-ordinate
- US 5245 (2 credits) Internal
-
At level 3 trigonometric graphs?
Geometric Reasoning – AS 1.9 (2 credits) External could be considered an extension
Number & Algebra ( 5 weeks)
because algebra is a natural progression of Number
Number - AS 1.7 (3 credits) external
Algebra - AS 1.1 (3 credits) external
- Any level 1 unit standards if they still exist
Numeracy - 3 unit standards (10 Credits) Internal
Algebra - AS 2.1 (4 Credits) External
- US 5246 (4 Credits) Internal
Could possibly add Calculus here
Might be better to consider the sequences & series standards as an extension
Statistics & Probability (10 weeks)
Statistics - AS 1.5 (3 credits) Internal
Probability - AS 1.6 (2 Credits) External
Statistics - Any level 1 unit standards if they still exist
Probability - Any level 1 unit standards if they still exist
Statistics - AS 2.5 (3 Credits) internal
- US 12332 (2 Credits) Internal
Sampling - US 5247 (3 Credits) Internal
Normal Distribution – AS 2.6 (2 credits) Internal
Graphs?
As you can see I have yet to complete the course, but it is an idea to consider. Students who are unable to complete the level 1 & level 2 work would still be able to do similar work at a junior school level.
I think this a completely differentiated class, the details of how to teach it, how the evidence of learning would be gathered, collated & assessed, and if anyone would want to be in the class – or teach it, still need some work.
Sep 16
New Thoughts
Hi all
I know I haven’t posted for a while, I have changed the way I am reflecting on my class. For the first 14 days I had been reflecting on how the class was going and what changes I could make to make the classes go better.
During my reflection about day 15, I thought hang on a minute – I have been thinking of the class as constant rather than the variable it is, I can do everything in my power to make a great class, and some days it will go well and others it won’t, it could be all me as to which way a class goes, but that is highly unlikely.
So I started asking myself
1) What is it that makes a class enjoyable for me?
2) Why do some students annoy me more than others?
3) Why do I look at my timetable and think oh no, when I see a particular class?
4) How can I change class dynamics?
Over the past week I have been thinking more and more on these questions, and I now have partial answers.
1) A class is enjoyable to me when:
§ Students are engaged asking questions
§ Noise levels are at an acceptable level (not disturbing others or giving me, or other students, a headache)
§ Classroom chatter is on task
§ Students are helping each other
§
2) Students that annoy me more than others
§ Have no respect for the rights of others
§ Are self centred
§ Speak inappropriately – in very loud voices
§ Have no love of learning
§ Think school is a waste of their time
§ Lack basic manners
§ Seem to have no knowledge of basic classroom rules
§
3) The particular class – Oh No moment
§ This happens when I get several of the students that fall into question 2
§ Their negative feelings about the class pass on to me
§ When I am not enjoying the time with that class
§ When I am stressed or extremely tired
§
4) How can I change the dynamics of a class
§ I can ensure the learning of students who want to learn happens
§ I can address the issues of the class so that next year it is improved
§ I can spread the negativity around the room so that there is just small pockets of it and it does not spread (this can back fire)
§ I can talk to the students to see what I can do to make the lessons more enjoyable for them.
§ I can temporarily remove annoying students from class
§ I can rearrange the furniture
§ I can call parents in and talk about student behaviour, attitude & learning
§ I can ask for support from my department, SMT, and other community members.
Bound to be many more but that should do for now
Sep 8
(download)
Day Fourteen
P1 – MS200 - 90 minutes
üDate
üWALT
üReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell
Late - 3
Without equipment
Books – 0
Pens – 10
Students’ off-task
Activity one – 0
Activity two - 6
More than half the class - 5
Noise rating – 2
This lesson concentrated on how a packaging box affects the dimensions of a container.
Students found this very difficult to calculate - spent a lot of time going over the steps required to find the dimensions of the prism. Perhaps my instructions were not quite clear – I add them now, please let me know if there is a better way to work them out.
Ok so it does look a little messy when I finish, will add step by step instructions tomorrow.
The second activity in the lesson was working out how to create the net when given a volume.
This seemed to go ok.
Still many students not wanting to complete any work, I think I need to find a classroom for the lesson for a few weeks as I am tired of cleaning up after them. Was better today because I started packing up 10 minutes before the bell, however a couple took this as a sign to leave L
P2 – Non-Contact – 55 minutes
Lunch – yup time to eat again J. Really should do this more often
P3 – TG9A – 55 minutes
üDate
üWALT
ûReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell – most students slow to start. Many kept in by previous teacher
Late - 0
Without equipment
Books – 4
Pens – 2
Students’ off-task
Starter - 0
Activity one – 0
More than half the class - 0
Noise rating – 4
Started the lesson by letting a student read out the questions. This worked well, will get the class to take turns, so those that the students are often waiting on, will get the idea as to how frustrating the chatter is.
Looked at regular shapes and their order of rotation and lines of reflection, like the other classes, it was liked by the class and once we had finished I challenged them to think up some other shapes, and what happens when the shape is not regular.
A pretty good class, very noisy as always
P4 – Assembly – 25 minutes
Herded about 30 kids up to the gym for assembly
P5 – TG10B – 55 minutes
Class started 10 minutes late due to Assembly running over time. I had planned on watching a video, this class feels hard done by, as they always have to work & they never get to watch movies during Maths like the other year 10 class.
Unfortunately my computer was not going to play the movie L I need to sort this out. So instead I agreed they could go out to the courts and play touch rugby – I heard you all sigh at that !
Before I let them out the students needed to answer a basic fact. I singled out particular students – very unfair of me I know – with questions that they were capable of answering.
Some of the facts were like 8 + 3, while others were 9 x 8
One of the final students made myself and the teacher Aide chuckle, when asked what 2 +3 was, he answered 6 with such conviction, I understand he hadn’t heard the question properly, and told him to think some more.
While playing touch rugby, I informed the students that anyone not speaking nicely to or leaving out their classmates would be sin binned on the sideline, beside me.
We were working on the key competency part of the curriculum that this class needed a lot of practice at. Several members of the class, were sin binned – only for 1 minute as there were only 15 minutes of game time.
Once the bell rang students lined up for a final basic fact before heading homeJ
Not the most math heavy lesson, but every student had done something.
Afterschool
Tidied my office and left early, too tired to get anything done.
Left school at 5.30
Sep 8
Day Thirteen
P1 – TG10A- 90 minutes
üDate
üWALT
üReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell
Late - 0
Without equipment
Books – 6
Pens – 8
Students’ off-task
Starter - 0
Activity one – 0
Activity two - 4
More than half the class - 2
Noise rating – 3
I found this to be an enjoyable lesson. The class settled quickly into the routines we have been practicing over the past few weeks, and now most complete the 20 basic facts in the time set (10 minutes) a student now reads them out – allowing me to prepare the equipment for the first activity.
Today’s lesson was about rotational geometry and reflection. The first activity focused on lines of reflection, order of rotation, and order of symmetry. I started with the use of regular shapes. Using the smart board to draw the shape, placed another shape over the top, and then asked students to draw in the lines of reflection, and then had a student rotate the shape to show how many times it landed on itself.
The second activity was using compasses to show rotation. The girls made flowers, while the boys made over lapping circles.
The boys all worked out in the community space, the girls in the classroom – this was not a stipulation, however it meant the girls got some small group time with me as we discussed what we were learning, without the boys shouting out the answers, or making demands.
All but two boys completed the task, which was to create a circular design and then give the mirror lines & the order of rotation.
P2 – TG10B – 55 minutes
üDate
üWALT
ûReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell – but it only took 7 minutes
Late - 0
Without equipment
Books – 1
Pens – 2
Students’ off-task
Starter - 0
Activity one – 1
More than half the class - 0
Noise rating – 2
Today’s lesson was about rotational geometry and reflection. The activity focused on lines of reflection, order of rotation, and order of symmetry. I started with the use of regular shapes. Using the smart board to draw the shape, placed another shape over the top, and then asked students to draw in the lines of reflection, and then had a student rotate the shape to show how many times it landed on itself.
Every member of the class completed the activity, all had a turn at putting the answers up on the smartboard.
The class is finally starting to behave appropriately
P3 – MS200 – 55 minutes
üDate
üWALT
üReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell – 8 Students
Late - 1
Without equipment
Books – 20
Pens – 16
Students’ off-task
Activity one – 3
More than half the class - 3
Noise rating – 2
I find this class very disappointing. Students do not seem able to stay on task. Some even just get up & leave because they want to. These students are between 16 & 18 years old, they should have good work habits by now, but they need reminding and reinforcing of good learning practices more often than my junior classes.
The current topic so far is one of the easiest ones we have to do.
Create a net for a triangular prism, calculate the area of the triangle, and the volume of the prism.
With such a hands on activity, you would think students could manage to complete the activity, but their social lives and other things seem to distract them constantly.
I really need to get the end of class better organised as they just leave the equipment they borrowed on the table, and a huge mess on the floor. The boys seem to be flicking each other with pieces of paper using rubber bands to get more power in their shots. – again not something I expect from year 12 students in the classroom.
P4 – House leaders meeting – 25 minutes
With an upcoming student lead community meeting coming up, I met with the house leaders to see who was going to be chairing the meeting, and to ask them to go back to their learning groups for agenda items.
P5 – Non-contact – 55 minutes
I am sure I did something, no idea what though L
Afterschool
Tidied my office and left early, too tired to get anything done.
Left school at 3.45
Sep 7
Day Ten
P1 – TG9A- 90 minutes
üDate
ûWALT (purposely left to do at the end of class)
ûReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell – 4 Students
Late - 0
Without equipment
Books – 10
Pens – 3
Students’ off-task
Starter - 1
Activity one – 2
More than half the class - 0
Noise rating – 2
I found this to be the most enjoyable class. The class settled quickly into the routines we have been practicing over the past few weeks, and now most complete the 20 basic facts in the time set (10 minutes).
While this activity has been working well, I want to move the students onto individual starters where they are not waiting on each other to be quiet to get the starter activity.
Todays lesson was headed up translation. The students grasped this idea quickly and started on their tapa cloth design. Many produced fantastic work which is now on the wall.
The second activity was using sponges and paint to create translation pictures. The class followed the instructions regarding the no evidence of the paint other than the final product much better than the other classes. No one was allowed to use the paint until they had finished their Tapa cloth design, this staggered the number of students wanting to use the paint at a time.
While the class was slightly noisy, all students were in engaged. The deputy principal visited the class, the students didn’t even blink as he asked them questions about what they were learning, or why they were doing various things.
P2 – Non-Contact – 55 minutes
Ran around after several students, postponed today’s trip – timetable change meant I was no longer available to take the students.
Nothing really to show for the time, but I was working J
P3 – TG10B – 55 minutes
üDate
üWALT
ûReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell – 8 Students
Late - 0
Without equipment
Books – 15
Pens – 15
Students’ off-task
Starter - 4
Activity one – 7
More than half the class - 5
Noise rating – 4
I was very disappointed with the behaviour of this class. I ended up sending 4 students out which I hate doing, but they were interrupting the learning of the whole class.
2 students chose to make loud noises, not listen, use inappropriate language, and continued to disrupt the class (pulling faces and making gestures through the windows) after I had asked them to leave the class, and wait for me to have a quiet word. – I chose to remove them from the community altogether asking another staff member to accompany them to the SMT corridor. – It takes a lot for me to get to this stage, I prefer to have a quiet word to them and handle things for myself.
1 Student waited quietly for me, and they were allowed back into class after the quiet word at the end of the starter – I got a reliable student to call out the answers for marking so I could do this.
The 4th student had been distracted by the first two that they were having problems choosing to do the right thing as they normally do. I asked them to wait for me outside the classroom while I got the class started on the lesson, however another staff member collected some work and placed them outside their classroom working quietly, we had a chat at the end of class about why I had removed them from class, and they understood.
Not the best lesson, but most students learnt something about translation, the others learnt about managing self – Key competency part of the curriculum.
P4 – Totally Terrific Tangare Time – 25 minutes
I ran a quiz room. Only 1 student came, so I had internet based quizzes up. Will work on selling the quiz, maybe prizes J
P5 – TG10A – 55 minutes
üDate
üWALT
ûReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell – 3 Students
Late - 0
Without equipment
Books – 3
Pens – 6
Students’ off-task
Starter - 0
Activity one – 1
More than half the class - 3
Noise rating – 3
I asked a student to read out the questions while I set up for class. This worked well. SMT dropped my two lovelies back to me, they apologised, I had a quiet discussion with them as to why I had withdrawn them and about the goals they had set in the class meeting - if they were meeting them. I allowed them to return to class, but letting them know that the kind of behaviour they were exhibiting was unacceptable in any classroom, and if it happened again I would be calling in families and making a really big deal of it.
While this discussion was happening 2 members of the class decided to get physical, grabbing each other, looking as if punches would soon be thrown. I removed by students from class, one being sent to talk to mentors ( didn’t make it) the other to the community space. They then have to write statements about what happened. The one that did hang round to write their statement was sent to the SMT corridor to talk about how they were feeling after about 20 minutes.
While I was dealing with this, some students chose to be rude to another class member making them cry. – was this day ever going to end.
I gave up on trying to teach anything, threw on a movie. I Robot – probably not the most appropriate movie, but it kept the class kind of engaged if not quiet, I tried to find the student who had been upset, but couldn’t.
Some students worked on their isometric assignments which were originally due today, I gave them another week, as I have yet to finish the exemplar.
The student who had been upset came back to class, sat quietly with their classmates. The bell eventually rang. I didn’t get a chance to find out what had happened to upset them, the class quickly packed up and left.
Afterschool
Spent several minutes debriefing with staff
One of the lovelies allowed back into class, spent the entire lesson making fun of a classmate - will follow up on this on Monday.
Spent several hours finishing off the exemplar – made several mistakes and received a final grade of 98/100
Stuck this to my classroom window facing out, along with the assignment sheet – including the new due date.
Left school at 6.45 – glad the day was finally over 
Sep 7
Level one Applied Math Ideas
Numeracy Requirements
US 26623
Integers +,-, x, ÷
Decimals +,-, x, ÷
Fractions +,-, x, ÷
Percentages ð calculating
Ä percentage increase
ò
How percentage is changed by a new piece of data
US 26626
Mean
Measures of Centre Mode
Median
Range
Measures of Spread Inter-quartile Range ??
Standard Deviation ??
Maximum
Minimum
Trends
Unusual Features Extreme values ð Outliers
Conclusions
US 26627
Length
Capacity – Volume
Mass – Weight
Angle
Temperature
Time
Converting Metrics
Estimation
Direction/Distance Location
Measurement Devices accurately used/measured
Units of Measurement accurately used/measured
Numeracy Topic 1 - Rugby
Super Rugby
Virtual Rugby
World Cup?
Look at percentages for picks
Track your own points
Looking at stats of classmates
Average points gained per person in class
Average competition points for favourite teams
Average points per week
Graphing
Calculate the weights of the teams
Drawing conclusions ….. did the best because ……..
Player stats
What is the heaviest pack? à need details as to what players make the pack
What is the heaviest team? -> calculate average weight as well
Create weight graph – excel
Line graph (1 team over team) – getting past results via internet
Numeracy Topic 2 – Hobbies
Shopping
- Receipts à decimals
- Sales à %, fractions
- Building supplies à measurement
- Clothing à measurement
- Weight of shopping
- Bulking buying v regular buying
Gardening
- plot size
- distances between plants
- compost volume
- costing of garden
Numeracy Topic 3 – Travel
Exchange rates – multiplying and dividing of decimals
Time zones
Travel times
Budgeting
Accommodation
Flights
Trips
Group costing
Group discounts
Total costs
Suitcase sizes – capacity (volume) & mass (weight)
Numeracy Topic 4 – Music
Design a CD
- length of music
- cover
o area
o shapes
- time conversions – seconds/minutes/hours
- estimation
Numeracy Topic 5 – Take-out food
Pizza Hut v’s Dominos
McDonalds v’s Burger King
McDonalds
The upsize
- % difference
- Capcity
- Mass
- Is an upsize worth 60c?
o Volume/mass of fries/drink - compare reg & upsize
Estimate the cost of a meal – adding decimals – averaging
Temperatures used in cooking
Serving times
Sales figures – graphs, averages, ranges
Profit per shop
Products
- Length of boxes
- volumes of various containers used
o burgers
o fries
o cups
o sundae holders
- weights
- nutritional value (from table mat)
- % fat etc (from table mat)
- average price per cm3/gram
Location of shops distances between
Angle ?????
Pizza
- adding fractions
- angles
Numeracy Topic 6 – Orienteering
Design a course
– angles (bearings)
– measurements – distances
Time participants to complete the course – measurement
- Graph the time taken to complete
- Average time to complete
Repeat similar course several times
- improvement over time
- average time to complete a course
Drawing a conclusion
Numeracy Topic 7 – Student Choice
Students design their own program of study from the list of objectives given to them. Learning is tracked via a learning log, with next steps for the following lesson.
Student and teacher met regularly to look at how they are going, and whether the student is meeting the criteria.
Teacher acts as a facilitator, guide, or mentor rather than setting and directing the work.
Sep 2
Day Nine
P1 – Non-contact - 90 minutes
Spent this time catching up on paper work, emails etc
Also started looking at the MA100 course for next year, I see a lot of potential for ICT incorporation in this course, and so want to teach it. Will spend time this weekend developing what the course could run like, and forms of evidence that could be used to show learning.
P2 – TG10A – 55 minutes
üDate
ûWALT (purposely left to do at the end of class)
ûReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell – 10 Students
Late - 4
Without equipment
Books – 19
Pens – 0
Students’ off-task
Starter - 3
Activity one – 5
More than half the class - 1
Noise rating – 3
Today I made a couple of changes.
1) I asked a student to read the 20 questions, and another to call out the answers while I set up equipment, and checked on participation. – 1 student refused to do starter as the student was reading too quickly. Tomorrow will have a different student read the questions will remind them to leave some thinking time between each question.
2) By not setting the WALT, students needed more instruction on what we were doing. I gave them a choice of looking at rotations or reflections. I did say how I would know they had learnt something was through the notes in their books, and examples or exercises.
Since the work was so independent I said that members of the class could use the room next door or the community space – both visible from the classroom via glass walls – if they wanted space. This freedom was abused by most – throwing paper, playing games on cell phones – yes I know is fun, but little to do with either topic.
Every class member was asked to return to the classroom.
This privilege has been removed until they can show me they deserve it. Some should be in the community space tomorrow.
After class, we wrote the WALT as a class. Tomorrow’s Walt is the same, except they need to do the opposite transformation
P3 – Non-contact – 55 minutes
Lunch – yup I decided to eat today J
P4 – Non-contact – 25 minutes
Wrote letters home about tomorrow’s trip
May need to be postponed as I haven’t received a conformation
Delivered to students
P5 – MS200 – 55 minutes
üDate
üWALT (purposely left to do at the end of class)
üReady to start with 5 minutes of the bell – 10 Students
Late - 1
Without equipment
Books – 16
Pens – 5
Students’ off-task
Activity one – 4
More than half the class - 4
Noise rating – 3
Started with the basic layout of a triangular prism
The students identified the key parts of the net and noted the points of interest
We then
- Designed a net that would fit on an A4 piece of paper
- Drew it to scale
- Cut it out
- Calculated the area of the triangular side and the smallest rectangular side
- Calculated the volume of the prism.
This activity took most of the lesson, a few students made another prism that fitted on the paper
Next lesson’s goal is to make the prism with the largest volume we can from an A4 piece of paper each student will only get 1 piece.
Afterschool
IEP meeting (Individual Education Plan) for a student
Family, student, myself, and Learning support attended.
Will have a follow up meeting with his teachers later in the week
This meeting focused on the Key Competencies, and several goals were set by the student & his family – probably more than were needed but I will refine and remove a few until there is a manageable amount.
I set some goals for staff, these will be dictated by me, but we will discuss and adapt them where necessary.
Left school at 5.25 – maybe all this thinking is allowing me to leave earlier
