A little disappointed.

I am a little disappointed in myself. Not that this isn't a great place to work but that I took myself, a lot of my Algebra 2 kids, my principle, our counselor, and another teacher to figure out that not all of my students were taught how to graph. Not only that but what a table looks like or why we have equations. I was struggling to figure out why my top students all of the sudden dropped in their grades. Now I know. Their Algebra 2 teacher never taught them how to graph or write equations let alone use a t-chart.  It was all due to the book they used. I had no idea. And because of this my top students started to hate math and doubt their skills with math and themselves. I have sense started to fix the problem but I am worried that I have done some harm to my students that might not be fixable. I had to do a lot of back teaching but I now am confident that they can recognize a table goes with at graph, equation and word problem and what a benefit it is to know the difference between them all. I was scared when they only new how to play around with an equation. Now they are having a better time with tables and using tables and graphs together and switching things around. The writing of equations is a little tricky to them but every day I am coming up with new problems in the world where they can write equations and equations that they can write word problems with. I just wish that I had caught it earlier.

Sugar!!!!

It was so interesting to be able to see what the trends of sugar consumption and income. I think it is soooo cool. This was a great idea to have the kids be interested in information. I loved the idea of having the kids look up why the trends are the way they are. It was also great to see other uses for geogebra than what I have been using. Keri did a great job. Thanks. Just a little help on the worksheet is to give a little more on labeling the different extras correctly. I was a little confused why it couldn't do what I was wanting it to do. Thanks for the ideas of the dealing with the lack of computers.; It has been a lot of help. As soon as I get my projector working with my computer I plan on using geogebra with teaching systems of equations and how they work. Thanks for the great weekend. I love getting help with math and technology but also help with teaching vocabulary to my kids. This has been a great help to me with teaching all of the new vocabulary to my Geometry and Algebra 2.

We're Back!

It was so great to be back at the technology training. I am so excited to be able to learn more to make me a better if not well informed teacher. I really liked how today we were challenged to make a lesson plan without our books to help. I also loved the different math problems. I can definitely see how I can apply this to my classes this year. I also feel better about not being the only one with limited technology. I like how the I-POD can be used in the classroom. This should help considering we have graphing calculators that our new probes will not work with. It is great that they work with the new tech.