BINGO 2.0 (Nearpod App-Smash)

I had a moment during 1st period today, where I realized how different my classroom is from when I started teaching. (Yes, we were at school for a half day on a Saturday, for a snow make-up day)

My plan was to play bingo with my Math 2 students, who are working on simplifying radicals today. We also had the Ipad cart checked out, which I had intended to use for a quick Google Classroom update. Instead, the Ipads ended up being exactly the thing that took this activity to the next level. 

Whenever we play bingo in my classroom, I print out a Kuta (or similar test bank) worksheet with questions and an answer page. Usually, I print out 1 copy with 40-50 questions. I put the answer sheet under the document camera, and students copy random answers into squares on a blank bingo card. 

Quick ideas/suggestions for a last minute bingo game:

• Any worksheet with an answer key works - just copy the answers onto the board for the students to choose from. 
• Quick, repetitive type questions work best, such as complex number operations, simplifying expressions of any kind, or switching forms of linear or quadratic equations. (I'll be repeating this activity Monday with Math 3 for completing the square)
• Students can use a blank template if you have time/resources to copy one for each student. I usually have 1 class set, which we put inside sleeve protectors and use as dry erase boards. Students write on the cards with either pencils/dry erase markers. 
• Bingo chip ideas: I use foam sheets from the dollar store that I cut into 1-inch pieces several years ago. I've also used the small glass vase-fillers from the dollar store, although they make much more noise. On the few occasions that students have their own copy of the bingo template to write on, they've used markers to mark their squares. 

But here's how it changed today. We used the Nearpod app's "Draw It" feature. That meant that each time I called out a question, they showed their work and sent it to me! Each question, I had a student sample that I could scroll through, so that we could talk about any mistakes or misconceptions along the way. Below is a screen shot of the teacher's view from the app.

Nearpod has this great "share" feature after using the Draw It slides. It allows you to send the picture of any student's work, without their name, to every other student. This is such a game changer. They can see their peers' work, and discuss it without the pressure of going to the board. This is a view of what the teacher sees from the app, with the blue "Share" button in the top corner of each response. 

My students also figured out that they could take a picture of the projected question, import it into Nearpod, and then complete the work over the image.  Some choose to write the question out, as shown above.

When we review homework, this feature means they're able to snap a pic of their work from their homework page, then send it to me, without having to rewrite anything. Then we look over several responses together, and sort out any confusion. This is a great time saver, and it's definitely an app I hope to find more uses for in the future. 

Daily Quizzes - An Easy Way to Start a (kind-of) SBG System & Provide Classroom Incentives

I want to share the biggest change I've made to my classroom this year: Daily Quizzes. 

This is the brain child of one of my amazing colleagues. Last year, he did 6 question exit tickets as a homework replacement. YES. A math teacher that assigned NO HOMEWORK. 

Well, I wasn't quite ready to take that leap. However, I did like the idea of having plenty of skill-based data reports, and tying it to an incentive. So we decided as a PLC to compromise. DQs emerged from that compromise. Here's how it works.

Each day, after notes, students have around 15 minutes to start their homework. (We have 90 minute blocks.) After that initial practice time, I project a 6 question quiz on the board (My PLC creates these together ahead of time). 

Students are allowed to use their notes. Once they're finished, they bring it up to me, and I grade it immediately (It takes less than 15 seconds per quiz. I use open ended questions, and there's no partial credit. Each is right or wrong, and I spend no time at that point looking through work or evaluating mistakes.) I record their score, tell them, and keep the card (which helps keep the answers from traveling around the room). Here's a picture of my recording sheet:

The topics are along the top, and scores range from 0-6. I do give half credit VERY rarely for students that made arithmetic errors, or for answers not in best form (such as answers with negative exponents). I color code the scores at the end of a unit, on the morning of the review day. This helps me remember where our weaknesses were throughout the unit. 

0-1 are red

2 is pink

3 is orange

4 is yellow

5-6 are green

Absent is blue - I don't typically require students to make these up.

You can see the clear difference in my honors classes (above) and my regular class (below).

Another difference between honors and regular classes is the number of questions, and incentive attached. Honors classes get 5 question DQs, and students that score a perfect 5 are permitted to complete every other homework problem that's assigned that day. Regular classes get 6 questions, and students that score a 5 or 6 get to only do half the problems. 

This homework incentive has been FANTASTIC. Students take the notes seriously, because they know they're going to want to reference them during the quiz. They work furiously during that initial practice time, and even my withdrawn/shy kiddos will reach out to their group or to me to ask questions to iron out any issues during that time. 

After they get their score, they resume work on the homework assignment. I typically reserve around 20 minutes for the DQ, which means the early finishers have around 15 minutes to work in addition to the 15 they already spent. As much as they hate getting 4s, they get so competitive about the 5s and 6s. We had to start a class vs. class competition - and I think adding an extra question for my regular class puts them on a level playing field. 

Class DQ Board: 1st Regular, 2nd & 4th Honors

I go back once everyone's finished and look through work. We clarify common issues, and I give cards back so students can post them on the bragging wall (shown below), or look over their mistakes. 

Let's talk about some details on logistics:

Grading: I grade these as a single quiz grade per unit. I drop the lowest one from the unit, then average the rest. The percentage for the average out of 5 is their grade. (For the regular class, this means that they could get a quiz score over a 100 for their 6s. I haven't had an average over 102 yet this year, so I'm not concerned about giving them a few extra points for a 6. I make sure that the questions are difficult enough so that 5s and 6s aren't guaranteed.) These have completely replaced normal quizzes for me, and I'm ok with that even though they're all open note quizzes.

Supplies: I have students bring in index cards to turn in at the beginning of the year. These are in the supply bins for their groups, and most of the time we use them to complete DQs. Occasionally, they prefer using a piece of notebook paper instead, especially for problems that take up a bunch of space. 

Student Data Tracking: Students keep up with their own scores in 2 places. 

They record the score first on a page I created to go beside their Unit TOC page (from Math=Love). 

This score goes right beside their homework assignment page number and homework grade, so I can quickly check their scores as I grade homework. This means I know whether to give a 50% or a 100% for a page that has every other problem completed. They get a stamp on this page and on their punch pass for each 100%. (My blog post on punch passes is here.)

The second place they record these is at the beginning of their Reference & Warmup notebook (post on my new notebook setup is here). They record a daily I Can sentence from the board, with the corresponding page number, their DQ score that matches, and fill in a bar graph beside it. I encourage them to use this right before their test to reflect on what to spend the most time studying.

My regular students have 6 boxes, since they can score up to a 6.

 

My honors students have only 5 boxes.

As you can see, some students are a bit more colorful with their records, and there are days we run out of time for a DQ.
I have also done "Daily Double Quizzes" where we do a makeup DQ from the day before along with that day's regular DQ.
Also - note the frowny faces. They HATE getting 4s. 

I post the entire week's I Can Statements at once on the front whiteboard.

I'm painfully aware that this system is missing a couple of things: a method for reassessment, make-up DQs for absent kids, and a way to tie this info with their tests. However, it's also been the easiest transition to something close to SBG that I've ever implemented. I've been able to save time grading too, which is always great. 

Enjoy your weekend!

Friday Freebies! Comparing Linear/Quadratic/Exponential Functions

My students are testing today on the unit we introduced with Zombie Day. 

 

We used a "Fun with Functions" Cut and sort activity to practice identifying/classifying LQE functions.

 We spent plenty of time working with multiple representations of each, and how to write the equation for a function once you know what type it is.

Then we moved on to translating, with matchbook notes. 

And after seeing this blog post from Math=Love, we included a drawing of our calculator yesterday when talking about using the regression functions on our Ti-84s. 

And we practiced, and practiced, and practiced. 

We did a scavenger hunt.

We used LQE cards on the 2nd day of the unit for whole-class response practice. 

The following day, we increased the level of difficulty by using cards that said what type of L,Q, or E each example was. (The exponential card had decay on one side, growth on the other)

I wanted to do so much more with this unit, but there's only so many days left until testing season begins.

However, I do think that having a day of centers would have been better than only doing the practice in mostly whole-class settings. So I made a card sort for this unit (using this 12-block template) - we'll use it for EOC review. I wrote up the process for using a similar 9-block template in this previous post.

Here are some of the ways I'm thinking of using the LQE cards (it's a set of 48)

• printed 2 to a page, into a column sort in their ISN
• printed onto cardstock, used as Go-Fish or Memory (each exponential matches with any other exponential)
• printed onto cardstock, used as a center matching activity (3-column sort as a group onto a posterboard or table marked with 3 sections)
• center activity where students play Left-Center-Right, but to keep/receive a card, they say L/Q/E

Start the download for the card set by clicking here. It's a Word docx file, so feel free to edit it to suit your students' needs. 

Have a great weekend!

Scavenger Hunts - and a free template!

I've truly had a very productive week this week. I am ahead in planning, and spent some time yesterday creating a template that I'd like to share. 

I don't know who came up with the idea of this type of scavenger hunt, but I use them ALL.THE.TIME.

At least once per unit. Usually more. 

Because a 10 question scavenger hunt takes me 5-10 minutes to create, and lets them practice with or without partners, usually filling up 15-30 minutes of class time. 

I have so many of these that I've handwritten. In my teacher bag, I even carry around "scavenger hunt packets" of  sets of 10 different colors of cardstock. When waiting for a meeting, it's so easy to quickly make a set of these from 10 questions scrawled out on a scrap of notebook paper.

Just in case you call them something different (or haven't heard of them), for a scavenger hunt you post a number (I typically do 10) of questions and answers around the room. You can see them posted in the picture above - a blue one on the wall, a pink one on the window. 

Each page has an answer on the outside and a question on the inside. This set was for multiplying polynomials.

Each page also has a letter to label the question. 

Students start at any question, work it out on their paper, and then search for the answer on another paper around the room. Once found, they complete the question under that answer. After they've completed the last question, that answer brings them back to where they started (which is why they can start at any letter). 

I have students work their questions out on a piece of construction paper set up with the same number of boxes as questions. They put the letter that they are working on in the smaller box. The letter sequence (which is always random) allows me to quickly check their work while I'm circulating around the room. Once complete, they attach the page in their ISN.

This is what the cards look like stored for future use - I write the answer key on a sticky label and always stick it to the back of the A card, with the topic and number of questions. When I'm ready to use a set, I quickly copy those 10 letters onto a post it which I keep in my pocket for the day.

Here's how I keep the scavenger hunts (and all other game/station activities) organized for future use:

I have 2 large milk crates with hanging files labeled by topic. 

Each activity is inside either a bag, sleeve protector, or binder clipped. 

As you can see, I'm still working on finding more activities for several of my algebra 2 topics. 

This is NOT where I keep worksheets/foldables/ISN pages. 

These bins are only for games and station activities. This is also where I keep flashcards, task cards, and non-content specific TPR materials (Yes/No cards, worksheet game boards, ABCD cards/etc.)

So back to the scavenger hunts, and on to the freebie!

I decided that I wanted a way to type these so if I'm on the go, I can quickly type up a set of questions and answers in Evernote, and then just copy and paste right before I print. So yesterday, I sat down at my laptop and made it happen.

I made a template in Word that will automatically populate a 10-question set of questions and answers. 

AND HERE'S THE AWESOME PART. 

Because of the way I have it set up, you can even use pictures/equations/screenshots for your questions or answers! Yes, that's right. You don't have to type in questions - use the snipping tool, or a web clipper like Lightshot, and it'll be done in 5 minutes, ready to print. 

Instructions are in the file - click here to download it. 

(And if you create a set for something algebra-ish, please send it my way! 

If you need help using it, email me or have the MS Word teacher at your school look at it - the file uses cross-references to bookmarked cells in the table on the first page.)

I am really so excited to start using this template - once I've made a few sets, I'll share them as well. 

Sharing your ISN with Parents

So the past few weeks, I've been dealing with a parent. You know the type. She emails you within 30 seconds of your response. He checks online grades 4 times daily to see if anything has changed. She wants a detailed explanation of at least 3 sentences beside each grade. He organizes Junior's notebook for him every night at home because "he's just not great with organizational skills." 

Honestly, these types of parents don't usually get to me. Until last week. I finally just gave in and decided to post my ISN pages - yes, every single last one of them, online. Because otherwise, I was never going to hear the end of it. And quite honestly, I think it will help my students keep track of everything. I'm envisioning a student that was absent pulling out their phone or any other internet-connected device, and updating their notebook at home based on what's online. Last summer when I worked with a middle school teacher to present on interactive notebooking for our district, I was inspired by the fact that each day, she posted not only their topic, homework, and a link to a video daily, but also pics of her ISN for each prep. 

(I said inspired - that's definitely teacher-code for saying WOW she must be awesome, and then I did nothing to improve my own system. SMH.) 

But talking with this parent finally motivated me to get it done. I've seen lots of teachers with ISNs use Slideshare with pictures, I've seen them take doc cam screenshots (which in my opinion, is probably easiest), and I've even seen some walk downstairs and scan each page every day to post it. 

My doc cam is barely good enough to use for notes - so that wasn't an option. Not to mention, I knew for sure that if the method I chose took ANY work at all, it wasn't going to happen. 

So I chose Evernote. I'd already been using it a little (I have the free version) for organizing some online resources. But I'm fairly new to it. But in about 5 seconds (literally) per prep per day, I post my pages for the day. 

I downloaded the free Evernote app onto my cell phone. I added the "widget" to my home screen. I set 2 notebooks up called Algebra 1 ISN and Algebra 2 ISN (one for each prep). I copied the link to each notebook onto my class website so students can access the notebook as public. That's it!

This is the widget on my home screen. When I want to post new pages, I click the camera button, which opens a new "photo page," and automatically starts the camera.

This is the camera started - you take as many photos as you need (I do 1 per page)
by hitting the green button.

Once you've taken pictures, it shows the number you've taken in the bottom right corner. 

Select the check once you've gotten that day's pages.

Hitting the check brings you to the "note" that contains all the pictures. 

All that's left to do is label the note with a title and place it in the correct notebook.

In green, it lists the notebook - this note is set to go into Algebra 1 ISN.

Below is the space for the title.

 I use the page numbers as the title (here, I put 65 for page 65.) 

Then hit the check, and it saves automatically. It syncs as soon as you
connect to wifi or turn on data. 

So you can see what students/parents see, click the link below - it will take you to the Algebra 1 or Algebra 2 ISN online notebook.
 (Keep in mind I JUST started doing this - there aren't many pages up yet. We started our 2nd 6 weeks notebook on Pi Day.)

https://www.evernote.com/pub/mrs_spencer_schs/algebra1isn

https://www.evernote.com/pub/mrs_spencer_schs/algebra2isn

I know if you're unfamiliar with Evernote, this process can seem like a lot. But once you get started, the daily upkeep takes only a few seconds (which is what makes it worth it for me). Email me through my profile if you want/need more info to get started, or post questions in the comment section. 

2013 Algebra 2 Pages

As promised, my Algebra 2 pages:

Sets of Real Numbers:

Frayer models for vocab here. 

Graphic Organizer at Math=Love. 

The green cards were just typed numbers that we sorted, stapled into groups, and then taped into our notebooks. 

Parent Functions - outside

Parent Functions - inside (before we filled it in). 

This was just a worksheet page, but I wanted to post another easy way to incorporate worksheets into an ISN. 

Piecewise Functions: We graphed 3 functions twice each. 

Then cut the second copy according to the given domain, and put the three pieces together!

I've done this where students erase parts, but it's never as effective as cutting up and throwing away the unused parts of the graph. 

Domain and Range:

Students cut as little as possible out of the graph, then use the "blank spot" as a guideline to find domain and range. After we've done this a couple times, then we move on to point discontinuities and unusual graphs. 

Explorations of Transformations of Functions - This isn't mine (It belongs to Math=Love). Get it here. 

This was a sub day assignment for my Alg2 kids. Students worked in groups to create a flowchart of how to determine transformations of a function by looking at a given equation. This was a student's finished result.

Simplifying radicals page - including vocab, a couple quick examples (this is Alg2, so it's review for them), and a foldable to help them remember how positive and negatives affect root values.

This foldable is one I use with almost everything.. Operations with __________. 

You name it, I've done it with this foldable. Fractions, decimals, radicals, polynomials, the list goes on and on. I think I'm going to add separate tabs for simplifying and rationalizing this semester. 

Ok, here's my biggest keep-up-with-my-teacher-ISN secret. Sometimes, I just don't want to copy their notes after I've spent time going through the examples. So instead, I just print out the powerpoint (or smart notebook file) and tape that bad boy in. It saves me time, and students that are absent can use a friend's notebook for the work for each example. It also gives me a way to use some of the powerpoints and notebook files that I made several years ago, rather than recreating something new just for the sake of the ISN. 

Powers of i - I can't find where this is from, but if I do, I'll post the link.

Intro to Quadratics guided notes - this was designed to be filled in from the Glencoe Alg2 SGI workbook pages for 6-1 to 6-3.

More domain and range practice. Here, we're using a worksheet and Mathy Cathy's idea to practice. 

And of course, Math=Love was the inspiration for interactive part of this page.

Domain and range cards, and a great lesson plan from @thescamdog here. 

And of course, we did some function sorts. I have done this 2 ways - into envelopes (from iisanumber), and pasted into columns. I like the envelopes better, since they can resort later as a study tool. 

Linear programming:

List steps

Cut and paste word problems (they're paragraphs, so I feel like it's a decent use of time), 

then show work beneath the problem. 

Pascal & Binomial Expansion

LOTS of color coding when we expand binomials.

We also spaced a larger problem out on a sentence strip. 

We simplified beneath each term - what was important here was the process. 

Properties of quadratics note cards inside the same envelope as earlier. 

This idea came from Mrs. Hester. 

Polynomial Functions Page,  inside the End Behavior foldable were four sections (positive/negative leading coefficients with odd/even degree functions and a picture each)

Color with purpose for completing the square to find the center of a circle

More CWP for simplifying rational expressions

Direct, Joint, Inverse Variation foldable

Example of a unit study guide that is very ISN-friendly. 

(This was 1 week before Winter Break, thus the red and green)

This is also an example of a typical non-worksheet homework page. 

On a non-ISN note, we also made these unit projects in my honors class. They were one page front and back, with all the information from that unit on the front, and practice problems and answers on the back to use as a study guide. Here were a couple of the ones turned in (and please excuse the horrible shadows in some of the pics).

Also at the end of the unit, we filled out index cards (cut in half to save resources) and put them into our CD envelope pockets in the back of the ISN. 

There we go! I'll work to post more frequently this semester, now that I won't have 3 preps anymore. (I'm only teaching Alg2 and Math 1 next semester.) The new semester starts Thursday, so I'll be spending most of the weekend getting everything reset and ready to go!