Starting Out

I've been teaching since January 1987 and have taught both middle school and high school mathematics over the years. 10 years at the middle school level (7th grade, so fun, but the math got a bit boring) and the last 15 years at the high school level. I've taught almost every math subject and level in high school (not calculus or statistics). I used to say Geometry was my favorite math subject but haven't taught that in years. Right now I teach Algebra One and Pre-Calculus. I am always open to trying new things and being creative in my teaching. I do love to teach, but it also consumes me and I have to remember to slow down and have some "me" time during the school year.

One part of being a good teacher is being a good member of the team - that is working together with other math teachers -supporting each other and sharing materials. It's very easy to just shut your classroom door and be a hermit but it can be very rejuvenating to work with others. Sometimes I have to force myself to do this when I get very busy but it's very important to ones sanity. So over the years I've worked with many different teachers with different levels of collaboration - I love where I am now with a bunch of younger new teachers who are excited about teaching and trying new things. I like to mentor new teachers and to have student teachers. I'm always sharing my materials with everyone. I strive to have creative, thought provoking, and rigorous materials.

I feel compelled to start (and hopefully keep up with) this blog because of all the wonderful materials I have found on the internet from other teachers. I feel that I should share my materials for any interested teachers who could use them. And I am not a fan of "paid" teacher sights. I know our salaries are not wonderful but I don't want to be charging other teachers to supplement my income knowing they are also struggling. So I'll do what I can to upload and provide *free* materials for anyone who can use them.

This is a work in progress.

Another impetus to starting this - I just finished my first year with "Interactive Student Notebooks" (ISNs) and love love love them!  I am a creative crafty person so they really appeal to that part of my personality. Also we are in a state of flux right now with our curriculum as we adopt the common core. This is our third year in our algebra one classes, so I'm feeling pretty solid with the sequence of what we are doing (even though the standards have changed and now our state, Connecticut, is modifying them for our use - so more changes coming...). The biggest problem is, no textbooks. Any textbooks that claim to be "common core compatible" are just the same old thing with new labels on them. So creating ISNs is a great way to have "student made textbooks".

And do I start a new thing slowly and cautiously? No, I do not. I used ISNs in all my classes - Advanced Algebra One, Applied Algebra One (lower level) and Honors PreCalculus. Phew, a lot of work creating materials (and borrowing/modifying found materials). But so so worth it. I got tons of very positive feedback throughout the year from almost all my classes (not my lower level class, but that's another post) and their parents. So it's full steam ahead to using these in the 2015-2016 school year.

So what I plan to do over the summer is to post my Advanced Algebra One ISN materials. It's still a work in progress but that curriculum is more or less set and I'll be following the same format in the coming school year. Pre-Calculus is in a greater state of flux so I'll start that after completing Algebra One but that will be something that I'll have to continue over the school year as we following our new "scope & sequence". All stuff I'll share when I get to it.

Advanced Algebra One - this class is an advanced level class for 9th graders. Traditionally advanced students take Algebra One in 8th grade but our school system identifies some students who were not ready for Algebra One in 8th grade but are stronger than average and need to be challenged in 9th grade. It's an interesting class - great kids, very motivated to work hard and they (mostly) enjoy math. The only problem is that some are very hard workers but don't have that strong aptitude and intuitive sense needed for a real advanced class. But most are quite successful in this course, it just catches up with them in Algebra 2 if their cognitive development doesn't speed up to accommodate the much more abstract concepts in that course (and the precalculus course the year after). That's another whole different conversation!

I'm very lucky with this class as we have block scheduling (82 minutes blocks) and most classes meet every other day but this Algebra class meets EVERY DAY. So we have lots of time. But we also have lots of content to cover. That's one of the "crazy producing" facts of teaching - gotta finish the curriculum! And the common core was supposed to get away from the "mile wide, inch deep" curriculum with fewer topics and greater depth. Sure we now have 8 units when we used to have 13. But there is actually MORE material than we had before, they just combined some of the units. Think we math teachers can't count? So anyhow, I'm very lucky to meet with them every day. I would never never get through everything if we met every other day.

One of the most important things to acknowledge is that none of what I create is truly original - everything has some seed of inspiration. I can't thank everyone but over time I will reference where I have found things. The important thing is to use what's out there and if you can share what you have.

My main reference consistently through the year has been the Math=Love blog. She is a prolific blogger who has great materials! But there are others too. I used Everybody is a Genius when I was first starting out (sadly she has not updated her blog since summer 2014).  Also check out Mrs. Hester's Classroom. and I do a lot of searching on pinterest for ideas. Very little of my material is original. Just modified and tweaked borrowings from other generous teachers.

So next post - I'll start off with my ISN pages and materials. This was just some background and some resources I used.