Musings from Mrs. Galvan

Last week was busy in Algebra. I realize that I haven't written much about Geometry this year, so perhaps soon, but for now, I am happy to relay that my 3 Algebra classes are going well with one complaint: Standards Based Grading is taking a lot of time. Grading is always the "one thing" that teachers tend to wish they didn't have to do. Often I hear, "I love being with my students, but the grading is killing me!" I love seeing progress and seeing what they have learned, but like many teachers, I too wish it would happen faster. This year, it seems that I made it take even longer with my choice to give standards based grading a go. Maybe I am doing it wrong? :( Here is my method: I keep a spreadsheet  with students' names down the side and the skills across the top. Each time I see an error, I mark in the appropriate skill column. Then I consider the number of errors vs the number of opportunities and give each skill a score out of 4 (which for the u...

Algebra 1 Presentation Geometry Presentation

Today was my first Algebra class of the new year that was fun. I guess I equate fun with busy. It was a packed 40 minutes! One reason it was fun: we played the Whiteboard-Stamp game  (Thank you Lisa )...  ...and they got to work on their digital portfolios. Currently they are creating one variable word problems with a partner. Next week, I will assign other students to solve the problems created by their classmates.  Here is the prompt: With your partner, create a word problem with three subjects that is solvable with one variable. See pages 21 -23 of your packet for inspiration.  Be sure to solve it a few times before posting it! When you are both confident that your problem works, each of you will post it to your blog. 1. Creative Title 2. Problem that works (not too easy and not impossible) 3. An image 4. a link to your partner's blog Oh and the day was made EVEN better because our GAFE admin unlocked the chrome web store f...

I am still saying that I won't blog very often, yet I find myself with an extra hour this Friday afternoon, so why not sum up the week? Well, maybe just today. Today in Algebra we went over last night's homework on evaluating expressions and solving linear equations then we reviewed solving equations containing fractions. It was a short lesson followed by practice. They learned these skills last year in pre-algebra but are in need of a wee bit of practice. Then they took their first Learning Target Quiz on which they sought to demonstrate... I can follow the order of operations. I can manage arithmetic of positive and negative whole numbers. I can attend to precision by being careful in my work and reading (no transfer errors, no dropped signs, legible handwriting, follows directions).  I just got done checking them and converting their "scores" into my rubric... 0 Undetermined I left the problem blank or wrote something completely unrelated to ...

I am joining the MTBOS blogging challenge a little late, but here is the photo tour of my room. We share classrooms and I teach in two different rooms. These are from the room I teach 4 of 5 classes in. I would like to move the desks into pairs and add a lot more decorations, but I have to be considerate of my room mates. Also, we are not allowed to put things on the walls where there aren't bulletin boards so there is waaaaaay too much white space for my taste. :) My All About Me (at age 14), my kids, my dog, my schedule, HW rubric and class room manager duties. The beginnings of my mantra board. Desks in rows, document camera, projector. 

Today was FAST. 20 minute classes. I did not introduce myself or memorize names or read my syllabus or teach a lesson or do a get to know you activity... all of which are decent (well except read syllabus aloud) ways to spend that all important first day of school. I taught two procedures: Jazz hand = slow down Pat head = I need to go potty And, I introduced and help them set up their math blogs. We are a GAFE school so my students (like me) use blogger. I went through these steps with them: 1. Sign into blogger with your HW google drive account 2. Give your blog a catchy name and appealing background. Leave out personal details like your last name, the name of the school, your soccer team’s name, address, etc 3. Under settings, edit the description of your blog. Same advice as above regarding personal details. 4. Under settings, comments/posts, change the show word verification to off. 5. Under settings, mobile & email, enter your email address in the box for...