Musings from Mrs. Galvan

I was really happy with last year's reboot of the space diagonal (aka diagonal of the solid) lesson, but my story about the prince craving the ideal bread stick wasn't the best. This year I changed the story to my (true) childhood story of visiting Disneyland and wanting candy. For next year, how might I add an open middle? Can this be morphed into a 3 Act Lesson that incorporates a prediction?

Here are a few of my favorite student video blogs. I assigned each kid a different proof from our book to demonstrate. Lucas Samantha Uma Annie Will Gaia Maddy Prompt: Tips for making video blogs and embedding 1. Must be typed, including diagram, symbols and tick mark notation (I suggest using Google Drive's Drawing App) Must have decent "watchability" Copy/Paste diagram and proof into slides of a presentation, adding a new step on each slide (make sure diagram is always visible) Energetic Explanation NEVER type out reasons as you talk... add tick marks as your prove congruencies 2. Must use a screen capture tool like jing that will record your voice and your typed completion of the proof Practice. Find a way to inject humor and energy into this video. I have to grade like 50 of them. Make yours pop! Remember that you can pause jing 3. Must be embedded in your blog - control the size of the embed 750 x 750 ish is great 4. As always,...

I miss blogging. I enjoy writing and reflecting. It is how I think, learn and improve my practice. Given research projects for grad school, doing more admissions work and revamping curriculum, updating this blog has fallen to the bottom of my to do list. Sigh. So, quickly, here is my to blog list (that probably won't get done anytime soon): 1. The value of students reviewing homework in small groups over a student lead presentation 2. Game in geometry - Name that Congruent 3. Math talk in algebra for writing equations of lines 4. Add a presentations section to the blog navigation 5. Lego Space Shuttle Three Act I made up and used last week in geometry to introduce similarity. Space Dude is 4cm and the orbiter is 26 cm. Not to scale. 6. Oh, and write my personal mission statement for teaching, an updated philosophy of education that includes how and why I became a teacher linked to articles and research that informs my practice... (this has been on the list since I c...