Musings from Mrs. Galvan

New year! Among my resolutions include trying to blog more. Given grad school and school and family, it falls to the bottom of my list, but I really miss it. There is something about taking the time to reflect about my teaching that feeds me. I can't explain it other than to say that I am a major reflector. Today my geometry kiddos dove into the new year with discovering one method for proving a quadrilateral is a parallelogram using geogebra. Geogebra constructions are great for getting students to make sense of the theorems and for getting students to do a bit of inquiry. They are getting more proficient at using geogebra and publishing their creations on their blogs so it took 20 minutes for them to get to the point of publishing. Here is the  Prompt . I will try to remember to add student examples once they turn things in.

Students added this geogebra construction to their digital portfolios today. Prompt . I will add examples of student work when they turn them in.

True, to form, it is has taken me to the end of week 3 to finish my week 2 post... Highlights: Tuesday  in Geometry, students learned to use Geogebra while also learning about transformations - prompt here . Wednesday  in Geometry was spent reviewing for a quiz and writing their own chains of reasoning blog. Prompt: Examples: Annie         Andrew       Caroline In algebra, we are spending a lot of time taking questions on homework. Sometimes 10 minutes, which in a 40 minute class, is a significant potion of time.  Interleaved problem sets are harder, which is the point. The reasoning behind mixed over masses practice is that having to go from topic to topic forces the learner to concentrate more. More thinking = more retention. So yes there are lots of questions as they are remembering a lot of different concepts, but the time spent for homework review is  valuable. I am reading Creating Cultures of Thinking and lat...

Tomorrow we will learn to use geogebra. Students will use transformations and publish their results on their blogs. Here are my instructions . Here is my sample. Criticism: My instructions are pretty specific and don't leave a lot of room for exploration. I am hesitant to give less structure though as this will be their first time with geogebra this year.