Musings from Mrs. Galvan

Hello readers (all three of you)! I am so excited to announce my most recent pedagogical discovery. The key to learning new things is flashcards. I know, this discovery is cutting edge and innovative. Students make a card for every theorem or definition that has a diagram and/or a given statement on the front and the (correct) If-Then statement on the back. Then, they use the flashcards to quiz themselves or a friend. I know that I should immediately run out to publish my discovery in a journal. Maybe I should present at an upcoming conference? The world needs to know!!! All silliness aside, learning many new rules day after day is hard. They not only need to know the correct wording, they also need to master when to use each one so that they can correctly draw conclusions. In years past I hadn't required flashcards, but inspired by increased attention to learning strategies that are supported by cognitive science (read Make it Stick , you just have to), flashcards seemed t...

My 9th grade Geometry students are sitting in front of me, taking their assessment on right triangle trigonometry. I am confident that they are well prepared for the assessment and I feel satisfied because the work they did to learn the material was both rigorous, engaging and fun. My colleague, Mike, and I have for several years spent most of the 2nd semester running flipped classrooms. I tried a flipped unit for the first time back in 2009. Students watch a video, made by myself and colleague Garrett, that teaches them a new concept. They take notes on a handout and in theory, pause the video from time to time to do practice problems to self assess. I liked it because during class, students could get immediate feedback from their classmates or myself on tough problems. What it lacked was meaningful whole class discussions as students worked at different paces. Also, it was boring. This was my fault. I just handed them problem sets and walked around. I didn't take the opportun...

My classes for most of the month of January have been kinda boring. Sure, students listened, took notes, stayed organized, practiced concepts and demonstrated understanding on assessments, but save a game day or two and a Socrative Space Race, things haven't been fun. We haven't even added to our digital portfolios! Excuses: 1. Grades and comments were due January 21 2. Polynomials 3. My husband, two kids and I got the flu for a week 4. I had to go to meetings 5. Not enough class time (yes, I always use this one) Effect: My geometry students took the biggest hit. They learned about the interior angles of polygons without doing much exploration or any application. Similar polygons was covered with a boring lecture in which I presented one example. Then they did a worksheet at their seats. I have made my peace with the fact that not everyday can be a trip to Disneyland, but I do think I take my students' motivation and good study habits for granted. Recovery : ...

While I was not officially trying to start a 180 blog... more like I was planning on blogging occasionally, I still take a photo of my agenda everyday and photos just need to be published. Hence, my thought to blog occasionally became a secret goal to blog daily, or almost daily. This wishy-washy goal for blogging resulted in almost a month of zero blog action. I can't just blame the weak goal setting - like all of us, my free periods are spent helping kids, planning, meeting, eating, making lists online, making lists on post-its and especially implementing standards based grading for Algebra. Things have improved on the SBG front. I used to grade assessments a page at a time. Now I grade one student at a time which I think helped to make grading the unit 2 tests go faster. But because part of my plan involves frequent skill checks that need a quick turn around for grading and because I am still learning how to use Active Grade, I can't call myself an efficient Standards Base...