Musings from Mrs. Galvan

Here is the presentation from today's faculty meeting - feel free to reach out with any follow up questions.

This is now the 3rd year my students in Algebra and Geometry have made digital portfolios using blogger in my 1:1 laptop classroom. Posts range from simple summaries of in class PrBL tasks to elaborate projects. In geometry, students make constructions using geogebra and embed those on their blogs. Over the summer, for about a month I had "have students in algebra make interactive notebooks?" on my to do list. I was inspired by Sarah Hagan Carter and the sense of ownership her students must get from creating their own mini textbook via Interactive Notebooks . Additionally, her students are making a convenient and interactive study resource. I ended up deleting the to do item and moving on as I didn't want to give up on digital portfolios and I thought that having both seemed like too much. Yesterday in class I was thinking about how students can find a sample problem of an older concept when working on one of our interleaved problem sets? We don't use a textboo...

Today my geometry kiddos used our favorite Geogebra to construct a line through the center of a circle that is perpendicular to a chord. Directions: 1. Draw a circle 2. Draw a chord (use a segment) 3. Construct a line through the center of the circle that is perpendicular to the chord. 4. Add a point at the intersection of the line and the chord; measure the segments. 5. What do you notice? Make a conjecture and publish via digital portfolio.

The following post can also be seen on Chalkup . I stand at the door of my classroom, greeting my 6th period algebra students as they peel themselves from the herd of middle schoolers thundering down the hallway. As my last student makes his way to me and we exchange hellos, inside the classroom, students are already taking their binders from their enormous backpacks while continuing their conversations. Without prompting, their conversations shift to discussing the homework. “Hey did you get number three?” asked one student to her seat partner. Before her partner can answer, another overhears and eagerly jumps in to point out what she did in order to get number three correct. On the other side of the room another student, the appointed classroom manager, takes her completed homework to the front of the room where a document camera is on and ready to project. Seeing her, students quiet. She asks, “Does anyone have any questions?” Hands shoot up and a student requests to see nu...

What I love about conferences, is having the time to reflect on best practices and hearing stories that I wouldn’t normally encounter in my usual day to day. NAIS 2016 did not disappoint - I attended sessions that will inform how I relate to others and think about school for years to come. I also heard talks that while not clearly about school, challenged my thinking and broadened my perspective. The conference was also a time to spend with friends and colleagues at other schools. I reconnected with my Klingenstein cohort and chatted with former colleagues. Catching up with old friends feeds my soul and also counts at professional development as we invariably spend our time talking shop and sharing what we’ve been learning. The teachers that I love not only share my dedication to lifelong learning, but also enjoying sharing realizations and asking for ideas on working through challenges. I was at the conference Wednesday - Friday and will summarize my major take aways. W...

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,...