AP CSA
I handed back tests and we worked on re-learning a bit. For the day before break, I wanted to put a bit of a bow on things. I am switching to my re-learning being on codeHS which I think will be a good thing for students as well. I should have made this a resource for students at the start of the year too... oh well.
AP CSP
Next year, I want to do the MadLib assignment before break. I think students could do a great seasonal one and then send it to family/friends. I should look into what I can do around registration time for projects they can share with their friends...
Concepts
Financial math was supposed to wrap up today. A lot of students didn't finish in time, BUT I do think that they seem to engage a bit more with the content now. I am really thinking that after the ACT, I should go all-in for financial-based math.
One Good Thing
All the sugar. That's what I got from students today. It was delish. :)
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
D65: Guest Speakers
AP CSA and AP CSP
Today I had a mini-reunion of CSP students. I am interested to see what students think tomorrow about how it went. I asked students ahead of time if they wanted to have former students come in and they said yes. But then people were SUPER quiet. Maybe an hour is too much for Q&A. I am going to meet with TJ to talk about how he does it.
Concepts of Advanced Algebra
We are working on our final project of our finance unit. Last week Thursday Mike Kauls came to talk to students about how he uses the ideas we have used in class in his job. It was interesting to see who connected to the ideas in class. We did do a QFT activity the day before Kauls came which I think helped a ton.
I will say that the financial math unit seems to get less push back from students. They seem to get that this is real-world applications. I would love to expand this further (I just need more time to do this... maybe next semester...)
I am still struggling to figure out how to get these students to prepare for the ACT. I still think one of the best ways to prep for the ACT is to take the ACT. But it seems like any significant portion of time spent on the ACT is wasted by students. I have decided to put one ACT test into the performance category with students able to make up the wrong questions. That seems to have the most traction so far. It is certainly more of the "stick" rather than carrot approach.
One Good Thing
Honestly, it was great to see former students come back.
Today I had a mini-reunion of CSP students. I am interested to see what students think tomorrow about how it went. I asked students ahead of time if they wanted to have former students come in and they said yes. But then people were SUPER quiet. Maybe an hour is too much for Q&A. I am going to meet with TJ to talk about how he does it.
Concepts of Advanced Algebra
We are working on our final project of our finance unit. Last week Thursday Mike Kauls came to talk to students about how he uses the ideas we have used in class in his job. It was interesting to see who connected to the ideas in class. We did do a QFT activity the day before Kauls came which I think helped a ton.
I will say that the financial math unit seems to get less push back from students. They seem to get that this is real-world applications. I would love to expand this further (I just need more time to do this... maybe next semester...)
I am still struggling to figure out how to get these students to prepare for the ACT. I still think one of the best ways to prep for the ACT is to take the ACT. But it seems like any significant portion of time spent on the ACT is wasted by students. I have decided to put one ACT test into the performance category with students able to make up the wrong questions. That seems to have the most traction so far. It is certainly more of the "stick" rather than carrot approach.
One Good Thing
Honestly, it was great to see former students come back.
Monday, December 11, 2017
Day 59: Unplugged Algorithms
Never miss a Monday - for a workout or a blog post.
CSA
Students were getting arrays faster than I thought they would. The Practice It exercises were already more challenging than the labs I was going to have them do for our "Unit 14" so I decided to move up the test a bit.
Today we did an "unplugged" algorithms activity where students needed to "sort" glasses of water from empty to full. It went pretty well. Students came up with the selection sort algorithm and the insertion sort algorithm themselves. In one class, bubble sort popped up as well.
I don't think I pushed this as far as I could have pushed it though. I think next time I would make this an unplugged day where we start with the cups of water and then have students write out the code for the algorithm they developed. Then perhaps ended with a worksheet having students trace through the Xth iteration of the algorithm.
CSP
We started back with programming on Friday. Today, I had students start to make their multi-screen apps. I am trying something new where I only grade a specific bubble of each stage - usually the "project" stage. Already, I am uneasy with it. The bubbles allow for some repetition and guidance. While SOME students don't need that, I think the majority do. I am most certainly going to have all students do all bubbles for the variables lesson because it is SUCH a key idea. I am thinking the norm should be "do all the stages", and for the 3-5 students who don't need it, they are the exception.
Concepts
I actually presented at TIES today so I didn't see this class, but they worked on an ACT test.
One Good Thing
I enjoyed presenting today at TIES today! It reinforced why workshops are more valuable than conferences. You just get a better community. I saw a lot of people I knew in passing but didn't get to really dive deep into things with anyone.
CSA
Students were getting arrays faster than I thought they would. The Practice It exercises were already more challenging than the labs I was going to have them do for our "Unit 14" so I decided to move up the test a bit.
Today we did an "unplugged" algorithms activity where students needed to "sort" glasses of water from empty to full. It went pretty well. Students came up with the selection sort algorithm and the insertion sort algorithm themselves. In one class, bubble sort popped up as well.
I don't think I pushed this as far as I could have pushed it though. I think next time I would make this an unplugged day where we start with the cups of water and then have students write out the code for the algorithm they developed. Then perhaps ended with a worksheet having students trace through the Xth iteration of the algorithm.
CSP
We started back with programming on Friday. Today, I had students start to make their multi-screen apps. I am trying something new where I only grade a specific bubble of each stage - usually the "project" stage. Already, I am uneasy with it. The bubbles allow for some repetition and guidance. While SOME students don't need that, I think the majority do. I am most certainly going to have all students do all bubbles for the variables lesson because it is SUCH a key idea. I am thinking the norm should be "do all the stages", and for the 3-5 students who don't need it, they are the exception.
Concepts
I actually presented at TIES today so I didn't see this class, but they worked on an ACT test.
One Good Thing
I enjoyed presenting today at TIES today! It reinforced why workshops are more valuable than conferences. You just get a better community. I saw a lot of people I knew in passing but didn't get to really dive deep into things with anyone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)