I think this will be a new favorite! I'm waiting until the 21st for the new Smash Bros. for Wii U releases.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Gold Mystery Photos & Prize - Week 3
This week, I decided to give things a little break with Super Mario 3D World and I brought in Mario Kart 8. A few of the students were excited to try this title as some have never played it before, and I think they were a bit tired of SM3DW. We had a blast!
Friday, October 3, 2014
VSC Math Mathletes Feature #1
The Mathlete page showcases a picture of some of our talented mathematicians, a video feature regarding their current thoughts and opinions about math, and a showcase of some of their recent work in VSC Math!
Student Feature # 1 - G & K
Congratulations to G & K for their excellent teamwork, responsibility, effort and collaboration. They are the very FIRST Mathletes to be featured on the VSC Math Palace! Here is a picture and their opinion on how they feel about math currently:
Student Feature # 1 - G & K
Congratulations to G & K for their excellent teamwork, responsibility, effort and collaboration. They are the very FIRST Mathletes to be featured on the VSC Math Palace! Here is a picture and their opinion on how they feel about math currently:
Homework Help #1 - Finding the Unit Rate
Homework Help #1 - Finding the Unit Rate
(note: the top of the sheet should say "unit rate" not "unit price")
(note: the top of the sheet should say "unit rate" not "unit price")
Homework Help
The Homework Help page is intended to be a guide for students to
complete specific homeworks, and also a resource for students to
re-visit prior topics covered in class. It features specific homework
monitors that I go through homework with at the end of the day.
There are different homework monitors from each class, so different students will be featured on different homework help posts. Please understand that there is simply not enough time to make videos and update this section daily. Try to check it once a week towards the end of the week or weekend.
There are different homework monitors from each class, so different students will be featured on different homework help posts. Please understand that there is simply not enough time to make videos and update this section daily. Try to check it once a week towards the end of the week or weekend.
The Golden Mystery Prize - Week 2
Congratulations to class 603 for beating the first boss and making it to world 2!
Congratulations to the NEW groups that earned 4 tokens to play this week!
Congratulations to the NEW groups that earned 4 tokens to play this week!
Let's continue to earn gold tokens to make progress in Super Mario 3D World!
Introducing: Mathletes, Homework Help, and Slideshow
A great deal of why I haven't exactly posted this week, is because I've been spending time putting up the new pages for the blog. The first new page
is the slideshow, a place where you can view pics of our class,
advisory, or Wii U Thursdays, or anything else related to my math class.
I've also started the Mathlete page, which will give students their own voice on the blog as they share their ideas and opinions about their current experiences with math as well as my class. Students have to redeem 4 gold tokens to be featured.
Lastly, I'm starting the homework help section today. I do not think that this section will be updated everyday. I simply do not have enough time, but I will try to make this as decent of a resource as possible for students to check out when they go home.
In any case, VSC Math has had a great week. Let's keep up the good work!
I've also started the Mathlete page, which will give students their own voice on the blog as they share their ideas and opinions about their current experiences with math as well as my class. Students have to redeem 4 gold tokens to be featured.
Lastly, I'm starting the homework help section today. I do not think that this section will be updated everyday. I simply do not have enough time, but I will try to make this as decent of a resource as possible for students to check out when they go home.
In any case, VSC Math has had a great week. Let's keep up the good work!
Going Once...Going Twice....Not Sold...
For some weird reason, VSC Math Gold and Silver pencils are NOT a popular choice for rewards! It's almost as if students don't care about the fact that they will be the only ones with these pencils (because nobody else has chosen them), nor the fact that they say something cool, nor the fact that there's only ONE way to get each pencil!
Shouldn't they feel empowered? Shouldn't they feel excited? In students' minds, getting a chance to play the Wii U is the ultimate prize. I don't have a degree in marketing, so I have to find a way to sell these other prizes. Literally NO group has chosen these pencils! I have been using them myself...I'm sure they feel under-appreciated.
In fact, the most popular prizes in VSC Math are:
Gold Tier - Wii U/SM3DW
Silver Tier - Lunch with Mr. E (Just naming the prize, I promise I'm not that vain...)
Bronze Tier - Fruit snacks (well, there's only one other prize in this tier to be fair)
Shouldn't they feel empowered? Shouldn't they feel excited? In students' minds, getting a chance to play the Wii U is the ultimate prize. I don't have a degree in marketing, so I have to find a way to sell these other prizes. Literally NO group has chosen these pencils! I have been using them myself...I'm sure they feel under-appreciated.
In fact, the most popular prizes in VSC Math are:
Gold Tier - Wii U/SM3DW
Silver Tier - Lunch with Mr. E (Just naming the prize, I promise I'm not that vain...)
Bronze Tier - Fruit snacks (well, there's only one other prize in this tier to be fair)
Tokens - Week II Review
This week was the second round of VSC Math Tokens. I am happy to say that this system is still running strong and stable. I have to schedule a few lunches with students on Monday, but aside from that, it's still manageable. Class 603 is running strong, with the entire class obtaining 4 gold tokens for the week. Quite impressive! I am happy to say that all of the groups from the other classes have a high mixture of gold and silver tokens (i.e. 3 gold 1 silver, 2 gold 2 silver, 3 silver, 1 gold, etc.)
While my goal is for each group to earn 4 gold tokens, I have to be quite consistent with my expectations for what type of behavior/classroom performance earns a gold token. On Wednesday, I had to take ALL tokens away from class 602, and spend time practicing lining up outside of the room and entering the class. What was interesting to me when this occurred is that I did not seem to be affected by it at all. Last year, I would be very distressed about this type of situation, but now I know the answer to this situation. That is, we have to review and practice expectations before we proceed any further (with anything). We had a discussion at the end of class about what we needed to improve on and why I took tokens away. They were flawless the next day (Thursday, double period) and I was very impressed. Unfortunately, I did not return their lost tokens. I gave each group a fruit snack except 2 groups that actually met the expectations on Wednesday.
The life of this reward system is more about my consistency than their behavior. I am happy that in 1 month, I've only had to have 2 classroom discussions. Class discussions seem to be VERY effective. I am actually amazed that a mere dialogue about what we've done wrong, and what we need to do as a class can shift students to do the right thing and earn/reclaim their tokens. I want students to understand that tokens are just representations of what their group is capable of.
While my goal is for each group to earn 4 gold tokens, I have to be quite consistent with my expectations for what type of behavior/classroom performance earns a gold token. On Wednesday, I had to take ALL tokens away from class 602, and spend time practicing lining up outside of the room and entering the class. What was interesting to me when this occurred is that I did not seem to be affected by it at all. Last year, I would be very distressed about this type of situation, but now I know the answer to this situation. That is, we have to review and practice expectations before we proceed any further (with anything). We had a discussion at the end of class about what we needed to improve on and why I took tokens away. They were flawless the next day (Thursday, double period) and I was very impressed. Unfortunately, I did not return their lost tokens. I gave each group a fruit snack except 2 groups that actually met the expectations on Wednesday.
The life of this reward system is more about my consistency than their behavior. I am happy that in 1 month, I've only had to have 2 classroom discussions. Class discussions seem to be VERY effective. I am actually amazed that a mere dialogue about what we've done wrong, and what we need to do as a class can shift students to do the right thing and earn/reclaim their tokens. I want students to understand that tokens are just representations of what their group is capable of.
Week Overview..
It's been almost a week since I've posted! This week we started to learn about unit rate and unit price, a topic that seems to get students quite confused. In addition to students needing to first understand what a unit rate/price is, they also need strong long division skills. This can take a lot of time if students don't know multiplication facts, or if they don't know how to do long division at all. I want students to practice long-division skills on their free time at home on khanacademy.org or through other means. It is so crucial to this particular topic in the current unit!
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