Sometimes I spend so much time working on math that I forget about my primary role, which is as a special education liaison to 18 students (I don't really forget, but it feels a bit like I have two very different jobs). My caseload is all juniors and one freshman. My almost-seniors and I have been together for 3 years and I'm so excited about their senior year. That said, almost every year our guidance department has mixed up some of their scheduling that I did not notice until we had started the fall semester. This disrupts everyone's schedule which is really uncomfortable for anxious students. As a result, after 3 years teaching, I've created a document to track my students' services. It's a sheet that I can use a quick reference to know what services my students should be scheduled for because the faster I can confirm that their IEPs are being met, the less disruptive it is once school begins.

I'm leaving the PDF version here, but if you'd like the editable word document, just comment with your info and I'll send it along. If you have any ideas of what to add to it I'd also love to hear from you too.

TL;DR

This is the "Too Long; Didn't Read" posting. Another work in progress. I'm going to dump articles I want to read but don't have time for at the moment. I'll move articles out and reflect on them once I read them.

1. Noticing & Wondering: A Powerful Tool for Assessments by Mark Chubb

2. 5 Changes That Saved My Sanity by Mary at Teaching With a Mountain View

Lesson Parking Lot

The Golden Frame

I come across so many amazing lessons (mostly on twitter) that I want to remember. Since I'm hired as a special education teacher that teaches math, instead of a math teacher, I don't get very many opportunities to plan curriculum. So, often, I save the lessons to my computer or to my favorites and I forget they exist in the tiny moments when I get to contribute more fully to what we are teaching (as opposed to how it is taught which is generally my wheelhouse). All of that said, I hereby dub this space a Lesson Parking Lot.

I'm going to accumulate lessons that I would like to come back to. For now, they will probably be random. In the future, I would like to organize them by subject and type. This space will remain a work in progress for that reason.

1. The Golden Frame by Fawn Nguyen

The gist of it is:
You give students a piece of artwork. You talk to them about how expensive it is to frame. You have them use a predetermined piece of paper to try to mat the photo. Students may become sufficiently frustrated with the activity and try to come up with some math to figure it out.

2. The Famous Bridge Problem by Fawn Nguyen

The gist of it is:
This is the famous bridge problem where there are 7 bridges and you can only cross each once. Fawn breaks down the question and asks her students to investigate whether different scenarios are possible. I think this would be a good lesson for Math Workshop or Applied Math.

Ideas for Algebra 2 Math Workshop

I'm concluding my second year as the Math Workshop teacher. At the moment I have mix of Algebra and Geometry students. It's a para and myself and we make due, but it's difficult to have such a range of students who all have different needs. Next year, there will be three math workshops. One for Geometry, one for Algebra 1, and one for Algebra 2. I'll be teaching the Algebra 2 Math Workshop. Below are my ideas that I want to come back to and develop to support my Algebra 2 students:

Number of the Day - I want to make a warm-up sheet that has students practice important skills on a daily basis with a different number each day. I want the sheet to become habit. I want the skills to be practiced so much they become second nature. I started last year using one that both geometry and algebra students could participate in. I want to be able to refer back to these skills throughout the year. I'd like them to include solving multi-step equations, distributing, square roots, exponents, listing factors, finding multiples, etc.

Interventions - I want to spot when a students needs an intervention (for factoring or solving equations or graphing) and I want to have the materials right then and there to address the issue and practice it until the student feels comfortable. I think I can do this with scaffolded tasks. Also with a large amount of practice questions that differ from those found in classwork and homework. I will also need a way to determine if an intervention is needed.

Attitudes towards Math - I want to address my students feelings towards math. I want this to be a part of our daily routine. One idea I had was having students choose a math goal from this list found on twitter from Renee Chipman:

1. To learn & value mathematics.
2. To learn to think flexibly & strategically.
3. To become confident in my ability to do mathematics.
4. To become proficient problem solver.
5. To learn to communicate mathematically.
6. To learn to reason mathematically.

I think that I can do this by brainstorming with students what these look like in action and how they can be achieved. Then I'll have students choose one that they would like to work on this year (or this semester) and we can track them through actions taken. Perhaps I can create questionnaires based on each goal for students to periodically complete to reflect on their progress.

This list is a work in progress. I will add new ideas as they occur to me. If you are reading along, please provide feedback and ideas. I could use all the help I can get.

Next Year's Schedule

Being in Special Ed has its perks. Because my students need to be scheduled first to ensure their service delivery grids are complied with, the special education teachers at my school get to find out our schedules for next year first. Here's mine:

We have a 7-day rotating schedule with 2 dropped periods per day. It was incredibly difficult to get the hang of, but I think I've sorted it out by now. This will be my third year co-teaching Algebra 2 with the same co-teacher. I'm start a new co-teaching relationship this year for Applied Math. I've never taught Algebra 2 by myself, but will do with ALC Algebra 2, which is a substantially separate Algebra 2 class. I'll have the support of one paraprofessional in this class. Last is Math Workshop, this will be my third year teaching this as well. This year Math Workshop, which is a support class, will have a new spin. This year it will only be Algebra 2 students. I've been supporting Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 students in one class for the last two years. I'm excited to have students all working on the same type of math in one class.