Work It Out

There are some days I'm completely boring as an educator, however today wasn't one of them. Today I took the liberty of aligning myself with the great rap artists of our time and tried my hand at "flowing". I did so to the best of my ability, but without a gold grill, iced out chains or any other paraphernalia that might make me seem more legit. Yes, be impressed/horrified. 

This masochism  was my somewhat manipulative attempt at engaging my students and forcing them to commit to memory the steps for solving 1 and 2 step variable equations. The human brain stores lyrics and music in long term memory differently than other learning. I'm no brain surgeon [little known fact], but I do know that I personally remember thousands of song lyrics from the age of 3 to now, yet if you asked me about all that high school AP History/Bio/English stuff I read/studied so much or [let's be honest] even the plot of a movie I watched a couple weeks years ago, I would come up close to blank. So, the goal of this activity was for them to have fun while learning and retaining an important concept they'll need to be successful in Algebra 1.

Luckily, they were into it.

STEP 1: Cue "Walk It Out"-Instrumental Version a la YouTube.If you are familiar with this rap's beat and chorus, you will know that this is literally an ingenious remix of the original. Well, maybe not ingenious, but "Walk it Out" does lend itself beautifully to my new chorus "Work it Out" (as in solve an equation). Thanks Unk!

STEP 2: Distribute "Work It Out" lyric sheets to students. This  was later filled in with lots of explanation and examples. Note-taking trickery at it's finest.

STEP 3: Show Powerpoint slides and rap my little heart out [read: embarrass the crap out of myself]. The PPT features the following slide shown during each repetition of the chorus:

STEP 4: Repeat, repeat, repeat with students. In case it was even a question, my students definitely did a MUCH better job than I did. 

The plan is to perform in class on Friday with individuals doing the verses, and then the whole class jumping in to repeat the "work it out, work it out, work it out, work it out" chorus and of course, get crazy dancing. I told them that if their performance is good enough,and if everyone gets at least 85% on the test Friday, then I'll put up these rappin' mathematicians' video on You Tube. If they can work out how to "Work it Out" well enough between today and friday,I've got some work to do. 

Oh and also, please refer to my from this point forward as "A-Latz". I think that'll build up my street cred before my 2013 performance.

What's Your Superpower?

          I adore the blessed life I have, and I love my job. It may have take 5 years, but I’ve hit my stride and I’m having a BLAST teaching this year. I chose to go back to teaching math (Algebra Readiness) after a 3-year hiatus. While I enjoy English Language Arts better as a learner, I think I am a much better teacher of Math. I think this is because ELA came naturally to me as a student, and math has been a historically BIG struggle. It’s harder to see where others may struggle when something seems/comes so easy. I was the kiddo with tears rolling down my cheeks during math tests (yes, in high school even…) because I was so frustrated by numbers and formulas. I didn’t get it, and I thought it would never “click”... but it did eventually and I want to share the hope that there is a beyond the frustration with these guys and encourage them to keep trying when they can't feel that hope. I’ve studied and learned when, where and how to break concepts down to the basic level and scaffold back up again. I feel confident in my abilities. I absolutely love seeing the light bulbs go on; it makes my heart happy when their confidence increases and they feel good about their accomplishments as students of math and in general. 

Below are a couple pictorial collages of some of the work my students are doing with a decimal unit:

                           Rounding Decimals: Notes and reminder rhyme

                        
                      Adding Decimals: Lesson Plan/Supporting Activities

Another great thing about 2012-2013 is that I looped with my students, so I get to enjoy teaching the same entertaining bunch I had as 7^th graders for their 8^th grade year. They have matured a teeny, tiny bit over summer, already know my OCD classroom routines and most importantly that I care about them before the curriculum; “students will not care how much you know until they know how much you care”. Nothing to prove there to start the year off, leaving me with little-interrupted time to get these guys ready to pass Algebra 1 in high school.  That’s no easy task. Every 85-minute period is JAM PACKED. We move from agenda item to agenda item every 5-15 minutes to keep them engaged and on their toes. I need a nap after every period. It’s exhausting, yet fun and exciting work. The best part is that my students seem to be on board to learn a lot this year. Case in point…below is an excerpt from an email I received from a parent of one of my new caseload students,who struggled through 7^th grade, which made me smile:

“Thanks so much Ms. Latimer, I was going to email you and ask about his progress as he had to attend the 2nd chance meeting and he was very hard on himself after that meeting, even though I tried to tell him it was NOT completely his fault [student qualified for Special Education services at the end of the school year]. Since he has started this year, he told me that you are able to help him become a better student and as a mother, it really made me HAPPY.”

:)

Inspiration/Procrastination

In attempts to fully recover from a flu that's had me laid out for 72 hours and counting, I took the day off work. But, stress ball that I am, I'm sitting at a Peet's coffee shop hammering out as much of the NINE IEPs I have scheduled for this month as I can so that I don't get behind. Well, at least that is what I'm supposed to be doing. Clearly, I've taken a detour. I blame Pinterest. In case you have been living under a rock (or just use your time more wisely than I do) Pinterest is a time-sucking, reminder of all the things I could ever possibly want but not afford, yet absolutely impossible to tear myself away from site. Occasionally though, I do draw inspiration and not just feed my covetous, consumer tendencies. I saw/"re-pinned" this today:

Hard to argue with Einstein who was, by all accounts, a genius....and also alleged to have some type of learning disability, dyslexia or something... As soon as I saw this quotation, I thought of the amazing, unique, brilliant little fish I get to teach everyday and the obligation I have to help them discover their individual genius, and to dispel the lies that they or others place upon them that they are "stupid","incapable", etc...Special Education is too often a label that automatically limits the expectations that teachers have for students and that students have for themselves. My aim is to change that and help these kiddos find out what they were created to do and do well. Multiple Intelligences survey next week? Hmmmmm....