Day 161 Writing Stories from Vacation

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.RP.3 Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations. a. Make tables of equivalent ratios relating quantities with whole-number measurements, find missing values in the tables, and plot the pairs of values on the coordinate plane. Use tables to compare ratios. b. Solve unit rate problems, including those involving unit pricing and constant speed. For example, if it took 7 hours to mow 4 lawns, then, at that rate, how many lawns could be mowed in 35 hours? At what rate were lawns being mowed? c. Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100 (e.g., 30% of a quantity means 30/100 times the quantity); solve problems involving finding the whole, given a part and the percent. d. Use ratio reasoning to convert measurement units; manipulate and transform units appropriately when multiplying or dividing quantities. MA.3.e. Solve problems that relate the mass of an object to its volume.

6.NS.2 Fluently divide multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm.

6.NS.3 Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.

6.EE.9 Use variables to represent two quantities in a real-world problem that change in relationship to one another; write an equation to express one quantity, thought of as the dependent variable, in terms of the other quantity, thought of as the independent variable. Analyze the relationship between the dependent and independent variables using graphs and tables, and relate these to the equation. For example, in a problem involving motion at constant speed, list and graph ordered pairs of distances and times, and write the equation d = 65t to represent the relationship between distance and time.

The Objective: Use decimal operations to solve problems in a real-world context

Agenda:

1. Hand back and go over last week's weekly quiz
2. Let students begin this week's weekly quiz in class
3. Work on vacation projects
1. Finish number crunching
2. Write stories
3. Create poster/project portion of the vacation project

The Assessment: I circumvented the room as students worked on their weekly quizzes. Students were given feedback on their vacation projects by myself and also had a partner to check in on their work and thinking.

Glass Half-Full Take: Today I implemented a three strike rule. As students worked on the weekly quiz I told them I was going to be strict to ensure that the learning environment was quiet and distraction free. I was reading The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle and got my inspiration from the KIPP school. Leaders from the school discussed how important it was to have students practice good habits and learn the protocols of the room. My first year in my own classroom I had the three strike rule. I had some difficult students that year discipline wise and this was a nice system to combat the classroom management issues. Toward the end of this year students are getting itchy and I thought this was a necessary step. It went well. Perhaps I will use this full time next year and students will have to see this again this year.

One Regret: This vacation project has carried on too long. I think next year I will advocate that the paper portion of this project is removed to decrease the amount of time we spend. I might also remove the presentation portion. I think the students are also growing tired of it and that is causing them to lose focus on the math goals.

Link of the Day: A daily warm up routine that resembles many things we use in sixth grade.

Day 160 Vacation Project Percentages

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.RP.3 Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems, e.g., by reasoning about tables of equivalent ratios, tape diagrams, double number line diagrams, or equations. a. Make tables of equivalent ratios relating quantities with whole-number measurements, find missing values in the tables, and plot the pairs of values on the coordinate plane. Use tables to compare ratios. b. Solve unit rate problems, including those involving unit pricing and constant speed. For example, if it took 7 hours to mow 4 lawns, then, at that rate, how many lawns could be mowed in 35 hours? At what rate were lawns being mowed? c. Find a percent of a quantity as a rate per 100 (e.g., 30% of a quantity means 30/100 times the quantity); solve problems involving finding the whole, given a part and the percent. d. Use ratio reasoning to convert measurement units; manipulate and transform units appropriately when multiplying or dividing quantities. MA.3.e. Solve problems that relate the mass of an object to its volume.

The Objective: Set up a proportion given a template to find the percent given the part and the whole.

Agenda:

1. Collect weekly quizzes
2. Finish gas calculations
3. Calculate the percent of the vacation budget each purchase makes up
4. Review the graphic organizer with the class about how to write the story
5. Write the story 

The Assessment: Even though every student got answers that were unique to them since they paid different amounts for flights, hotels, etc. they all paid the same amount for food. They all paid $250 of their $3,000 for food, so I put this question first on the percentage sheet to help me quickly recognize if they could accomplish the objective. Overall the results were very positive. Students actually had far greater difficulty rounding to the nearest tenth of a percent than they did getting the percent.

Glass Half-Full Take: One of the greatest challenges in this project is that groups are on several different phases of it. I'm used to teaching everyone the same idea at the same time, but the reality is that every kid is in a different place with their understanding of the material. This project enables students to work at a faster pace if they finish their work and sufficiently meet the objectives. Typically in class I don't always do this that well.

One Regret: We came up with the graphic organizer on the fly. I have found in six years of teaching that the best ideas typically do happen this same way. Consequently communication among all of the teachers is sometimes lacking, but it is not intentional. This graphic organizer was done with the help of the learning needs teacher. We managed to incorporate topics such as inequalities, the median, and averages into the story.

Link of the Day: Reward programs for good attendance were actually shown to have negative effects on attendance at a school for third graders in India.

Day 159 Vacation Project Day 3

6th Grade Standards: 6.NS.2 Fluently multiply, add, subtract, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm. 

The Objective: Use decimal operations in a real-world context 

Agenda: 

1. Checkbook notes
2. Write checks to the places you are going, airlines, etc.
3. Get the cost of gas
4. (Optional) Pick another activity
5. Do the percentage breakdown of your trip
6. Plan the poster, brochure, etc.

The Assessment: I checked in with groups in the back of the room one at a time.

Glass Half-Full Take: Students are doing a solid job annexing zeroes, dividing by whole number divisors, and multiplying by factors that both have decimals. All the while this is a completely real-world context. I think if I asked students why we need to learn about decimals they could easily cite what we are doing right now.

It was also encouraging to see them write checks. This is a skill that most students were unfamiliar with and is an obvious life skill. I did add the caveat that many of these things are usually paid for with cash or credit card of course, but there are certain things that are more reasonable to do here. 

One Regret: The students need to be more delicate with the Chromebooks. We had one screen break today. I will review protocol for taking the Chromebooks out of the cart and handling them at their seats as well tomorrow. 

Link of the Day: Minimum wage versus cost of living 

Day 158 Vacation Project Day 2

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.2 Fluently add, subtract, multiply and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm.

The Objective: Multiply, divide, and subtract decimal numbers in a real-world context.

Agenda:

1. Weekly Quizzes returned to students
2. Flight, hotel, and rental car prices locked in (if not already)
3. Brainstorm ten activity ideas in the journal (no computer needed during this time as it will distract students from creativity)
4. Discuss with partner and do 3 of the ten activities.
5. Pay for the 3 activities (look up prices online)
6. Add the total miles from the hotel to each activity
7. Find the cost of gas 

The Assessment: At the end of the day I verified that students put in a cost for each of their three activities as well as the part of the project that should have been completed yesterday. I did not assess the mileage piece but intend on doing that part tomorrow. A couple students are struggling with subtracting a decimal number from a whole number.

Glass Half-Full Take: The connections to mathematics in the real-world are crystal clear in doing this project. Students that are going outside of the United States are finding that their distances from the hotel to the activities are in kilometers instead of miles and many of their prices are listed in Euros as opposed to dollars. This opens up numerous more opportunities to illustrate why ratios and proportions are relevant to our projects. Selfishly, I happen to be traveling to Madrid and Barcelona this summer and a couple of my soccer enthusiasts are going in that direction on their vacations. I'm actually interested in stealing some of their ideas for my own trip.

One Regret: I wish that we had added on the sheet that lists the activities an address and also an address for the hotel that they are staying at. It would make searching for places much easier. I lose track of the fact that these students have probably never needed to use the GPS to get from Point A to Point B because an adult is usually taking care of this skill. Therefore I am needing to teach students how to use google maps (something I do at least once per week in order to find a new place).

Link of the Day: Speaking conversions versus the dollar, here is a look at mathenisms (that isn't a real word...at least not yet) of the UK versus the U.S.

Day 157 Vacation Project Introduction

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.2 Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation.

The Objective: Subtract decimals from whole numbers in a real-world context

Agenda:

1. Collect all weekly quizzes from students
2. Explain the vacation project I changed the directions to say calculators were not allowed and it was five nights instead of four nights
3. Let students pick their destinations
4. Let students pick their flights including departure dates
5. Students had to calculate the difference between the $3000 they spent and the cost of the flight was
6. Let students pick their hotels 
7. Students subtract the hotel price from the remaining money in their budget
8. Let students pick their rental car
9. Students subtract the rental car price from the price remaining in the budget

Glass Half-Full Take: The number of choices the students have makes this a very engaging lesson. It's also an excellent learning experience for students. They are budgeting, gaining experience with vacation planning, utilizing the web to shop, etc.

One Regret: I met with the other three teachers after the classes today and we each shared valuable takeaways from today's classes. The other teachers did not have the students start their checkbook ledgers and I did. I wish that I could have taught students how to write a check first.

Another adjustment we needed to make is to find a consistent place to label and show the work. For instance, students should have a place where they write "flight" and then do the subtraction within that space. It could be on the back of the checkbook ledger.

I also on the fly decided it would be a good idea to assign mini deadlines as "homework." It would be really classwork, but would give the students the opportunity to know what is expected of them and further have an incentive to deliver on the expectations. I did not formally assign today, but will tomorrow as we move onto day two of the assignment.

Link of the Day: Ontario teachers refusing to give standardized testing. I never made the connection before, but what would happen to real estate without standardized tests?

Day 156 Honors Placement Test

6th Grade Math Standards: Many of them

The Objective: N/A

Agenda:

1. Give students the open response portion of the honors placement test
2. Have students work on the weekly quiz for the rest of the block
3. Have students work on the open response portion of the honors placement test in the next part of class
4. Have students continue to work on the weekly quiz
5. Give students the opportunity to finish the mean absolute deviation surveys from the previous class

Homework: The weekly quiz will be collected as a homework assignment in the next class

The Assessment: The honors placement test open response is graded by me and the multiple choice part is graded by Scantron. We do this test as a sixth grade math team every year to give us a common assessment to determine eligibility for honors.

The weekly quiz will also be assessed for most students in the next class (although the students that passed it in early today did it get checked).

Glass Half-Full Take: My main concern going into today was that students who had no chance to get into honors would be done in two minutes and then distract students that were not done quickly. Fortunately the students were great and some were still asleep because it is Monday.

One Regret: It's easy to say why give this test to every student even though some students would not qualify. To me though, it's very hard to draw the line and even harder to suggest to all the other students "you are not worthy of taking this test." I have no regrets about administering to every student, but I do have regrets about the pressure-packed nature of this test. A couple students told me that they did not want to be in honors. I understand their sense of worry. I wish that we were not in a culture right now of high-stakes tests and making students fearful of math.

I also thought that we could have altered two questions because they did not really reflect sixth grade questions.

Finally, a third regret I had with the honors placement test was that it came only one class (and one weekend) after the students finished MCAS. Again though, this is just something we cannot control. We need some type of common assessment that takes place at the end of the year to most accurately reflect where students are. All of this would be cured of course if the MCAS results were given much quicker than they are. Then we could simply take the MCAS results and use that as an end of year benchmark.

Day 155 Mean Absolute Deviation Survey

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.5 Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context, such as by:
a. Reporting the number of observations.
b. Describing the nature of the attribute under investigation, including how it was measured and its units of measurement.
c. Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.
d. Relating the choice of measures of center and variability to the shape of the data distribution and the context in which the data were gathered.

The Learning Objective: Find the mean absolute deviation of a data set.

Quote of the Day: The sun and wind debated about which was the stronger, and the wind said, “I’ll prove I am. See the old man down there with a coat? I bet I can get the coat off him quicker than you can.” So the sun went behind a cloud, and the wind blew until it was almost a tornado, but the harder it blew, the tighter the man clutched his coat to him. 

Finally the wind calmed down and gave up, and then the sun came out from behind the clouds and smiled kindly on the old man. Presently, the man mopped his brow and pulled off his coat. The sun then reminded the wind that gentleness and friendliness were always stronger than fury and force. 

Agenda:

1. MCAS Reflection
2. MAD Survey
3. World's Biggest Burger (although time did not allow)

The Assessment: I asked students in all three classes three questions about MCAS using the TurningPoint software.

The first question asked them to state from 1 to 5 (1 being hard and 5 being easy) what they thought about the MCAS. Not a single student selected 1. The highest percentage of students (roughly 60%) picked a 4. The next highest percentage picked a 3.

The exact wording of the second question was this, "What do you wish you had more practice with?
A.Measurement (Area, Volume, etc.)

B.Ratios (meters compared to centimeters, miles per hour, etc.)

C.Algebra (distributive property, variables, etc.)

D.Statistics (median, mean absolute deviation, etc.)

E.Number sense (dividing fractions, decimal operations, the number line, integers, etc.)

F.Not sure

In two out of three classes nobody picked measurement, which I found interesting because that historically has been one of our worst strands. Ratios and number sense were particularly high. Students specifically mentioned percentages and unit conversion when it came to ratios and fractions when it came to numbers. They also talked about converting between percentages, fractions, and decimals as something that was problematic.

The third question asked students what strand they had most confidence with, and not surprisingly given the results to the prior question most of them picked measurement. The second most popular response was statistics, which also was not surprising given that it was the topic that we taught most recently.

In addition to these assessments, I also checked to see all students asked a statistical question as part of the mean absolute deviation survey. I did not however have time to check students work beyond that on this assignment. Instead I worked with individual students that were giving me difficulty in terms of classroom management. All of these students were difficult for me in part because they had no idea how to find mean absolute deviation, so this was appropriate for them.

Glass Half-Full: Not included in the assessment I also gave students a question about how I spent my birthdays. They had to pick what one thing I had never done on my birthday out of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, mini golf, and bowling. One of the students said, "Pin the Tail on the Donkey was popular back then." I made a really big deal out of this statement because she basically called me old. The class got a kick out of it.

One Regret: The mean absolute deviation survey is engaging and elicits student buy-in to the value of getting a mean and a mean absolute deviation. Unfortunately nobody in the class finished and we could not share the results. We probably won't be able to resume this activity because we are doing the honor's placement test in class on Monday and starting a project on Tuesday. Something has to be cut and this makes sense given that all teachers were doing something different today. If classes were not shortened in order for us to watch a movie today we would have had more time to fit this in.

Link of the Day: Egg Russian Roulette with Anna Kendrick and Jimmy Fallon. A nice introduction to fractions or probability. I would probably just pause carefully around the 2:02 marker. It's the only moment where things get a little dicey.

Day 153 & 154 MCAS

Grade 6 Math Standards: All of them

The Learning Objective: The learning objective of the last 152 days combined

Agenda:

1. Take the MCAS
2. Movie/Game --> The kids needed the break

The Assessment: MCAS results will come out in the fall

Glass Half-Full: I was talking to my colleagues and I expressed little regrets about the process for how we got to this point. The results are going to be whatever they will be, but that's somewhat out of my control. The process is within my control and within our control as teachers, and while we can make improvements next year I think the overall effort to get the students where we got them to this point was pretty close to our highest potential.

One Regret: I feel bad for students that have to take this test who happen to struggle with the English language. I don't think it accomplishes anything for anyone, but again this is out of my control.

Link of the Day: This is a list of math blogs courtesy of a #slowmathchat on Twitter.

Day 152 MCAS Eve

6th Grade Math Standards: All of them

The Learning Objective: Reach your potential on the MCAS

Quote of the Day: "Everyday there are more than 3 billion people living on less than $3 per day." - from Burn Your Goals

Agenda:

1. Review the MCAS Simulation
2. Do a TurningPoint that involved 4 questions (outlined in the assessment)
3. Read The Little Engine that Could
4. Vocabulary Game (Celebrity) 
5. MCAS Pep Rally

The Assessment: The turning point asked students to find what was not true about 5x + 3

A) 5 was the coefficient
B) It was an algebraic expression
C) There were two terms
D) It was equivalent to 8x --> Around 50% of students picked this one

Students were also asked to find what two numbers were relatively prime. They had not seen this concept before, but it is in the standards. In two classes, zero percent answered it correct. I gave them another question after going over the results. The average after this second question was right around 80%. Guess I'll have to live with that.

Finally I asked what the formula for a trapezoid is and gave students an option that said they could find it on the MCAS reference sheet. This was clearly me teaching to the test with one day until the test.

Glass Half-Full Take: Every year we do a pep rally to get the students fired up about taking MCAS and lower their anxiety about the test. We showed this video of our teachers and students dancing and danced live on stage as our Title I teacher pretended to be Bruno Mars. Another of our teachers through on some old school sons (This is How We Do It) and the students waived their hands. Students had great energy and everyone enjoyed themselves.

One Regret: In my hardest class to manage I could have had a "timeout" during the vocab game to make sure everyone was playing the right way and doing what they needed to do. In the groups that I started out with playing, they flourished and got the most out of the activity. Other groups that did not have much direction were unmotivated and unproductive. This is an excellent engaging game that I have used countless times over the years and I would say 90% of the students really get into it. The classroom management portion of it in this particular class was more challenging than I was used to dealing with in years past.

Link of the Day: It is not enlightening to know that if parents do not have a high education it has an averse effect on their children. I was a little surprised to see the extent of this though. See the chart on the attachment on page 88.

Day 151 Mean Absolute Deviation Day 3

Grade 6 Math Standards: Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context, such as by:
a. Reporting the number of observations.
b. Describing the nature of the attribute under investigation, including how it was measured and its units of measurement.
c. Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.
d. Relating the choice of measures of center and variability to the shape of the data distribution and the context in which the data were gathered.

The Objective: Compare the mean absolute deviation of two different data sets

Quote of the Day: “Having faults means you’re human; you’re alive and breathing. There’s nothing wrong with having faults so long as you work conscientiously to correct them. How hard you work at correcting your faults reveals your character.” - John Wooden

Agenda:

1. Math May Mayhem
2. MAD HW Review
3. NY Yankees Salary
4. Pop Quiz!

The Assessment: The pop quiz was graded in class by the students. I told them that I trusted them to grade their own papers.

The Math Mayhem went fairly well today. Some of the answers that students gave for the question about the lawns and hours were phenomenal. It was good to get some diversity of answers as well on this question.

Glass Half-Full Take: I have not given a pop quiz all year. I did not officially count what we did in class today as a pop quiz, but it was great to see the results of the pop quiz were overwhelmingly positive. I also had a heightened sense of urgency from students to make sure they got the material. Granted this leads to bad outcomes too (that they are learning math for the grade rather than the sake of learning math), but I have had an increasingly hard time rallying the students of late to put forth their best effort in terms of sustained focus. I got this with the pop quiz. I promised students that did well that I would add points to their weekly quiz (again something that is somewhat bad but I didn't want to seem like a villain to students who did well).

One Regret: This day was the perfect example of why standards based report cards rock. If students could have gotten a "4" for the mean absolute deviation standard after they proved they found the mean absolute deviation it would be an appropriate grade. Some students demonstrated mastery today and I did not reward them for it because we have to give quizzes on certain days and the policy we have as teachers is that we always give study guides before tests and quizzes (a policy that needs to be looked at in the future).

Day 150 Mean Absolute Deviation Day Two

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.5 Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context, such as by: a. Reporting the number of observations. b. Describing the nature of the attribute under investigation, including how it was measured and its units of measurement. c. Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered. d. Relating the choice of measures of center and variability to the shape of the data distribution and the context in which the data were gathered.

The Learning Objective: Find the mean absolute deviation of a data set

Quote of the Day: "Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become habits. Watch your habits for they become your character. Watch your character for it becomes your destiny."

Agenda:

1. Review the quiz
2. Mean absolute deviation recap - the third page on the link with a thumbs up and thumbs down
3. Try one mean absolute deviation problem. I chunked it by stepping in for students after each step in the problem.
4. At the start of the second class do May Mayhem (4 problems on distributive property, dividing fractions, dividing decimals in a real-world context, and surface area)
5. Go back to mean absolute deviation the last thirty minutes of class with the data set 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Homework: Find the mean absolute deviation of a data set (either 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or one slightly more complicated).

The Assessment: After each step on mean absolute deviation students could circle a thumbs up or down as to whether or not they understood the step. This confirmed for me that students struggled most with the second step of finding the distance each data value is from the mean.

The May Mayhem assessment proved once again that students struggle with distributive property, but we continue to grow with the concept. We spent three full days on this topic earlier in the year, another day with a quiz on it, part of another class reviewing that quiz, and revisited this topic several times in March Madness and through weekly quizzes. This is undoubtedly one of the hardest topics for the sixth grade mind to master and retain. It's easier when they have numbers, but even then I'm not sure students understand beyond the fact that they can attain an answer to the question 3 (2 + 4). They fail in large numbers to recognize that 3 x 2 + 3 x 4 is an equivalent expression. They simply get stuck on the idea that the value of the expression is 18.

The percentages were higher today on all questions, but that's because I was answering many questions the students had before they were clicking in. That's part of the job as teacher of course, but I just feel it's necessary to point this out since all topics in May Mayhem are supposed to be review.

Glass Half-Full Take: Given the data set of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 I had just about a whole class successfully find the mean absolute deviation provided that they could view their notes. I had no issue with them using notes - I know most people in our country would not be able to identify what a mean absolute deviation is.

One Regret: Given that the distributive property is still an issue after all we have done this year, perhaps we should have done something more hands on or created a lesson that is more engaging, but I reached out to my Twitter followers and asked if they had ideas. We took their ideas of creating a problem on the floor and having the students jump from the outside of the parenthesis to the inside. We used algebra tiles. We weaved it back into weekly quizzes and warm up problems. We even exaggerated the idea by having students solve a really long problem such as 5 (2 + p - r + 3). None of it worked. It's hard to have regret about the effort, but I do want to make a note that I want to go back to this strand of the standards and try something even more creative next year. Maybe I will do something like this where I have sixth graders go around asking clueless seventh graders to apply the distributive property.

Link of the Day: I really got a kick out of the link above. If you need a laugh it's good. The one with Robinson Cano is also really funny.

Day 149: Displaying Quiz & Mean Absolute Deviation Introduction

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.4 Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and box plots.
MA.4.a.Read and interpret circle graphs.

6.NS.5 Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context, such as by:
a. Reporting the number of observations.
b. Describing the nature of the attribute under investigation, including how it was measured and its units of measurement.
c. Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered.
d. Relating the choice of measures of center and variability to the shape of the data distribution and the context in which the data were gathered.

The Objective: Find the mean absolute deviation of a data set; construct a line plot and box plot; analyze histograms, dot plots, and box plots

Quote of the Day: "A carpenter was fixing to retire and tells the company he works for he was through building houses. They ask him to build one more before he retires. He agrees and through the process of building this last house he begins to cut corners, uses cheaper materials, doesn’t use the same precision in which he used to and basically built an inferior home. When he’s done he gives the keys to his boss and says here you go I’m done. The boss returns the key and says thanks for all your hard work and dedication to this company. This home is yours and we appreciate you. Obviously, had the carpenter known he was building his own house he would not have cut corners. You are building your house every day and you don’t even know it.”

Agenda:

1. Take the displaying data quiz (for one class only I did mean absolute deviation because we only had 15 minutes until lunch and I didn't want them to start the quiz before lunch)
2. Fix the weekly quiz (MCAS Simulation)
3. Introduce mean absolute deviation

The Assessment: The results of the displaying data quiz were solid overall. The class seemed to understand all concepts. Some common student errors were confusing a box plot and a line plot.

Homework: Students just had to work on their MCAS Simulation (WQ #25) if it is not already completed.

Glass Half-Full Take: It is always encouraging to get solid quiz results, but especially the quiz before students are about to take the MCAS test as they are next week. This could be our last traditional quiz of the school year since we were going over a couple of projects during our curriculum meeting today. We shall see.

One Regret: I just wish that I had given a simple exit ticket for the mean absolute deviation lesson. Something as simple as "tell me about one step that you need to take in finding mean absolute deviation." I did walk around the room as students calculated mean and found how far numbers were from the mean. It was rather surprising that only one or two students raised their hand to say that they remembered what absolute value means.

Link of the Day: Minecraft has been cited as an engaging way to enlist students in common core standards and one school district in San Diego is taking full advantage. It is not yet measurable to see if this has had a positive impact on achievement, but related metrics such as attendance indicate that the insertion of the game in the classroom has been effective.

Day 148 Displaying Data Study Guide

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.4 Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and box plots. MA.4.a. Read and interpret circle graphs.

6.NS.5 Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context, such as by: a. Reporting the number of observations. b. Describing the nature of the attribute under investigation, including how it was measured and its units of measurement. c. Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean) and variability (interquartile range and/or mean absolute deviation), as well as describing any overall pattern and any striking deviations from the overall pattern with reference to the context in which the data were gathered. d. Relating the choice of measures of center and variability to the shape of the data distribution and the context in which the data were gathered.

The Learning Objective: Construct a box plot; analyze a histogram, box plot, and line plot; construct a line plot

Quote of the Day: “There is a greater correlation between self-confidence and achievement then there is between IQ and achievement.” - John Maxwell

Agenda:

1. All students did an MCAS Simulation first thing in the morning. The other teachers generously accommodated us and we shortened classes for the rest of the day.
2. The MCAS Simulations were given back to the students with highlights on wrong problems and then given an opportunity to reflect on how they did. I told all the students that the wrong problems are part of their weekly quiz for this week. 
3. Review homework on histograms
4. Do the study guide in partners
5. Review the study guide as a whole class

The Assessment: I graded the MCAS simulation after students left for encore classes. About four students in each class had completed it after this amount of time. This was somewhat encouraging because I do want students to feel like they should take their time. The results were mixed. I had a couple surprises, but overall on a student level I thought kids were reaching their potential.

On a math standards level, it is clear that the two greatest hurdles students faced among the assessed standards were getting the part given the whole and a percentage and writing a number as the product of its prime numbers.

In terms of the homework, students were having a hard time identifying what was meant by frequency versus what is meant by the intervals (#4 on page 875).

I went around the room during the study guide and thought overall students were meeting the line plot standards fine. Depending on the class, it was also apparent that the homework review was helping students in their mastery of histograms. I made the study guide do for homework in all classes.

Homework: The study guide had to be completed. For a time I considered putting the answers to the quiz online tonight, but I ultimately did not have time to scan it as I had a meeting directly after school. Students also need to fix their MCAS simulation in the next couple of nights.

Glass Half-Full Take: I liked the way that the quote of the day was incorporated with the reflection of the simulation. I told students to believe in themselves and that smarts really do not matter because they are completely out of their control. It's been a theme all year, so it was nice to reiterate the day we do the dress rehearsal for the standardized test.

One Regret: I wish I could have put the answers to the quiz online today to reward students with good study habits, but hopefully they are rewarded anyway.

Link of the Day: This was research was done about twenty years ago, but can still be helpful today. I know wait time is always something I have struggled with.

Day 147: Histograms Day Two

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.4 Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and box plots.
MA.4.a.Read and interpret circle graphs.

The Learning Objective: Construct a histogram

Quote of the Day: "A strong leader accepts blame and gives the credit. A weak leader gives the blame and accepts the credit." - John Wooden

Agenda:

1. May Math Mayhem
2. MCAS Announcement
3. Histogram Practice (depending on the class)
4. Histogram Construction - Tom Brady
5. Start the homework

Homework: page 875 - page 877 #1-4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13-16, 18

The Assessment: The May Mayhem helped me confirm what I already suspected. Students forget how to graph and write inequalities. This is something that I was glad to insert into May Mayhem. I will try to put it in again this week. Students went from 5% correct on the distributive property question to 33%. I was not sarcastic when I said to the class that the growth was tremendous. Hopefully tomorrow we take another step forward. Finding the area of a triangle is something that will not be revisited again this week because approximately 90% of students have this mastered.

In addition to what was done on the Math Mayhem, students were assessed on their ability to construct a histogram. Within this objective, students had to also find equivalent intervals (this was the greatest hurdle) and label the axes. I assessed them by forcing them to check in with me before they began their homework.

Glass Half-Full Take: I added a question to March Madness today about Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao's boxing match from the weekend. Floyd Mayweather was paid $180 million and received 60% of the money that was given out (called the purse in boxing). If Pacquiao received the rest, how much money did he receive?

I took this question because I overheard one of my students say 60% in the morning when talking about the fight. The students were astonished to see how much the fighters made, but hopefully they also were astonished to learn how they could find what each fighter made in terms of percentages.

One Regret: To borrow a line from a former administrator, the inmates are getting restless. In one class, no matter how many times I cued students to work they were not responding. I think slowing down directions and confirming students are getting the information step by step will help to keep them engaged. I also think that no matter what I do, kids are going to be kids as the weather gets increasingly better.

Link of the Day: A little cinco de mayo lesson courtesy of Yummy Math.

Day 146 Histograms Introduction

6th Grade Math Standards: Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and box plots. MA.4.a. Read and interpret circle graphs.

The Objective: Analyze a histogram; construct a histogram

Quote of the Day: I read aloud page 211 - 214 from How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age. The pages talked about how a fifteen year old went from taking 52 minutes to get all of his multiplication facts to under 8 minutes in a month through effort and celebrating minor victories.

Agenda:

1. May Mayhem
2. Review Box Plot Homework - done with the clickers
3. Which set of numbers does not belong?
4. Introductions to Histograms
5. Histogram Practice

The Assessment: Today was a little disjointed. The May Mayhem took longer than I anticipated because students were not recognizing how to find equivalent expressions using the distributive property. In one class only 5% of students got this concept. That forced me into reteach mode. Overall the top scoring in each class came to 85% getting the meters per second question, 95% getting the volume of a fractional edge rectangular prism, 43% getting the distributive property question, and 73% getting the algebraic expression question. By the time we got done May Mayhem in classes plus going over the homework, there were only ten minutes left.

In one class, the kids did a problem out of the book for an assessment. In another I simply went up and down rows as they worked on the histogram practice linked here. The trouble overall on the day was that I did not leave much time for us to truly master the construction of the histogram so that was not truly assessed.

Glass Half-Full Take: I enjoyed the discussion the class had regarding which of four sets of numbers  does not belong. The numbers represented ages of people and were as follows:

Set A: 8 -12
Set B: 43 - 47
Set C: 199 - 203
Set D: 30 - 35

Depending how it is argued, any of the groups do not belong. I was a little surprised that more students did not reach this conclusion - or at least pick more than one data set. Most went for Set D and argued that the range was 5 in that data set and 4 in the rest.

One Regret: In my first class, we were creating histograms before we were analyzing histograms. I think it's essential to analyze first because otherwise the intervals is a wall that impedes students from getting to comprehension.

Day 145 Creating Box Plots

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.SP.4 Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and box plots. MA.4.a. Read and interpret circle graphs.

The Objective: Create a box and whisker plot when given a data set

Agenda:

1. Jumpstart
2. Homework Review
3. Creating box plots
4. Eric's Cell Phone (second side of the link)
5. Creating a Box Plot Homework
6. Identify 12 values based on a box and whisker plot (see picture below)
7. Weekly Quiz #24

The Assessment: Students did not get the homework passed out to them until they had proven they could create a box plot using the data that was given with Eric's cell phone plan.

I also collected the jumpstarts. The results of the division problems on this jumpstart were not very good.

Glass Half-Full: The picture above of a student identifying 12 values that would work based on the box and whisker plot was an idea I thought of the previous class as a way to get students to think deeper. It ended up being a perfect way to keep students that needed a challenge engaged while students that struggled with the objective got feedback. It always feels good when a lesson is differentiated and lowers my stress level as well.

One Regret: On the homework, problem number four is already done for the students. I needed to have students cross this out so that they knew not to do anything or get confused. Unfortunately I was passing out homework at all different times because of the way that students were assessed today. I will take this problem out next year to avoid confusion.

Link of the Day: The Jen Ratio - which basically says that we are better off watching positive experiences on television than we are if we watch negative experiences on television.