I don't have too much to say right now, but I will talk a little bit about what I am currently working on. Right now, I am creating a worksheet for chapter 6 of the Algebra One book ("Build Exponential Functions and Models"). The worksheet centers around the process of carbon dating. As always, I will post this once I have finished it. I think my goal is still to have 3-4 more worksheets done (really I'd like to have 4, but 3 is also okay) by the end of winter break. I have a pretty good system going just in terms of how many hours I am putting into my project per week and when I am working on it, so I hope I can keep up the momentum through the end of the semester. And with that, I can't really think of anything else to say, so I guess I will end here. Goodbye!
0 Comments
I'm a little late on this blog post, but I met with Ms. Lepi recently to discuss my fall goals/timeline. Right now, I am working on creating answer keys for the worksheets I made over the summer (since many of them don't have one particular answer, I am really just doing "sample solutions"), but I also plan to create 3-4 more worksheets before winter break.
One thing I've realized is that going through and actually completing the worksheets myself is probably the best way I can analyze their quality. I've had several moments where I'll be doing a problem and I'll realize that it is actually quite a bit harder than I thought (or quite a bit easier). I am having to rework a few things that I am now not so sure about. Oh well, I guess the final product will be better for it. Yesterday I met with Ms. Lepi just to check in about my summer work, and I am feeling pretty good. At this point, I have technically completed my summer goal of creating 5 worksheets, though I will likely make a 6th before school starts. Although I kind of feel like I spent more time over the summer doing "wasted work" than not, I feel pretty happy with what I came up with (though I do have a few revisions that I know I will make). Ms. Lepi and I also discussed a way to potentially test the activities. My project is no longer centered around teaching (rather, I will just be making a more expansive set of activities), but it would still be helpful to get some feedback to see what works. I might talk to an algebra one teacher (maybe Mr. Lapolla) to see if they would be open to giving a worksheet to their students. I don't have much of anything interesting to share in terms of notes/bibliography (most of what I do gets translated directly into a worksheet), so I've included the worksheet I made for Chapter 3 in the algebra I book.
I guess we're getting to the home stretch when it comes to summer work. I will say, deciding to base my activities/worksheets around the Severn curriculum was definitely a good idea. My plan is to create one activity per chapter which incorporates as many of the relevant topics as possible. So far I have made activities for chapters 1/2 of the Algebra I book and am almost finished with chapter 3.
Chapter 2 centers around linear equations (standard and point-slope forms)/graphs, linear functions, slopes of lines, and transforming graphs of functions. For the activity, students have to imagine they are starting a business to sell a product (they can choose whatever business model/product they want). However, since funds are a bit low, they first have to pitch their company to the bank to secure a loan. Students have to figure out the total costs of their operation, how much money they will charge, how much money they will ask for, what their profits will be, etc... For their pitch, the students have to model the costs and profits graphically and as linear functions, analyze the slopes, and use their info to calculate how long it will take them to pay the bank back. Then, they'll make their case in a brief presentation (1-2 minutes) to their peers. As extension questions, they have to consider a few cases where their profits end up being different than they expected, and transform their graphs to accurately represent the scenario. Another thing. At a certain point, I will have to turn what I've made into more formal worksheets that could be printed out. Right now, they are just kinda thrown together in notability among my notes. I think I'll worry about that later though. 2nd July post. I ran into a bit of a hump a few days ago; I spent a couple hours making a lesson on math in music composition, only to realize that what I had at the end was a a lot of words and very little activities/interaction. I enjoy writing, and as a result I have a general tendency to write a lot (I don't frequently turn in essays significantly under the word limit). I guess that's one thing that I will have to check myself on as I keep working.
Some topics are more conducive to creating good activities than others, so I might also have to acknowledge that the topics I am interested in may not always be the best fit for the kinds of things I want to create. On a more positive note, I had an idea that I think will give my project a lot more structure. I was sort of worried that I might just end up with a big list of random worksheets without much of a narrative. To help organize things and give me ideas, I am going to try to stucture a good deal of my project around the Severn math curriculum. I asked Mrs. McMahon to send me a picture of the table of contents of an Algebra I book (just taking a quick look at it gave me some ideas), and I am collecting a few other old textbooks from some people. Here are some demo sketches from one activity that I made. The activity is to create a map of a room (I chose my living room here) with objects the proper size and in their proper place relative to one another. The idea is to gain a better understanding of ratios/proportions and their application to maps. Okay, I'm back. I had about a week where I wasn't working on this project, but so far I've made decent progress. At this point, I have done a good amount of research and "completed" 2 out of five lesson plans I intended to make this summer. Of course, they are not finished products and I will definitely be tweaking them (possibly reworking them entirely, who knows?) in the future. That being said, I feel pretty good about what I have as a starting point.
On another note, I think I have a much better idea of what I'm actually going for with these things now (and it's a little different than what I had in mind before). Rather than making complete lessons, I think my project is going to end up as more of a bunch of supplements. What I'm going for is to create mini packets/worksheets which consist of a short write up and activities. The idea is that a teacher could theoretically use them to "spice up" a typical math lesson by exploring a topic through a real world lens (which, of course, is my primary goal here). Today I had my first meeting with my project mentor (thank you to Ms. Lepi for taking on the role). We discussed my overall project and summer goals. I realized that I need to more carefully consider my target audience before I get too far into this. My initial idea was to create activities ideal for middle school math students, but I am now considering lessons for older lower schoolers as well. Ms. Lepi also gave me the idea of linking my project somewhat with the Severn math curriculum. One of my tasks for the near future will be to reach out to a few teachers in the middle and lower schools to ask what sorts of topics they think would be most beneficial for their own students to see in these lesson plans I will be creating. Other than that, I am still hoping to create five lesson plans over the summer. While that is my goal right now, I really don't know how much time and effort will go into creating each one. For this reason, I think I will have a more accurate idea of the feasible amount of lessons I can create once I've actually begun making them.
On another note, I began reading the book 50 Visions of Mathematics by Sam Parc and Dara O'Briain. This books includes 50 essays on various unique mathematical applications and challenges. I think that a good number of them could translate really well into the sorts of activities I am looking to create, which gives me optimism for my research. At the summer leadership lab, we plunged right into things, creating a pitch for our project, a timeline, and establishing our summer goals. I think I have a pretty solid idea of what I need to do moving forward; I will probably spend the next few weeks doing as much research as I can. Attending the leadership lab definitely cleared up some of the uncertainties I had about doing a fellows project, but it also made me think more about the sheer amount of time and effort that I will be putting into this. My greatest concern is that, because there is a significant creative element to my project, I will experience some sort of "creative block" which prevents me from making a final product that I am satisfied with. More than anything though, I am excited to get started!
|
Details
Archives
May 2021
Categories |