CS and Algorithms

Last year I knew I did a subpar job on teaching students how to write algorithms to prep their code. How do I know? Thanks for asking. I know because one of my top coding students mentioned after that year something about someone talking about this weird word, "algorithms", and she didn't know what it meant. Who was HER poopy teacher? ME!

So this year in my CS1 class, for their programs they are writing, I have made 3 extra slots on the sheet under each code:

Algorithm (signed off by Ms. D) ____________________
Code (checked by another student) _________________
Code (checked by Ms. D) ________________________

I also had a discussion about the code-checking by someone. I mentioned that if I was ultimately asked to sign off on a code, and it wasn't working, then the "signer offer" would get the BIG FROWNY FACE OF DISAPPROVAL.

Their algorithms are getting better. They started out just regurgitating my words. This allowed for discussions of algorithms being like "steps in a recipe". You wouldn't say: walk to the fridge to get the eggs to crack 2 open into the mixture. You would say: beat in 2 eggs.

I also like the fact that their code has to be checked by someone else. They then get to talk with others and see others' code and practice the art of checking code for bugs and direction following.

Teacher Mistakes and Teacher Voice

I make a lot of my own materials, and though I check things, I am human and make mistakes on keys and answer banks and such. Now I'm not saying that it's 50 bazillion mistakes on every assignment, but still.

I've just realized this year that that could be thought of as a good thing. My kids now know to be skeptical if their answer doesn't match mine. I hope that lots of them stop and think and redo their work and then in their mind if they can convince themselves that they have done no wrong, then they ask me to check things. This way: they gain confidence in their abilities, they learn to trust themselves, they don't always take the printed word at face value, they practice polite conversation in the how they approach me. Sometimes I'm NOT wrong even if they've done all this, but I use this as an opportunity to thank them for checking and to say that THIS TIME I was not wrong.

In a related type of situation, at various times when I ask questions of kids in class, and they answer, and the answer is correct, I put on a scrunched, disbelieving face and ask if they're sure or if that seems like the right answer. I've done this often enough that they stop and redo their thinking in their heads, and MOST times they go against the "ADULT" voice and say YES, that is the correct answer. Again hopefully they're being trained to stand up for themselves and their thinking.

Okay, ending with a silly joke that made all of us laugh on a much needed stressful day last week:
Q: What's brown and sticky?
A: A stick.

Calculus Practice

I'm trying to incorporate more AP Calculus multiple choice style questions throughout the year this year. I've scanned for various released documents and then changed them up with different problems but same intent. I guess this is kosher. We are not supposed to publish secure documents or let the kids take them home. I have not done that, but then I still am feeling antsy because the kernel of the ideas came from secure documents. Anyone have an opinion on that?

Here is what we/they had for homework recently. I like my last question (not from another source). I realized that the students were still not clear on the distinction between the derivative being the GENERAL tangent slope equation for ANY x versus a SPECIFIC slope at a SPECIFIC x using the general equation.

 

 

"Baby" Applications of Trig Functions

We just finished learning how to solve all sorts of basic trig equations (cos ___ = #, cos # = ____). We'll get to equations soon, but we wanted the students to see some applications right away. I didn't want the standard: Billy is standing 5 feet away from a tree and how tall is the tree problems from geometry.

I searched in my favorite precalculus textbooks for some ideas, and found some applications under the GRAPHING and TRANSFORMING of sine wave functions/equation section. With a bit of fiddling, I adjusted the problems, so that the students could just find the angle or plug in the angle.

We first had a discussion on the cyclic behavior of sine. Then we brainstormed as to what in real life gets bigger then smaller then bigger and on and on. Then I showed them this sheet. We made sure to discuss how in algebra when you are solving for a variable you have to isolate it by undoing what's being done to it. Then I mentioned that this is JUST like solving for "x" in algebra, but on "steroids".

Voila! New problems for the kidlets to tackle:

Trigonometry on the Calculator

I came up with a memory tool that I hope will help the kids remember which process to use when solving/evaluating on the calculator:

csc ____ = 5    versus     csc 25 =____

It all seems to get jumbled up together in their heads after they learn various equations on the calculator.

Entering either one on the calculator involves a reciprocal somehow, and they mix up when to reciprocate. For the first one:

 csc ____ = 5     you enter:   sin ^-1 (1/5)

For the second one:

 csc 25 =____     you enter:   1 / sin (25)

Here's what I hope will stick:

For the first one:

csc ____ = 5     the BLANK is in the MIDDLE,
so the RECIPROCAL is in the MIDDLE   sin ^-1 (1/5)

For the second one:

 csc 25 =____     the BLANK is on the OUTSIDE,
so the RECIPROCAL is on the OUTSIDE   1 / sin (25)

Many more ways to mess up, but maybe this will fix one problem.

A Nice Reminder

For the past few years, I knew which semester the students were taking P.E. For several months, they would waddle slowly into class and groan as they tried to sit down. "My butt hurts" ... "Ow" ... "50 burpees!" ... "walking lunges!" They'd seemingly "complain" about the PE teacher, and in a wide-eyed manner, regale others with astonishment at what difficult physical feats they were required to perform. This would happen basically all semester, whichever kid, whichever semester they had P.E.

Fast forward to this year. That teacher is still around, but some of the students now have a new P.E. teacher. This is what one kid told me after a few weeks had passed: We've asked her to work us harder. We want her to be tough like Coach C. She DID ramp it up a bit, but it's still not as challenging.

Huh.

Maybe what we hear as complaints is just a badge of honor that the kids are touting as they process in wonder at what hard things they can do when they are "forced" to. They are saying it out loud as sort of a "go me" type of conversational pat on the back. They complain, because they are humans and teens, but secretly they crave the challenge.

So maybe when we hear that they have SO much homework and the problems are SO hard, then we should reply, "yes, and look at how great you are doing by struggling and keeping at it". Work those brain muscles!

Correcting HWK

I'm trying something new this year both in AP Calculus and in Precalculus when the students go over their homework, and I think it's a win for me/my class/my students.

For the past several years in precalculus, I would work out the homework, place the key on the document camera, and we would painfully and slowly go over the answers while the students corrected in a different colored pen. I grade on completion since I think homework should be a time to practice. I understand (obviously) there are different philosophies on this, but I feel this works in my situation. I do watch for kids sneakily copying things in pencil and passing it off as their own. I do look over the homework later to see if they attempted all problems.

Anyway, this always took way too much class time, and most likely, students were probably not looking as closely as possible to solutions, and everyone most likely had different problems they were confused about, so some were sitting around needlessly while they waited for their particular problem to be shown on the document camera.

This year, I take my key and make enough copies for 1 per 2 kids. They silently glance over the key and correct their work. This has gone MUCH faster than before. Also, kids can see how I lay out my work and have the time to concentrate on the particular problems they need to see and have good examples of process and thoroughness (or maybe I'm just being idealistic).

I've also done this in calculus. I used to just collect the homework, then put the worked out key on the LMS site for them to check later. I'm guessing that by the time they got back the homework by the following class and had more homework to deal with, they never checked the old homework. This year in my flipped class, they have the key on their table and can carefully go over it and ask questions right when it is still fresh in their minds. Again I like the fact that they have constant reminders of how the work should look if it's thoroughly done.

Brought to you by the letter, "V"

Apparently, for now, there are only 24 letters that are "safe" in the alphabet as it is used in a high school setting. I used to toss about all 26 freely as I broke my bonds from the variable "x". X is overdone, I thought! Who made "x" the boss? Let's start sprinkling the other 25 neglected letters, I blithely demanded.

Well, starting last year, the letter "D" brought some giggles. As in, "okay students, find the "d" in this equation." TEE HEE HEE! Ms. _____ is looking for "d"! Oh my word, REALLY. THAT'S a thing now? When did that become a thing?

So this year, I stepped lightly around the "d" landmine so far. Go me! Successfully navigating the other 25 letters. No problem. ... Update: Problem.

Today in Digital Electronics, we started talking about Ohm's Law ... V = I*R. There's a nice helping tool where you put the 3 letters in a triangle and cover up the letter you are solving for, and the remaining visual tells you whether to multiply or divide to find your solution.

First problem, let's solve for voltage. "Okay kidlets, cover up the V ..."

Tee HEE HEE HEE.

What?! Oh my God people! Okay, is there a sexual reference for I? For R? Are there other taboo letters no one has told me about yet? Should I assign that as a homework assignment: free association of making EACH letter a "thing"?

Precalculus Matching Game...

Today my precalculus students were starting their journey of being able to quickly visualize the "special triangle" standard angles by matching 3 sets of things: angles in radians, angles in degrees, and graphical representation of the angle in standard position.

About 7 years ago or so I first did this activity. And in my most-likely last-minute planning that year, I didn't have baggies to store the 36 cards, so I made up something like this:

Okay, exactly this, because this is the actual "envelope" where the students would store their cards. I folded up a piece of scratch paper and bent in the sides and shoved the 36 colored cards in the packet. That year and that school I thought that kids would try to be "funny" and maybe take out one of the cards, so that the next class would not have a matching set. Who's the jerk cynical teacher that doesn't trust their students? ME!

Anyway, then it became a thing year to year and class period to class period that they would sign their name to the envelope. It was kind of fun to read over the names each year and see if I remembered the students.

Anyway, flash forward to this year. Different school from that first year, and about 7 or so years later. One student when she was signing the envelope said, "hey, my step-aunt's name is on here". I asked if she went to that school I taught at (since maybe it was just a similar name), and she said she did. Fun Coincidence! Or a case of .... look how old you are, you taught my aunt!

Reference Triangles

I had this idea to use string, masking tape, and dry erase markers so the students could explore reference triangles for the first time. I had a bunch of embroidery thread left over, so I gathered supplies:

I had my kids rip off a piece of masking tape and poke a hole through it to thread the string through then tape it to the desk. We discussed spacing issues and such, and they drew circles (eventually they were happy with them after a few erasings).

Then they drew the xy-plane with the origin at the center of the circle. (OCD note: do you SEEEEEE the pen with the cap off! It's drying out, people. CAP THE PEN!)

Then I had them get out their scientific calculators that I had them buy, and we explored sin(20), sin(380), sin(-340) and they noticed things. We then did (on the calculator) sin(160) and sin(-200). They discussed why the values were the same. Then they started moving the string around the circle.

We talked about how it didn't matter how you got there, you still got the same reference triangle (which I kept defining and bringing up) .... no notes yet. We talked about x, y, and r. We explored when the sine/cosine may be negative. I had them draw some more using their fingers and string and dropping of the perpendicular as references for their pens:

We explored when the sine value would get bigger and why.

THEN we went to notes:

I think they liked the novelty of drawing on the desks. Hopefully, the tactile aspect of creating the reference triangles will stick in their heads.

"MTBoS"

Oy! I've kept my thoughts to myself, but I've been conflicted EVERY TIME I "hear" this term come up in various posts and tweets and such. But today I just read a post claiming certain group think, and it has prompted me to post.

Maybe I'm not part of this MTBoS. Maybe I am. I don't even know. I blog. I teach math. I share resources. I find resources. I look at tweets. Here are the thoughts that go through my stubborn, ornery, contrary head every time I see those 5 letters:

* Don't tell me what to think.
* Don't speak for me.
* I don't feel that way.
* I feel excluded.
* Am I missing something.
* Am I not part of the cool kids skipping around enjoying their time on the Internet.
* No one invited me.
* Why is there a need to yell "YIPPEE" look at us so often.
* This is having the opposite effect I think it's intended to have.
* I want some chocolate.
* No. Wine. I want wine.

Maybe I'm in the minority. Maybe people didn't invite me to parties as a child, and these are the after effects. Maybe I feel awkward in a large group. Maybe I need to mull things over myself, and keep my mouth shut.

I guess mainly, I'm thrilled that there are so many teachers that are willing to allow me to peek into their classrooms and thinking and teaching journey. That's enough. Anything more, to me, is just drawing a line in the sand and potentially making people feel excluded whether that intention was there or not.

Or maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about, and I'm the only one that scrunches her face at such a "thing". Anyway, here's a sweet picture to calm me down.

Teaching Radians

Since I was testing in another class the other day and was BORED from not chatting with kids and teaching, I had some time to prepare more than an hour in advance for teaching precalculus. I tried 2 new things this year to teach radians, and I think they're keepers for me.

First I had compasses and protractors and had them make 3 different circles in their notebooks. Then they measured the radius of each and recorded it. Then they "carefully" used a ruler (my compasses are the orange cool ones with a ruler on them) to "wrap around the circle" one radius length. Then they measured the angles.

We talked about how we're human, and it will be off, but we noticed the numbers were similar. Here's the page of my notes.

The next thing that worked was a table. I made them create a table with 3 columns, angle in standard position, degree measure, radian measure. One row at a time, I would give them one of the values, and they had to figure out the other two, and then we'd discuss it and their strategies. The highlighted portion is what was given to them.

  

I liked this because it's all ordered in one table, and they can absorb it and see connections and such as opposed to my last year's notes where I sloppily just did a few around the page and put all the information on the graph.

CS First Assignment

This year I have a stacked class of CS1 (11 kids) and CS3 (4 kids) students. In CS1 I did the same first assignment as I did last year (a packet that walks them through graphics and has them create their own original picture). I basically only help them when they get stuck or when they want to do specific things NOT explored in my packet (like various colors or polygons).

This year, after being inspired by our art teacher who hangs up the kids' work around campus and most times has an "artist's statement" to go along with the picture, I decided to do the same thing. After my students finished their assignment, I asked them to type up an artist's statement about their experience and challenges and such. Loved their responses. Here are 3 samples.

Also, here is a disclaimer about my school. I teach at a public school. We are roughly 60% F.and.RL, 60% Hisp (not necessarily from the same pool). There is a strong culture of working hard and doing your best. It is a small school, so no one is invisible (for the most part). I teach girls. I mention all this so that when I show samples of my students' work you can understand what background they have that allows them to do things.

You Know You Need More Sleep When ...

... you think of something you MUST do and CAN'T forget, so you decided to send yourself an e-mail to remind you to do this tomorrow. As you are writing the e-mail (and list some other things to do), ..... you forget the original thing you needed to remember to write down so you could remember to do it later!

Oy!Okay, I finally remembered after I walked around, but seriously folks.

In other news, I'm coaching an FTC team this year for the 1st time (for me). Woot! Do I know anything about robots? Not yet. We had our "sort of 3rd" meeting today, and the students are eager, so I'm thrilled about our upcoming adventure. There is a nice, seasoned coach from another school that's being very generous with tips and guidance and such, so that will be of great help.

In other, other news. I actually signed up to run a February Marathon. Have I mentioned that? Well, I have to people at school. Several Times. Hah! I've caused them to take up running ... away from me when they see me walking towards them to mention THE MARATHON I am training for. Sounds all fancy and such ... but really, I'm only still doing a 5k and building up my time so I can do a 10minute run / 1 minute rest. I'm currently at 5:1. I guess you have to start somewhere.

First Day Report

In my Precalculus class, I did end up using the activity mentioned here. I decided to have 2 different pictures for my 2 different periods, the ISS and another cool one of a bridge. I had them spend some time wondering and such, and then I had them write one of their comments on a sticky note and we posted them in the hallway around the pictures.

Some of their comments were goofy, but I did hear some intelligent ones. If I do this again, I'll give them more time and mention at the outset that once they start thinking more and more about the pictures, they may develop more intricate wonderings. As it is, I don't think I gave them enough time or direction to get to the potentially cool thinking.

Here are some sample responses for the ISS picture:
* The ISS is a place where astronauts of different nationalities collaborate and study in space together.
* The ISS was engineered using math.
* On the ISS, astronauts suffer severe weight and muscle loss.
* Has anyone died in attempting to live out in space?
* I know that astronauts line in the ISS.
* Do you have to stay in your jumpsuit throughout your stay at the ISS?
* There are clouds.
* How many mathematicians were involved in creating the ISS?
* How much energy is required to run the ISS?
* How often do they see the sunrise or sunset?
* How exactly was this assembled?
* Does the ISS orbit Earth in a circle or ellipse?
* What happens if someone dies while they are in the ISS?
* Will they build more?

Okay, now that I read them again, there are some cool questions and wonderings. I guess if I did this again, I may on the SECOND pass have the class explore their thinking on some of the questions and get MORE questions from them.

Here are some sample responses for the BRIDGE picture:
* What is the bridge's purpose being under water?
* Does the highway ever flood? What happens then?
* What prevents water from overflowing onto the road?
* How much math was used to make this bridge to keep back the water?
* Underpass slants down towards middle of bridge. Water needs to be level to stay in one place, but bridge looks higher than grass and trees.
* How did they hold the water back when building the bridge?
* Why is the white structure almond-shaped? Why not rectangular?
* Did the builders drain the water in order to build this?
* Is there animal and water life safety nets under water in a safe distance from the bridge?
* How did the idea of the bridge start and what was the first step to build it?

Piecewise Functions...

Hello School! We meet again!

I did the first day activity previously mentioned, and I will blog about it, but I'm more excited about how we did piecewise functions today in precalculus. During the previous class we walked through an IRS example and discussed how taxes were calculated and what the graph may look like, and we did a simplified version of it and ended up with a step function for the rates. I went online to find current information.

Today, we learned 3 skills, and I think the color coding went really well. I could refer back to it for each skill, and they could see what parts went where.

Here's what the notes looked like.

Calculus Day 1

Last year in calculus on day one, my students explored local linearity on the calculator. The NEW fancy schmancy TI-nspire calculators that THAT class had experience with. This year's group is used to TI-84's, so they need some prep work. But since I wanted to start with Calculus and not Calculator-us, I'm switching what we're doing:

As I'm taking care of administrative things, they will be working on this. They know nothing about derivatives and integrals and calculus. I will not help them.

I want them to see the difference in difficulty from the left pictures and the right ones. I want them to see the possibilities that exist. I want them to struggle with strategies. I want them to remember some geometry. I want them to think about reading graphs. I want them to be intrigued.

Afterward, we will discuss the "words" that define calculus: a study of rates of change, instantaneous values, ...

And the Award Goes to.....

ME - for "Continual False Expectations in the Face of Reality"!

Thank you everyone who made this possible. I couldn't have continued my fantasy of thinking I'd be TOTALLY Friday-ready for the Monday-arriving students if you hadn't smiled and nodded and pretended right along with my dream world. There should be doctoral research on that part of my brain that flies against the force of 16 years of contradictory evidence, that THIS year, REALLY, I'll totally get everything done by Friday. Yes. Yes I will. Copies would be made. Details would be hammered out. Room would be Fun! Kicky! Inviting! All. By. Friday.

In other news: I'll be spending the weekend at school actually finishing these things.

Arts and Crafts

I made my new planner for the year. I found various funny and inspiring images on the computer and cut and paste and printed. Then I put them on the front and back and inside covers, and I mapped out the calendar. I also covered it with packing tape.

Do you see that in February? What's that, you say? Why yes, I did register for my first marathon, thank you for asking! I plan on being very obnoxious and mentioning it often. I figure if I'm enough of a jerk about it and talk about it ad infinitum (ooh, $10 words!), then I will be forced to follow through.

I was inspired by a student who ran the marathon last year, AND by this blog entry from The Blog of Impossible Things. I keep running across the word "epic" lately, so I'm taking that as a sign to try and have an EPIC year.

Wrapping It Up

Just back from a last-minute trip to DC and Canada. Didn't know if I was going to go this year because of jury duty, but I risked it (the probability was low due to being called in in late July) .... see! Math in action!

I had fun touring DC while my husband did work stuff. I saw my oldest friend - funny story: I've known her one year longer than I've known my husband. In fact, I was with my friend when my "future husband" walked up to us at a "welcome back grad students" shindig and tipsily started chatting us up. In fact, come to find out YEARS later in a "how did you two meet" conversation, my husband mentions that, "yeah, you were both okay, I would have dated either one of you." Hmmmmm. Anyway. Saw my oldest friend and went to the Newseum. Awesome. It costs $$, but it was still fascinating. Here is the 9/11 section with random people caught in the shot.

I also finished the 3 dolls I made for little kidlets (niece and niece-in-laws????). I thought I would do a montage of the dolls along the trip, but they were so wobbly, that it ended up looking like they were drunk the whole time. I like it. There is a margarita picture for good measure.

Whoa! What a night! Let's revive with some java!

And what do we have here? Let the games begin!

Who ARE those crazy girls? I'm just here to look cute and innocent.

Clothes? What is this archaic nonsense?!

Relaxing location of the in-laws cottage.

Their leaves are already starting to turn! It was a high of high 60's the whole time we were there. WAY different than Central Texas.

School starts with PD this coming Monday. I was SO going to go in early and unpack and get settled. But then the crabby, perimenopausal me said, "No!". The cranky me said, "Go out and enjoy the rest of the summer with a bang!". So, that's what I am going to do for the next few days. I wonder who's going to pay for it next week. Any guesses?