Desmos Fellows Day 2
DESMOS FELLOW BLOG POST #3: Reflections on a full day of learning, inspiration, and meeting more amazing people in the math community
Desmos Fellows Day 1
DESMOS FELLOW BLOG POST #2: Arriving into Denver for the first day of the conference
Preparing for Desmos Fellows ‘24 Weekend!
DESMOS FELLOWS BLOG POST #1:
Packing + getting ready to fly out to Denver, CO.
Alternative Grading Conference 2024 Wrap-up
Last week, I attended one of the best virtual professional development series ever: The Grading Conference 2024. Even though this was geared toward Higher Ed professors, I got so many excellent ideas and got an inside look at the new ungrading trend sweeping across college campuses all over the country. Reflections, Resources, and links included!
Algebra II Final Exams + AP Calculus Summer Work
Here I describe two of my final tasks at the end of each school year: creating a fresh final exam for Algebra II (this year I incorporated multiple choice for the first time ever) and updating my AP Calculus summer work assignment.
Just Finished with 2024 AP Calculus Reading!
This was my first year working as an AP reader for CollegeBoard - here are details of my experience!
My Reflections on Live Oral Test Revisions
A couple weeks ago, I posted a blog post on my idea to try out live, in-person oral test revisions for a past polynomial test my Algebra II students took. I had mixed feelings on the entire experience - here are my thoughts and reflections!
Notebook Guidelines for High School Math (interactive notebook)
Throughout this whole school year, as I’ve been grading student work and checking video notes, I’ve been keeping a running tab of things I want students to work on for next year. These things vary from how they write their work when solving equations, to notation issues I want them to work on from the start, to how they organize their notebooks. Check out my full discussion of new ideas for next year!
2nd Annual Elementary Math Competition!
Today my high school hosted our district’s third annual city-wide elementary school math competition, featuring Math Olympiad style questions. Each high schooler was assigned to a team of four 5/6th graders to facilitate the competition, grade their work, report their scores, and get to know them. Overall, it was a great day!
FRQ Practice Ideas for Next Year
It’s that time of year again…my seniors have gone, I find myself with a bit more unstructured time during the school day, and my mind is flooded with ideas to try for next year and things to improve. I typically use my increased free time to look up ideas, read math blogs, and brainstorm alternate approaches, and I always find this process exciting and hopeful. Here is one of my AP Calculus goals for next year.
Rediscovered Diff. Eq. application problems + Seniors’ final days
There are only two days left with our wonderful seniors: Class of 2024! Their final exam projects are wrapping up and final grades are almost done. I also just came across two great Differential Equations applications problems that I had saved years ago and lost track of.
Trying out Google Calendar’s new ‘Appointment Schedule’ feature for ‘Oral Test Revisions’
I am trying out an alternative to my typical test corrections: oral exams where students solve new problems individually at the whiteboards in my room to demonstrate improved understanding and mastery of material they initially struggled with. I am using Google Calendar’s appointment schedule feature for the first time to allow students to book time slots. I am also having students complete a self-reflection first on their initial assessment.
2024 AP Calculus BC FRQ’s are here!
The moment we’ve been waiting for this week is here! The AP Calculus FRQ’s are available to view. Although the scoring rubrics won’t be available for several more months, I did out the problems and created my own solutions and predictions on point allocation. This post includes discussion of the questions.
A Very Relevant WSJ Article on Worldwide Population Crisis
Today I got home from work after doing a population versus food supply problem with my students, and I found this article as I was reading through the WSJ newspaper. SO relevant, interesting, and thought-provoking! Definitely bringing it into class to share.
What to do with Seniors after the AP Exam: 2024 version
Every year I think carefully about how I will spend my final week before my seniors graduate and leave. This year I a switching things up and creating a new final project for them to create: a letter to a future student with a Demos polar designed crest!
Castle Attack: Final AP Calculus Review Game
After years of intending to try this easy-to-use game, I finally used to today in AP Calculus and it went really well! In this post, I describe how I set up the game, how I will improve it for future use, and share the problems I used.
The FINAL AP Calculus lesson: Sigma <--> Integral notation
Once we reach the end of the year in AP Calculus BC and ALL content has been covered, I circle back to the beginning of Unit 6 and spend one class period focusing more on how to convert from sigma notation to integral notation. This is a great review of proper notation, limits, and Riemann sums. In this post, I share the resources that I use to help students master the technical notation.
One Year Blog Anniversary :)
Reflections on ONE YEAR of my blog: my own little corner of the internet!
A Polar Prom
Commentary on our seniors’ final weeks, including information on our school’s prom and discussion on how I introduced and taught polar functions in AP Calculus BC.