Sunday, February 3, 2008

So Long ...


Just a few parting thoughts: you're capable of achieving great things when you put time, energy, and effort into it ... don't let the sky be your limit. ;-)

I'm so glad we've had this time together,

Just to have a laugh or learn some math,

Seems we've just got started and before you know it,

Comes the time we have to say, "So Long!"


So long everybody! Watch this space for pointers to new blogs for each of my classes.

Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu, and all those good bye things. ;-)

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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Class Survey Results

The course is over and we did a little survey in class. The results are below; 20 students participated. If you'd like to add another comment on what you see here email me or leave a comment below this post.


Without any further ado, here are the results of our class's survey. Please share your thoughts by commenting (anonymously if you wish) below .....


Classroom Environment
The questions in this section were ranked using this 5 point scale:

Strongly DisagreeDisagreeNeutralAgreeStrongly Agree
12345


The bold numbers after each item are the average ratings given by the entire class.

1. The teacher was enthusiastic about teaching the course. 4.25

2. The teacher made students feel welcome in seeking help in/outside of class. 4.21
(19 students answered this question.)

3. My interest in math has increased because of this course. 3.55

4. Students were encouraged to ask questions and were given meaningful answers. 3.90

5. The teacher enhanced the class through the use of humour. 3.50
(19 students answered this question.)

6. Course materials were well understood and explained clearly by the teacher. 4.05

7. Graded materials fairly represented student understanding and effort. 3.80

8. The teacher showed a genuine interest in individual students. 3.80

9. I have learned something that I consider valuable. 4.20

10. The teacher normally came to class well prepared. 4.30

Overall Impression of the Course
The questions in this section were ranked using this 5 point scale:

Very PoorPoorAverageGoodVery Good
12345


1. Compared with other high school courses I have taken, I would say this course was: 4.20

2. Compared with other high school teachers I have had, I would say this teacher is: 4.15

3. As an overall rating, I would say this teacher is: 4.37
(19 students answered this question.)

Course Characteristics

1. Course difficulty, compared to other high school courses:

Very Easy
5%
Easy
30%
Average
60%
Difficult
0%
Very Difficult
5%


2. Course workload, compared to other high school courses:

Very Easy
5%
Easy
5%
Average
60%
Difficult
25%
Very Difficult
5%


3. Hours per week required outside of class:
(19 students answered this question.)

0 to 2
47%
2 to 3
26%
3 to 5
11%
5 to 7
5%
over 7
11%


4. Expected grade in the course:
(15 students answered this question.)

F
0%
D
13%
C
33%
B
40%
A
13%


Specific Feedback
[Ed. Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of students, over 1, that gave the same answer.]

What was your best learning experience in this course?

scribe posts
mental math (5)
group work and discussions (3)
banking (2)
the blog (6)
spreadsheets (2)
trigonometry
the SMARTboard (2)
nothing
learning in front of the class at the SMARTboard
ratios
fractions
the wiki
everything


What was your worst learning experience in this course?

geometry (3)
trigonometry
nothing (3)
BOB (pre-test reflections)
asking questions
waiting to get help
when I didn't understand something
spreadsheets
measurement
no time to do homework in class
grop work
mental math
I kept forgetting things


What changes would you suggest to improve the way this course is taught?

the teaching is perfect (3)
announce quizzes in advance
more reviews before tests or quizzes
nothing (3)
I want to improve everything
talk slower
SMARTboard was distracting
less homework
bring food
let us do homework in class
always have a party
stay the same
I like the way you teach
make the course more fun and funny



It's interesting to compare the items that were considered both the worst and best learning experiences. Also, take a look at the list of worst learning experiences compared to suggestions for next year. Help me do a better job next year by commenting on what you see here ....

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Today's Slides: January 23

Here they are ...



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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Today's Slides: January 21

Here they are ...



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Exam Time!

As your final exam approaches, it made me remember a day some 6 years ago when I was to write an extremely important exam.

I was mindful to get some sleep just prior to the exam and hoping that you will too for this reason:


The bottom line: Teens need 9.25 hours of sleep per night
In experiments done at Harvard Medical School and Trent University in Canada, students go through a battery of tests and then sleep various lengths of time to determine how sleep affects learning. What these tests show is that the brain consolidates and practices what is learned during the day after the students (or adults, for that matter) go to sleep. Parents always intuitively knew that sleep helped learning, but few knew that learning actually continues to take place while a person is asleep. That means sleep after a lesson is learned is as important as getting a good night's rest before a test or exam.

At the risk of sounding "mom-ish", have you taken this into consideration in your preparation to be your very best for your test??



On my test day, I was just about to leave for the testing center when I asked my husband to wish me luck. "No," he said, "I won't do that." I was crestfallen. I felt like I needed one last boost before the "big" one.

Then he continued, "You don't need luck. You're smart. You're prepared. You're good. I believe in you. Go out there and just do it!!!! I'll be here when you get back."

It's time for me to pass that forward to you! You don't need luck. You're smart. You're good. You're well prepared (thanks to your hard work and Mr. K). I believe in you. Go out there and just do it!!!!

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Monday, January 21, 2008

THE LAST BOB

Since it is the last blogging on blogging i'll try and make it as specific as i can. To be honest i am not as strong as the other students or shall we say my classmates when it comes to this course. There is still many things i have trouble on understanding such as for example :


A.) It's hard for me to understand the metric system
B.) Like how many is a yard
C.) If 1 feet = 12 inches


Another thing i have a lot of trouble is the SOH CAH TOH procedure :

i get confused over similar angles on how to find them, once the procedure is shown unto i seem to get it. But once it comes in a while i start to forget how to do it again, i basically have a difficult time on how to figure certain things over again.

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Last Blogging on Blogging

Well, let me be the first to say this:

It was Joyce who told Mr. Kuropatwa to do this.

Anyways, you can't change the past, you can only survive it. It has been a long five months, but this class is coming to an end. . . thank God. Anywhooo, as my last blogging on blogging will be on what I found easy and difficult.

Well, I found everything easy in this class. Sure, there were difficult questions here and there, but I solved through them.

I think for the things I found difficult, the only two things that come to mind are:

1) When do you have to convert ratios to have the same units?

2) Converting Imperial to Metric.

Other than that, I'm all good! I just have to remember the formulas however :\

FORMULAS

PERIMETER/CIRCUMFRENCE

Triangle: P = a+b+c
Rectangle: P = 2 (L+W)
Square: P = 4s
Circle: C = πd OR C = 2πr

AREA

Triangle: A = 0.5bh
Rectangle: A = LW
Square: A = s2
Circle: A = πr2
Parallelogram: A = bh
Trapezoid: A = 0.5(Base 1 + Base 2)h

SURFACE AREA

Rectangular Solid: SA = 2WH+2LW+2LH
Sphere: SA = 4πr2
Cone: SA = πrs (Slanted Sides Only)
Cylinder: SA = 2πrh+2πr2
Pyramid: SA = Area of Base + Perimeter of Base x Slant Height

VOLUME

Rectangular Solid: V = LWH
Sphere: V = (4/3)πr3
Cone: V = (1/3)πr2h
Cylinder: V = πr2h
Pyramid: V = (1/3)b2h

This was my very last Blogging on Blogging! I had fun in our Math Class! Good luck to everyone on the exam! =D

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