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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Last BOB

Hi Its Joyce!! =)

Throughout the semester, I have learned so much during my time in math class.

I think my most strongest point is the 'Wages and Salaries' Unit.
Remember these are the steps to calculate Gross Pay with overtime and regular pay.

Step 1 Add all the hours together
Step 2 Figure out your overtime hours (Subtract total hours by your regular hours)
Step 3 Overtime pay = (wage)(Overtime hours)(overtime rate)
Step 4 Regular pay = (wage)(regular hour)
Step 5 Gross Pay = Overtime pay + Regular Pay

My second strongest point is the 'Personal Banking' Unit
We learned about cheques and transactions. Just remember to keep track of what you are spending, so you don't get ripped off. =)

My third strongest unit is 'Consumer Decisions' This is my favorite. Alot of fun, fun, fun!
We learned how to...
- find the unit price of one
- find the GST, PST, or HST.
In my opinion, this unit was the best yet because you can actually use your knowledge from class to figure out the exact amount of money you are going to spend. Which I did, and surprised that my friends ask me how much something costs. They actually said I was smart 8)


My fourth is the 'Geometry' Unit. I already knew this kind of stuff from past experience.

My weakest topics are ratios. Sometimes I just don't understand alot of times. To be honest, ratios are hard for me and hard to understand. =)

This BOB isn't much. But if you want help, feel free to ask ;D I'll be available anytime if you want help, tell me in advance ;D

Good luck in the exams =)

To end this BOB, I am grateful that I get to experience math in a different way using the smartboard. It was really fun participating and writing on the board. I am also happy that I get to share this experience with you guys =)

Good luck to you all in the future =)
Joyce

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Today's Slides: January 21

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Thanks from the University of Regina

Hi everyone,
My students and I have had the wonderful opportunity to watch your progressions in your Consumer Math 20. We are all very grateful to have been able to act as mentors, to have commented on your posts, and to have learned from your feedback. I feel that my students, who will someday be teachers, have gained a better sense of what learning can look like in classrooms when an appropriate amount of technology is used. You are very lucky to have Mr. Kuropatwa as your teacher as I know he is someone that really "gets it", and he understands that learning is about connecting, and that learning is an important activity at all ages.

I work in a Faculty of Education where I help university students learn to become teachers. If any of you ever consider a career in education, I'd love to be able to give advice to you. Here is one of my favourite quotes about teaching.

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~William Arthur Ward
I'm am hoping that you have been inspired by this math course and by your teacher. We have been inspired by your work, and the work of Mr. Kuropatwa. It is still amazing to us that we have been able to connect to you in this way. Perhaps, someday, these connections will reappear.

The students of ECMP 355 and I want to wish you all of the best for the future. We want to thank you for teaching us, and working with us. Take care, and good luck to you all.

Dr. Alec Couros
Faculty of Education
University of Regina
http://www.educationaltechnology.ca

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Friday, January 18, 2008

Today's Slides: January 18

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Today's Slides: January 17

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

What we learned in class today was how Angles could be viewed by different ways on how people may look at it. I learned that ANGLES OF DEPRESSION is a type of shape if you were to view it looking downwards, it doesn't matter where you look there always seems to be a shape. Also another type of angle i learned in class was ANGLES OF ELEVATION, how you may see an angle just be looking up or at the sky, there would always seems to be a shape no matter how you see it.

For Triangles i learned how SOH CAH TOA is used :
Sin = Opposite over Hypoteneuse
Cos = Adjacent over Hypoteneuse
Tan = Opposite Over Adjacent

For Some of the slides in todays assignment, i learned how to get the value of the ratios
a.) Sin 45 = 0.7071 ( you type in your calculator "sin" and the number then equals)
Same thing goes with the rest of the work we also did that relates to trigonametry
The Next Scribe Is : Almond

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Did You Know?

Did you know I can see your classroom from two windows?!

My first window is your blog. I am excited by what I see and hear! I never cease to be amazed by the quality and sophistication of your scribes. More than that I am so impressed when you celebrate each others’ learning, when you are creative, and when you critically reflect upon your learning in your BOBs.

Did you know Mr. K’s blog is my second window? I admire and respect what I see and hear here too! Did you know that Mr. K celebrates your learning on his blog? that he reflects upon what best helped you to learn and why? that he unselfishly shares all he knows with those who read his blog? that he learns from the conversations on his blog? that he writes with passion and is creative? and that he commits many random acts of kindness by honoring other teachers’ accomplishments in his posts? Did you know all he expects of you, he shares those same expectations for himself?

Did you know that because of all that and more, Mr. K.’s blog has been nominated for “Best Education Blog” on the Canadian Blog Awards 2007 website?

I just happen to think that no one deserves this honor more than Mr. K.

What about you?

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Today's Slides: January 16

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Today's Slides: January 15

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Monday, January 14, 2008

Today's Slides: January 14

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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Similar Triangles

Hello people , I will share what I have learned in today's class topic which is about similar

triangles. For you to know if triangles are similar the ratios should be the same and the angles

should be " congruent ". One more thing that i have learned is the square boxes inside a triangle

indicates that the angle is at a 90 degree angle and all triangles has a 180 degree angle to figure

this out is you add all the angles up. Another thing that I have learned that just came into my

mind is "Correspond" which has something to do with triangles too and we call it "Corresponding

Sides".


I couldn't explain it anyhow by words so I'd use an example cause i feel its much easier to understand.

A B C and E F G




Side AB corresponds to Side EF
Side BC corresponds to Side FG
Side AC corresponds to Side EG

with both triangles having congruent angles and corresponding sides both triangles will be similar.


I have shared with you what I have learned today hope this will you people :] .

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Friday, January 11, 2008

Today's Slides: January 11

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Today's Slides: January 10

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Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Today's Slides: January 9

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Scribe

Jan 8.
We started off by Mental math then marked our papers. Then we were taught how to calculate the surface area of 2 boxes.

A box with 4cm Length, 4cm Width , and 4cm Height:
6x4x4=
6x16=96cm2

A box with 15 cm Length, 2cm Width, and 4cm Height:
=2(15x2)+2(15x2)2+(2x2)
=2(30)+2(30)+2(4)
=60+60+8
=128cm2

After we did a quiz to review the things we've been doing in class to get ready for our exams. I had a pretty difficult time with it. But I'm getting more familiar with the shape formulas and things like that. Hopefully i get used to it before exams start.

The next scribe will be Aaron.

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Scribe

Jan 7.
We started off with some mental math as usual. Then after marking each others paper we were taught how to represent scales in two different ways.
Example:
1:25 can be shown as..
-1 unit to 25 units
-1 over 25
-1/25
-1 cm represents 25 centimeters
-1 inch represents 25 inches

Example:
-1 cm represents 6 km
-1cm to 600 000cm
-scale : actual
-scale over actual

We also reviewed K-H-D-M-D-C-M. Then after we did some other scale activities.

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Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Today's Slides: January 8

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Monday, January 7, 2008

Today's Slides: January 7

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