I started out as I always do by making the schedule for the
whole semester. One basic of teaching a Developmental Math course is that you
have some very strict objectives to make sure that students go onto the next
class fully prepared. As someone who, especially in the context of math class,
wants to know what the rules are, I have always found security in this. However
this can also make adapting to students needs a bit tricky at times.
I made sure to include both the review chapter at the beginning of the book and time on the first chapter which is also review. As I started working on the out of class assignments for both of those so that classroom time could be more about student questions I found myself slipping into old patterns and struggling to get out of that trap.
The trap: Online problems, textbook problems, ask for help on those questions. YUCK!
Then a blog post popped up on my Facebook feed with the provocative title “Are we Killing Students Love of Math?” As I was reading this I realized that I need to work harder to get out of the trap. I also realized why it is so easy to fall into that trap. Doing something new and different takes a lot of time.
I love what I teach. I want to share what I teach. But, as an adjunct professor I am lucky if I get paid for office hours to meet with students, and I definitely don’t get paid for prep time. Also, I usually don’t have an office. That means that all of my prep has to come on my own time in a place away from school. I know people who are very disciplined and able to work from home, but I am not one of those people. So this means that I have got to get out of the house and find a place to work. Because of this, it is easier just to assign problems from the book.
But, I also know that once I have come up with material for a course, using it when I teach the course again will not take all that time, so I just need to suck it up and put the work in now. That’s what I’m doing today, and what I am promising myself that I will keep doing as I prepare for the Summer Semester. Sharing what I am doing by blogging is my way of staying accountable, since I don't have my own professor giving me the stink eye if I don't do the work.
I agree with Alice Keeler that doing problem after problem of exactly the same thing can be mind numbing and not particularly helpful. What I do like is the online homework provided by the publisher. It gives students instant feedback, and provides a variety of tools to help them if they are struggling, from walking them through the problem step by step to videotaped lectures. I also limit the number of problems I assign, only 20 per section, so that they are not doing the same type of problems over and over again. I encourage students to do those first, so that they can get a feel for what they are doing and feel confident before they switch to paper and pencil (no pen thank you very much) problems.
So what about the paper and pencil work? I could have them do the same problems from the book just like I and everyone else I know have done forever, but that doesn’t fit with what I am trying to do. So rather than that, I am going to spend my time working on worksheets to do before class to get students to think and come to class with questions. This is part of how to make a flipped classroom which I talked about in my post from March 20th.
I am going to attach examples to this and future posts, and I would love feedback on them. Please remember that everything I post here is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License.
I made sure to include both the review chapter at the beginning of the book and time on the first chapter which is also review. As I started working on the out of class assignments for both of those so that classroom time could be more about student questions I found myself slipping into old patterns and struggling to get out of that trap.
The trap: Online problems, textbook problems, ask for help on those questions. YUCK!
Then a blog post popped up on my Facebook feed with the provocative title “Are we Killing Students Love of Math?” As I was reading this I realized that I need to work harder to get out of the trap. I also realized why it is so easy to fall into that trap. Doing something new and different takes a lot of time.
I love what I teach. I want to share what I teach. But, as an adjunct professor I am lucky if I get paid for office hours to meet with students, and I definitely don’t get paid for prep time. Also, I usually don’t have an office. That means that all of my prep has to come on my own time in a place away from school. I know people who are very disciplined and able to work from home, but I am not one of those people. So this means that I have got to get out of the house and find a place to work. Because of this, it is easier just to assign problems from the book.
But, I also know that once I have come up with material for a course, using it when I teach the course again will not take all that time, so I just need to suck it up and put the work in now. That’s what I’m doing today, and what I am promising myself that I will keep doing as I prepare for the Summer Semester. Sharing what I am doing by blogging is my way of staying accountable, since I don't have my own professor giving me the stink eye if I don't do the work.
I agree with Alice Keeler that doing problem after problem of exactly the same thing can be mind numbing and not particularly helpful. What I do like is the online homework provided by the publisher. It gives students instant feedback, and provides a variety of tools to help them if they are struggling, from walking them through the problem step by step to videotaped lectures. I also limit the number of problems I assign, only 20 per section, so that they are not doing the same type of problems over and over again. I encourage students to do those first, so that they can get a feel for what they are doing and feel confident before they switch to paper and pencil (no pen thank you very much) problems.
So what about the paper and pencil work? I could have them do the same problems from the book just like I and everyone else I know have done forever, but that doesn’t fit with what I am trying to do. So rather than that, I am going to spend my time working on worksheets to do before class to get students to think and come to class with questions. This is part of how to make a flipped classroom which I talked about in my post from March 20th.
I am going to attach examples to this and future posts, and I would love feedback on them. Please remember that everything I post here is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License.
For those that are interested I am using the text Introductory
Algebra, 12th Edition. Bittinger, Beecher, Johnson. Pearson. ISBN
0-321-86796-3.
The Prealgebra Review chapter consists of the following
sections:
·
Factoring, GCF, LCM
·
Fraction Notation
·
Decimal Notation
·
Percent Notation
·
Exponential Notation and Order of Operations
In looking through the sections I decided that I would have
a Pre-Prealgebra sheet on what the different numbers sets are. (Both of the worksheets I reference are here.)
I like the idea of starting the semester with getting the students to do their own research and writing things out, hopefully in their own words. I do ask them not to copy and paste, but there are always those that try to sneak past the copy and paste, so I am making sure that they cite their sources. This will mean a bit of work for me on their first couple of assignments as I check to see if there is any plagiarism. I often get push back on this when students do projects along the lines of, “But this is a math course not a _____ course.” This gives me an opportunity to talk about the ethics that are important to academics.
I like the idea of starting the semester with getting the students to do their own research and writing things out, hopefully in their own words. I do ask them not to copy and paste, but there are always those that try to sneak past the copy and paste, so I am making sure that they cite their sources. This will mean a bit of work for me on their first couple of assignments as I check to see if there is any plagiarism. I often get push back on this when students do projects along the lines of, “But this is a math course not a _____ course.” This gives me an opportunity to talk about the ethics that are important to academics.
I have also finished my sheet for the first review section.
I am mixing in textbook problems, but I am working in getting them to think
about what they are doing. (On the sheet for students there is, of course, room for them to answer.)
I do know that for the first day of class most of the students will not have done work ahead of time, but since we are going to be in a classroom with computers it will not be hard to get them going, and by setting that standard at the start it should be easier to get them in track for the rest of the semester. I am planning to email a whole bunch of things to them a week before the semester starts, and since there has been a long break before the summer starts and I hope this will help encourage them to get going on the work.
Any comments or suggestions are always welcome. Have a good week everyone.
I do know that for the first day of class most of the students will not have done work ahead of time, but since we are going to be in a classroom with computers it will not be hard to get them going, and by setting that standard at the start it should be easier to get them in track for the rest of the semester. I am planning to email a whole bunch of things to them a week before the semester starts, and since there has been a long break before the summer starts and I hope this will help encourage them to get going on the work.
Any comments or suggestions are always welcome. Have a good week everyone.
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