Journey on- #blog format inspired by Mrs. Crystal Kirch at flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com

Algebra 2- 
This morning I had my Algebra II. It went very well. The organization I am using, which is inspired by Mrs. Crystal Kirch's WSQ chart, helps a lot on keeping my students on track. With the assessment chart, my students can always refer back to the chart if they are not sure what to do in this class or what needs to be done. I truly think this kind of organization is a brilliant idea in a flipped classroom to keep students going on and on. 

Geometry- 
After lunch I had my Geometry, I find it challenging to control this class, not only because the size is larger, but also the "components" of this class. This section has more personality in it so it makes it harder to push them. A lot of times I feel like I am pushing the carts in the shopping mall. I keep referring my students back to the assessment charts- one after one. It seems like it never ends that students keep coming back to me. I wish my class can incorporate more higher thinking, but from time to time there exists a class that barely keeps itself on track as if it is a broken record. 

Summary- 
Good:
1. The Assessment Chart really helps a lot!

Not so good:
1. The Assessment Chart is not POWERFUL enough to control some of my classes.

Needs to look for some options for future improvement-
1. How to avoid repeatedly referring to my Assessment Chart. 

Strategies to change- 
1. Make a simple version of the Assessment Chart and just project it on the wall -
make it SO SIMPLE and SO BIG! 

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Today I had my Algebra II and Geometry class. My students have always been energetic and I love seeing their love and passion toward their lives. Having a chance to work with young people is such a privilege. They are amazing people.

The flipped-mastery model has been working very well- much more than I expected. Sometimes I feel like these groups of young people need this kind of feeling of being able to control their learning. They want to feel that they have the right to make their own decision. They work for themselves, and learn for themselves. 

Moodle is an amazing tool for a flipped-mastery model. It allows us to create unlimited number of summative tests and gives students a chance to learn through their mistakes. 

It has been going really well. 

Here are my flipped class websites: 
wardalgebra2.weebly.com
wardgeometry.weebly.com

For my school year of 2017-2018, I want to emphasis on "assessment". I want to do literature review about standard-based assessment. In the past school year, I tried my second version of grading standards, but a lot of time, I feel my grading standards are either redundant or too big. It's too difficult for me to practice in a flipped-mastery classroom. It's not efficient enough. 

So, this year, I am trying to experiment on different tools/standards and see how it goes. I want to carefully look into my grading standards and try to break them down into independent pieces that can be the most efficient to my students and me as a teacher. 

So far my assessment chart, modeled after Mrs. Kirch's WSQ chart, has been working out GREAT for my classes :P I was able to see and monitor my students' progress as they are moving it, moving it toward my learning objectives. Not sure how fast they will get there, but they will get there. :)

Moodle with Mr. Bergmann's 1000 tests is EXTREMELY powerful. My students are able to take as many tests as they want until they have mastered the content objective assigned. This mechanism of re-assessing creates an opportunity for students to get away from the "shame"  of not being able to accomplish something and avoid the common "test anxiety" among most of teenagers I encountered. 

Today, I visited Mr. Meyer's old post about assessment, which made me feel so lucky and thankful that I was able to start teaching with the knowledge of standard-based grading. However, there is still value in the old post, especially Mr. Meyer's Mini-thesis.

For my small goal for next week, I want to continue to run my flipped-mastery classroom with my version 3 of assessment chart and standard-based grading.  Continue to read some articles about assessment and see how I feel then :) 

​I was looking into baby food products for my baby. In order to get the most out of the price I pay for the product, I want to buy something that has the highest price-performance ratio. 

I would like to choose from Hipp baby rice and Gerber single rice cereal, which is now with a new look. However, these two similar products are packaged in different shapes of container. 

So, which one should I choose considering only to get the most out of any pennies I take? Any thoughts?  

Wednesday, Elevator Day.

There are always some days or some time that I desire the elevator more than the others, for example , Wednesday morning.

I need to go to the 6th floor within the shortest amount of time; however, the elevator is also more demanding. So, I want to know when should I take the elevator to get the most out of the elevator and reach my goal- step on the 6th floor in time without taking the stairs.

Here is a picture and an a screenshot of stopwatch showing the time from 3rd floor to 6th floor.
So, how can you formulate this with Algebra and get me to the 6th floor in time to take attendance? Try to list all variables you need to find out to get me there in time using elevator.

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