Vacation is coming, Vacation is coming

Hey All, How's life treating you? Really ... well that's nice to hear. I'm doing well. It's been tough getting SIMMs to the students. I've spent much time trying to give them the back ground skills needed to accomplish many of the activities. It's been very slow going. I really like the activities in the books (I teach Level 1 and 3 with a smattering of 2) but the students really need to be guided through many parts. Some of my students are getting it and that makes my day when I get an aha moment.
I'd like to thank Jim and Sue for not only showing the way but also for the Share Site and many documents to use in class. I have used many of them as is and use some with my personal modifications. The share site has saved me a few times when I needed a good homework page for the class.
Once again thanks to all and to all a good night... can you believe that... from the Jewish guy.
Happy Holidays

Hats Off to math people in Newark

Hi all. Welcome from snowy Fairfield Center, Maine. Not many schools are in session today because of the weather.

I spent yesterday (12.08.09) with the high school math department chairs of Newark, New Jersey. What a great day I had. This year all 16 (I think) high schools in Newark are implementing SIMMS as their only math curriculum. I spent a week in July with 75 or so high school teachers. What an outstanding group. The enthusiasm and and commitment were contagious.

Their chairs asked to spend a day with me in order to figure ways to further support their respective departments. We shared things about the curriculum, what to expect when you step into a SIMMS class, the best ways to facilitate professional learning communities that include SIMMS, how to communicate with parents about the curriculum, and just a tiny bit about my grandchildren. Well, what did you expect for a nickle?

At the end of the day the kids on Newark are going to be the ones who benefit the most from this wonderful group of people. It seems that whenever you hear the word Newark negative comments come up. It is time to realize what positive things are happening in this city. I have really enjoyed my time there, and look forward to returning many times. It is leaders like these math people who make it an up and coming community. Go in peace. Jim

Well

So sorry I have not contributed yet. In addition to a Level 1 class, I am teaching a new course at our high school, and it has been crazy to say the least.

Anyway, we just finished up "Food" at our high school and have started "Well." One of the concerns that came up was the materials needed for the exploration in Activity 1. We could not find our timers, and the few we did find all had dead batteries. The suggestion was made to have students use their cell phones. Almost every phone has a stopwatch feature, which worked beautifully! The kids were excited that they were able to whip out their phones and not get them confiscated. The data we collected was actually very consistent; more so than with the timers we used in the past!

For funnels, a manila folder works great. Using an open folder, I make an arc using a radius of the desired opening diameter. Cut out the semi-circle, close the folder and tape the bottom edge. Kids have to be reminded to keep the opening as circular as possible, but the results are fantastic. They hold up to three liters - more than the required two. Plus, if the folders actually hold up to student use, you can "file" them away very easily. This has worked for me for many years. We had a great time, collected some good data and saved a bunch of time.

Happy SIMMSing!

New SIMMS share

For the first time in my 44 years as a teacher I have the entire Thanksgiving week off with no students. I am NOT complaining.

I will spend a lot of the time with my wood pile. I also will spend a fair amount of time uploading files to the new SIMMS share site.

Because of the limits of people allowed on the old site my friend and colleague Sue L has created a new site where all SIMMS teachers can post files for use by all with no limits on use. I encourage all interested SIMMS people to make use of this site. I have included the address below. The only cost to you will be a quick message of thanks to Sue (lornitzo @ charter.net)

I am almost through the No Place Like Home module with my level 2 class. We are spending more time than usual refreshing our skills with the trig functions and revisiting our old friend Pythagoras.

In my level four class I have taken a five day break from SIMMS, and we are working on strengthening our factoring skills. After Thanksgiving break we will go into the Big Business module in the level three book. This should drive home the factoring we have been strengthening.

I am having problems coming to grips that we only have 5 weeks left in this semester. We are a 4 by 4 block so the classes will end at the conclusion of the semester.

Again if anyone stumbles onto this post I encourage you to check out the new SIMMS share site. Happy holidays to all and to all a good night. Jim in Maine

http://216.136.47.99/

Jim,

I tried to link this to your post...but could not.

Trig is such a fun thing to teach - so much better when the kids can see it on the computers.

For those looking for a great way to introduce the graphs of trig functions there is a really cool applet using a Ferris wheel. I am not sure of the web address but if you google it you may find it.

If you can't, let me know and I will work a little harder to remember it.

Laura Reynolds
Math Teacher/Coach
MSAD 49

Thanks for doing this blog Jim! Let's see what we can do to get more on here!

Wednesday, October 14

Hi All,

It's been a while. I have got to be better disciplined about writing on this.

In my level 4 class we just completed What's Your Bearings? The kids found it very difficult but gave it a really good effort. They did quite well on the module assessment. We did the law of sines and cosines using geogabra software that I used at some of your trainings. I have 20 PC laptops in my room that I am using as a pilot project in our school. It was great for the kids to be able to drag the sizes of their triangles and observe how the ratios remained constant. It took them a bit of time to discover these constants. Remember Fred, never tell or do anything for the kids that they can figure out or do for themselves. If you are doing too much then the kids are not doing enough.

Yesterday we started on Can It! The kids created their own unit circles by using different sized jars and cans. It just makes so much sense for them to create the circle and figure out where all of those values on it come from.

I'm still waiting, hoping, dreaming that more of you will start contributing to this blog space. It is not mine alone but for all. Use it even if you want to blog about your own kids or grand kids. Be well. Until next time. Jim

Starting Under the Big Top

Hi all. I've been a bit lax in posting here. Call it the start of the school year coupled with starting another grad class.

On Monday of last week my level 2 class had an assessment in the pyramid module. Most kids did a bit better than I expected. On Tuesday we started Under the Big Top but Above the Ground. It is the first exposure for the kids with linear modeling and feasible regions. We started the module by playing guess my number. The kids had a blast with it while learning to properly express and writ inequality statements. We followed that by guessing a coordinate game. Some of the kids got pretty confused with the quadrant they were trying to describe their. After a couple of games they got pretty good at it. Next we played by adding conjunctions for questions. This proved much more difficult than they thought.

After 2 mods the kids were pretty comfortable with the coordinate grid. Next we worked on finding the intersection of 2 lines by graphing. We did it on paper and then moved on to the calculator. I don't think I have had a better time with this module.

This class is probably below average in math, but they are giving me a really good effort. I have been very clear with them about what I expect. I think this is key when facilitating a SIMMS class, or any other for matter. As next week goes by I will keep you posted on this classes progress. Please let me know if you have any questions. Jim

adrive folders

I understand that the set up I have on adrive for our folders is not working very well because only 1 at a time can get on. I am working on improving this. Please hang in there. We will succeed. On another note this blog site is open to all of you. How about a few quick blogs from around the country. Let us all know how your classes are going please. We would like to hear about the good, the bad, and the ugly. Have a great Thursday. Jim

What I'm teaching

Hi all, I'm Dan Lemay. I teach at Oxbow HS in Bradford, VT.

I'm the lone hold out that is still teaching a SIMMS Integrated math course. I have three sections of students that either are the "Can't do's" and in some cases the "won't dos". I pick and chose modules that will fill in the gaps of what they've seen in their 9^th and 10^th grade courses. I have until January to do what I can with them. I'm planning on getting through Child's Chances and If the Shoe Fits modules before NECAP (our NCLB test). After the exam I'm going to do And The Survey Says. After that I need to see where they need work and fill in with modules and maybe a traditional unit of two.

I'm finding it very interesting that a colleague that began teaching a traditional geometry course last year is returning to the use of SIMMS modules for at least part of the year. Our students can't handle the tradition material (a "won't do" situation)

Later.

who to teach to?

In my level 2 SIMMS class I have 17 kids. Three of them are honor students. Eight or ten of them are average students who work really hard at it, and the rest are less than motivated kids who may not get it if they tried their hardest. They are determined they cannot do it so why try. My question to all of you is which of these 3 groups do you teach to? Thanks Jim

First 2 days of the school year

At Lawrence High classes started last Thursday the 27th. I am teaching a level2 and a level 4 in two of my teaching blocks. I should explain that at Lawrence level 4 is the third year of SIMMS for kids who are headed to calculus. The 4th year is called level 6. It is a bit con fusing but works for us. I decided to start my level 4 class with Hurry! Hurry! Step Right Up a geometric probability module that is fairly quick and kinda fun to do for a first module. We played a coin drop game the first day where the kids dropped dimes on 3cm a square board that they made. It went great. They acted as if they had never left last spring. We collected a lot of data on the experimental probability and compared it to theoretical probability. Today (Monday) we will continue on with expected value. As much as I enjoy my vacations it is a blast being back and playing with the kids. We are doing a lot of laughing. I will post more later on the expected value.

My level 2 class is starting with the Pyramid module because most of them did not get to it in level 1. This class is less motivated than my 4 class. I will write about our similar triangles later.

I look forward to reading blogs from all of you as you get your SIMMS classes going. What a great way to share thoughts and concerns. Have a great week. Jim

Newark Retrospect

Hi , just got back to Vt. from an amazing week in Newark. These teachers are real heros, working under difficult circumstances. Many don't even know what level they will be teaching next week when school starts, and they haven't got books yet, and yet they were cheerful and optimistic and excited. My hats off to them. A really amazing group of people. Many thanks to Kathy , their curriculum co-ordinator who has worked so hard to make this happen for them and has gone to bat and put this all together. I am truly humbled and wish them great success. Sue L

trainings week of August 24

I understand that there are trainings on both the east coast and the west coast. It would be great to hear from these trainings as they are going on. If there are trainings in other areas I have not mentioned please let us know. Here at Lawrence High in Fairfield, Maine we start classes this week, so I will not be involved in any of the trainings. If any of you out there know of any SIMMS teachers that are not on this blog and want to be please have them send me their email address to jim.willis.43@hotmail.com and I will get them set up. Also I am in the process of setting up a file share site so we all can post and share SIMMS things that we create. I look forward to really getting this up and running. Thanks so much, Jim in Maine

SIMMS Perspective

I don't know if you are all district-level coordinators or what, but that is the role I play in my district. We are entering our 4th year of implementation (rolling out one level each year), so Level 4 will be new to us for 2009-2010. I have 50 teachers participating in training next week - all four levels - to see new guides we've developed to demonstrate the alignment of SIMMS with Washington Math Standards. The guides are also designed to support the work of PLCs.

If any of you have questions about what we've done over the last three years, let me know. If you have any ideas to share, let me know that, too, as it's always good to hear what other folks are doing with SIMMS.

SIMMS the Hard Way

Hi,

We're going to be training about 60 teachers next week for SIMMS Levels 1, 2, and 3. I can't imagine a less auspicious start. We haven't gotten the texts (which were "rush" ordered about six weeks ago . . .), no materials kits, and we've been bumped from our large conference room to a much smaller one. The only good thing is that we have a great consultant - Sue.

This should be most interesting.

From Kathy, the frustrated supervisor.

A new beginning for SIMMS teachers

Hi all. This my first attempt at blogging. My purpose is to try to set up a nation wide discussion for and by teachers of SIMMS integrated math. I know if you stumble onto this it is hard to imagine being so fortunate. Holy crap, a math blog. Classes for me will start a week from today August 27. I know that the fortunate people in Casper have already started. This semester I will be teaching a level 3 class, a level 4 class, and a year long level 1 class. As I move along I will share my successes, failures and kind of just OK stuff with you. If I am not blogging at least once a week please give me a pretty good kick in the butt. This will be my math class journal. If there are any specific topics you would like to see chatted up please let me know. As a lot of you know I am a pretty good bull blogger. Till next time. Jim