Some ideas for summer activities

Ah, summer!

Summer should be a time for active bodies and minds.  Just as inactive muscles atrophy, so to do inactive minds.  On average, students that do not keep their minds active over the summer lose approximately 2.5 months of school learning in mathematics over the summer.

What a waste!

Here are two websites that provide fun and challenging activities that students can work on over the summer to keep their minds active:

The art of problem solving:
http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Alcumus/Introduction.php

Project Euler:
http://projecteuler.net/


Furthermore, if students' final grades indicate that they have not yet mastered a topic or two, they can watch targeted videos and try practice problems at the Khan Academy:

http://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra


I hope that everyone has a fun and active summer!

Request for feedback

As grades are now final, I would like to ask parents to take a moment to complete the survey below, which provides me with feedback on the course.  I take this feedback seriously, and try to incorporate your suggestions into class. For example, after-school review sessions, the "challenge"-level homework problems, and the class website were all implemented as a result of student and parent feedback.

Here is a link to the feedback survey:


https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDJDanEzVHE0emZVWWxwdk9UR0E4WWc6MQ


Thanks in advance!

Final grades

Just a quick note that final grades are available in Infinite Campus.  Rather than receive one single final exam grade, students received a final exam grade for each section of the course -- these grades correspond to the level of mastery that the student demonstrated on that section of the final exam.   Hence, each section in the gradebook has a final exam grade.  I did this because I believe that this level of feedback is more helpful than just one overall score.  

As always, please email me if you have any questions.

The end of our final exam review sessions, and some activities that students can work on independently

Today marked our last after-school review session for the final exam.  In the past two weeks, we've had approximately 90 student-visits to review sessions.  Those students who took advantage of this opportunity grew considerably in their mastery of our objectives.

Although there are no more after-school review sessions, there is still time between now and the final exam for students to work independently to improve their mastery.  To help with this, I have uploaded review activities for each topic.  For each activity, I have also included step-by-step solutions so students can get help and check their work.

You can access these activities by clicking the link below:

Review activities and solutions for the final exam

Students: Please email me if you have any questions as you are working on the review activities.  Have fun!

Mock-final, and review plans for the final exam

On Monday, we took a "mock" final exam (both the exam and the key can be found here).  The purpose of this activity was to give students up-to-date feedback on their mastery of our course objectives.  On block day (Weds or Thurs), we spent time reflecting on the feedback, and each student wrote down their own individual review plan based on the feedback. These review plans should be taped into the front of every student's notebook.

So now, students have accurate feedback about their current mastery level, and they have a review plan for the next two weeks. For most students, part of the review plan involves coming in after school for one-on-one help.  I'm available nearly every day after school for the next two weeks, as shown in the calendar at the bottom of this post.

In summary, the effort that students put into the next two weeks will be reflected in the extent to which they show mastery on the final exam.  It doesn't matter where they are now, what matters is what they do over the next two weeks to achieve their goals.  Anyone can become a master mathematician with effort.  Parents: please help you daughters and sons stick to their review plan.

Here is the calendar of review sessions:

Review problems for the unit 5 summative assessment

Just a quick note that review problems and solutions are available in the folder for 3/21/2012 in the "daily activities" folder.  Students: If you have any questions when you check your solutions, please email me at frederick.peck@bvsd.org

Also, a quick reminder that our final review session before the test will be held on Thursday, March 22.  These review sessions have been very well-attended this week as students prepare for the summative assessment on Friday.

Unit 5 summative assessment and review sessions

Our summative assessment for Unit 5 is scheduled for Friday, March 23.

What's going to be on the test?
The test will cover all of the material on exponential functions and general rules for working with exponents.  In general, this means: (1) Using tables, graphs, and equations to model exponential growth, and (2) doing arithmetic and algebra with exponential expressions, (3) working with scientific notation and square roots.

Students can find many examples of this in their notebooks.  In addition, students have a precise list of objectives taped into the front of their notebooks.  This list can also be found in the "unit objectives" folder in the "daily activities" section of this website.

How to review for the test

• We will review in class on Thursday (March 22).  Part of this review will involve students self-assessing their mastery of each objective, and choosing review material that meets their needs.
• Students should look back at the feedback that they have on two quizzes that we've taken this semester, as well as all of our class activities and homework.  All of this should be in their notebooks.  Students should also check their grades for these assessments.  If they have not passed an assessments, they should plan to attend a review session!
• I will be available for after-school review sessions on every day next week from 3:00 - 4:00.