Teach 180: Let the Artist in You Shine! (Day 153)

For several years now, I have been doing a project in Geometry where students create drawings in Desmos.  (Here is a drawing that was done by one of my students last year.) This year I don't teach Geometry and I am doing the project in PreCalculus with the seniors.  There are two major problems that I have had with this project in the past - one is a management issue and one is the need for a student reflection component.  Thanks to Julie Reulbach I have solved both problems.  She created a Desmos activity builder to have students do the project.  I modified what she had - included some additional directions, a recommendation to use folders and some more student reflection slides.  Now all the projects are now stored in one place! The students don't need to remember to name their file and send it to me.  I don't need to find them in my overflowing inbox!  Stay tuned for how this change turns out.  And here is the link to the activity.  Enjoy!

Teach 180: Probability is my Kryptonite (Day 152)

In AP Stat today we reviewed several ideas related to probability - discrete random variables and their probability distributions, combining random variables, mutually exclusive events, independent events, conditional probabilities, geometric and binomial probabilities, complementary events.  As we got started looking at review questions, I admitted to students that "probability is my kryptonite".  That does not mean that I can't do probability questions, but I do need to slow down and take my time with certain types of probability problems.  I recommended that students do a full practice test in the next few days to see what their kryptonite, or weakness, is.  Right now they may think all the topics are pretty easy.  However, we are only focusing on one or two chapters on a given day.  Doing a bunch of questions in a mixed order from the entire year will be more challenging and would help students to figure out what they really need to study.  Knowing what you don't know is the first step to studying for a major comprehensive assessment.

Teach 180: Stand and Talk, Again (Day 151)

I did some more "Stand and Talks" today during AP Statistics to review for the AP exam.  To begin class, I asked students to brainstorm a list of words associated with data collection (experiments and surveys).  Here is the list they created.  We didn't dwell on the words or their meanings at that point.

Next, I asked students to do a "Stand and Talk".  They were to pick a word that they weren't sure how to define.  Then, they were to stand up and find a partner across the room to discuss that word.  Like yesterday, the discussion was quite animated for about one minute.  There is something quite freeing about admitting that you don't know something to a fellow student.  (Admitting you don't know something is scarier to admit to your teacher or in front of the entire class.)  But once they shared their uncertainty with a friend, students were more willing to share with the class.  If you teach AP Stat, can you guess which words were problematic?  If you guessed strata (or stratified random assignment) and blocking, give yourself a pat on the back.