Drafting Math Class Expectations/Norms Using Clips from Movies and TV

What's it mean to be a "mathematician"?

How can we be kind to each other (and ourselves!) as we study in class in order for everyone to thrive?

How do mathematicians work together?

How do mathematicians communicate?

Since it's Back to School season for me, it's that time of the year when I try to reinvent the wheel once again (I'm a glutton for punishment) and reimagine/examine how I can set the culture of Algebra class from Day 1.  Below is a playlist of 9 clips from TV and movies that feature characters doing or talking about math that I am going to show to prompt discussion in my classes. Once kids have watched the clips and reflected on them in small groups, we'll take their ideas and begin to craft them into class expectations for success!

I also created a notetaker for kids to jot down their individual ideas as they watch. I hope this will help them remember what they were thinking and process with the group!

Drivetime Diaries - Ep 1:07 - "R U Fun?"

 Today was the 1st day of school! I always like to give kids the opportunity to ask WHATEVER they want about me, math class, school, etc., and this question usually comes up. Am I fun?? I dunno - I aim to be!

How to: Import McGraw Hill eAssessment Assessments into your Canvas LMS

*This post was originally published in 2020 and updated in Aug 2023 to reflect a change in the click-flow on the McGraw-Hill platform*

This one is for my math homies in my school and out there in the #mtbos!

I've been teaching in Canvas for only a week, and I've already learned out two very important lessons: 

1. Canvas has a LOT to offer as far as tools to deliver content to my students
2. The more I keep my kids ON Canvas, the less confusing the flow of my class will be (which is super important for keeping you, kids, and parents all on the same page!)

So, as a part of my into-the-fire professional learning, I wanted to figure out very quickly if I could import assessments from our McGraw-Hill tools into Canvas to make building my curriculum muuuuuch easier. 

Here's how I did it:

1. Create your assessment in eAssessment on the McGraw-Hill website
2. Go to File --> Export --> QTI Standard --> QTI 2.1 and save the .zip file it creates.
3. Go to File --> Export -->  QTI for Canvas --> New Quizzes and Item Banks (Updated since 2020 when I made this screencast!)
4. Go to Canvas and click on the quizzes page or a module to create a new quiz. 
5. Set the title and due date for your Canvas quiz
6. Click on the 3 dots menu in the top right and choose "import content"
7. Drag or navigate to the folder with your saved .zip file and upload.
8. You're done! Go on over to the quiz settings and tweak how it best fits into your class.

New Job, New Commute, New Podcast: Introducing DRIVETIME DIARIES

 Long, long-time readers of this blog will know that about 10 years ago I had a vanity project podcasting with my teacher friends and PLC members and posted it here. 

My boys got super into podcasting about baseball this summer (Subscribe now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!), and I've been enjoying the times they let me guest-star on their episodes, so I've been trying to find sustainable opportunities for how podcasting again might look for me. 

I am moving to a new school district this school year, and with that comes a commute and time to fill! I don't really have to capacity right now to coordinate co-hosting with anyone right now, so any podcast I create would be talking to myself, anyway, so I thought taking advantage of that car time would be an interesting experiment! 

The result of that is embedded below, Drivetime Diaries. Either on the way to work prepping for the day, or on the way home, I'll share my thoughts on happenings at school, my family, my faith, education, culture, or some intersection of those! 

You can listen on Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts!