This week is going to be interesting because when it ends, we’ll be at be the halfway points of both this cycle, and of this 30 blog post challenge. Halfway points in life are kind of getting halfway through a movie, you know that the most memorable part of the story lay ahead. Unlike a movie, it is unclear whether or not the this is a feel-good film, or a horror story, or a comedy.  I like the way my movie’s are going, but I think there is a lot of undue stress which makes it hard to think about the big picture.

What I’m teaching this week:

This week I need to figure out where kids are at, so the big story is assessing kids’ thinking.  At this point the kids know about basic probability, but we have been experimenting with Expected value, and also the law of large numbers.  We’ve payed Deal or NoDeal, as well as asking all the kids to flip a bunch of coins which are really unfortunate for her.  My big goal is to figure out how to get kids to demonstrate their thinking around those concepts, and then suck that thinking out of their heads somehow.

I also need to figure out how to get them the most immediate feedback I can given the constraints.  I might use a poweroint slide that has an instant check button or something similar.

 

What I’m blogging this week:

Last week I learned about a number of blogs because they filled out my #MTBoS30 roll call sheet.  I plan to go to the respondents blogs to read and comment on them.  From the few I read on Sunday, I realized that I have a lot to learn, both about the lay of the land in the blogosphere and about teaching well.  I keep getting humbled by the work and the thoughtful discussion of all the teachers I’ve seen who were really impressive.  I am very aware that I have a lot to learn, and I am going to document that learning on this blog.

 

What I’m thinking this week:

I can’t get over how little I accomplish when I am at school.  I stayed at school to 9:00 again, doing all these menial thoughtless tasks that I spent the last week putting off.  Why?  Well, I’m crazy, and I think the answer might be multitasking.  After school hours, when there are no kids, or staff needs, or fresh emergencies to deal with, it ends up allowing me to apply singular focus.  Similarly, during the school day, there are so many different things to deal with that I can never really apply the singular focus I need to get things done.  Perhaps I should restructure my day…

 

Check out this infographic about Multi-Tasking
Please Include Attribution to OnlineCollege.org With This Graphic Multitasking Infographic

15/30 #MTBoS