ImagineIT Timeline

This semester has started off as a challenging semester. After just five days
of instruction following break, our school dove into standardized testing. As the
math teacher to 130 seventh and eighth grade students, it is my duty to administer
this test to all students, allow them ample time to complete as it is an untimed
exam, and find time to complete all make up exams. This is no easy feat and it cost
me five full days of instruction, about 3% of my early instruction. In addition, we
had to administer 20th week (end of second quarter) exams, pause for assemblies
and fieldtrips. One true highlight was taking the entire fifth, sixth, seventh and
eighth grade to see Hidden Figures. Nearly 250 students, teachers and parents
enjoyed, applauded and were inspired by this movie. It revived my teaching spirit
and has bolstered my students interest in engineering and math.
Moving forward this semester, we will continue to research the Invisible Math
(how I wish Id named it Hidden Math!) in our world. I am finding that a great deal
of what my students are uncovering is well beyond my understanding, such as
some of the math software for game design and the physics of soccer. We are
learning together and my students take pride in teaching me something new. We
are trying out Google Classroom, a new venture for myself and students. I am
currently the only teacher in my building attempting to implement use of this
technology and I am certainly learning as I go forward.
A downfall that I have discovered is that this project is very research based,
not very hands on in the sense of creating. I am encouraging group to create
demonstrating where possible as a way for them to interact with this project. In
addition, I have discovered a joy in building and I have brought that into my
classroom. Eighth grade students are currently participating in a straw tower
challenge and my pre-algebra class has experimented with designing columns from
cardstock and testing the amount of weight they can support. I enjoy these types of
projects and it has been a motivator for my students. As I only have 60 minutes per
class per day for math instruction, we must stay on task to finish a weeks worth of
lessons in 4 days so that we can have a STEM day. I struggle with carving out the
time in class to really harness the true potential of STEM while satisfying my school
and networks requirement of adherence to the scope and sequence pacing guide. I
continue to work diligently to find the balance between the lesson I know will
motivate my students and ensuring that they meet the standards and qualifications
for their grade.