Month: January 2020

Logarithmic Modeling: pH lab and Murder Mystery (Algebra 2/Pre-Calculus)

Last year was my first year ever teaching pre-calculus. Most of the year, my goal for each lesson was to 1) come up with a clear and concise interactive notebook page and 2) teach the content well. I definitely did not always hit #1, and I’d like to think I hit #2 most of the time, but I left myself a lot of notes in my lesson plan spreadsheet to improve for this year.

However, with this being my 7th year teaching Algebra 1 and my 6th year teaching Algebra 2, both of those classes feel nicely dotted with “fun” activities – card sorts, question stacks, puzzles, mazes, row games, scavenger hunts, Desmos activities, etc. Pre-Calc felt pretty lackluster last year. Mostly textbook assignments alternated with notes, interspersed with quizzes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that if it’s done well in a classroom, but I wanted to try this year to spice up pre-calc a bit and incorporate some of the practice structures that I find students enjoy more. Reminding myself that Algebra 1 has become full of these activities over SEVEN YEARS, I am starting slowly and trying to find or create at least one “more interesting” practice activity per chapter this year.

Currently, we are working on Chapter 3 of the Demana, Waits, Foley, Kennedy Precalculus textbook: Exponential, Logistic, and Logarithmic Functions. In our district’s curriculum, we focus solely on the exponential and logarithmic functions here. Section 3.5 of the book covers exponential and logarithmic modeling, aka what do we actually use these types of functions for? There are a couple problems about earthquakes, a couple about pH, and a couple about Newton’s Law of Cooling. I think this content is really interesting to work with, but 6 textbook problems just isn’t going to pique that interest in students.

Last year on twitter, I saw and saved this image from…SOMEONE. SOMEWHERE. Honestly, I’ve tried searching twitter for “pH lab logarithm” and so many other search terms, I’ve tried reverse image searching…nothing. If you know where this image was posted, I’d love to give the teacher credit for the idea!

Now looking at it again, I’m getting more ideas for next year because I see they used colored pencils to show the color their pH strip turned…

Anyways, I asked our science teachers if they had any materials to test pH of things, and my friend Jess Hughes kindly supplied me with some pH test strip rolls that she wasn’t sure even worked, so I went home and stuck them in some vinegar and things and they did!

I put some coffee, Maalox, vinegar, and distilled water in containers and brought them to school. I grabbed a bar of soap (which you have to dunk in water to get the pH strips to work), and filled another container with drinking fountain water from school. Here’s where you can find the worksheet I gave students along with this. Make a copy in your own Drive if you want to edit it!

Then, I swear I had seen a teacher do a lab with Newton’s Law of Cooling and a murder on twitter, so I went to find it. I found this from Jasmine Castanon, this (and this) from Cassandra Valenti, and this from Rebekah Mozdeh (via Sarah Carter). All great ideas, but failing to find something ready made that satisfied everything I wanted it to be, I decided to write my own story. I only have 5 students in my Pre-calc class, so it wasn’t too much effort to come up with a plot line that included each of them. They had so much fun reading the story and laughing about what would maybe be true in 30 years and what they hoped definitely wouldn’t be.

Here is a version of the story with my students’ names removed. I highlighted the information that is actually relevant to Newton’s Law of Cooling, because the rest of the story is just about who did it. I made up the temperatures and have no idea how accurate they are to actual cooling dead bodies – I started doing research on that and realized that it would take me a long time to figure out and decided it wasn’t worth it!

Students definitely enjoyed this more than just a textbook assignment and I think it got the point across how logarithms are actually used in our society.

Book Recommendations (Vol. 12)

2019 has ended! So, it’s time for me to do my quarterly book recommendations post. At this point, I’ve been doing these recommendations for 3 years!

You can read previous posts from this series here:

Vol. 01 | Vol. 02 | Vol. 03 | Vol. 04 | Vol. 05 | Vol. 06 | Vol. 07 | Vol. 08 | Vol. 09 | Vol. 10 | Vol. 11

My final 2019 book total was 65 books, meaning I read 15 in this final quarter of the year. I always make my Goodreads book goal 52 books (1 per week), and even though I have easily beaten it in each of the past several years, I do not plan to raise the goal because I never want my reading to become stressful – it’s for fun!

Anyways, let’s do my top 5 books of the last quarter, and if you scroll to the end, you’ll find my top 3 books of the year!

Middlegame – Seanan McGuire

Rodger and Dodger are twins. They were not born, but created with alchemy to be the embodiment of the universe’s perfection. But they’re not interested in being used by their creator. They want this authority for themselves.

I would gasp while reading this book, and my boyfriend would say, “what happened?” and I would say, “I don’t know entirely.” You reach understanding of what’s happening along with Rodger and Dodger just at the end and it’s a miraculously spun tale fraught with danger and possible ends of the world. The writing is impeccable and every timejump is seamlessly woven to propel you to the next page and the next.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas – John Boyne

Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to encounter one.

If you’ve never read this book, grab the tissues. I unfortunately read the end while waiting for an oil change and was very much struggling not to sob hysterically in the auto shop. It’s a remarkably human story of a terrible thing and you should read it.

The Testaments – Margaret Atwood

What happens after the Handmaid’s Tale? How does Gilead grow and change? Find out from the three characters in The Testaments. Inspired by all the questions Margaret Atwood’s been asked for years, plus the society we unfortunately live in right now.

I read the Handmaid’s Tale just earlier this year and so I knew I needed to read the sequel as soon as it came out. It certainly gives you a lot to think about and consider regarding the consequences of some of the laws and actions being taken currently in America. I thought the look at Gilead from the outside was really interesting as well.

Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks – Jason Reynolds

The story of ten walks home from middle school. The stories of our students.

Jason Reynolds is brilliant. His books regularly appear on my recommendations. Even though this one is middle grade, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Especially as a teacher, you’ll appreciate the intricacies of the things that affect our students just on their journeys home from school. Reynolds is a master at giving voice to those who typically are generalized and ignored and he does it again here. This is much less heavy than his typical read, but still important and interesting (and does have a bit of heaviness in there).

Call Down the Hawk – Maggie Stiefvater

The first in Stiefvater’s trilogy about Ronan Lynch and the Dreamers, taking place after the events of the Raven Cycle.

If you read and loved the Raven Cycle, you’ve been looking forward to this book for awhile. For some of it, my opinions are reserved based upon where the storyline goes in the latter two books of the trilogy, but I did really enjoy this. I am also endlessly impressed with Stiefvater’s battle with her health and the work that she produced despite the fact that she like, didn’t know what was happening to her body or mind for several years. Read this post and you’ll be stunned at how she ever wrote Raven King or All the Crooked Saints.

Top 3 Books of 2019:

  1. Red, White, & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston
  2. Math With Bad Drawings – Ben Orlin
  3. American Gods – Neil Gaiman

2020: Notice. Wonder. Seek.

In the tradition of my New Year’s “theme statements”, it’s time to reflect on 2019 and look forward to 2020.

My theme for 2019 was Multiplying Me, Adding You.

For “Multiplying Me”, I said I wanted to do more of the parts of myself I am proud of. I wanted to bake more, and I really think I accomplished that. I made a Yule Log cake for my boyfriend’s family Christmas that got lots of compliments and made me very pleased! I proudly completed my master’s degree and graduated in December, and also was awarded the Yager Award for Teaching Excellence by UNI. Both of these made me proud of the work I am doing in my teaching. I read lots of great books, listened to good podcasts, watched good shows and movies. I redid my home library and it’s organized beautifully.

For “Adding You”, I’m not sure how I did entirely. At times I felt like I improved in my relationships and communication with family, and at times I felt like it was worse. I feel like I’ve developed a very strong, mature, and honest relationship with my boyfriend.

I do think I’ve reached for my phone less in social situations, or even for example have been more present while watching movies or shows, not trying to multitask always. My friend group in town has gotten busier and played trivia less, but we try to keep up montly dinner parties/game nights. I think I post less on social media, although I’m not going to analyze it to tell, but I have planned for 2020 to attend LeakyCon, a Harry Potter fan conference again, and will get to see many of my internet friends in person again for the first time in awhile.

So, 2020. I thought a lot about the phrase “Hindsight is 20/20” when thinking of what my phrase should be. That phrase in itself is not a great thing, because it implies that you don’t necessarily do things the way you would have wanted, but when you look back in hindsight, things are more clear. So my 2020 phrase goes more for wanting to make things clear from the start.

Notice. Wonder. Seek.

(yes, it’s also inspired by the #mtbos notice/wonder classroom routine name, in a way).

To Notice, I want to pay more attention to my surroundings. I want to notice when students need something else from me. I want to notice when I haven’t called my mom in awhile. Notice when someone is excited about something and join in on that excitement. Notice when someone is upset and be with them in that. Notice other perspectives on things when I’m upset or in disagreement. Think of friends and family at significant times and reach out – maybe write more letters or cards this year. I want to lend my voice to those who could benefit from more voices, and to acknowledge when people around me need to be acknowledged.

To Wonder, I want to question the sources of social media posts. I want to ask friends and family more about things they’re doing and be genuinely interested in them, giving them a chance to share things they’re probably excited about. I want to read more widely and listen more widely and watch more widely, and just take in all of the interesting new content that I typically do. I want to push myself to take the risk and “wonder” if something new could work in my classroom, and just give it a try. I want to open myself to new ways of doing things and not just go with the way I always do it, and to try new things that I’ve never done before.

To Seek, I want to continue learning even though my master’s is complete. I want to read more math and teaching books this year to replace the classes I’m no longer taking. I want to take advantage of opportunities for learning like our yearly tech bootcamp in our district. Maybe I’ll take a cooking class or baking class to improve my abilities there. I want to be involved in the caucuses and election, and make sure all of my opinions are informed.

2019 was a great year for me, and I’m hoping to make 2020 even better. Let’s see how the hindsight turns out 🙂