Comments on: The Summer is Winding Down; Alg II is Winding Up

By: samjshah

samjshah — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:45:09 +0000

i too am excited to hear about what goes on in your class – especially since you use holt! do you or your students use the online homework helper resource?

By: certainabsurdity

certainabsurdity — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:05:00 +0000

I’m excited to read about your Algebra 2 classes this year. We use the same text in my district. Hopefully I can be a little more creative this year since I’ve been through it a few times. :)

By: David

David — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:06:14 +0000

Love the binder idea. I have always gone back and forth about how to check it. Keep us posted on how it works. Thanks for the hat tip. I hope to get back in the “communication” game very soon.

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:42:06 +0000

@Amanda I’d like to see an example of your binder quiz, too, please.

@Sam yes, but ours is called “Algebra 2 with Trig”. We kind of have to race through everything. Thanks for posting the pdf.

By: samjshah

samjshah — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:26:28 +0000

@Sarah: Definitely. I’m going to have students write the same heading on each homework assignment: Name, Date Assigned, Assignment.

By: samjshah

samjshah — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:21:28 +0000

@Amanda: It’s a good question – asking the purpose of the binder grade. For me, right now, it’s a way for me to keep students accountable for showing their work and being organized, and also allowing me to grade homework on correctness — while allowing students the time and resources to check and fix their homework.

This is the first time ’round, and maybe it won’t work. We’ll see.

But I’d love to see your example for Algebra 2 and PreCalc to get some ideas on how to implement it more meaningfully.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:19:54 +0000

Quick thought on the binder quiz/check. I always arranged homework by due date rather than assigned date. Be clear when students are setting up binders how you’ll ask them to find the information later.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:41:21 +0000

What is the goal of the binder grade? I used to do my notebook grades similar to how you are planning to do yours, but I felt it didn’t really help the kids understand the importance of a good notebook and account for differences in organization styles.

Last year, a collegue and I came up with the following (if you are interested):

The goal of the notebook grade is to see if the students are keeping a “good” notebook. A good notebook should be neat and organized because it should be a great reference to look up information. So how do you get your students to understand why keeping a good notebook is essential? You ask them to use it in that way.

Our notebook quizzes occur towards the end of a the marking period and consist of 10 open ended questions. It is an open notebook quiz. Students must answer 8 correctly to earn full credit. It’s a great review of the marking period and it reinforces the fact that if you don’t know the answer to a question (or aren’t sure) then hey- you have this great reference right in front of you to help you find the answer!

If you’d like me to send you an example, I have them for geometry (mid level), algebra 2 (basic level), and precalc (mid level).

By: samjshah

samjshah — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:14:11 +0000

@Kate: Thanks. I can’t take full credit. I had an embryonic idea of this binder idea, but it wasn’t until I hashed it out with the other Algebra 2 teacher that we came up with this integrated assessment, which checks both organization and homework. It also could be used by students, at the end of each quarter, to reflect on what they’ve accomplished, what they feel they need to work on, etc.

I uploaded our current draft of the Alg 2 curriculum to this post. Are you teaching Alg 2?

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:52:45 +0000

I really like the way you are helping them organize with the folder+binder plan. It looks very do-able and sane. I think I’m stealing that.

Have you shared your new and improved algebra 2 curriculum? I’d like to see what you kept and what you’re leaving out.