Calculus and Pre-calculus classes Next Year (2015-2016)

So next year I am going to flip both my Pre-calculus and Calculus class. For those of you that don't know that means for homework students watch videos and take notes as they are watching. Then in class they work in small groups on problems similar to those in the video. I then have the students present the problem that they solve. I will be using a similar structure or plan as I did when I flipped Pre-calculus in China.

Final: 20%
Presentations: 20%
Tests: 20%
Quizzes: 15%
Journal Entries/Notebooks: 15%
Homework: 10%

The presentations category will include their graded presentations using the rubrics I have used in the past. However before each presentation I will have students fill out a presentation outline. I will collect and grade the outlines as well. I came up with this outline last year in China. I was doing presentations with my grade 10 students in Pre-calculus and their English teacher was working on presentations. So I talked to my colleague which happened to my principal. He was having students fill out an outline before each presentation. It seemed very helpful for ESL/ELL learners about how to structure their presentation. It was also the structure I wanted my math presentations to follow. So I took the outline and I adjusted to fit my math presentations. It gave them something to work on once they were done solving their problem. It seemed to make students put more thought into their introduction and conclusion. It would have helped to have at the beginning of the year because I think it outlined and explained the structure I was looking for. Those first few presentations of my grade 10 students were not very good. I mean they were learning and it was the first time being in an English class, so it was not surprising. I just think it would have helped model and explain what I was looking for better. However I can start this year off using them and making students fill them out before the presentation. I also encourage students to bring them when they present, so they can refer to the outline as they are presenting.

The Journal Entry and Notebooks will include a few things. There will be content related journal entries that will be completed at the end of each unit. I have entries for each unit of Calculus and used them in China. They were fantastic and this is the rubric I used. When I taught 9th grade Honors math I had students answer a few journal entries. I covered some Pre-Calculus content so I think I can pull some prompts from the textbook they used which was Algebra & Trig: Graphs and Models, 5th edition, Bittinger, Beecher, Ellenbogen, and Penna. They had discussion or collaboration questions in the mid-chapter review and in the chapter review. They made good writing prompts. I also went to a talk at the NCTM conference that looked at supporting ESL/ELL students. After the talk I asked about writing prompts and if the speaker knew of resources that had good writing prompts. The speaker suggested Algebra Out Loud and Pre-Algebra Out Loud by Pat Mower. I have not checked these out yet, but I might.

As I wrote in my last post I will have students write about math in more general terms. They can relate math to different parts of their life and hopefully see math in a different way. I will grade these more simply and quickly. The key is just get the students thinking in a new way, writing, and using their English. Hopefully the way I have it set up will ensure that everyone gets a high score on these types of entries to improve the grade in this category. 

I will also be checking their notebooks at the end of each unit. I will check that they have the syllabus, vocab sheets, all of their notes, worksheets, previous journal entries, some presentation outlines and rubrics, previous quizzes, and previous tests. 

I am thinking about scoring it in this way:

5 points: missing one or two items
4 points: missing three or four items
3 points: missing five or six items
1 point: missing seven or more items

subtract a half point if not easy to find things. I will require the sections and will emphasize keeping things organized in the sections. Therefore I expect the notes and worksheets to be in the right order. They are numbered so they just need to stay in the right ordering. 

I am not grading the items just checking that they have all of them in their notebooks. I am planning on using 3 ring binders. They would have the syllabus and vocab sheets in beginning. Then it would be divided into the following categories: Notes, Worksheets, Journal Entries, Presentations, Quizzes/Tests.

I am planning on keeping a notebook for each class that would be the model and would have all the solutions in it. So completed vocab sheets, completed notes, completed worksheets, and answer keys to tests and quizzes. 

Homework category will include graded notes, worksheets, and vocab sheets. 

I will collect the notes handout once students are done presenting. I will grade them. I got pretty good and fast grading them when I taught in China. I looked that they filled in each part and each example then it was 5 out of 5. If they didn't fill out one or two things it was a 4 out of 5. If they left a lot of it blank then it was a 3 out of 5. That was pretty much it. However if students who went above in beyond like added things to the notes that were not required or showed that they highlighted key terms or content. So of my students turned in extremely neat, organized, and colorful notes that showed they put a lot of thought into the content. I gave them extra credit which means they got 6 out of 5. 

The worksheets are the problems students work on in class and the problems they present. I will tell students they have to finish the problems that were not presented as homework. I am thinking the first day of a section will be students solving the assigned problem, preparing the presentation and filling out the presentation outline, and then getting through some of the presentations. I don't think I can get through all of them in one day. So the next day will be the remaining presentations and then with whatever time is left they can finish the worksheet. I am thinking to minimize my grading I will pick 5 problems to grade that cover most of the worksheet and most of the objectives. I won't grade the problems that were presented. Then award points as following:

5 points: 1 problem wrong
4 points : 2 or 3 problems wrong
3 points: 4 problems wrong
1 point: 5 problems wrong

subtract half a point if they did not fill in the problems that were not presented on or did not complete entire worksheet. 

I think I will try having students keep vocab sheets. I have some great vocab sheets from an AP workshop that includes all the major theorems and concepts that come up the most often on the AP test. I think I will give time to review before each test to fill these out. I think I will encourage students to check these each night and fill them out as we go through the unit, but I don't want to require it and give them too much homework. So I usually give time in class to review before the exam and then I will have students fill those out. I will tell them which words they need to have done before the exam. Then I will check them in class while students are working in small groups working on review problems. I am thinking about how to grade them and want to do it fast. However I know the AP test looks for key things on the test and I want the vocab sheets to include everything that the AP test requires, but I don't want to spend forever grading them. I could make each one worth two points and if a word is missing something key in the definition or something is incorrect in the definition then subtract one point. 

I don't have vocab cards for Pre-calculus. However when I taught it in China I made digital ones use the grading software we had. I also gave online vocab quizzes to test them over the vocab. I also had fill in the blank questions that tested students over the definitions of the vocab words that I put on every test. So I have some of the vocab picked out and defined. So I will have to generate the vocab and definitions for some of the units as I go along.  

The school is a boarding school. So I will have to check how much access to the internet the students have. If it is a problem I have an easy solution. I had to find a way around using the internet when teaching in China since it was a boarding school with little access to internet, but also because general internet problems of China. I have digital copies of all the videos that I can download and copy over to a student's USB stick. In China I would download and copy the video onto the computer that was in the classroom. The students were then responsible to get a copy for themselves and to watch them. I wonder though if students will have enough access to a laptop or computer to watch the videos. I will have to ask my supervisors and the students.