Not One Less (1999)

This time, I would like to recommend a rare find Chinese movie (imdb 7.7 and MPA rating is G) This production, which caught my attention because the story is about a young (very young) teacher who is set on a journey to bring back one of her students to school. In this movie, you will firsthand witness the divide between Eastern and Western cultures in the name of sacrifice and dedication. 

Wei is a 13-year-old young girl. When the teacher of the neighboring village goes on a leave for a month, she finds herself as the substitute teacher. However, it is not that easy to teach in this this school which consists of only one classroom with multiple grade levels. Before leaving, the other teacher advises her to use the 28 pieces of chalk, which he counted one by one which is equal to one piece of chalk per day during his absence. Reminding that they are a poor school and have no materials other than chalk. He also strictly warns that he does not want to find even one of the children missing when he returns.

A few days later, the headman of the village discovers that one of the children is a fast runner. He convinces some athletics coaches to take the child to the city, but our young substitute teacher is not very pleased with this idea. She wants to keep her promise to the teacher by making sure that none of the kids are missing. Even though she hides the child at one end of the village, she cannot stop him from leaving.

Another day, he learns that the child of a poor family also goes to the city to work and earn money. Then she goes to the city and tries to find the child. Of course, this job is not as easy as we think. First she has to find money for the bus but she has to work for it. Even if she goes to the city, looking for a missing child in a big city is a difficult task for a 13 year old girl. However, she is very dedicated to her mission and she tries everything including hanging flyers on the walls and even knocking at the door of a national TV station.

If you want to watch the warmth of the village people and the story of faithful teachers who create miracles in poverty, do not miss this movie. You may find more details about this movie here and the original title of the movie is Yi ge dou bu neng shao.

Family Friendly International Movies

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Ten years ago, it was very difficult to find suitable movies for school age children. Thanks to the growing number of streaming services, there are so many options now. I have always appreciated the movies in different languages because they provide you a different perspective. I believe the children should be aware of the life on other parts of the world. Watching films from different countries provide a unique perspective which is hard to obtain about a culture or a place far far away. Over the years, I have compiled a list of "family friendly" international movies and I am providing the list below with the imdb links: 

Paper Planes (Australia, 2014)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3328716/

Belle & Sebastian (2013, France)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3146360/

Like Stars on Earth (2007, India)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986264/

Children of Heaven (1997, Iran)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118849

The Butterfly (2002, France)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329485/

Not One Less (1999, China)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209189/

Bicycle Thieves (1948, Italy)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040522

Ramchand Pakistani (2008, Pakistan)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1095421

Red Balloon (1956, France)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048980            

Math in the Movies

Image by Chuk Yong from Pixabay

Have you ever thought about using clips from the movies to teach math? I did. But first, I searched the internet and came across with two websites. One of them is Math Bits which has lots of resources about math and many of them are ready to use worksheets. It has a dedicated page called Math and the Movies. The other one is called Mathematics in Movies which has a huge library of video clips from different movies. The website was first published in 2006 by Harvard Professor Oliver Knill. He is constantly updating this website as new movies come out. Those two websites inspired me to create my own worksheets during my teaching years and I am sharing them with you here. Feel free to download and use them in your class. 

Abbott and Costello / Ma and Pa Kettle: This worksheet has two examples of how multiplication and division can be done incorrectly. Feel free to download and customize it. You will need the following clips which go along with the worksheet. The first clip is from Abbott and Costello: In the Navy and the second clip is from Ma and Pa Kettle.

Die Hard III:  Here is a worksheet that I prepared for the jug problem takes place in Die Hard movie. You can watch the clip from the movie here.

Little Big League: Here is another worksheet that I prepared for the movie Little Big League. You can watch the clip form the movie here.

Contact: This worksheet is prepared for the clip from Contact movie. The topic is the prime numbers. You can watch the clip from the movie here.

TI 84 Resources for Teachers

Here is a list of great websites offer lots of resources, printable worksheets and tutorials for TI 84:

http://www.mr-ideahamster.com/classes/calculator_course_ti84.htm

 

http://hotmath.com/graphing_calculators/cabri_movie_index.html

  

https://mathbits.com/MathBits/TISection/Openpage.htm

   

http://www.mathtutordvd.com/public/department113.cfm

 

http://www.tiskills.com/mod1_lessons/m1_l01.php

https://www.professorcole.com/ti-84-tutorials.html

https://online.math.uh.edu/GraphCalc/index.html 

How to teach Integers

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

A fellow teacher asked for help teaching integers. Students are having a real difficult time understanding integer operations and it's very crucial for them to learn it. In the past couple of years, I have tried several methods to teach integers but I find the following method better than others. It's making a lot more sense to the students.

Using Bank Account for Teaching Integers:

10-5 : I deposited 10 dollars, spent (withdrew)  5.

10+5: I deposited 10, then 5 more.

-10+5: I spent 10 dollars, and then deposited 5. 

-10-5: I spent 10 dollars at Store A, then spent another 5 at Store B. How much did I spent altogether?

-10+(-5): I have spent 10, then withdrew 5. 

10- (-5):  This could be a little tricky. I would suggest: Teach them subtracting a negative is the same thing as adding. So they would turn -(-5) into +5 and then continue thinking as above.

To explain why subtracting a negative becomes adding: You can try debt. Let's say you have a debt of 5 dollars. A friend of yours pays off your debt for you for free. This takes away your debt so your actual account would increase 5 dollars. A little complicated, huh? Then, just tell them to turn that into a plus :) 

Teacher's Daily Duties

Image by Rosy / Bad Homburg / Germany from Pixabay

Some people think that teaching is the easiest job ever. You have summer days off, federal holidays off, sick days, personal days etc. etc. However, they never know teaching is not limited to working hours and many teachers spent their entire summer on professional developments, lesson planing or taking courses. I just wanted to write down my own duties throughout the week just to let you know how sophisticated teaching can be:

Daily Duties / Routine:

• Swipe your time card
• Pick up your attendance book
• Turn on your computer and print out practice/test for students
• Print out weekly grade book for the week
• Print out extra copies of slides for students who need copies, absent, late or suspended
• Provide additional work for students suspended in school
• Go to the copy machine to pick up your copies
• Turn off your cell phone, put it in your drawer
• Prepare some pencils/pens for unprepared students
• Make sure you have enough copies of hall passes
• Check whether the projector is working
• Fill your water/coffee bottle before classes begin
• Grade quizzes, tests, worksheets and enter them to the electronic grading system
• Grade homework and classwork
• Check the students suspended in school, provide them classwork, explain the work for them
• Fill out your sick day/personal leave paperwork or any other documentation
• Use the restroom during your break time so that you don't have to leave during class
• Eat to stay energetic, keep snacks handy
• Go to cafeteria to get your lunch
• Fill your water bottle two more times during the day
• Take attendance on the attendance book/ on electronic grade book
• Enter incidents/referrals/discipline issues to the system
• Respond to e-mails from staff and administrators
• Run an after school club
• Provide tutoring for students need help
• Tell students their grades if they ask
• Provide students their missing work
• Attend Grade Level/ Department/Staff meetings/ Professional developments
• Make copies for the following day
• Return to your wife's call, tell her when you are leaving
• Fill out the teacher input form for students with disabilities
• You have to call some parents because you gave their kids referrals today
•  Write attendance letters to the parents
•  Arrange your field trip/college visit/other events you are responsible.

 Weekends:  Teacher's don't work on Saturdays, do they?

• Saturday School: Tutoring for all students
• You spent at least half the day with the students, other half making copies
• If you don't want to be frustrated on Monday mornings, prepare on Saturday.
• Sunday: At home, lesson planning all day. All plans need to bu submitted before Monday morning.
• Prepare slides, make changes on them, save them on your computer, e-mail them to self just in case

These are things I can't remember right now, I know it depends on school, district and the students. Think again...

Syllabus Quiz

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Many teachers go over their syllabus the first day and start teaching the day after. I usually spend four or five days just to go over my syllabus, classroom rules and expectations. It's also important to demonstrate those routines and procedures. To see whether they understood the expectations or not, I also assess them at the end of the week about the classroom procedures. 

A syllabus quiz can be an open book quiz where students find and write down the answers easily. Everybody gets a 100 as longs as they know how to read and write. This is not only helpful for covering your first week of school but also gives you an idea of how long it takes students to complete such a task. This will also allow you to establish a weekly assessment routine. 

Daily Quiz

Image by 472301 from Pixabay

In Holt Power Presentations, a typical lesson ends with a lesson quiz. In the past, I didn't really pay attention to those for several reasons but this year I changed my mind. After teaching a lesson, I wanted to check if they really understood what they have just learned and I can use that input data for the following class. This year I have two periods of math every day with the same group of students. This is my daily routine for those two periods:

First period:
Bellwork
Instruction
Guided Practice
Lesson Quiz
Independent Practice
Homework

Second period:
Lesson Quiz (going over it)
Re-teach (if necessary) 
Independent Practice

Lesson Quiz is a great tool that gives me instant feedback to see whether students have understood the concept or not. A Lesson Quiz has five questions: One easy, two normal, one difficult, and one more problem solving. While giving a lesson quiz, I also have such a procedure:

I pass out the quiz paper
Students show all their work and circle their final answers
Since it's open ended, they need to be graded
If I can quickly grade them I would show the students what they received on the quiz
In the next class, we go over the same problems if they missed any of the questions.

Daily Quiz is a major component of my assessment policy and students really try hard since it's quick, short and gives them instant feedback. I can also recommend using clickers for such quick grading where you don't have to grade all the papers on your own. However, I like seeing the students' work and I always tell them they can still receive credit even though their final answer is not accurate. 

Starting a New Marking Period Strong

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I always make a fresh start every marking period by making some changes, announcing new things and adjusting my grading policy. It's also a great opportunity to get better in classroom management by improving your daily routines and make them work better. For this new parking period, I wanted to go over a couple of things with my students so that they will remember the classroom rules, expectations and many other things. I usually do that on the first day of the marking period and it takes about a regular class time. 

Some teachers think that they can't afford to lose this much instructional time, but I think the opposite. Think about the benefits of "not losing instructional time" later in the year. If students ask questions, it turns into a discussion which is good. I also prepare a handout which requires them to take notes during the presentation and evaluate this as a classwork grade. You may find the following websites helpful to set up your classroom rules and expectations:

6 Must teach classroom procedures for the first days of school

IRIS Center Establishing Classroom Norms & Expectations

31 Must-Teach Classroom Procedures and Routines

Math-Drills.com

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

If you haven't come across with this website yet, hurry up! Math Drills is providing thousands of ready to print worksheets for students who need more practice with their foundational skils. I have downloaded so many of their worksheets until now and I have used them many times in my classroom. Here is a short description of the website:

 

Welcome to Math-Drills.com where we have over 13,000 free math worksheets with answer keys. At Math-Drills.com, we strive to provide high-quality printable math worksheets for teachers, parents, home schoolers and other educators. Please choose a category from our navigation menu above or scroll down for more information.

Using a SmartBoard

Interactive Boards are very common in today's classrooms and a lot of teachers are using them. I have used multiple smartboards during my teaching career, and they have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

• You can create your own lessons with the software.
• You can find thousands of lesson plans on their website.
• You can involve students in your teaching by allowing them to touch the screen.
• You can use it with other files/documents where you can write on them.
• You can save your work to use in another class.

Disadvantages:

• You have to be in front of the class all the time which takes the power from you. 
• You might have technical difficulties any time, so you need to come up with a backup plan.
• Some smart boards do not allow you to write with more than one marker at a time.
• Some smart boards need to be mounted on the wall and hard to remove somewhere else.

If you are more interested in using an interactive board, here is a good website for beginners:
Benefits of Smart Boards

Here I have listed the most popular interactive board companies:

SMART Technologies | The Award-Winning Leader in Edtech Learning Tools and Software

Promethean | Interactive Displays & Software for Education (prometheanworld.com)

Innovative Technology in the Classroom | Boxlight

First in Math

firstinmath.com

First in Math is an online math program by Suntex Inc. The program is designed around 24 game which has been very popular across the nation. I have used this program with my middle school students, and they really liked it. It can also be used with elementary grades. The program is very helpful for foundations such as multiplication and division. Students love it since the program has its own incentives and allows them to compete schoolwide or nationwide with their peers.

Flipped Classrooms

Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay

I think this concept has begun circulating around since Khan Academy has launched. In this model, the students study the new concepts at home by watching videos and come to school with some prior knowledge. The teachers spends very few amount of time for instruction and allocate more time for practice at school. Class time can be used for further explanations and more practice. 

Some research say 85 % of the teachers who flipped their classrooms have seen increase in their test scores. Personally, I believe that the students need to spend more time on practice rather than direct instruction. In the past, a flipped classroom model may not have worked if the students did not have a computer or internet connection at home. However, there are mobile apps for flipped classrooms where students can actually watch videos anywhere.

For more information, you may visit the following websites:

Flipped Classroom - Center for Teaching & Learning

 

Flip Your Classroom | Center for Teaching & Learning

The Flipped Classroom

Flipping the Classroom | Center for Teaching Innovation

Problem Solving Strategies

After reading Comprehending Math, I decided to ask students three essential questions while solving problems. Those questions are only a few that I took from Arthur Hyde's Braided Model. Those three questions help students to break down a word problem, understand it and develop strategies for solving. As a classroom teacher, you can turn these questions into a routine every time they come across word problems. Students can write down their responses or simply exchange ideas to help others lead to a solution. 

 

Here is an example:  The sum of three numbers is 98. The ratio of the first to the second is 2:3, and the ratio of the second to the third is 5:8. What is the value of the second number?

 

1) WHAT DO I KNOW FOR SURE?

Sample response: I know that the sum of the three numbers in 98. The ratio of the first number to the second is 2 to 3 and the ratio of the second number to the third is 5 to 8. 

2) WHAT DO I WANT TO KNOW, FIGURE OUT OR DO?

Sample response: We would like to know what the second number is. 

3) HOW CAN I SOLVE THIS PROBLEM?

Sample response: Since the second number is mentioned twice, I need to find the greatest common multiple of 3 and 5 and then represent the numbers as algebraic expressions. GCF (3,5)=15 so I can use the following expressions for each number:

Number one= 10x

Number two = 15x 

Number three= 24x

You can see that these numbers will satisfy the ratios mentioned in the problem: 

(10 to 15 is same as 2 to 3) and (15 to 24 is same as 5 to 8)

I will then add these three expressions 10x+15x+24x = 49x 

Since 49x = 98 x=2 and now we can tell the numbers are 20, 30 and 48 respectively. 

Math Game Night Ideas

Image by April Bryant from Pixabay

If you are thinking about organizing a math game night, here are some ideas for you: 

Math Challenge:
Students sit around like in a spelling bee contest. They go up on the stage and answer the questions by doing mental math.

Round 1: This round consists of questions 1-10 time tables problems.
Examples: 5 x 4 = ? 7 x 8 = ?

Round 2: This round consists of two digit by one digit multiplication problems
( 11x 1 to 19 x 10)
Examples: 12 x 8 = ? 14 x 5 = ?

Round 3: This round consists of two digit by two digit multiplication digit. ( 11x11 to 19x20)
Examples: 25 x 20 = ? 17 x 12 = ?

For this round, a multiplication table will be distributed to participants prior to the competition. In case of a tie, students will be asked harder problems.

Game 24:
Student sign up for the competition. Game will be performed as a tournament. In each round, two students compete against each other and the winner goes to next level. In each round, students are to answer three questions. 

Jeopardy:
First option:
In Jeopardy, there will be four players competing against each other. Every student will represent their homeroom. 

Second option:
Four students will be selected randomly from the audience. Student sign up before the game and a raffle takes place in front of the audience. After the raffle students go up and compete against each other.

Are you smarter than a seventh grader?
A group of 11the graders compete with a group of 7th graders. Questions will be from all subject areas of 7th grade. 7th grade students will be picked by the teachers. 11th graders need to sign up.

Millionaire:
The winners of the game show will be able to play at the millionaire. During the game they are allowed to ask the audience, call an outsider, or go 50/50.

Khan Academy

I don't know if there is anyone out there who hasn't heard about Khan Academy yet. I am a big fan of Khan especially the Practice part. I have used Khan Academy videos for personal development and recommended students to watch them. I have created student accounts for my math club and monitored their progress throughout the year. One of our seventh graders went all the way up to trigonometry and he is still practicing. I love the sequence and pacing in math since students cannot learn advanced topics if they don't have the foundational skills.  http://www.khanacademy.org/

 

First Day of the School Toolkit for Teachers

Image by Dorothe from Pixabay

In order to start your first day smoothly, you may consider following some of my advice here:

• Obtain a student list from the administration.
• Place a sticker on each desk and number them.
• Greet students at the entrance and introduce yourself.
• Tell each student where to seat. (You can simply tell them: Go to Desk number 4. You will see there are numbers on the desks)
• I have seen some teachers prefer to write students' names on the desks.
• Seating chart could be made alphabetically. You can adjust it later on.
• If possible, show the seating chart on the board by using an LCD projector or a smartboard.
• Prepare a first day assignment, preferably a short survey about the student.
• After they settle down and complete their first assignment; distribute your syllabus.
• Now you can talk about your course outline, classroom rules and expectations.

I looked around and see if there are any templates ready to go. Following websites have some files you can download or at least give you an idea of how to prepare them: Seating Chart Template, Student Survey, Syllabus Template.