Resources, Resources, Resources!

This was a last minute search for ideas and inspiration. How I never found virtual filing cabinets until now is beyond me. Thank goodness I did! I'm going to keep a running list for myself and hopefully this helps other math teachers as well. :)

I Speak Math's Virtual Filing Cabinet Collection

Dan Greene's Algebra 1 Lesson Plans

Math teacher's oasis Math Teacher's Wiki

Sam Shah's Virtual Filing Cabinet

Sonya Land's Algebra Documents

Some reflections and new goals

I really should have reflected on last semester before now, but it was sooo nice to enjoy some me-time this winter break. But alas, tomorrow is the start of a new semester which means I should really tie up loose ends.

For my first semester of teaching, I honestly did much better than I anticipated. There were only three referrals. No fights in my classroom (an issue at my school). I communicated with parents frequently. I collaborated with other math teachers often. I incorporated other disciplines into my classroom. I read many, many math teachers' blogs (Thank you Dan Meyer, Kate Nowak, Miss Calcul8, Mr. D, Sam Shah...just to name a few) and actually used their ideas in my classroom. And most importantly, I had fun.

New goals for second semester:
1) Take better care of myself (sleep and exercise more!)
2) Figure out a way to keep students engaged while working on ALEKS.
3) Decide my stance on homework (must finish Kohn's book first...).
4) Questioning strategies, engagement in general.
5) Play more games with my regular algebra 1 class.