Elbow-Deep in Math

Poughkeepsie was fun for the weekend, but I'm so tired that I'm already anticipating the next weekend.

Anyway, it's getting more intense this week. I'm completely taking over the 6th grade and 9th grade classes, plus the 8th grade classes that I've already been teaching. The 8th graders have been pretty easy, since they're just reviewing, but the 6th and 9th graders still have new chapters to cover. I haven't gotten into it yet with them, because both classes had a test first thing this week.

Tomorrow I start with the 6th graders. They're getting a lesson on angles and using angle measures. Acute, obtuse, complementary, supplementary, all that kind of thing. Lots and lots of vocabulary for me to sign, fingerspell (I'm getting better), and write on the board/overhead. Three out of the four learned the stuff at the beginning of 5th grade (long enough ago that they'll need a refresher), and the other student was at a different school last year, so we're never sure what he's already learned. I got to choose between hitting this chapter next (lots of geometry) or a chapter on primes, greatest common factor, and some fraction stuff. I'll eventually teach the other one also, but since the kids just finished a chapter on fractions, they seem to need a break. It'll be interesting to see what they can remember with a chapter in-between.

The 9th graders get a lesson on averages Thursday. Some will be simple, some not so much -- meaning, finding the average of a list of numbers will be easy; figuring out the missing value that will make a particular average might be a little trickier. If I can get them to set up the equation properly, they're pretty good about solving them.

It'll be interesting to see how classes go Thursday, because I'm getting observed by my university supervisor. Fortunately, I've been assigned the professor that actually does math (as opposed to the English or social studies professors), so I should get some really good feedback. I'm pretty used to being observed; I just have to make sure I don't let myself get nervous about my signing, because then it falls apart. (The professor's Deaf, so that sort of raises the standard -- and the pressure, although he's really very nice and supportive about it.)

I also need to put together a mini-lesson for the 8th graders about fraction/decimal conversion. They know how to change a fraction to a decimal; they know (supposedly) how to change a terminating decimal to a fraction (probably need a review); but they haven't yet been taught how to change a repeating decimal into a fraction. So I'll set up a worksheet for them to go through investigating the patterns as they change ninths to decimals, then ninety-ninths, then nine-hundred ninety-ninths, etc. Should be a good little activity for my supervisor to see Thursday.