In my Algebra class, we do five main things: Objective Packets, notes on videos every school night but Sunday, quizzes, tests, and projects. We get an Objective Packet at the beginning of every week, and it has different forms of practice along with some sheets of paper to show our work from the quizzes on, and a summary to glue in our composition book. Our composition book is what we take our notes in. Each night, every student watches an instructional video prepared by the three algebra teachers. Each video teaches part of the objective, and students take notes in a specific format to use for the quizzes. At the end of almost every week, an online quiz is due. Students have three tries, and must pass with a score of 70% or higher, otherwise they get a 10%, no matter what their score. If mastery is not achieved after one try, or two at the most, student are advised to get help from their teacher. If mastery still isn't achieved after the third try, more help and a final fourth try is given. After three or four objective packets and quizzes, a test is given with material from all of the most recent objectives, and some review from a few of the earliest tests. Around the same time as a test, group projects are given. Group projects are meant to develop teamwork and help solidify the skills learnt by the packets. Tests are the most important part of the class, making up 60% of the overall grade, and projects are the second, and are worth 20%. Quizzes and Objective Packets each provide 10% of the final class grade.
My Compostition BookThis compostition book is an ongoing, year long project for Algebra. This project is meant to help students learn the basics of many topics, from integers to inequalities and has a good format to help with studying. As you can see on the first slide, one-third of the page is devoted to a "check for understanding." On most pages, the check for understanding is used to actually demonstrate the math concept used, individually, but in the first video, the concept was "How to Take Notes." On the rest of the page, notes are taken under numbered headings. Page two is missing, because I skipped a page at the very beginning, and numbered the pages before I realized my mistake.
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I think that this is a very effective method to learn material. The "Flipped Classroo8m" idea, where students learn the information through a video at home, and then do their "homework" at school is working very good for my class. As an example of the method's success, I have gotten 100's on every online quiz except one, and that was the computer's fault. I have also scored well on the two tests so far, and have a complete understanding of all of the material. This journal reminds me of a similar one my class did in sixth grade, where we devoted a page of a spiral ring note book to each topic we learned in class. I am also reminded of Cornell note style: The phrase/notes are the same, the headings are just numbered and not on the left, and the summary is at the left third of the page, where the headings would usually be. In Computers, I use a similar style of notes when watching videos, a combination of the Cornell notes I learnt last year, and the ones I learnt this year, at Computech. In my Computers notes, I but the main title at the top, such as Power Searching With Google, and the subtitles on the left third of the page, such as 1.1 Introduction. Underneath each subtitle is the date and period. I separate the subtitles with a line and start the next one underneath.
For this project, I used my journal to record notes in a specific format. The style of notes is very efficient, and I have used it as a basis for some of my other note styles. I also used Weebly Slideshow and got a grip on that. Throughout taking notes, I have also gotten very good at pausing the video at good times to write down most of the information needed, and rarely have to rewind. This project was very beneficial in both the material it taught and the resources I used during it; and I am glad to have a year long of this project.
For this project, I used my journal to record notes in a specific format. The style of notes is very efficient, and I have used it as a basis for some of my other note styles. I also used Weebly Slideshow and got a grip on that. Throughout taking notes, I have also gotten very good at pausing the video at good times to write down most of the information needed, and rarely have to rewind. This project was very beneficial in both the material it taught and the resources I used during it; and I am glad to have a year long of this project.
Objective PacketsThese packet are given out to the Algebra classes, one for each subject, or objective. On the front of each page, there is a summary of the content of the packet combined with a schedule of the times those activities will be carried out. Near the end of an objective packet, there are some formatted pieces of paper for the online quiz problems to be worked out on, and a summary to be glued in the Composition Book. Of course, some packets don't have summaries or online quizzes, like Objective 7: Word Problems. Some of the packets have problems where answers match letters that spell a punch line, but most pages are plain practice. These packets are very helpful in learning the material and provide a chance to practice and learn the current subject. I have been able to easily learn and remember all of the techniques taught through the packets.
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These packets remind me of the SVG packets in Core. The main difference, besides the conflicting subject matter, is that SVG packets are given every other week, while Objective Packets are completed on a weekly basis. The two types of packets both go over material in different ways, but the differences inside each packet are consistent from packet to packet. There is a quiz or test on the material of both packets, and they are both recommended to be used as review or study material. While no tools were used on the packets themselves, there were online quizzes. The online quizzes were easy enough to get used to, and provide a correct answer and the end for each question answered wrong. Although this slideshow was not the first time I used Windows Photo Viewer, it was the first time I used the contrast/brighten tools to improve the quality. The correction tools weren't very difficult to use, although the right amount of each took a little time to adjust to.
PatternsThe pattern sheets were different sheets, in which my class was supposed to analyze and find a pattern. This activity helped me learn to extend patterns, and write equations for non-numeric scenarios, which I hadn't done before. The project was very helpful, and it was always fun to try and come up with an equation before everyone else. I think that these packets were effective, and I was able to apply the equation writing skills when we wrote equations from word-problems later in the year. The pattern sheets also helped prepare me for the group pattern project that we did later in the year.
This project reminds me of when the percussion instruments were learning about their patterns in band. While their patterns were mostly repeating, there was a connection between the two activities.There were not many new tools that I used for this activity, but the old ones proved as useful as they always have been. |
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