Valentine's Day, Mathematical Style

As a little surprise for our beloved math teachers, we're going to spend some time this morning creating little math valentines! I know that this is a bit of a stretch, but one fearless freshman lady and I have been working to create some love-ly options for you for your valentines. Here are some of your choices for your very own math-inspired valentines:

"The Meaning of Zero" by Amy Uyematsu

Some interesting math expressions from a variety of people

Select a line from a math love poem

Math N Love poem

Hopefully, these links will give you some inspiration for your valentines. If not, you're welcome to create your very own! We'll march over to the math room later today to drop off our valentines.

End of Year Reflection

Today is our second to last day together this school year. It's crazy to think that we've been through a full school year already; it feels like you are still little kiddos starting your high school career!

To start today's class, I gave back to you the letters that you wrote to yourself on the first day of school. For you letter, you were supposed to write to your future self, congratulating yourself on all of your accomplishments and talking about how you made it through the tough times. This letter was a bit of a prediction.

Now, you're writing a second letter. This time, it's going to be addressed to me and it's a reflection rather than a prediction.  In your letter, you need to include the following three paragraphs:

Paragraph 1: What were your biggest successes this year? How did you attain success in these areas?

Paragraph 2: What areas of improvement do you have for next year? What could you work on to become a more successful student?

Paragraph 3: Give advice to incoming Study Skills students (mostly freshmen). What do they need to know in order to be successful?

An Impressive Twist: A Sixth Grader Sings Gaga

I could not believe my ears while watching tonight's news. A sixth grader singing Lady Gaga in a more passionate, emotionally-charged way than Ms. Gaga herself? Watch this video and let your jaw drop!

Flowers For Ms. Audy

We have loved having Ms. Audy, our stupendous student teacher who has been with us for the past six weeks. She will be missed when she leaves us after next week. Today, she was off presenting her portfolio at the University of Maine at Farmington. I'm going to go and check out her presentation later, and I thought that it would be nice to bring her a little something from all of you.

So, we worked to make Ms. Audy a bouquet of tissue paper flowers this morning. Congratulations, Ms. Audy, on a job well done!

Today is Poem In Your Pocket Day!

Today is Poem In Your Pocket Day. On this day, you are encouraged to keep a poem in your pocket, ready to share with someone special or to keep to yourself. Your poem can be an old favorite or a newly discovered gem. You can copy a poem out on paper or print one that's already in the shape of a pocket.

I also have many collections of poetry from which you may choose a poem to rewrite and carry in your pocket. Or, you might have a favorite poem in mind from your childhood or your own writing. Either way, look for a

Whatever your choice, find a poem that you plan to keep in your pocket today. Share it with me and explain why you've chosen to carry this poem. Whatever you choose for a poem, make sure to explore and have fun! (And, as you can see, we had an awesome time! Good work all!)

Take the Dr. Seuess Challange!

Dr. Seuss's classic Green Eggs and Ham is one of the best-selling children's books of all time. Published in 1960, it quickly rose in popularity and became the legendary success that it is today. What most people are unaware of, though, is that this book was written as a dare. There was a friendly bet between Dr. Seuss and his publisher that Seuss could not write a book using only fifty words. If Seuss won the bet, he would win the $50 bet. If he lost, well, he'd have to pay up.

Dr. Seuss won the bet, and the rest is history. Today, you're going to challenge yourself to write a story in 50 words. You may start or end with a bank of 50 words, but when you submit your story, I need a list of your words. Here are the words Seuss used in his story:

Notice that all but one of the words are a single syllable. Simple words. Your story does not need to be complex, but it should make sense!

Lookin' for Love? Send a Poetic Message!

This Valentine's Day, don't worry about finding money for flowers or candy. There's a cool new site that will allow you to send an email "Poem Flow" (a flowing script of a poem) with an image to someone you love (or want to love). Here's a link to the site where you can make this happen!

More of a hard-copy person? Here's a link to a site where you can print our multiple quirky-cool (and traditional) Valentines for your sweetheart(s) this Valentine's Day.

Or, if you've already picked your bouquet and you're ready to deliver some fragrant love petals this February, here are some preselected poems that can add a little high-steppin' language to your flowery gift.

Updates: Teen Dating Violence Awareness Activities

Yesterday was an awesome day. It was a Winter Carnival Day, so it could have been a little crazy and wild, but it was not. You all worked together and created some powerful products related to raising awareness about the realities of Teen Dating Violence in our school. Here's some of what you all accomplished:
These notes about the positive and negative aspects that can occur in relationships. This chart was developed first period with students in Study Skills. It helped to lead into the development and creation of about 15 Dream Flags, which were created during period 2 in Freshman English and given to Kristen Plummer of SAVES (the Sexual Assault Victims Emergency Services in-school advocate) to hang in the glass corridor as part of the 300 Dreams Project (become a fan on facebook!).

Here's my flag:

Your flags are already hanging in the glass corridor of our school. I'll take some pictures of the completed project tomorrow (Friday) as that it the last day of flag creation. Ms. Plummer has said that the 300 Dream Flags are almost completed. Why 300 flags? Because 1 in 3 teens are reported to be involved in unhealthy or abusive relationships. If we were to apply this statistic to the population of our high school, that would be about 300 students. Powerful to think about.

What else did we do yesterday? Our amazing practicum teacher, Ms. Ferry lead period 1 Study Skills students in an activity where they had to "Chalk Talk" about healthy and unhealthy relationships. Here is a photo of a student responding to one of four questions:

1. Who sets a good example of a healthy relationship for you?
2. List a fact or statistic that surprised you (in your research about teen dating violence).
3. What are some words that define a healthy relationship?
4. What would you say or do is a friend or relative came to you and said that they were experiencing an unhealthy realtionship?

After an amazing discussion about the results of this Chalk Talk, Ms. Ferry went to help Ms. Plummer with the 300 Dream Flags Project. Later, we lead an in-depth discussion with the seniors about they observations and feelings of what for a healthy and an unhealthy relationship. Here's a picture of their thoughts:

Thanks to all of you for making this day so positive and for spreading the word about Teen Dating Violence. Remember what you learned today so that you and those you love do not become victims of dating violence!

Organizing Your Email

As we begin to use our firstclass email more and more, we need to make sure that our email inboxes stay organized. Organization for email is key so that important files and messages are not lost or buried in your inbox. To help make this a reality, you all need some folders to help keep your messages straight. I keep all kinds of folders in my email and find it much easier to retrieve information I need.

To accomplish the task of getting folders for all of your emails, we created a list of the folders you'll need to have. This list included your basic classes and your extracurricular activities. Some of you wanted to have additional folders, which is fine. This system needs to work for you.

After this, I used our newly installed LCD projector to show you all how to go about creating folders in your email. I wanted to give you all credit for accomplishing this task, so I had you take a screenshot of your mewly created folders and send it to me via firstclass.

Now, all you need to do is maintain and clean and organized inbox!

Quote of the Week

This week marks the start of our second semester. For some of you, this next semester will bring new challenges in the form of new classes. Most of you will enter into some new learning environments and will need to start fresh with new instructors. All of you will need to reflect on the first semester and decide what you need to do to either continue with success or prevent failures. With this is in mind, here is our quote of the week:

"Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied."

I chose this Pearl S. Buck quotation to remind us all that this semester break can serve as a sort of new beginning, but only if we do as she says and take the time to recall what we've done in the past and remedy our practices for the future.

So, on this first day of second semester, what do you need to keep in mind in order to meet with success this June? Make a new sign that will serve as a directive for us all. We'll take down some of our older pieces of encouragement and make new ones for this new semester.

Send a Boost to a Fellow Teen

When you are down and out, remember that there are people out there who care about you. The cool and innovative folks at boostup.org have created a whole site focused on sending out positive vibes and creating awareness about the dropout rate in our country. Did you know:

-Every year, 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone. That’s a student every 26 seconds – or 6,000 a day.

-More than a quarter (25%) of high school freshmen fail to graduate from high school on time.

-Dropouts make up nearly half the heads of households on welfare.

-In the U.S., 65% of convicts are dropouts. Lack of education is one of the strongest predictors of criminal activity.

-America’s high school graduation rate ranks 19th in the world. (Forty years ago, we were number one.)

Sobering facts, huh? Well, at boostup.org, you can give a support to actual teens who are in danger of dropping out of high school. While you're there, you should explore the site and find some of your own reasons to keep going. After all, you don't want to become part of this national trend!

Study Skills Midterm & Survey

Study Skills Midterm Directions

There are two parts to your midterm exam. In the first part, you're going to show off some the skills you've learned this semester. Here's what you need to do for the first part:

1. Take a screen shot of your grades on powerschool and attach it as a JPEG in an email to me.
2. Compose an etiquette-filled email explaining how you feel about the grades you've earned this semester. **Don't focus on the negative!**
3. In your email, explain what goals you've met AND a goal or two that you have for next quarter.
4. Make sure that you're specific in your goals. Don't just say that you'd like to do better; talk about specific classes and specific goals that you have for your grades/ participation/ efforts in your classes.
5. Make sure that you talk about at least ONE accomplishment that you've made this semester that you're proud of.

Once you're done with your email and you've sent it off to me, please complete this survey.

Though some of you do not have me as an English teacher, this information will be a valuable tool for me to use in thinking about how all students in my classes are using technology.

Study Skills Midterm & Survey

Study Skills Midterm Directions

There are two parts to your midterm exam. In the first part, you're going to show off some the skills you've learned this semester. Here's what you need to do for the first part:

1. Take a screen shot of your grades on powerschool and attach it as a JPEG in an email to me.
2. Compose an etiquette-filled email explaining how you feel about the grades you've earned this semester. **Don't focus on the negative!**
3. In your email, explain what goals you've met AND a goal or two that you have for next quarter.
4. Make sure that you're specific in your goals. Don't just say that you'd like to do better; talk about specific classes and specific goals that you have for your grades/ participation/ efforts in your classes.
5. Make sure that you talk about at least ONE accomplishment that you've made this semester that you're proud of.

Once you're done with your email and you've sent it off to me, please complete this survey.

Though some of you do not have me as an English teacher, this information will be a valuable tool for me to use in thinking about how all students in my classes are using technology.

Dream Flag Project

To honor the birth of one of the most famous dreamers of all time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the passing of Miep Gies, you're going to create a Dream Flag.

The Dream Flag Project is an international effort to collect and display the hopes, interests, and wishes of individuals all across the world. Since a huge part of our focus this year has been for you all to advocate for your goals and dreams, I thought that this would be an appropriate way to demonstrate some of the interests and passions you have.

So, have fun with this project and be creative in your expression of your dreams. We'll hang our completed flags in our classroom next Tuesday.

I've included some examples of flags that have been developed by children and teens from around the world in this post.

Resolution Generator

Having trouble coming up with a New Year's resolution? Have no fear, the resolution generator is here! Simply click the button and a resolution appears for you. And, if you don't like the first one you receive, you can just push the button again. Pretty handy, eh?

Poems for Ornaments

Today we decorated our classroom for the holidays with some Poetic Ornaments. I got this idea from the poets.org site, and decided that this lesson would lend itself to some creativity, cheer, and expose you (and me) to some new poets and poems. Boy, was I right! Everyone who has walked into the room has mentioned how much they love the ornaments we have hanging around the room. Some students even asked me if they were "allowed" to make some. My answer: "OF COURSE!"

Here are a couple of links for you to browse for your lines:


Christmas Poems

Winter Poems

Here are some sample finished products:

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!

The "Thirteen Days of Thanks" Projects are coming in. Lots of great ideas and thoughtful thanks.

Good work!

Day of Thanks Project

For every day from now until the end of November, I'll post a student-generated, whole class-generated, or teacher-generated post that includes a visual or some writing where thanks are offered to someone or something.

Today's post includes a letter from a student to her father. In this letter, it obvious how deeply this student cares for her father. This is a heartfelt "thanks" project that took my breath away!

Fourteen Days of Thankful

I wish I'd thought of this earlier, but as the old adage goes "better late than never"!

We have fourteen days left in this month. Let's use those fourteen days to be aware of the blessings and gifts that we have in our lives and all that we have to be thankful for. We'll start today:

What are you thankful for on this Tuesday? Please create a visual to represent your thanks this on this beautiful morning.

If you're not feeling especially appreciative, here is a link to some photography where you might find a place to start. If you need more photos to choose from, here's another site that offers the Day in Photos.
If this isn't enough to move you toward thankfulness, read this article to find additional health benefits related to being thankful year-round.

Maine Referendum Voting Survey

Some of you are eligible to vote this year, but most of you are still under eighteen and cannot participate in our November 3rd referendum vote. I've heard a few of you who've expressed anger and frustration about not being able to participate in matters that affect you directly even though you're not yet eighteen.

So, we're going to engage in a mock referendum vote. Click here to complete our survey form.