Math really "Clicks"!

The last several days have been really incredible in my class! I have had the pleasure of doing things with my students this year that I have never done before! For example, the clickers you see above are new to my room. Let me say first, that I have wanted a SmartBoard in my room since 1999, but we were always hindered by the budget constraints and couldn't afford to get them. Two years ago, I asked our school's tech person for the OLD SmartBoard that the school had (but no one was using). I was limited in its use, for several reasons, but I WAS able to use it as somewhat of a larger screen to do my PowerPoint presentations that year. Last year, my current SmartBoard was installed, and it was a blessing! But I couldn't do then what I can do now! We hadn't yet ordered the Smart Response system then. This system allows the students to use the remotes to take their quizzes and tests. The responses are then downloaded into an Excel Spreadsheet for my use. Instead of trudging through the grading of a stack of papers, I have ONE sheet of paper with everyone's score on it, that I can then transfer to my gradebook! And the same clickers the students use to TAKE the tests give them instant feedback as to how they did on the tests! It's a win-win situation all around!

I intend to use the clickers this year on Fridays (unless I have a major test scheduled). For now, we will use them to take our weekly CRCT prep quizzes. I will also use them from time to time on other days during the week as an instant form of feedback to help the kids know how they are learning that which they need to learn. I am TRULY excited about this advancment, and the others which we are about to engage in! Soon, we will be doing PODCASTS of my lessons, which you will be able to pick up from iTunes! Isn't THAT amazing?

As for what we are actually studying, this past week saw the virtual end of our block on Probability. We began the first of three assessments on this unit, the major unit test. Now, some of the kids did well on the test, and others... well, it IS a test, so you can figure it out. Next week, we will work on two projects to wrap up the unit and show what we know. Then we will begin to study Number Operations, mainly focusing on exponents and radicals, eventually leading up to an in-depth study of the Pythagorean Theorem.

Keep checking back on this blog to see what's happening in the Red Hallway, Knights! See you tomorrow! 801, SECOND TO NONE!

The Breeze in the Trees and the FCP's...

Greetings and welcome to this week's edition of Math Magicians! As you can see, it's been a busy and creative week! A big thank you to Mrs. O'Donnell, who, with the help of some of our wonderful mathematicians, used manipulatives to illustrate our lesson for this week: tree diagrams. Tree diagrams are a way to show all of the outcomes that can happen whenever an event happens. This is helpful because as most of you know, knowing all of the options available to you or that could happen when you begin a project can help you in the planning of that project. So tree diagrams are important!

We also learned this week that there is a faster way to determine the number of outcomes for a given event: it's called the Fundamental Counting Principle (FCP). The FCP is basically a multiplication problem where you multiply all the ways one thing can happen with all of the ways anything else you are considering to get all the ways that both of them can happen together. Needless to say, the kids like doing FCP problems better than making tree diagrams, but both activities were fun this week!

Now, as many of you may know, Mr. Armstrong LOVES to bring technology into the classroom whenever possible. This is the second year I've been blessed to have the use of my SmartBoard in the room, and this year, I've been given the opportunity to improve its capabilities even more! This week, for the first time in my classroom, the students took the first quiz of the year using the remote response clickers! I know that there are several schools around where this has been happening for some time, but it's the first time for ME in MY classroom, so I was completely geeked out about it! This method is GREAT, for several reasons: one, the students get instant feedback as to how they did on the quiz; they don't have to wait for me to grade papers and get the papers back to me; two, I could export the scores from the quiz to an Excel spreadsheet, so that instead of going through that stack of papers to input my grades, I just have one sheet of paper with everyone's grades on it! Thirdly, the children just loved this alternate form of assessment that got them away from the traditional pencil-and-paper form of test taking (at least for a minute anyway...) So, for the forseeable future, we will be taking our weekly quizzes on Friday using the SmartBoard and the clickers!

Next week, we will start the week with our annual MAP testing, which are our practice tests and assessments in preparation for the CRCT administration next spring! So everyone get plenty of rest and be ready to go on Monday, because that's when we are going to be taking the test! After that, we will spend another week making sure that we know how (and especially WHEN) to make tree diagrams and/or solve problems using the FCP. We will also get more into the study of the probability of compound events (when more than one thing is happening). Until that time, see ya in the Red Hallway, Knights! 801, SECOND TO NONE!!!

And So It Begins....

And what a beginning it has been! We got off to a GREAT start this year! I have such a wonderful group of kids, and I am DEFINITELY looking forward to a fantastic year working with you all!

The first week of the new school year was typical of weeks like this: getting to know the students, briefing them on the rules and procedures in class, issuing textbooks and materials, and getting into the initial lessons. You kids seem genuinely happy to be in my class, and I think you know by now how happy I am to have you with me! Keep working with me, and I PROMISE you, we will succeed, and you'll be off to high school!

As I write this post, I want to remind you of a few things. First, your composition notebook for my class is EXTREMELY vital. It's almost like your Bible in my class, children. You MUST have it for EVERY class from now on. In your comp book, you will keep all your warm-ups, all your notes for every lesson, and your journal entries. It's important that if you don't have your composition notebook, and you take your notes on another sheet of paper, that when you finally DO track down your notebook, that you transfer your notes over to the book, to keep them all together. This way, everything will be organized and at your fingertips when you need to remember what I taught you in class so you can finish your homework or study for your tests. The notebook is key, ladies and gentlemen! Don't lose it and don't forget to bring it to class!

This week, we began our study of simple probability, the calculation of the likelihood of an event happening or not. Probability can be expressed as a fraction, a decimal, or a percent. In my class, we will mostly give our answers as fractions, although you might see them on a test or two in one of the other forms, so we will continue to work on converting fractions to decimals and percents, etc. As the week ended, we began to work on tree diagrams, which is a way to visually list all of the outcomes for a given event. It's a lot of work, but if you do it right, you will always get the right answer. I also touched a little on the Fundamental Counting Principle, which we will study more in depth in the coming week. Speaking of next week, we will be finishing up simple probability, while doing a lot more work on tree diagrams, the Fundamental Counting Principle, and compound independent event probability problems. Trust me, it only SOUNDS difficult. Once I show you what to do, you'll find that it's not difficult at all.

With that, I will now close this post and go get ready to celebrate! After all, today is MY BIRTHDAY! It's such a blessing to see 45 years (and NO, that is NOT old, LOL). Besides, when you teach such great kids, like I do, you can't help but feel YOUNG (and I feel about 25 right now, lol). Have a great weekend, everybody! See ya in the Red Hallway, Knights! 801, SECOND TO NONE!!!

Welcome Back!

Allow me to be among the first to welcome you to Team 801, East Columbus Magnet Academy! This page will be one of many ways I communicate with you, the parents and students as we navigate through your 8th Grade year.

The 8th Grade is one of the more significant grades you will experience during your academic career. It is a time of great transition and growth. If you enter this time with enthusiasm, determination, and focus, you will position yourself to have more positive options available for you in the future. That certainly is my hope and the hope of all of the other teachers on my team, that you will be educated, socially aware and prepared, and equipped with better options for your future.

I teach Math for Team 801. In my class, we will study probability, Data analysis, number operations, Geometry, Set theory, sequences, and ALGEBRA. A significant portion of the year will be devoted to teaching algebra, the algebra your parents learned when they were in 9th Grade. Math is not as hard as some of you may feel it is! I have condensed my philosophy about math down to one sentence: "If you can remember the rules, see the patterns, and take the steps, you can NEVER get a math problem wrong." This year we will have much more collaboration and interaction in class. I will allow everyone the chance to learn from me and from each other, as you will have plenty of time to talk to your teammates about the concepts we are learning as the year progresses. It is important that you hard to master the standards we will be teaching you, for as I am sure you are aware, you must pass the CRCT in reading and math in the 8th Grade to get promoted to 9th Grade. If you work with me and your classmates, I can almost guarantee you that will happen.

This year, you will need plenty of paper and pencils (we don't do math in INK!), a three-ring binder to organize your materials, and a composition notebook. Make sure you come to class each day prepared with all materials, organized neatly, and a desire to work and learn. I am extremely excited about the opportunity I have to get you all ready for high school. Welcome to ECMA! Welcome to the 8th Grade! And welcome to Team 801, where our motto is "801! SECOND TO NONE!!!"

~ Mr. Armstrong

Once More, Into the Breach!...

Greetings, and welcome to the New Look version of Math Magicians for 2010-2011!

OK, first some apologies... I apologize for only doing the blog for HALF of the school year last year. I coach basketball for the Knights, and the basketball season started right after the holidays. The tryouts were the week after my last post, so in effect, the blog went right out the window. I am going to try very hard to make sure that THAT doesn't happen again this year (even though I'm going to be coaching basketball again).

Now that that is out of the way, I first want to say CONGRATULATIONS to East Columbus Magnet Academy for making AYP for the third straight year! THREE PEAT, BABY! YEAHHHH!!!

But I am NOT satisfied. We barely made our end of the bargain in math (and I DO mean BARELY). I am committing myself to doing better this year! I hope all of you who will be my students will do the same.

If you need a supply list to know what to pick up for the new school year, please visit the school's website (http://ecma.mcsdga.net), click on the picture of the school to enter the site, and then follow the links. The supply list is posted in .pdf format, so you should be able to print it out. I'll repeat this next week when it's time to register. But this is a good way to get a jump on the coming year.

I hope you all have enjoyed yourselves during this HOT summer (did I mention it was HOT this summer?). Me, I worked, both in school and in church. I did summer school at EC and our annual Youth Revival at church during the month of June, and in July, I participated in a project designed to help the kids who fail the CRCT in the spring during the day, and we did Vacation Bible School at the church. I think next year, I'm going to consolidate and reorganize everything to June, and take a nice vacation in July. I need the rest!

Well, that's it for now. Man, I am ready to get started with this year! We face some challenges, but we also have some great opportunities, and we were BORN for this! Registration is this Thursday, August 5th. The first day of the 2010-2011 school year is Monday, August 9th. See ya in the Red Hallway, Knights! 801, SECOND TO NONE!!!