0 Scavenger Hunt

I got the idea for a scavenger hunt from some friends.  They created a proportion activity that I use in my math strategies class. I hadn't tried to use it for anything else, until recently.

The setup is pretty simple, you just make up a bunch of cards with questions on the bottom half and an answer to a different problem on the top half.  Each card has a distinguishing feature like a symbol or something, and you tape them all around the room.

I had students stick with a partner, to help answer each other's questions. Students are supposed to choose one card to start with, and work out the problem on the bottom half of the page.  Then they look around the room for the answer.  When they find it, they record the symbol in the answer key and work out the next problem and so on . . .

Remember my Rock Star intern? I asked him to create a scavenger hunt to review in the middle of my basic trig unit for Algebra 2. The topic was finding sohcahtoa, given different types of information. He wrote all the problems himself, and created a page for students to show their work and record the corresponding symbols.

Rock Star thought about everything! He made sure that the answers to every problem were different, but yet similar enough that it wasn't a dead giveaway. He proofread his solutions carefully and there were no mistakes (well, I had to make two teeny tiny corrections). The number of problems he selected was the perfect amount. Everyone finished, but there wasn't a ton of extra time at the end of the activity. I couldn't have done it better myself.

This was my first time entrusting my intern with the creation of an activity. I will admit that I was fully expecting cautiously preparing for the day to be a disaster. But it couldn't have been more perfect. I loved this activity and I will definitely laminate it and use it again. Students were up and moving around, and they were pretty focused.  Even my class with focus issues worked really hard.

I am thinking of how nice it would be to continue to utilize Rock Star's help, and I have decided:  This kid is not allowed to graduate.

Detail: Scavenger Hunt

0 Rock Star in Training

Our school has a set of vocationally funded courses for students who are interested in becoming teachers. In the first year students take Child Development and Careers Working with Children. The second year is Teaching as a Career. For the third year, students enroll in Teacher Internship where they are placed in a classroom according to their interests. It is a high school version of student teaching, I guess. I am lucky enough to have one of these interns in my largest (24) Algebra 2 class this semester.

My intern is a senior who wants to be a High School Math/Physics teacher. He is currently in my Calculus and Physics classes, so the poor guy is in my room for three periods a day.

I have been trying to give him a variety of teachery experiences. He has taught a few of my already-planned lessons. Recently, I had him write a short quiz. When I offered him the opportunity to grade the quiz, he was super excited. I probably shouldn't have told him that he will be less excited about that part of the job later on.

I am remembering what it was like to start out as a teacher and how much of this stuff isn't learned in school. You learn it by doing, and messing it up, and figuring out how to do it better next time. Take this quiz for example: He realized when he went to grade the quiz that some of the directions weren't clear enough, causing students' answers to vary a little from what he actually wanted. He told me that grading the quizzes was a huge learning experience, because it helped him to realize how he could write a better quiz.

I am so impressed by his natural teaching ability. When he explains things, he asks leading questions instead of just giving the answer. He knows how to do whole class instruction with ease -- not too fast to confuse the students, not too slow to bore them. When several students have their hands up at the same time, he helps by going around and answering their questions. The students seem to be just as confident with him answering their questions as me. He is pretty much a Rock Star.

I love that he is getting the opportunity to have some real teacher-like experiences, even before stepping foot into college. I'll be glad to call him a colleague one day soon.

Detail: Rock Star in Training