Mister McIntosh Says

“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”

~Peter Drucker

Learner-in-Chief: Philip McIntosh

 

Email: philip.mcintosh@asd20.org

 

Blog: Mister McIntosh Says

 

Curriculum: Holt McDougal Algebra I (Common Core Edition)

 

Introduction: Welcome to Algebra I! Please contact me by email with any questions or concerns you may have. If email doesn’t get it done, I will call you. I welcome visitors in the classroom so parents are encouraged to come see what we are doing at any time. My door is almost always open.

 

Curriculum: This is the first yearr our school has adopted the Algebra I book by Burger et al. and supporting materials. I have never believed a class should follow a text book (a class should follow a set of standards, with some room left over for personal exploration) but I have to say, Algebra I aligns very well with the Common Core Standards that the state of Colorado has adopted. So, we will be following the lesson sequence in the book quite closely. Some of the chapters will be hit harder than others, but the plan is to do at least something from each of the 10 chapters. The Algebra I curriculum website is not open to the public and a password will be provided once school starts.

 

Class Procedure: My mathematics classes are based on what has generally come to be known as the “flipped mastery model.” It differs from what might be called a more traditional class in two important ways.

 

It’s “flipped” because what used to be called lecture and direct instruction is now done as homework (mostly) and what once was considered homework is done in class (mostly). Learners will have their choice of ways for putting forth a fierce attempt at learning as much as they can about a small and finite topic on their own before coming to class each day. This is done by reading the book and by watching short videos that show me and others explaining concepts and demonstrating how to solve example problems.

 

If you have some other way of learning that you prefer (looking it up in another book, a website you find particularly helpful, Googling it, or whatever), that is perfectly fine as well. You are required to take notes from the book and the videos, or from… something. Notes will be checked as part of your classwork grade (see below). If, after you have done this required learning attempt and can show me your notes, I’m all yours for whatever additional explanation and one-on-one assistance you may need.

 

Please come to the Intensity Table at the front of the room for personalized assistance. That is where we have little discussions, go over problems, work together at the board, go over quizzes, whatever you need. Once you are making progress you are welcome to return to your table and work with partners or even by yourself if that is what works best for you.

 

All assignments from the book are self-assessed by you. It works like this. When you have completed a task (like a problem set), show it to me. If I like what I see, you will be directed to the Check Zone where you will find answer keys. Use an answer key to score your own paper. You must use a pen for scoring and no erasing or corrections are allowed during checking. After checking, show me your paper again. At that time we will have a discussion and formative assessment of how you are progressing and you will either be cleared to proceed, asked to do some more work, or perhaps be invited to the board to solve a problem specially invented for you to demonstrate you have mastered the concept under study.

 

The mastery portion of the class comes into play as you work through the material, take quizzes and tests, and demonstrate to me you are understanding everything as you go. You can go more or less at your own pace.  Every lesson, quiz and test must be completed to my satisfaction in the order presented before you can go on to the next thing.

 

During the first couple of weeks (or maybe the first month) I will teach you how to succeed in this environment, and we will all move ahead together. Once you get the hang of it, you will be given more freedom to proceed on your own.

 

Every so often we will take a break, or do some white board work all together. I will occasionally play a conga drum, wear an aluminum foil hat, give you something from my goody box, play a weird little tune on an alto recorder, or unleash a blistering guitar riff. Should be fun.

 

Personal Electronic Devices: There are nine netbook computers available in the classroom. They work reasonably well but are rather small and have poor video processing power. It can also take a long time for a learner to log into them (3-10 minutes). They do get used a lot though. You are welcome to use your own computing devices in class and that will actually be much more efficient for you. Personal devices can connect to the Internet through our personal devices network which is subject to the same filtering as our internal network.

Laptops, tablets (such as iPad and similar), and even smart phones can be used in class for taking quizzes, looking up information and doing other academic tasks. Placing and receiving phone calls or texting is prohibited and will result in confiscation of the device.

 

Grades: In a mastery learning class, learning is paramount. When it comes to assessing learning, there is really only one thing that counts; can you demonstrate that you have learned the skills and knowledge that are the content of the course?

 

There will be a small amount of credit awarded for each of the many learning tasks that are required for success. The standard Challenger grading scale is used. The final grade each quarter is earned based on the following weighting of the class components:

 

Bellwork: 5%

Classwork: 10%

Informal Assessment: 10%

Quizzes: 30%

Tests: 45%

 

As you can see, you have to do acceptably well on the quizzes and tests to get a good grade.

 

Bellwork is a 5-15 minute warm up exercise done at the beginning of class on most days.It consists of 1-4 short problems covering anything from K-6th grade math. Often it is related to something most people are working on in class, and occasionally it foreshadows something just over the horizon. It is worked on until it is correct, whether it takes you 1 minute or 15 minutes. I check each and every learner’s work and it must be right and they have to be able to explain it to me if I ask. Bellwork is scored credit/no-credit, but you have to try pretty hard to get no credit.

 

Classwork includes all the formal assignments that are not bellwork, quizzes or tests. They will appear in Infinite Campus under descriptions like “Video Homework,” “Notes Check,” “Lesson 1-1,” etc. or similar. Classwork is scored on a credit/no-credit basis. To get the credit, the work has to be good. There is no half-credit. If it doesn’t meet my standard of excellence, you’ll do it again.

 

Informal Assessment is based on my judgment of how much effort you put into the classwork, your attitude toward learning, your interaction with others in the class, and whether or not you are able to explain things to me in a clear and understandable manner when I ask. It’s somwhat subjective.

 

Quizzes will be given 2–3 times per unit. They are multiple choice, matching, true-false, and fill-in-the-blank instruments done on-line though the ALEC website and are automatically graded so the learners get instant feedback on the results.

There are Tier I quizzes and Tier II quizzes. The Tier on quizzes are a set of 4 and the learner can take one or all of them. The score is the average of however many are attempted. A minimum score of 70% is required. If, after Tier I is complete, a learner may take one shot at a single Tier II quiz, and keep the higher of the Tier I or II grades. Oh, BTW, one or two questions from previous units show up on later quizzes fairly often.

 

Tests are more in-depth formal assessments done on paper in class. There is a comprehensive pre-test taken at the beginning of every unit and the post-test is just like it with slightly different questions or numerical values in the questions. The pre-test is graded but the result is not entered in the grade book. The post-test result is included in the grade calculation. A minimum score of 70% is required. The test format includes multiple choice and short answer questions, diagramming, word problems where you must show your work, graphing, organizing of data, and explanation of your methods.

 

In some cases, alternative assessments can be substituted for quizzes and tests. This will probably be rare but I am open to the idea. Strange as it may seem, pretty much everything is negotiable, except one thing—you must learn and demonstrate that you have learned.

 

There is no extra credit. There is plenty of regular credit available.

 

Please check Infinite Campus often to plan your work, set goals, and assess your progress. Do not put a lot of stock in the due dates. I am forced to put in something for a due date, but there is flexibility in when things need to get done. If you start to fall behind and are not seeking help, I will enter LATE in the grade book for uncompleted assignments. This sends a message home that you are not doing your part.

 

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how it’s done.