A few weeks ago while on vacation I received preliminary results on my students' state test scores, the Keystone Exams. Talk about a kill-joy. I literally felt like crying and not for me, but mostly for my students. We worked so hard this past school year.
In the past I've tried to ignore the tests and just put my whole heart into teaching. I mean Algebra 1 is Algebra 1, right? ...but then our scores really tanked. After that I had a friendly conversation with an administrator who expressed his concerns. He gave a few suggestions for me to try in my classroom and also let me know that he's supportive of what I do. What I took away from that conversation is that I needed to take these exams seriously. So I have taken them seriously in the past few years; studying the standards, practically memorizing the sampler questions, talking with other educators about their approach. And yet....and yet, I still fail.
So, I decided to do something drastic and write my own curriculum. I've been using the one we created as a department when the exams first came out. This was back when we only had the standards to refer to and there were no sampler questions yet. But now, I have a few years of sampler questions to glean information from and that is what my curriculum is based from.
I started back in March and have a few units written, but this is a long process. I like to try each unit with my students to make sure the flow and pacing is right before I give access to other teachers.
The bad news: I don't have any data yet to show if this curriculum works or not, since it's not finished.
The good news: I am selling what I have to date. This means that you can buy what I have so far and then receive the new units for free. Each time I include another unit in the curriculum, the price will increase. Each unit includes notes, practice problems (homework), and two versions of the test. Longer units also include quizzes. You could also purchase individual units rather than the whole curriculum.
On the side bar of this blog is a link to my page with the order of the units as I plan to present them to my classes. It also includes links to other activities that support the curriculum. Like Kahoot! and desmos activities.
Here is a link to what I have so far. CLICK HERE!
As of today I have three units that are finished and tested:
In the past I've tried to ignore the tests and just put my whole heart into teaching. I mean Algebra 1 is Algebra 1, right? ...but then our scores really tanked. After that I had a friendly conversation with an administrator who expressed his concerns. He gave a few suggestions for me to try in my classroom and also let me know that he's supportive of what I do. What I took away from that conversation is that I needed to take these exams seriously. So I have taken them seriously in the past few years; studying the standards, practically memorizing the sampler questions, talking with other educators about their approach. And yet....and yet, I still fail.
So, I decided to do something drastic and write my own curriculum. I've been using the one we created as a department when the exams first came out. This was back when we only had the standards to refer to and there were no sampler questions yet. But now, I have a few years of sampler questions to glean information from and that is what my curriculum is based from.
I started back in March and have a few units written, but this is a long process. I like to try each unit with my students to make sure the flow and pacing is right before I give access to other teachers.
The bad news: I don't have any data yet to show if this curriculum works or not, since it's not finished.
The good news: I am selling what I have to date. This means that you can buy what I have so far and then receive the new units for free. Each time I include another unit in the curriculum, the price will increase. Each unit includes notes, practice problems (homework), and two versions of the test. Longer units also include quizzes. You could also purchase individual units rather than the whole curriculum.
On the side bar of this blog is a link to my page with the order of the units as I plan to present them to my classes. It also includes links to other activities that support the curriculum. Like Kahoot! and desmos activities.
Here is a link to what I have so far. CLICK HERE!
As of today I have three units that are finished and tested:
- Compound Probability
- Data Displays and Analysis
- Domain, and Range
These are the units that I have finished over the summer but need to try in my classroom:
- Tables and Intercepts
- Rate of Change, Slope, and Slope-Intercept
- Writing Linear Equations
These are the units that I have to write and test:
- Systems of Linear Equations
- Systems of Linear Inequalities
- Compare and/or Order Numbers, Simplify Square Roots
- GCF, LCM, Algebraic Properties
- Evaluate Expressions, and Estimation
- Linear Equations
- Linear Inequalities
- Polynomial Expressions
- Factor & Simplify Rational Algebraic Expressions
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