She is Why I Teach

The whisperings of burnout
                                            of failure
sulk through my brain
War of Words come out
of my friends.
     I don't think I can do it.
I'm not happy.
                                         I'm not happy.
                                                    failure.
hesitant to turn away

then reminded of why I began
She is why I teach
that quiet girl
        with no belief
in herself or her voice.
that shy girl that is afraid
to succeed
that put down girl
      the one told that she is
     not              smart          enough
not       good                       enough
not enough.
she is why I teach.
I teach to give her a voice.
If she never passes a test
    fine.
Does she believe?
That is my success.

Coordinate Plane Battleship with Flipped Classroom

I have seen this lesson all over the web the last couple of years, but this year I decided to try it out.  If you have ever read my other posts you would know that I am trying to integrate the flipped classroom approach into my math class this year.  Previous to this lesson, I gave the students 2 Google Docs homework assignments that they had a week to complete.  The first assignment asked the students to watch two videos and answer questions about the coordinate plane.  They then had to create a coordinate plane that labeled the x and y axis, the different quadrants, and plot two points.  After this, the second assignment gave them a word problem with a solution.  They had to determine whether to solution was wrong or correct and explain why.  If the students were unable to complete it in the week's time they were given the opportunity during class.  While those students were completing the assignment, my other students played the coordinate plane battleship game.  The weekend before I went to pizza hut, papa john's, and dominoes to gather pizza boxes. I was able to get them for free from all places, but I will say that I got the most (20 boxes) from papa johns.  I then bought a huge bag of skittles. These were the ships.  I explained to the students that whatever they sunk, they got to eat....so they were very motivated by this concept.

I was very happy with how this game turned out.  The students were engaged, excited, and were able to practice plotting points.