I've always struggled with what to do on the first day. @Fouss came up with some great ideas and I have enjoyed reading what everyone else is doing. I'll be honest, I did slightly steal Kristen's idea. But, I'll own up to it, so it should be okay! :)
I spent four days of my summer at a SMART Notebook Training and learned a lot of cool tools that I either didn't know existed OR I had never played around with. So, I figured I would make my first day presentation in SMART Notebook. I have no clue how to embed an interactive SMART Notebook file into my webpage, so I used Jing to video it - with me moving things. Obviously, this two minute video will last WAY longer in my classroom (hoping for 90 minutes!) but it gives you an idea of what I plan on doing. This video is for my Honors Algebra II Class. You'll see it's not 100% done as I don't have a textbook in front of me to make their assignment and the blog is no where near ready. But, it gives you an idea. Also, I love the attachments tab in SMART Notebook because you can upload all necessary docs (or URLS) for your presentation right there, so it's one (easy) click away.
See it here.
The other class I have is Foundations of Geometry. I will be going over the same basics ... they will take the same quiz and create their own numbers. Then, I'm going to have them walk around and get to know each other with this worksheet. But, then I am going to have them write on an index card (in five or less sentences) what they think Geometry is. And, then I am going to have them write down words they associate with geometry on post-it notes. We'll put them up on the board (probably into categories - my units?). Then, they will work on the Who I Am worksheet and we'll wrap up.
Well, there's day #1. How about the other 89 days?
Wow - I'm really impressed with your SMART Notebook Day 1 presentation. I haven't played yet with the notebook software (I'm almost there!) and I really liked how you had things tabbed off to the sides. The expectations and such (the 1-5 bit) - is that also on a handout for them?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing - you've got me thinking about my day one stuff, too!
I'm totally ok with you "stealing" my ideas - partly because none of them were actually my ideas, and partly because I love some of what you did to them and now I'm going to steal what you did! :)
ReplyDeleteI love the tabs in Smart Notebook, too. Off to play with it again!
@lisa - i will have some sort of hand out for them. not sure how i will handle that one. either a wordy, yucky document. or, i've heard people give out fill in the blank syllabus' and the kids fill in part (so they have to listen!)
ReplyDelete@fouss i can send you all the documents if you want!
I really like the timer widget - what is it?
ReplyDeleteI am going to use that same "get to know me" sheet for the students - the one they fill out.
Can I ask what the purpose of the "get to know your classmates" worksheet is?
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've seen that done in a math class before, and I'd like to understand the thinking behind it. How do introverted and shy students respond to it?
@Jennifer - I like to do it to get them to get to know each other and pull out the shy kids. I've never had a kid not do well with it. It gets them up and out of their comfort zone to get to know each other. I did it in my low level geometry class, so they had a blast.
ReplyDeleteYou have some great ideas! What do you do with the "Who I Am" sheet? Is it homework or classwork? Do you have the kids share or just hand it in to you for your records? Thanks so much!
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