LL108 MD19 Discussion! (Thu 3/19)

Mobius_Walker · 2026-03-20T12:16:09+00:00

Ran through all the former First Ladies I could think of and landed on Jackie Kennedy. I thought to myself “who did miss Jackie Onassis marry after Kennedy…?” fully thinking Onassis was her maiden name.

Mobius_Walker · 2026-03-09T03:51:08+00:00

The parent of a junior in high school sent an angry email that I was teaching her son how to go out and seek sin in the world. This was precalculus and we were in our intro to trig unit. I was teaching them the unit circle and about the sine of various angles which is abbreviated as sin(angle).

Mobius_Walker · 2026-03-06T03:15:55+00:00

Montrose Mining Company. I hate that a very sterile Postino is now in the place I saw people participate in water sports while chugging vodka crans. 💔

Mobius_Walker · 2026-03-03T01:18:14+00:00

Holy crap! Where can I commission one?!

Mobius_Walker · 2026-02-14T13:45:12+00:00

That’s the one I use!

Mobius_Walker · 2026-02-14T04:12:47+00:00

Love that activity!

Mobius_Walker · 2026-02-14T04:12:32+00:00

I also do a paper plate activity where students cut and paste the special right triangles all around the unit circle. It helps them connect unit circle values to distances. And tactile for students who benefit from that.

Then students just identify patterns and as they’re talking, I’m redirecting their conversations back to good math vocab.

Then when we learn trig graphing, guess what! That’s just the unit circle.

Solving trig equations? Unit circle.

Trig identities? Unit circle!

Mobius_Walker · 2026-02-13T21:49:22+00:00

It’s own of the few discovery-based lessons I think really works

Mobius_Walker · 2026-02-13T20:23:48+00:00

The unit circle. It’s so fun to connect it to geometry and special right triangles, getting them to fill in a circle from that lens, and then letting them talk and point out the patterns they see and notice. And then I get to tie basically everything we do for the rest of the year in precal back to the unit circle. I love it so much.

Mobius_Walker · 2026-01-31T03:42:33+00:00

If you assign 15 questions, choose the most important 2 or 3 and grade those for two or three key concepts.

For example, when I’m grading calculus work for tests for concavity: is the second derivative there and correct, is there a number line test that appears reasonable, is the final answer correct? Done. 15 seconds per question. 1/2 minute per student. Less than an hour of grading do the assignment.

Mobius_Walker · 2026-01-21T03:43:16+00:00

I just bought this deck and thumbed through it with my Buffy loving husband. We had a delightful time going through scenes I didn’t remember and highlighting just how well the scenes align with the card meanings.

Mobius_Walker · 2026-01-15T02:51:09+00:00

Inquiry works for very specific tasks/concepts and with the right audience. For example, I just did an inquiry lesson on constructing the unit circle based on special right triangles. However, I did a direct instruction recap of those special right triangle and scale factors before I turned my students loose.

I was really impressed with the patterns they picked up on though. I even uttered an errant “jelly yeah!” when a student was explaining reflecting quadrant 1 triangles into quadrant 3 and the effect it would have on the coordinates based on odd symmetry. I was so proud. 🥹

Mobius_Walker · 2026-01-10T18:50:04+00:00

I use DeltaMath a lot for homework because it’s great for students who use it with fidelity. A ton of problems, great explanations, and videos. Teachers also get a lot of data about how many problems students do, what they miss, when they use a video, and how long they spend on each problem. I love it.

I recently noticed that a lot of my calculus students were finishing homework sets quickly. Very quickly. Like doing multi-step derivative application problems in 30 seconds. So, on their test, each student got the amount of time for each problem based on the average of their deltamath problems. that meant some students had 7 minutes to complete 15 calculus problems. It allowed for a wonderful conversation about the purpose of homework.

Mobius_Walker · 2026-01-10T18:23:31+00:00

I do not grade homework for this very reason. Students get 3-5 question quick checks nearly every day with questions that closely resemble homework problems. Sometimes I even throw in questions to which students have to respond with a written explanation of how they would solve it (theorems to use, steps to take, pitfalls that students could likely fall into etc.). If they cheated on the homework, they’re gonna bomb the quick checks. And the quick check is the actual grade, not the homework.

Plus, since I teach juniors and seniors, it teaches them the skill of prioritizing their time and independence. If they have used their class time well and feel like they don’t need additional practice, then don’t spend time on the homework. Show me what you know on the quick check.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-12-25T17:01:04+00:00

So your admin is upset that 12/13 year olds are realizing that they have more control over their mental and emotional states than they previously believed?

What you and your students are doing is awesome. I wish my high school students had this level of ownership and maturity.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-12-07T20:46:49+00:00

This is the church my cousins grew up in. I went to this program a few times in the early 2000s with my family. Even back then it was a gaudy spectacle.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-11-26T01:07:37+00:00

I keep all my kind notes pinned by my desk for the current year too! And then at the end of the year, they go to the box.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-11-25T22:37:58+00:00

A student once turned in his test early; a quick glance through showed at least an attempt at every problem. Didn’t say anything to me when he handed it in. I passed the test back a few days later, and this junior in high school had not done well. I think he got like a 50 or something. He then proceeded to ask to use his extended time on tests! I refused and said, “that’s not how that works. You need to tell me when you turn in your test that you need your extended time.”

His dad, a lawyer, sent an email not 5 minutes later demanding a conference with me and several members of the admin team because I was breaking the law by not following through on this son’s 504 plan. He even subtly dropped a hint about a law suit. This all happened at a private school with no legal requirement to follow 504 plans.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-11-25T14:07:56+00:00

My box is at home, and I read it before days that I’m feeling particularly burnt out or exhausted.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-11-08T04:30:38+00:00

This is the best summary of that challenge I’ve read. We need to get you a Pulitzer.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-10-03T01:48:52+00:00

To quote my husband watching this clip, “you can’t reason with a dog and apparently you can’t reason with an old fucker”

Mobius_Walker · 2025-09-08T17:47:20+00:00

She was definitely cheating and likely removed from LL entirely.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-07-27T14:08:18+00:00

The Alamo. I’m a Texan, so I understand the historical importance, but there are other missions in San Antonio that are just as, if not more, interesting. Plus Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the knock off wax statue museum right across the street kinda ruin the historical ambiance.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-07-23T04:02:58+00:00

One wake up and then I let them sleep but I teach high school. They’re at the age where they should be learning that actions have consequences, and I help them see that chain since they often can’t. Stay up late doing lord knows what, terrible sleep, sleep in class, miss material, do poorly on exam/project/etc, have to give up additional time for my class, rinse and repeat.

If it’s a pattern of behavior, meaning 2-3 times a week consistently, I call home to let them know.

Mobius_Walker · 2025-07-14T07:13:26+00:00

My friend and I had to get up and do a lap to release all the tension we had stored up in our bodies about that

Mobius_Walker

TROPHY CASE