Applied Math 40S

Our adventures in blogging continue....

Watch for 3 new blogs going live September 6, 2006 ...

• Pre-Cal 30S (Fall '06) (Grade 11)
• Pre-Cal 40S (Fall '06) (Grade 12)
• AP Calculus AB 2006-07 (Grade 12)

We had our graduation exercises today. A gentle push into the world for all of you. I hope you're leaving with the keys to your future in your hand.

I'm so glad we've had this time together,

Just to have a laugh or learn some math,

Seems we've just got started and before you know it,

Comes the time we have to say, "So Long!"

So long everybody! Watch this space in the fall for pointers to new blogs for each of my classes.

Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu, and all those good bye things. ;-)

We did a little survey in class the day after we recorded our podcapsule. The results are below; 17 students participated. So, without any further ado, here are the results of our class' survey. Please share your thoughts by commenting (anonymously if you wish) below .....

Classroom Environment
The questions in this section were ranked using this 5 point scale:

Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree
1	2	3	4	5

The bold numbers after each item are the average ratings given by the entire class.

1. The teacher was enthusiastic about teaching the course. 4.88

2. The teacher made students feel welcome in seeking help in/outside of class. 4.65

3. My interest in math has increased because of this course. 3.76

4. Students were encouraged to ask questions and were given meaningful answers. 4.53

5. The teacher enhanced the class through the use of humour. 4.47

6. Course materials were well understood and explained clearly by the teacher. 4.47

7. Graded materials fairly represented student understanding and effort. 4.24

8. The teacher showed a genuine interest in individual students. 4.12

9. I have learned something that I consider valuable. 4.29

10. The teacher normally came to class well prepared. 4.59

Overall Impression of the Course
The questions in this section were ranked using this 5 point scale:

Very Poor	Poor	Average	Good	Very Good
1	2	3	4	5

1. Compared with other high school courses I have taken, I would say this course was: 4.65

2. Compared with other high school teachers I have had, I would say this teacher is: 4.65

3. As an overall rating, I would say this teacher is: 4.53

Course Characteristics
The questions in this section were ranked using this 5 point scale:

Very Easy	Easy	Average	Difficult	Very Difficult
1	2	3	4	5

1. Course difficulty, compared to other high school courses: 3.35

2. Course workload, compared to other high school courses: 3.31
(This question answered by 16 students.)

3. Hours per week required outside of class:
(This question answered by 16 students.)

0 to 2	2 to 3	3 to 5	5 to 7	over 7
25%	44%	12%	19%	0%

4. Expected grade in the course:
(This question answered by 14 students.)

F	D	C	B	A
0%	29%	29%	36%	7%

Specific Feedback
What was your best learning experience in this course?

Pre-tests Vectors Probability Design & Measurement Real life applications of math (2) Almost everything

Online tools All but Statistics Stories about the Greeks and infinity Scribes (3) Blogging (4) Wiki assignment

"Say it six times" Group work (2) Learning to use graphing calculator Using the internet for learning How teachers love teaching

What was your worst learning experience in this course?

Statistics The exam Using the iMac lab for the Personal Finance unit

None (4) Not getting tests back quickly

Fear of asking questions Homework quizzes Personal Finance (2)

What changes would you suggest to improve the way this course is taught?

More stories and extra topics (2) Blog Math dictionaries More Projects

None (3) Give notes on using the graphing calculator Give tests back quickly (4)

Give regular grade updates More jokes More wiki work Teach Personal Finance using only the graphing calculator

It's interesting to compare the items that were considered both the worst and best learning experiences. Also, take a look at the list of worst learning experiences compared to suggestions for next year. Help me do a better job next year by commenting on what you see here ....

The students in our class wrote their final exam on Wednesday June 14; they ended their high school mathematics careers. We made a podcast to celebrate! We left ourselves a "podcapsule" instead of a "time capsule." We left our future selves a message; hopefully it will help us improve our learning.

Here is our Podcapsule (5 minutes, 52 seconds). Please leave any questions, concerns, complaints, compliments, confusions, uncertainties, anxieties or other inquiries in the comments to this post.

You can also leave us an audio message if you wish. ;-) (You'll need a microphone.)

This isn't our last post yet -- I've got at least two more I want to get out before the end.

HELLO EVERYONE! This is Jessica, I haven't been the scribe in a while so I decided to volunteer again! This morning we had our first part of our exam and hopefully everyone did well!! Tomorrow morning we have our second part of our exam, everyone don't forget we need two pencils, an eraser and a geometry set. BE READY! In class today a couple of us recorded our podcapsule and the rest of us continued making our notes on our sheets.

Thats all for today! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE ON THE EXAM TOMORROW!

The password to the wiki is rwgtktea.

.. Just in case anyone was unclear.

Hellooo everyone. Unbelievably I am scribe, once again -_-' But that's fine, not much to report anyway. But here is something very, very important: As everyone should know by now, tomorrow is the start of the Provincials! Everyone should be infront of the Imac Lab @ 8:45 am, due to the fact that pen should be on paper by 9:00 am. MAC LAB, 8:45 am. That also goes for the continuation of exams on Wednesday. So today for first period, we were handed one yellow sheet of paper on which we were able to write anything that we thought could help us for the exams. We could have written on the sheet, back to back if we wanted. The thing is, seeing as how we have 'tools' such as our blog and thinkfree and everything else we've been taught during the course, we'll legitimately be able to access these websites for the exam as well. So for second period, a Wiki was created in which we started to put the information from our dictionaries. I believe it was Cait who initiated this, I'm not entirely sure actually..But there we have it, our very own Wiki! So hopefully, everyone contributes a little bit so that we have good notes to refer to incase we need to for the exam.


Goodluck to everyone. Study well. It was great being in this class =)