a hard look at the SAT

This weekend I was working with one of my own children on SAT questions.  We were looking at questions he had either missed or omitted.  I offer a pair of such questions for your consideration. 



Chose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

The director's __________ anything outside the cocooned world of her film's protagonist is evident in the __________ of the few stilted scenes depicting unrelated events in the lives of other characters.

a) apathy toward ... raptness
b) infatuation with ... timorousness
c) veneration of ... adroitness
d) impatience with ... desultoriness
e) honesty about ... disingenuousness


Solve the problem and choose the correct answer.

If j is a positive integer and the remainder when j is divided by 11 is 5, what is the remainder when 3j+2 is divided by 11?

a)  3
b)  5
c)  6
d)  8
e)  9

So I have some questions about these two examples, both rated "hard" by the SAT folks.

• Which question was harder for you?
• What is the purpose of each question in the context of English or math?
• What does the ability to answer either of these questions tell you about a person?
• Would the ability to answer these questions help you be more successful in college?  If so, how?

Genuine discussion requested here... 

(I know many of you are wont to wander back over to my Facebook page to discuss, but I am hoping you'll do it here.  I've made commenting easier at this site, and you can even be anonymous if you like.) 


P.S.  The answers to the above questions are d and c. 

Photo Credit

calculus: a drama

 

Today I decided to spend a few minutes checking out a google tool called Story Builder.  (Again compliments of our amazing professional development and technology folks) With absolutely no training I simply started writing a story.  When I finished I added music and here it is.  It took me 10 minutes, mostly because I had to correct my silly typos.  http://goo.gl/hUwqFW

This is an amazingly simple, free tool that can be used in every discipline.  I can think of dozens of stories students could tell.

• Envision and create a conversation between Grant and Lee.
• Tell the stories of Greek mythology in modern language.
• What would Watson say to Crick about an issue such as human cloning?
• Explain how to solve a math problem through text messages.
• Conjugate verbs in Spanish.
• Rewrite the last scenes from "Hamlet" so that the story ends well. 

Check it out, or better yet, let your students check it out and show you what stories they can tell! 

What would you do with Story Builder? 

it's time

It's been a wonderful couple of weeks.  I saw a bunch of movies, spent time with family and friends, slept as much as I could, started working out again, and read a book.  Mostly I got to slow down, to sit and think, to do nothing for a while. 

Here's what I noticed about Sunday, my last day of vacation.  I woke up at 8:30 and started structuring my day.  CBS Sunday morning was on from 9:00-10:30 and my husband and I watch it over breakfast every weekend.  From 10:30-11:30 I needed to do some laundry and the dishes, prepare the marinade for dinner, and take a shower.  At 11:30 I left to pick up one of my cubs from a friend's house.  That took an hour.  When I got home, I worked with him on some SAT questions for an hour and then spent the next two grading the last of my exams.  For about thirty minutes I answered emails and for thirty more I sat thinking about how my time is structured and writing this post.  After I finish writing, I'll jump on my elliptical for a bit, finish the laundry, and make dinner. 

What makes this day different than a regular school day is really about how I structure time.  Today I will finish about ten things ranging from the mundane of laundry folding to the "intellectual challenge" of the SAT.  On a regular school day, I will do maybe fifty things, most of which I have no way to anticipate and will always be about people.  Students will have questions.  Colleagues will share stories.  Meetings will appear from the ether.  Phone calls and emails will need answering.  And in the midst of all this will be the teaching, grading, and planning that every teacher must do every single day. 

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not complaining.  I absolutely love teaching.  But maybe what makes me able to handle the unexpected and uncontrolled on a regular school day is this long, leisurely break where I do half as much work in twice as much time.  There is nothing more relaxing than thinking about something or nothing without guilt or consequence. 

People give teachers grief sometimes because we get so much vacation time. I actually did a fair amount of work on this break, although nothing close to what I would do normally.  But that's not really the point.  I concede that maybe it's not fair. I've never done any other job, so I can't speak for the rest of the world.  I do know that I am anxious to get back to my students.  I have some things I need to teach them.  I really hope that's what people want from their children's teachers, people anxious to teach.  

I'm ready to go back now, my heart light, my head clear. I 've got a new watch to help keep me on track.  I found my patience for the mundane and my humor in the ridiculous.  They were hiding under a big pile of exams I finally finished grading.

It's time. 

a long winter's nap

Sometimes the best part about working hard for a long time is the moment when you take a break and get some rest.

In the first four months of writing this blog, I have been blessed with 10,000+ visits from all of you.  I am so grateful.  Please accept my thanks. 

I am going to take some time to be with my family and friends and indulge in that long winter's nap I so desperately need.  I hope you will find time to do the same. 

Best wishes to you and yours for a restful and relaxing vacation and a joyous and peaceful new year.

Please enjoy this holiday greeting from my Trinity Prep family by clicking here. 

See you in the New Year.  Sweet Dreams. 

Photo Credit

lessons and carols

The Christmas spirit is everywhere on campus these days. Our students are festively sporting Santa hats and Christmas sweaters, Secret Santa exchanges abound, and Thursday was my favorite chapel, our lovely Lessons and Carols service.  Faculty and students tell the story through readings from the gospels, our musicians perform, our choirs sing, and our students join in the carols.  It is a wonderfully beautiful hour. 

 

You can listen to one of my favorite songs, the annual conclusion to the service.  Christmas in Sarajevo is performed by our Wind Ensemble and directed by my colleague, Brian Beute.  I have included the link is to last year's performance, as this year's is not quite ready yet.  Every year is truly wonderful.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy a couple of lovely minutes.

 

 

 

 

building walls

This week in all of our classes we are reviewing for exams.  I decided to try a free online tool called Padlet that would allow students to collaboratively build review sheets (like posting stuff on a bulletin board or wall) that could contain text, images, links and videos.  The students were assigned to groups and given guidelines as to how many posts, what was expected, and how they were going to be evaluated.  They took to the project like ducks to water and didn't look up for 40 minutes. 

You can see one such wall built  in progress here. 

love and math

This book has been sitting on the left corner of my desk since September, mocking me.  I mentioned that I thought it looked interesting, and our awesome librarian got it for me to read.  I see it every day, but have yet to find time to read even a page or two.  To be honest, I'm afraid to start it for fear that it's really good and I won't be able to put it down.

I used to have the time to read hundreds of books.  When I was single and childless, I really had summers off and could read a book almost every day.  Now I'm working on Nate Silver's, The Signal and the Noise.  I manage about two pages right before falling asleep at night.  I can't remember what I've read from one day to the next, so I've been working on the same two pages for a couple of months. 

I'm hoping that I find time to read over the holiday break, but you know that goes.  My priorities are pretty clear.

Spending time with family and friends
Reclaiming and cleaning my house after the holidays
Sleeping for about a week
Finding my way back to the gym
Preparing for second semester
Reading Love and Math

If you would like to recommend a great book that can hold down the left corner of my desk for second semester, I would love to hear about it!