June
5, 2013
Dear Prospective Honors Math Analysis
Students,
First of I want
to say welcome to the 2013-2014 Honors Math Analysis Class, students you have
made a great decision in choosing this math class this year. This class is full
of communication amongst your peers, work involving technology and is a course
of rigorous, but fun work. Being successful
for this class you need to bring out the hardworking, responsible student you
have within yourself. You need to put
time and effort into this class as well as in all of your other classes. This
class is definitely different from the math classes you have taken previously; it
involves 110% more attention in order for you to succeed and understand the
class.
Starting with
how this classroom is structured, as previously described this class is
different compared to the previous math classes taken, it is not your traditional
textbook learning method, in fact we
rarely even use our textbook, we use a method called the flipped
classroom. The flipped classroom is
where we watch videos at home containing the days lesson and this is the
homework you will be responsible to do. Then after watching the lessons you
will need to answer WSQ questions which are basically summary questions of what
you learned in the video. Now as for watching the video this is beneficial and
helpful because you have the power to control the way you want to learn, by
this I mean you have the power to stop, pause, and rewind the video if you have
trouble understanding the concept. You can go back to the prior videos if you
are so confused, need to study, or when there are reviews from past concept on test. I suggest when watching the videos to not
only watch and do the example s, but take notes on the side about the video and
the important content it talks about. This will be really helpful when it comes
time for finals because you will get to use your packets for them. The binder is where you will keep all your
unit packets, test, quizzes, and extra work that you have done throughout the
class, keep it organized because it does count as a grade!! After watching the
video work on the Practice Quiz Problems based on the lessons you previously watched.
Practice quiz problems are problems
based on the concept that you will have to complete during class after watching
the lesson. These will be completed in class and you will have the opportunity
to ask Mrs. Kirch or the peers around you for help. If you are lost, definitely
ask for help; don’t just expect you to keep moving forward through the Unit without
understanding, GET HELP. There will also be daily quizzes to take on the
concepts you watched. For the quizzes I recommend you to take them the day
after you watch the concept, it would really prevent you from procrastinating on
the quizzes. It will also give you time to see your mistakes and study them in
order for you to retake the quiz. Now, watching
the videos at home is important because that is the lesson you will be practicing
during class, don’t just rush through it to get the WSQ answers, you need to
pay close attention because your test, practices quizzes, practice test, extra
work and blog post involve the lesson in the video. Now
since you will be using a lot of technology I recommend you to have the videos
on a flash drive just as a backup in case the internet fails on you. Also don’t try to do your blog post last
minute because if the internet fails on you that is no excuse because you had
time to have the work done. When doing
blog posts if there will be a video involved there is a good chance that you
will need to be uploading it to your computer or an internet source in order
for the video to be shown on your blog, if the video needs to be uploaded DO
NOT just stare at the computer when it is uploading. From previous experience
uploading takes some time, so when this occurs go do other work when the video
is uploading don’t just stare at the computer and watch it second by second, DO
WORK!! Since I mentioned we will be having blog posts don’t panic, yes we will
have our own blogs, it is easy to handle. Setting up the blog will require a Google
account, the instructions for it are pretty straight forward, but you need to
make sure you set up everything correctly. On the blog you will be posting up question on
the unit, extra work, videos etc. Make sure to make everything appropriate because
this is only a MATH BLOG, it is not for your personal use to be posting up your
private life ,that’s what Facebook is for. Keep everything organized and neat.
In the beginning
of the semester it may be tough with adjusting to having to watch videos every
night and combine it with other school work, but you just have to pace
yourself. I recommend when you do your summer work to time yourself and see how
much time you need in watching the videos and finishing the work required for a
night, so you can see the pace that you are at. Throughout the summer you can
try to improve the way you do your work and adjust to the new system which can
help you get the work done accurately and quickly during school. I am
recommending you do this because this is a fast pace class. There will be no time,
NO TIME for you to be falling behind. Since this class is based on watching
videos at home the pace is different than regular classes. You will also maintain
your own blog and having to make your own problems in some occasions. You as a student
are your own boss in this class, you need to pace, motivate and get your work
done to get to where you need to be in this class. You will be rewarded with
doing your best in this class, for example being on the Crazy 8 Club, this is
when you get all scores of 8 on your
quizzes, another is being part of the Club 95, this is when you get a 95% or
higher on your test. This class can be tough, but yet very rewarding. You will
learn songs, chants and receive new ways for preparing for test in this class.
Take every aspect of it in and enjoy it!!
Well I wish you guys
the best and I’ll leave you with saying be a hardworking student and do your
work with integrity.
Good Luck,
J.R
P.S Here is a video explaining key points about the flipped classroom. Hope you enjoy!!
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