New Classes!

So... I start teaching my very own class on Monday! Woohoo! I'm excited and scared. I will have a Math 3 class of 26 juniors. Math 3 is Algebra 2-ish: exponential functions, systems of linear equations, and quadratic functions. Then another teacher is going on maternity leave in May, so I will be taking over another Math 3 class of 22 juniors, and I will also move to her advisory. I'm really excited to start trying out all the things I've been thinking about this past semester, but I'm also nervous that many of them won't work. So I'm trying to go with the flow. I'm also moving a lot in seminar this semester. I'm switching to a different team to help with different reading levels for the juniors, and I'm also switching at the end of the term to help out the sophomores while their teacher is on maternity leave. So that will be an adventure too.

For my first day, I'll start off with them filling out an Info Sheet with their contact info and some fun questions. I'll collect those at the end of the period so I'll have their information. Then we'll spend some time introducing ourselves and just talking about ourselves. It will be a little bit casual, but as long as everyone can stay focused, I think we'll be okay. Then I'll pass out the syllabus, and we'll read that aloud and discuss it pretty thoroughly. I want to talk specifically about what I expect from the class, and I will want to hear what the students expect from me. I want to make sure that I'm super consistent with this group, unlike how I was last time. Then here's where I'm not totally sure yet. I want to do a really fun and exciting math activity that will really make the students think differently about math, but I don't really have any ideas. We have an activity planned that I may use if I don't come up with anything else. How many squares are there on a checkerboard? It's kinda fun. And I wouldn't be sad if we ended up doing that, but I'd really like to find something better. So any suggestions would be helpful. Then their homework assignment is to write a 1-2 page paper answering about 10 questions that I have posed to them so I can get to know them a little better. Like it?