Monitor and Adjust!

As I try to meet my goals for my GAME plan, I am finding that time is the biggest resource that I need. It is rather difficult for me to keep up with the day to day activities as well as planning ahead. I realize that striving to meet the goals I have set is very important. Not only do I personally have a hard time finding extra time but time in class is also scarce. My Algebra class is fast approaching the end of course exam. With three weeks before Christmas break, we still have an enormous amount of material to cover. We will have one week after break and then the exam. With such limited time, the ideas that I incorporate have to be meaningful to my content.

Next week we will be studying systems of equations. The cell phone idea is a wonderful way to represent systems that would have real meaning to my students. I have 45 minutes of computer lab time reserved for next week and I am hoping to check out the laptop cart for another 90 minute class block.

Another obstacle that I have is learning the software. I played around with Excel a little bit. As a colleague suggested, I will be visiting the computer teachers at my school for help. I can also use the graphing calculators for students to investigate the graphs of the systems. They just would not be able to save the graph on a presentation tool. I do not have the technology to print or save the information on their calculators.

I have learned that taking action is not always easy. Sometimes we have to make changes along the way. Having more than one option is always good, just in case I have to make adjustments.