Steam

If you have a second to spare and want to play a great game, go grab a copy of Steam by Mayfair games for two, three - up to six players (more with an expansion or two). It's a bit thinky at first, has heaps of replayability and totally has me hooked at the moment.

Here's a great source of information about Steam.

Here's a list of other games I have purchased or would like to purchase.

Do unto others

Using the golden rule as a basis for personal ethics causes many philosophical dilemmas as a teacher as it constantly comes into conflict with the utilitarian nature of public schools. As an employer I faced the issue of overstaffing and needed to tread the path of redundancies for staff. It was not the most pleasurable event in my life and one I would not seek to repeat.

The half cohort is causing schools to take a long look and decide - do we keep young or less experienced talented staff that are the future of the organisation or do we keep staff members that have provided long service to the school and have a raft of experience with our kids.

I imagine the former could be rationalised by saying that long standing staff are compensated through long service leave, having continuous employment and having the opportunity to develop a depth of subject knowledge not possible when often coming to grips with the individual needs of students in new school environments.

To some degree, the criticisms I hear issued at long standing staff are often grossly unfair - I would be quicker to point the blame at past management that has allowed or even promoted issues that lead to less competitive performance of staff. Staff need to be managed - if staff are struggling they need real support to improve (this takes effort and planning) or assisted to find an environment that works for them (a controlled exit takes less effort and is a more likely event in teaching).

The bottom line is that if I worked for a school for a long period of time and was asked to leave instead of a younger and seemingly less experienced staff member, I would feel let down, hurt and angry. To start again mid or end career in a new school would be a daunting event (even after being at my current school 2.5 years I would still have some fear - imagine doing it after 10 years!). Could I put someone through that now (as I would have without blinking as an employer) with little warning? I think without maintaining 'management distance' that it would be very difficult.

I suppose it's reasons like this that I put leadership positions behind me and focus on the classroom and departmental development. Having that level of inner conflict again (doing what must be done vs the right thing to do) is not something that I relish and there would need to be some real compensation or financial need to consider it again.

Moving averages and the CAS calculator

On the fx casio, moving averages were a bit of a doddle.. stick in the values and use the MAV application.

The suggested method for the classpad 330 according to the classpad website is to use spreadsheet mode. This has some disadvantages that I have not been able to overcome with my brief investigation.

To set up a MAV problem, clear the sheet and enter the basic data in columns. To calculate the MAV click on the middle cell of the first series (eg in a 3pt MAV it would be the second cell) and use the Action column to find the mean of the first three data cells. Then copy your mean cell down the column by highlighting the rest of the column using the stylus and then use the edit menu -> paste.

To graph it is a little on the fiddly side. Highlight the data column and the MAV column and press the line graph icon (there are two, it's the first one). Select the graph and go View->Markers to turn off the data markers. Under the Type menu, make sure you have selected Column Series.

This should display the graph.

If you need a line of regression, select the MAV line with the stylus and select an appropriate regression function on the toolbar. The main issue with it is that there is no way to interpolate or extrapolate data (the main thing you wish to do with this sort of data) for predicting data points whilst in spreadsheet mode for the line of regression. It's been fairly frustrating. I can recreate the line of regression for the MAV in "graph and tab" mode and use this but it would be easier just to have a trace mode on the stats graph... oh well...

Here's a link to an index of other CAS calculator posts.

Update 15/09/09: Download v3.04 of the classpad operating system from here. It greatly enhances the ability of spreadsheet mode to perform regression in spreadsheet mode. You will need to register and login before downloading it.  It's quite a neat trick to click on the line of regression, copy it and then paste the formula onto the spreadsheet at the the bottom of the y column.  Modify the formula such that x becomes a cell reference (eg A2) and viola - an alternate to trace for predicting y values.

:-)

Successes in 2008/2009

It's been about a year since I started this blog, so I thought it was time to look at the successes.

Most of them have occurred being part of our team, so I can't take credit for them, but I can definitely identify them and take pleasure from contributing.

Firstly there are the kids that claim that they are still at school because of maths classes. Every year you get a few that you manage to spot and cause some sort of intervention that makes them want to be at school or even repeat year 12. The core group of students that like maths (and select it in year 11 at all levels) has grown and it has been great to watch these kids mature into more capable maths students.

Secondly there are the things we did to improve learning at the school. The summer school (run over the Christmas holidays) was a great success resulting in students passing subjects that they would have otherwise failed. The programmes that we wrote for junior school in 2007 has produced a stronger cohort to draw our year 11's from. The maths lab is operational, has the start of a resource library and has five computers to work with. Students across the school are using mathsonline as an adjunct to normal classes. Students attend catchup classes readily when suggested - even those that typically would run a mile from the idea, (it was great for our confidence when some of the C class beat the whole of the B class!!)

Thirdly there is a rapport amongst the mathematics teachers that promotes development of our skills from year 8-12. There is a growing interest in learning more about senior and the junior school. Despite the odds, we have an 3AB MAS class and will have a 3CD MAT class when many thought it was over-reaching our cohort. It's been great to watch my practicum student become an educator and see the rapport grow between him and our students. He will be a great teacher.

Fourthly (is there such a thing??) is this blog, an avenue to develop ideas without causing any conflict at school. 3500+ visitors and 6000+ pages shown. It's a great home for my soapbox!

Fifth was the birth of my wonderful daughter and time spent with my wife whilst she learns every little thing (this is really the biggest success, although has little to do with the school!).
I was worried that I wouldn't be able to manage the sleep loss issues, before Friday I had done quite well, I've learnt my lesson; 1 hours sleep = sick.

Lastly, behaviour management has been less of an issue in senior school this year and far easier than when I started here in 2007. I have watched changes in the attitudes of teachers and students, there is definite improvement - senior school again believes that university is a valid path from our school, a far cry from 2007. There is support from the principal down for curriculum initiatives that lead students to university.

Bring on the rest of term 3 and the end of the year. (Whoa.. all this affirmation is a bit to exciting and has worn me out.. off to bed!)