Our end of course test for Algebra 2 is in two weeks. Since this is my first year at a new school, teaching new content, I feel an immense amount of (self-inflicted) pressure for all of my kiddos to do well. Typically my results are strong, but no one at my new school knows that. I am confident my results will be compared to those of my colleagues who have been teaching this content for many years…..
I’ve spent the past week trying to wrap my brain around a plan to best review a massive amount of material in the 5 class periods we have left. I had thought I would have 2 more class periods, but the mandated district assessment took two. It is an incredibly challenging assessment, written by our district as a simulation test. It is always much harder than the actual EOC test. Do I spend time going through that test with students, even though many of the questions are written differently than the EOC test? I have lots of data, but because the questions are higher rigor, I cannot tell if students missed the question because they don’t understand the content, or if they couldn’t figure out what the question was actually asking??
Should I instead try to hit a strand or two each day? I found a great Algebra 2 review from York County. I don’t have time to do all of these, but we could practice in class and then they could work some of these practice problems for homework.
What about calculator tricks? All year the focus has been on the math, sans the tricks. For example, simplifying complex numbers. Do we keep working on reducing i^49th power, or do we practicing changing the mode on the calculator to a+bi so they can check their answers on the calculator?
For the past few years I have reviewed (at my prior school) for the EOC test using a theme with activities and food. This was sooo successful! It really brought the stress level down for my students. I mean, how stressed can you be when you are eating Italian Ice, working in collaborative groups in a Gondola Race, moving your gondolier along with every question your group gets right? I want to do this same type of unit with my Algebra 2 kids, but feel a little shy when my colleagues are doing more practice test type of review in class. I did create a “Sign Up Genius” for each of my classes, and I’ve asked parents for donations of goldfish crackers, Italian ice and Swedish fish. I’m not sure I’ll be able to run the review as elaborately as I have previously, but I do think it is worth the effort! I’m hoping to post about the activities during #MtBOS30 🙂
I’d love to hear how you all review for the EOC test!!!
