Literacy Strategies for Math Class

It has been a while! I have been wanting to revamp my blog and my chance has arrived.  I am a math teacher who also loves to bake.  This is a place for me to share some teaching strategies as well as amazing recipes.  I have been in grad school for a year and a half now and I have been learning a lot about becoming an educational leader.  One of the areas that I have excelled in is looking at school data and thinking of solutions for problems or areas where I can help student achievement.  Here is one of the projects I have worked on. 

A word problem...

A researcher conducted a medical study to investigate whether taking a low-dose aspirin reduces the chance of developing colon cancer. As part of the study, 1,000 adult volunteers were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Half of the volunteers were assigned to the experimental group that took a low-dose aspirin each day, and the other half were assigned to the control group that took a placebo each day. At the end of six years, 15 of the people who took the low-dose aspirin had developed colon cancer and 26 of the people who took the placebo had developed colon cancer. At the significance level a 0.05, do the data provide convincing statistical evidence that taking a low-dose aspirin each day would reduce the chance of developing colon cancer among all people similar to the volunteers?

YIKES!

So, I gave this problem to my students and, as many teachers find, students were overwhelmed and unsure of how to tackle this situation.  Some students were simply thrown off by how many words were in front of them.  Teachers: do you see similar struggles at your school?  How have you dealt with this?

My school has been finding that students struggle with long word problems.  Our SAT data also reflects this issue.  Plus, our school has an improvement plan in place to make gains in this area.  To confront this issue and support students, I did some research and found a literacy strategy to incorporate in math class!

CUBES


Benefits:

Translating:

• Helpful to ESL students
• Helpful to all students who feel overwhelmed

• Make sense of long or tough word problems
• Organization
• Higher students slow down and read more carefully

How to implement:

• Have students work in groups as a relay where one person does one part at a time.
• Model annotating a problem using the CUBES strategy.
• Have students write problems for peers who then have to translate.

If you have other suggestions, feel free to comment below! I am excited to revamp this space and share more educational ideas as well as recipes in the future.

Other resources for literacy strategies:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/105137/chapters/Reading-in-the-Mathematics-Classroom.aspx - why literacy is important in the math classroom

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/genia-connell/2017/cubes-strategy-to-tackle-tough-word-problems-/ - why CUBES works

http://ebi.missouri.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/EBI-Brief-Template-Word-Problem-Mnemonics.pdf - other strategies

http://www.teachthought.com/uncategorized/10-ways-literacy-can-promote-a-deeper-understanding-of-math/ - ideas for incorporating writing into the math classroom

Math Teacher Monday: Computer Programming

So this is my "binomial" post.  Sorry if you were looking for more of the "baker" side.

I am having a lot of fun in math class right now.  I know, I know...it is May.  Teaching in May is usually just the worst.  Kids are checked out, teachers are exhausted, the curriculum is winding down and you have to stay motivated so that kids might stay motivated in time for finals.  I have 19 days (17 until finals) and I couldn't be more excited for summer.

However, we are doing a computer programming unit right now with bootstrapworld.org.  This site is FREE! It connects programming to mathematical concepts and students work through the units to create their own computer game.  It is really freaking cool.

My students are totally being rockstars with this.  They are working in groups, writing their own code, and being super creative with their games.  It is awesome.

I created my own game as an example, but I think it is actually pretty great.  Seriously, anyone interested in publishing this?  I call it OctoPI because, you know, math.  The Pi moves up and down with arrow keys and if you press the spacebar, you shoot out an OctoPi!  You want to catch the green star and avoid the red circle.  CHECK IT OUT HERE!  It is not perfect and I am going to work on making the movement more complex, but it's pretty adorable.

Happy Pi Day!

I am such a nerd and this day is the best!

I made mys "famous" inception cookies for all of my students today.  I know this isn't pie, but hear me out.  Pi is the distance around 1/2 of the unit circle:

So, I made the inception cookies because you end up cutting them in half and therefore you have a Pi's worth of the circle. Isn't that cool??? I know, I'm a dork.

My students are raving about the cookies and it makes me so happy to share them with them.  I love to bake and it's so great when I get to share that part of me with my kiddos.

In class today, we watched Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi and then the students ate their cookies while working on Circle Challenges.  It is a nice change of pace and it is a great way to celebrate pi!

Tonight, Bri and I are planning on cooking dinner and, of course, making some sort of pie for dessert!

Mommy's Granola Bars

It's a quiz day in math class!  I'm feeling a little down since I just graded a bunch of the quizzes and students who have been working on graphing quadratics for THREE weeks are still struggling with it.  I'm gonna have to look for some new strategies.  Any suggestions?  

Last night was also the first cheer performance for a basketball game!  It was really exciting and the girl's did a nice job.  They are a brand new cheer squad and they have already learned a bunch of cheers as well as a few dances.  The captains did a good job calling the cheers, but as a group we are going to have to work on staying sharp and smiling.  We are also continuing to work on our stunts and learning new routines.  I'm exciting for next month when we have a cheer clinic scheduled with a college cheerleader who has volunteered to come help us out!  How cool is that?  

Coaching and math teaching has been going really well at my new school and overall I just love it!  

I made my mommy's granola bar recipe recently when I knew that I was going to be at school for a long time and needed some sort of snack.  My average day starts at 5:45 when I go to the gym to work out.  Then, I get to school between 7:15 and 7:45 and hold office hours or work on lesson plans.  School goes from 8:30 to 4:00 and then I usually have cheer practice or office hours or some sort of school activity until at least 5:30.  Some nights I am here until 7!  On those crazy long days, I need some sort of pick-me-up and these granola bars totally do the trick.  I can't wait to make these again and maybe try mixing up the ingredients.  For this recipe I used dried fruit, but you could totally mix it up by putting in some chocolate chips, almonds, peanut butter chips, caramel...whatever!  This recipe can also easily be gluten free! 

Mommy's Granola Bars

Ingredients:

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 cup rice puff cereal (I used the Kashi 7 Grain one)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 tbsp flaxseed

2 tbsp wheat germ

1/4 cup dried cherries

2 tbsp dried blueberries

2 tbsp raisins

1/4 cup almond butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla 

pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Lightly grease a 8 by 8 pan.

2. In a bowl, mix the oats, puff cereal, flax. wheat germ, and dried fruit.

3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the almond butter, brown sugar, honey, and salt.  Stir until the mixture starts to bubble.  Remove from heat and pour over the dry ingredients.

4. Stir the mixture to coat all the dry ingredients.  Then pour the mixture into your prepared pan and press evenly into the pan.  Place in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to chill.  Once chilled, cut into bars.

Enjoy :)

Uncommon Goods

I'm so excited for a bunch of reasons.

1. Today is my last day for this week!
2. I'm hosting book club this weekend.
3. Uncommon Goods reached out to me and offered to send me some of their products!

They are the coolest.  Seriously.  I can't even decide on what I want from their site since there are so many amazing products.  I'm obviously a big fan of food and math so I was considering this adorable pie dish.

So here is their story: Uncommon Goods is all about creating amazing handmade, recycled and organic products.  They are invested in creating a positive workplace that gives back.  And, they are constantly promoting environmentally friendly and socially responsible practices.  Basically, they rock.  Their employees love to work there and they are pretty much totally internet based so that they can cut down on paper products such as catalogs.  Plus, their products are super freaking cute!

I can't believe how many amazing products have caught my eye.  With the holidays right around the corner I think that some great pages to check out are: Kitchen and Bar, Home and Office, and Gifts for Family.  In addition to all of this, they also have some amazing art pieces that are totally affordable.  This site is going to be a great place to get a jump start on my holiday shopping.  Plus, I have been trying to spruce up our apartment lately and I have already found a bunch of options that I think will be great for our place!  So, whether you are a fellow chef, wine lover, or have an online shopping addiction, you need to know about this site!  Head on over and let me know what you think!

Sweet Potato Black Bean Veggie Burgers with BBQ Caramelized Onions

I have a pretty sweet week at school right now.  I survived Monday.  We reviewed graphing quadratics and I had cheer practice after school.  And now I have Tuesday, which I am already all planned for!  Wednesday is Veterans Day and so we do not have school and then Friday is a Teacher Institute Day.  So, I only have two more days of teaching this week!  Crazy!

Today I went to my boot camp class in the morning.  It was super tough since I was still sore from my work out on Saturday.  This past weekend I was hanging out in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin with my bestie, Tamara.  She took me with her to her work out on Saturday morning.  Slow motion push-ups are officially my least favorite exercise.  They are weirdly easy at first, but then you feel like your arms might just fall off for the next three days...Then today we did SLOW MOTION PUSH UPS!  I couldn't believe it.  I'm half way through my boot camp class when the instructor told us that we were going to do them.  We have never done slow motion push ups before, but of course we did today.  Now, I can barely lift my arms above my head.  Ouch.  I guess the good news is that if I keep doing them I'll have awesome looking arms for my wedding dress :)

Sweet Potato Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato
3 scallions
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp of cilantro
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 red pepper, chopped
3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 egg
8 whole wheat buns
cheese if you want (we used colby jack)
BBQ Caramelized Onions:
1 red onion, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
BBQ sauce, to taste

Directions:
1. Peel the sweet potato and use your food processor with a grate attachment to grate the sweet potato.  If you don't have this, you can use a cheese grater with the largest holes.  Place sweet potato pieces in a large bowl.
2. Put the black beans in the food processor and pulse a few times to mash the beans.  Add these to the bowl with the sweet potato.
3. Mix in the scallions, cilantro, cumin, paprika, cayenne, cinnamon, salt, red pepper pieces, and oats.  Stir well.
4. Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
5. Mix the egg in with the other ingredients and place the mixture in the fridge to chill until the oven is ready.
6. Once ready, form 8 balls with the mixture and press into burger shaped rounds.  Place on baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes and then flip and bake for another 15 minutes.
7. For the caramelized onions, add onion slices, olive oil and bbq sauce to a pan.  Heat over medium until onion becomes translucent and soft.  Serve on top of burgers and feel free to add any other toppings!

Enjoy :)

Veggie Sandwiches on Homemade Pretzel Rolls

Remember that time I made Homemade Pretzel Rolls?  Well, then I made some seriously awesome sandwiches with said rolls.  This is their story:

Bri and I love food.  Bri is a vegetarian.  I am trying to eat a little healthier and I've been trying out all sorts of fun veggie-filled recipes.  Then, I came across this recipe and I was like "OMG I HAVE TO MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

So that's how these Veggie Sandwiches came to be.  I had one for lunch at school and made everyone a little jealous.  Now I am just drooling thinking about them.  

School has been pretty great lately.  My students did a fantastic job on their last quiz and I am excited by how well they are doing overall!  We are in the middle of a unit on solving systems of equations, inequalities, and matrices.  It's pretty fun.  My cheer-girls are also awesome.  They had their first pep rally on Friday and it was a total success.  They did this amazing cheer, dance, and stunt and it was so cool to see them looking so happy and doing such a great job.  I am coming up with a new dance for them and I am also working on incorporating some fun math activities for my students.  I'll keep you all posted! 

Veggie Sandwiches on Homemade Pretzel Rolls

Ingredients:

2 portabella mushrooms, sliced

2 red pepper, sliced

1 orange pepper, sliced

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 red onion, sliced

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp paprika

1 garlic clove, minced

1 avocado, sliced

Goat Cheese Spread:

8 oz goat cheese

1 bulb of garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

salt and pepper

Red Pepper Sauce:

1/2 cup roasted red peppers

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tbsp honey

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:
1. You need to roast the whole bulb of garlic for the goat cheese spread.  Cut off the base of the bulb so that the cloves are visible.  Place this on a piece of tinfoil and drizzle with olive oil.  Wrap in the tinfoil and place in the oven for 35 minutes at 400 degrees.  Once done, you should be able to squeeze the roasted garlic cloves right out of the bulb.
2. Make the roasted red pepper sauce: In a food processor, place all the ingredients except for the olive oil and salt/pepper.  Process until you have a smooth sauce then continue to process as you add in the olive oil.  Stir in the salt and pepper to your taste.  Set aside.
3. Wrap the sliced portabellas in tinfoil with the 1 minced garlic clove for the sandwiches and 2 tbsp of olive oil.  Place foil packet in a small pan over the stove and heat over warm until the mushrooms are cooked, about 5-10 minutes.  
4. Wrap the sliced peppers and onion in a packet of tinfoil: Place all the veggies on the tinfoil and then sprinkle with 2 tbsp of olive oil, the brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, some salt and pepper and paprika.  Wrap the veggies up and place in a pan over the stove.  Heat on warm until veggies become translucent, about 10-15 minutes.  

5.  Once veggies are done, remove from heat.
6. Make the goat cheese spread, once your garlic bulb is roasted, squeeze the cloves out into a food processor with the goat cheese, basil, cilantro, salt, and pepper.  Process with adding in the 2 tbsp of olive oil until you have a nice spread.  Use a spatula to get the goat cheese into a bowl.  (I ended up with a lot of extra of this stuff so place it in a container so you can put it in the fridge when you are done.)
7.  Assemble the sandwiches!  Spread some goat cheese on one piece of bun and some red pepper sauce on the other piece.  Place some peppers and mushrooms over the goat cheese and then top with a slice of avocado.

Enjoy :)

Whole Wheat Pretzel Bites

I'm gonna get a little math teacher-y today.  I decided to do a project with my students in my Geometry classes.  So far, it has been going pretty well and I am excited to see what the students do with their groups today!  Here is the project: Students are working on their own or in groups to design a container for a product.  They have picked a product and picked out a container design.  Now, they have to make sure the volume of the container is between 100 and 150 cubic inches and they have to calculate the surface area to figure out how much it will cost to put their container together.  Students also have to write a short paragraph explaining their product and they will physically build the container out of card-stock by Friday.  It is really neat to see them problem solving using the concepts of surface area and volume.  With the new Common Core standards, I wanted to include something in this curriculum at the end of the year to really get students using their math skills to problem solve.  I want them to feel like they have become mathematicians.  I can't wait to see what they come up with! 

I also have a delicious snack/appetizer recipe for today.  I am a little obsessed with pretzels.  I am also obsessed with brussel sprouts and anything buffalo, but that is another story.  Today is about pretzels.  I love snacking on pretzel thins, eating a sandwich on a pretzel roll, and at UW-Madison football games the soft pretzels are crazy good.  I believe that sometimes there is nothing better than a good soft pretzel.  So, I made some.  

Pretzel Bites

(adapted from Epicurious)

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water

1 envelope active dry yeast

3 cups flour (I used 2 cups of all-purpose and 1 cup of whole wheat)

1 tbsp kosher salt

2 tbsp light brown sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

8 cups water

1/2 cup baking soda

kosher salt

Directions:

1. Measure out 1 cup of water and microwave until it is warm, but not hot.  Add in the yeast and let sit for 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, and brown sugar.  Add in the butter and the yeast mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together.  

3. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes or until you dough is elastic and bounces back when you poke it.  Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and let sit for 2-3 hours.  I turn my oven on to 100 and place the dough inside with the door open.  The heat helps it rise.  Once it is doubled in size you are ready for the next step.

4.  Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each one out so that you have a long, thin rope.  Cut the rope into 1 inch pieces.  

5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and grease 2 baking sheets.  

6. Pour the 8 cups of water into a pot with the baking soda and heat on high on the stove until it boils.  Drop your pretzel bites in the baking soda mixture (about 8 at a time) for 30 seconds - 1 minute and then place on the well greased baking sheets.  Sprinkle with kosher salt.

7. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the pretzels have started to brown.  Let cool and serve with whatever toppings you like! 

Enjoy :)

Happy Pi Day! 3.141592653...

Happy Pi Day everyone! Today is an especially epic Pi day as it is March 14th of 2015!  Since Pi starts with 3.1415 this is the first time this has happened in 100 years and I am pretty excited about it!  For school, I brought in oreo pie and chocolate chip cookie pie for my students and a ton of my kiddos brought in their own circular treats to share.  It was pretty great!

It also happens to be the St. Patricks Day celebration in Chicago and my friend Lauren's bday celebration.  Can today get any more epic?

The answer is yes.  Here is an epically delicious pie for you all!  This is like a "better than sex" pie and it was truly AH-mazing.  I hope you all have a fantastic Pi/St. Pattys/Whatever day and enjoy your weekend!

The Epically AH-mazing Pi Day Pie

Crust:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter

1 tsp white vinegar

2-3 tbsp cold water

Filling:

Your favorite hot fudge

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

8 oz light cream cheese

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Your favorite caramel sauce (I recommend salted caramel)

2 cups cool whip topping

Mini PB cups, M&Ms...and whatever other toppings you want!

Directions:

1. Make the crust: place flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.  Cut cold butter into cubes and place in food processor with vinegar.  Pulse until you have a sand like combination.  Pour water in, 1 tbsp at a time, while pulsing, until your dough comes together.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.  Once chilled, heat oven to 400 degrees and roll out pie dough so that you have a large circle.  I usually try to go for a circle with a 12 inch diameter.  Then, place pie dough into a 9 inch pie pan and form crust to your liking.  Place in preheated oven and cook for 10-12 minutes or until dough starts to brown.  Cool

2. To make the filling, melt the dark chocolate in a heat proof bowl.  Once melted, whip with the cream cheese and heavy cream until you have a light and fluffy filling. 

3. To assemble the pie: spread hot fudge into your cooked pie crust so that it covers the bottom.  Then, spread the chocolate mixture on top.  Next, drizzle caramel sauce over the chocolate filling.  Finally, top with the whipped topping and sprinkle extra hot fudge/caramel/other toppings on top.  Place in fridge to chill until you are ready to serve.

Enjoy :)

Vegetarian Pad Thai

Today is a pretty big day.  Besides being my half birthday, I am starting my first day of second semester!  This means it will be the longest I have ever been at the same school during the year.  I'm not sure if this has truly hit me yet.  I am still feeling like a student teacher and at any moment I will switch to a middle school!  I am excited about second semester and I really have been having a great year.  Today is all about Triangle Congruence! I have a lab for my students to experience over the next two days and I am excited to see how it goes!

Also, today is my first day of two online classes that I am taking to continue my education.  I am less excited about this, but the classes do seem interesting and I have never taken an online class before.  I was sort of enjoying the whole graduated thing where I didn't have to worry about personal homework or grades.  However, I do need these classes to get a permanent license for teaching and so it is totally worth it.  The first week, all I have to do is submit an introduction of myself to an online discussion.  Not so bad.

I am also still attempting to be healthy and today's recipe is perfect for that.  It is a lightened up, vegetarian version of Pad Thai.  Bri and I made this as one of the first recipes in our new apartment together.  It was super delicious and I'm actually craving it and considering making it again tonight!

Vegetarian Pad Thai
(adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:
8 oz fresh pad thai noodles
4 limes, for juice and serving
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Siracha sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
14 oz firm tofu
1/2 cup shredded carrots
8 green onions, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
salt
roasted peanuts
fresh cilantro

Directions:
1. Soak noodles according to directions, drain and set aside.
2. In a large skillet, heat 1/2 tsp of canola oil over medium heat.  Add in beaten eggs and cook, undisturbed, until eggs are just set.  Place eggs on a cutting board.  Roll the eggs up and then slice into strips.  Set aside.
3. In the same skillet, add 4 tsp of canola oil and cook the tofu until golden brown, flip so that you get both sides.  This should take about 6-8 minutes for each side.  Place on cutting board and cut into small cubes.
4. In a small bowl, place 2 tbsp lime juice, soy sauce, and brown sugar.  Whisk to combine.
5. Add 1 1/2 tsp of oil to your skillet and heat over medium heat.  Add in the carrots, green onions, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add in the lime juice mixture and let simmer.  Add noodles and, stirring constantly, cook for another minute.  Add eggs and tofu, toss to combine.
6. Serve mixture with lime wedges, roasted peanuts, and fresh cilantro.

Enjoy :)

2013: A Year in Review and a Fabulous New Year's Cocktail

2013 was one amazing year.  I can't believe all that has happened.  I completed student teaching, graduated from college, ran my first half marathon, got my first teaching job, moved into an apartment with Bri, and became a mom!

For all you readers who just became shocked about that last detail, I have to clarify.  I became a mommy to the cutest cat in the world!  I can't believer I haven't talked about Benny already!  Bri's sister found a kitten on the streets and Bri and I decided to take him in!  His full name is Benedict Ted Cumberbatch.  The Benedict Cumberbatch part comes from Bri's sister who decided it was a great name.  Plus, he is an awesome actor and stars as Sherlock in the BBC version of Sherlock Holmes (great show!).  The Ted part comes from Bri's and my favorite show, How I Met Your Mother.  Bri and I are Marshall and Lilly (he's a lawyer and I'm a teacher) and then we just needed a Ted to complete our apartment!  He's an awesome little kitty and I love him so much! Also, I apologize in advance for any typos in this post...Benny is currently laying on one of my arms while I type and is just being too darn cute for me to move him.

The other most exciting accomplishment for me this year has been my work as a new teacher!  I absolutely love my job, love my colleagues, and love my students.  I am have a great year and, although it is exhausting and often difficult, it is so rewarding and I know that I have chosen the right path based on how happy I am.

In other news, I have continued to cook and run as much as I can.  These are clearly important passions of mine and I am grateful to have kept up with them as I have become more busy with my job.  Although I am very happy, I have made up my mind on a few new years resolutions.  The biggest one is that I want to blog more.  I have continued to cook, but I have seriously cut back on blogging.  I want to change this in the new year and make sure to keep up with my blog.  I also want to work on becoming a better teacher by taking classes to further my education and make sure that I am the best I can be for my students.  In addition, I have set my sights on running my first marathon and I can't wait to start documenting that experience.  This new year is sure to be great and I can't wait to continue to share all my experiences here.

Finally, on a fun note, I am making a fabulous cocktail for tonights festivities.  Some friends are coming over for a potluck and I have decided to contribute stuffed shells (coming to you soon) and a Sparkling Pomegranate Cocktail!

Sparkling Pomegranate Cocktail
(adapted from Food & Wine)

Ingredients:
1 quart pomegranate juice
2 cups orange juice
2 cups limeade
750 ml Prosecco
1 fresh orange, sliced
1 fresh lime, sliced
ice

Directions:
1.  Pour all wet ingredients into a large pitcher and stir to combine.  Stir in slices of the orange and lime.  Chill.
2.  Serve with ice and additional slices of orange and lime.

Enjoy :)

Quinoa and Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes

Today I have so much to share! Bri and I have been trying out lots of fun vegetarian recipes and this one was a huge hit! Also, I just had my last day of student teaching and I am finally, officially done with school/college/madison.  This means that I am sad/excited/anxious/terrified/curious all at once.  

Student teaching was an amazing journey for me.  My experiences in a middle school and a high school helped to shape me into the person I am today and the teacher I want to be.  Teaching and learning to teach is really this huge self-discovery program.  I swear I have learned so much about myself through my experiences and I have developed such an awareness in regards to those around me.  I feel so different from when I started college and I know that I am ready to take on my own classroom.  I am excited that I have a job lined up and I can't wait to continue this journey on my own.  Up until now, I have had amazing cooperating teachers there to support and assist me.  I am so grateful for my cooperating teachers and I feel that I truly lucked out.  I know that they are a support system that I can continue to keep in touch with and I will.  I even made this sweet math clock as a thank you! 

Also, my friends going through the School of Ed with me have been so important to me these past two years.  I am not sure what I would have done without others who knew what I was experiencing and could empathize.  Plus, I have an amazing family and boyfriend who have always supported and encouraged me.  I am relieved to know that these people will always be there for me and will continue to support and encourage me through my first years of teaching and beyond.  I can't wait to see what next year has in store and I can't wait to share my experiences and ideas in regards to teaching and math here!  

Bri had been fantastic and I am so glad that he has stuck around in Madison for the past few weeks.  I love having him around and I can't wait to apartment search in Chicago with him.  I am really excited about moving in with him and starting the next chapter of our relationship!  Plus, we make some darn good dinners.  Like this one! Quinoa and Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes.  We made a yummy quinoa and pesto mixture, stuffed some fresh tomatoes, baked them, and had one amazing, healthy, vegetarian, and gluten free meal! 

Quinoa and Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients:

8-10 medium tomatoes

1 cup quinoa, cooked according to directions

4 tbsp pesto (your favorite)

3 cups fresh spinach

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

olive oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 and prepare the tomatoes.  Cut a circle into the tops of the tomatoes and scoop out the insides.  Place into a 13 by 9 inch pan.

2. Make quinoa according to directions.  Set aside.

3. Place minced garlic and about 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Toast garlic for a few minutes.  Add in spinach and saute until wilted.  Stir into the quinoa.  Add in the pesto and mozzarella and stir to combine.

4. Stuff tomatoes to the top with the quinoa mixture.  Sprinkle parmesan on top.  Cover the pan with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.  

Enjoy :)

Peanut Butter Nutella Swirled Mini Cheesecakes with Oreo Crust

I was proposed to by another math teacher because of these.  She said she was willing to leave her husband if it meant getting to eat these Peanut Butter Nutella Swirled Mini Cheesecakes with Oreo Crust.  They were pretty fantastic.

But first, I can't believe that tomorrow is my Half Marathon! I have been training for over 10 weeks now and it totally snuck up on me.  I feel pretty ready, but I am still nervous! I hope that the weather is nice and I am excited to run it with my friends, Lauren and Patrick.

I am also pretty darn excited about this long weekend.  These past few weeks of school have been pretty crazy.  I started teaching Pre-Calculus in addition to my Geometry block and two Algebra 2 blocks.  Having three preps is hectic and for a while I wasn't really sure of myself.  I couldn't keep all of my plans straight! However, now that I have gotten used to it, I feel much more confident and I am glad that I took on the challenge of teaching all of my cooperating teacher's classes because it has made me feel better prepared for next year.

Speaking of next year... I am going to have my own classroom! This is slowly sinking in and I keep getting nervous and excited about everything that goes with teaching.  I am so nervous for the first day and I keep running through what I want to say.  I am also nervous about having questions or being unsure of myself and NOT having a cooperating teacher there to help.  I am sure that once this all gets going it will be okay, but right now I feel like I have a million things on my mind! Any teachers out there with any words of wisdom about the first year?

And, back to the cheesecake.  Keeping up with cooking and baking while also trying to be the best teacher ever is difficult  but it keeps me happy! This dessert was super yummy and I shared with my teacher friends in the math department.  I was inspired by Chocolate Therapy and then got creative with the rest!

Peanut Butter Nutella Swirled Cheesecakes with Oreo Crust

Ingredients:
16 oreos
16 oz light cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup nutella

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cupcake pan with 16 liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with sugar until well combined.  Beat in the vanilla and peanut butter until smooth and creamy.  Sprinkle flour over the mixture and beat to combine.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Scrape down sides and beat to combine.
3. Place an oreo in the bottom of each cupcake well.  Fill the cupcake to the top with your cheesecake batter.  Drop 1/2 tbsp of nutella on the top of each cupcake and, using a tooth pick, swirl.

4.  Bake for 20 minutes or until cheesecakes are no longer wobbly.  Let cool.  Serve same day or place in fridge overnight.

Enjoy :)

Chocolate Chip Banana Bars

Yesterday, I shared a great banana recipe! It was for my brothers birthday and he requested something with bananas and chocolate.  A few days before, I asked my friend, Patrick, what his favorite birthday treat would be, and he also said something with banana and chocolate! Isn't that strange?  Maybe those two having the same birthday makes them share some sort of banana-chocolate connection?  Anyways, I found a yummy recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Cake Bars and whipped them up for Patrick's birthday! He was a huge fan :)

In other news, school went much better today.  I had a great day teaching, the students responded well, and according to an exit ticket, learning and understanding occurred! We learned polynomial division today and by the end students were able to divide polynomials, and began connecting the idea to finding roots of an equation.  It was a fun lesson and the students did really well.  I also got to see some solo and ensemble singing performances today for fine arts week.  It is really cool to be part of this because I have been able to see a lot of my students in a much different setting.  It is neat to see all the amazing talents they have outside of the math classroom.  One of my students sang a solo today that blew me away and yesterday I saw a student in a great jazz concert!  Fine arts week has also made me miss my singing and dancing and I hope that I can get involved in that sort of capacity at my next school...which I am still searching for! In the meantime, here are some yummy cake bars!

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake Bars (adapted from Taste of Home)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 13 by 9 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well combined.  Beat in yogurt and vanilla until well combined.  Slowly beat in the dry ingredients until just combined.  Stir in the mashed banana.
4. Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy :)

Magic Custard Cake

So I just had to give it a try.  That famous Magic Custard Cake that is all over the internet! I was super curious about if it would work and so I just had to make it!

But first, ability grouping.  Any teachers out there who use ability grouping?  I am a math teacher and I am not so sure how I feel about it.  I am giving it a try and we will see how it works out.  I am curious to see how it will work in a supported classroom.  If anyone has advice on this topic, I would love to hear it.  This is my latest teacher "lesson" that I am learning.  The other one: never give back a test at the beginning of class...bad move.  The kids were distracted for the rest of class.  As an experiment, I handed back the tests in the other class at the end...it was WAY better.  Guess I had to learn that one the hard way.

Second, and a bit of a warning, I am beyond exhausted and stressed out this week and that is mostly why I just had to share something "magical" like this Magic Custard Cake.  It is the first week back from Spring Break, I am giving two Team Tests, which means tons of grading, and I have my first teacher interview this Friday.  This means, travel, missing school, and having very little time to prepare for what is sort of a big deal.  Oy vey!  Somebody cut me another slice...or three...of that cake!

And third, I can't explain how important running is to me right now.  It is the only time of the day where I get to spend time feeling good and doing something completely by myself.  Today I ran 5 miles and I felt great.  The downside, after school, tutoring, running, and planning,  I have very little time at night to get some of these thoughts and recipes down in a blog post.  By the way, I brought this cake into school.  This has been a great way to ration my desserts (so that I don't eat three slices at once...) and all the teachers loved it! It does actually split into three amazing layers!  Everyone was amazed at how "sophisticated" it looked with all its layers.  They were impressed to find out how simple it actually ways!  Basically, this cake is amazing!

Magic Custard Cake (adapted from White On Rice Couple)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 cups skim milk
4 eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 tbsp water
1 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 and lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave and set aside to cool.
3. Warm the milk in the microwave for 30 seconds and set aside.
4. Place egg whites in a medium bowl and whip until they hold a stiff peak.
5. In another large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow.  Beat in the water and butter until well combined, about two minutes.  Slowly beat in the flour until just combined.  Slowly beat in the milk and vanilla.  Beat slowly until well combined.
6. Fold in egg whites 1/3 at a time and fold until just combined.  Pour batter into your prepared cake pan.

7. Bake for 55 minutes or until golden in color.  Remove and let cool in the pan for 1 hour.  Dust with extra powdered sugar before serving.

Enjoy :)

Oreo Pie

Today was exhausting.  I felt like I ran a marathon.  I taught all day, tutored after school, ran 5 miles, met up with Max for dinner at Roast and now I am, finally, sitting down and relaxing for a bit.

School was pretty great.  I set up 7 stations for the students to rotate through.  These stations had context problems to help the students apply new information, a few review problems on old information, and two mini quizzes to formatively assess the students on a variety of information.  One of my students even thanked me for the fun activity.  It was pretty great.  I wouldn't want to do this too much, but this was a nice way to get students up and moving around.  Plus, it allowed me to work with a bunch of students on problems that were more of a struggle.

After tutoring and my run, it was great to see Max for dinner and I had an awesome sandwich.  Now, I am chilling, watching Grey's Anatomy, waiting for a cake to get out of the oven, and getting ready to sleep! Tomorrow is a test day, so I am excited to relax a little and get caught up on some grading.  And then...SPRING BREAK...well, after Friday, but still, I'm so close!

I have yet another pie to share today.  This one was a huge hit and all the kids were asking for the recipe.  Well, here you go! Cookies and Cream Pie.  It's a no-bake pie that requires FOUR ingredients.  Yep, thats all.

Cookies and Cream Pie

Ingredients:
1 oreo pie crust
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups cool whip
1/3 cup sugar
8-10 oreos, crushed

Directions:
1. Beat cream cheese and cool whip until well combined.  Beat in sugar until creamy.  Stir in cookie crumbs.  Pour into pie crust and let chill for at least 2 hours.

Enjoy :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Today was such a good day of teaching and I have such a good recipe to share!

Math today was all about inverse trig functions and reciprocal trig functions.  To ensure that every student had a sketch of the graphs of these functions, we did various jigsaw activities.  This was great because students were able to investigate one inverse trig function and one reciprocal trig function in depth.  That is, they worked in new groups to graph these functions without calculators.  They had to analyze domain and range for each and use the original trig function to help them to graph the new functions.  After their in depth analysis, they returned to their original teams and shared their findings while also learning about their team-mates findings.  Every student ended up with a sketch of all six graphs.  This way, they all had the information and the process, but did not need to repeat the process over an over.  This would have been tedious and unsupportive of the learning goals.  Instead, the majority of the time was spent investigating what these functions are, what they represent, and how we can use them.  We learned a ton of information and it was really great to see the students up and moving around.  Plus, we had time for a nice game of Flinch as a small break in the middle of class.  I felt really great about today!

Now, it was Pi Day last week and I brought in FOUR Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies since I was helping host FOUR Pi Day celebrations.  This meant that I needed a recipe that was not complicated and would not take a ton of time to make.  I found the perfect one.  This Cookie Pie, adapted from Nestle Tollhouse, was simply amazing.  I bought pie crust, multiplied the recipe by 4, and put all the pies in at once.  I spent 15 minutes making the filling and then had 60 minutes to plan for school and clean up while the pies baked.  There you go, simple and delicious.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
for one pie

Ingredients:
1 9-inch pie crust
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 2 cups of whatever mix-ins you want)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 and place your unbaked pie crust in a pie pan.
2. Beat eggs until pale yellow.  Beat in both sugars until well combined.  Beat in flour, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Beat in the butter until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.
3.  Pour filling into the pie crust and bake for 55-60 minutes.  Pie will be lightly browned.  Let cool for at least 20 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Nutella Greek Yogurt

Did everyone watch the bachelor?!?! Anyways, I totally watched the bachelor. It was awesome.  I also ate dark chocolate reese's custard.  That was even better.  At the same time, I applied to a few schools, wrote some cover letters, replied to a ton of emails, and went over the lesson for geometry.  Yay for being productive and being able to multi-task really well!

I had a fun day teaching today: the number one question in Algebra 2 has been: "How are we supposed to do this without our calculators!"  or, "How am I supposed to memorize this?"  This is all in regards to the unit circle and graphing sine or cosine graphs. So, today, I gave them a little "pop quiz" where they had to create the unit circle without any resource pages or calculators.  They were allowed to work in teams and guess what?  They were able to do it! It was awesome because they had to figure out strategies for creating the unit circle and this proved to them that they do know how to do this!  We also practiced graphing a ton and it was really great to watch them develop these skills.  Our next class is a team test and I hope that they are more confident about it now that they know that they can do things without their calculators or notes.

In other news, I discovered an awesome new snack: Nutella Greek Yogurt.  With all my running, planning, and, when I find time, sleeping, I have been on the look out for yummy little treats or healthy little snacks.  This is the perfect combination of both.  After a long day of teaching and a four mile run, I mixed a little nutella into my greek yogurt and had a dessert that was protein-packed and delicious.  It was a great way to end my day!

Nutella Greek Yogurt

Ingredients: 
1 cup non-fat, plain greek yogurt
2 tbsp nutella

Directions:
1. Mix them together! Add a little more nutella if you want it sweeter or more yogurt for a more tart flavor.

Enjoy :)

Monster Cookies

Wow.  I just had a crazy long and exhausting day.  This full-time teaching gig is making me the happiest I think I have ever been as well as the tiredest.

Today, after teaching for 3 straight blocks, there was a staff meeting, then I tutored, then I ran 3 miles (training for that Half Marathon) and then I finally got home and showered just in time to spend a few hours planning/grading and getting ready for tomorrow.  Then, I passed out.

I am having an amazing time teaching.  I love high school and I thoroughly enjoy getting to know the students and making connections with everyone.  I am having a blast!

In geometry, I just came up with a fabulous way to make new groups.  Students sit in groups of four.  The next unit is about quadrilaterals and so to get new groups, each table is going to be a different quadrilateral.  As students come into the room, I am going to hand them a slip of paper that has some information about a quadrilateral.  Then, students will have to figure out which table they belong at.  I am excited to see how this goes!

In Algebra 2, I just graded tests for the first time! It was so exciting to see how students think.  Also, it was great to see what content was being mastered and what content needed some help.  I am working on a little resource page for graphing exponential and logarithmic functions because, according to the tests, this is a developing topic for many students and they need some practice.  Yay being reflective!!!

I also help out in a Pre-Calculus class and Algebra 1 class.  In both of these, since I am not lead teaching, it has been fun to help out, get to know the students, and learn more from my cooperating teachers.

Plus, I am tutoring two students! One student is in Geometry and one is in Pre-Calculus.  Basically, I am a very busy girl.

A huge reason that I am getting through all this and staying sane, is my friend Tamara.  We both live in the same house and I can always count on her to be there for me when I need to chat.  We are both learning to become teachers and I don't know what I would do without her support.  Oh, and we both love to bake.  Isn't that perfect?  Recently, we made some awesome Monster Cookies and so that is what I have to share with you today!

Monster Cookies (adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup M&Ms

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter with both sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the peanut butter until well combined.  Beat in the egg and then the vanilla.  Slowly mix in the flour mixture until just combined and then stir in the oats, chocolate chips and M&Ms.
4.  Drop tablespoon sized balls of dough on the prepared sheets and bake for about 10 minutes.  Let cool.

Enjoy :)

Bailey's Irish Cream Cupcakes

Today was super fun and so I wanted to share with you! My cooperating teacher was out for the day and so I got to teach all day long! It was exhausting, but also fun.  And now, I am so ready to tell you about these guys: 

I started off my day with a few meetings about Algebra and Geometry with the other teachers who teach those topics.  Then, it was time for Algebra 2.  I had a substitute in the room, but she really let me take the lead and just sat back.  Today’s first lesson was about graphing in three dimensions.  With some handy manipulatives, students explored graphing in three dimensions with their groups.  Following a brief discussion about graphing 3-D things on a 2-D sheet of paper (things can get messy) we took a quick activity break. 

I led a “group juggle” activity.  In this activity, the entire class juggles three objects.  Every person throws a stuffed animal or other soft object to someone else and, following the same order, you try and get three or more objects flying through the air without crashing or dropping.  This is a good way to get people saying names and since I am fairly new, I was trying my best to learn all their names!  Also, the challenge of not getting confused or dropping any objects makes it a fun challenge for the students. 

After our 5-minute break, the students returned to their seats for the next lesson: The Cooling Corpse! IN this lesson, students use exponential relationships to solve a murder mystery.  The students acted out the murder story and then got to work in their teams.  They got to be detectives and use math to figure out who the murderer was.  It was so fun to see them get into this and learn more about exponential relationships.  It was a fun class all around.  Plus, the next class was the same thing! I got to do this all again, but better because I had already practiced it once!

After a long day, it was time for lunch and a little planning time before working out and then returning home for dinner.  PHEW!

Now, I am watching Pretty Little Liars (great show) and getting ready to share an amazing recipe that I made recently: Bailey’s Irish Cream Cupcakes.  I brought these in for my teacher friends and they were an instant hit! These cupcakes were absolutely delicious!

Bailey’s Irish Cream Cupcakes (adapted from Recipe Girl)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 tbsp cake flour

2 3/4 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup non-fat plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani)

10 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

3/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

4 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare enough cupcake pans for 24 cupcakes.

2. In a small bowl, mix the chocolate chips with the 1/2 tbsp of flour.  Set aside.

3. In another medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.   

4. In a large bowl, beat the butter and greek yogurt with both sugars until well combined.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.  Beat in the vanilla.  

5. Alternate adding the flour and Baileys starting and ending with the flour until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Fill cupcake wells almost to the top and bake for about 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool.

6. Make the frosting: beat the butter until light and fluffy.  Slowly beat in the powdered sugar.  Beat in the Baileys and vanilla.  Frost cooled cupcakes.

Enjoy :)