Substitute Plans

There are two things  I dislike about teaching: Not being able to use the restroom whenever I want (a future blog post) and doing substitute plans.  Two Fridays ago my son woke up with pink eye and I had to do what we teachers call "emergency" sub plans.  Of course my desk was a mess and my seating charts were not up to date, but I wanted to provide meaningful activities for my students rather than a list of math problems from the book.  I am going to share how my brain works me through the process of creation.

Keep in mind:

• my district does not allow substitutes to have access to our computers or technology so sending a link and having the sub print or post it on the projector is not an option.
• The eighth graders are in the process of registering for their high school classes and have had some presentations on college and careers.
• We have state testing coming up soon so I would like to review some topics we explored at the beginning of the year.

So Based on some interactions I had had with my eighth grade students about careers and college, I decided to seize the opportunity to search the web for some graphs and articles about earnings of college graduates and earnings of non-college graduates.

Here is the document I created at 5:30 am for my substitute to use with my students: Education and Earnings Activities Worksheet

I wanted to give the students a chance to "interpret" graphs and extrapolate information.  I also wanted to create a buzz of group discussions.  Ultimately I wanted the students to consider how some sort of schooling after high school effects the earning potential of a person.

I continued to collect articles and graphs so that we could keep the discussion going and relate it to the standards we are studying.

Here is a document of the graphs and information I have collected thus far: College Earnings Links.  Now, if you look at the resources one could say that the sources have a certain bias and I did discuss that with the students and we are in the process of seeking counter articles and graphs which I will share soon.

It is interesting what information students will cling to.  This past week we read the Los Angeles Times Article about earnings and education.  I used the activity as a "close read" which all of our departments are now integrating into our content areas in the spirit of Common Core.  I had picked the article because it had percentages which is what we are currently exploring in pre-algebra.  However, the students were fascinated with the earnings of different ethnic groups, the difference between female and male earnings, and the accuracy of the article.  Before we explored any mathematics connections to the article I had the students read silently and jot down any questions or comments that arose as they read and to highlight or underline information they thought might be important.  As a whole class  we collectively discussed and underlined the parts of the article that the students had chosen as important, interesting, or caused questions.  

The best part of creating the substitute plans connected to career choice and college earnings,  is the extended explorations it has provided for my students and me.  

There is a plethora of math that can be explored in the resources I have shared.  Again I want to reiterate that we will be considering other perspectives and articles, especially looking at the cost of college and if it is worth the extra earnings.

Please share any other ideas you have on this topic.