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Today, on the last day of the first semester, I held an award show in my classes. As we reach the halfway point of the year, I designed the show as a way to pause and take stock of what we’ve built together thus far. It was a celebration of us. I teach Algebra 2. Naturally, I called it The Algey Awards.

Normally, before I try something new in my class, I consult my students. If I want to modify an upcoming assignment, I ask them for advice on how to do it. If I’m looking to introduce a new classroom routine, I find out what my students think about it first. The more years I teach, the more I come to rely on my students to guide me. Their counsel has become indispensable.

But with The Algeys, I kept them in the dark. In the week leading up to today, I dropped hints about an “award show” on the last day of the semester to build anticipation, but that’s it. Nothing more. Many of my students — including my cogen — wanted to know what I was up to. I was mum. I wanted The Algeys to be a surprise. It was my gift to them.

To dress up the room and make it feel congratulatory, I picked some cheap decorations from Party City. I also paid a visit to the local dollar store for balloons.

I had a red carpet!

And the awards? They were fun. Every student got one and they were all different. Each was based on some connection I have with the student who received it (or at least something I know about them). For example, one student got an award for “Creating the First Handshake of the Year.” Another student got the award for “Giving Mr. P the best homework assignments” because she always assigns me a playful ‘homework’ in her Friday Letters.

There was no way I was going to give out awards and not have certificates. For this I headed over to Canva and used one of their templates. After some simple edits, hitting them up a logo, and doing a mail merge, the certificates were done.

The certificates were a nice touch, but I also wanted to find a cheap memento that could accompany it. It had to be something that students could hold, like the Oscar statuette. Luckily, a colleague came up big. He’s a pro at 3D printing and, despite being in the middle of midterms, graciously helped me make a neat little infinity sign that could serve as a physical representation of The Algey Award. Over the course of a few days, he printed over sixty of these bad boys! They were small, but perfect.

The first annual Algey Awards were so exciting that they have me thinking about June. What if I did another show? But instead of it being me who creates and presents awards to students, what if my students created and presented awards to each other? My cogen could help with this a lot. Not sure if it will happen, but if it does, it would be a fantastic way to wrap up the year.

Other than the fun and novelty of the event and the appreciation my students felt, I loved The Algeys because they encouraged me to reflect on the relationships that I’ve formed with individual students. Thinking of their awards and formally presenting them in class filled me with so much love and joy. At the same time, the fact that some of the awards were easier to identify than others was striking. For several students, discovering their award was a struggle for me. It’s clear that I need to foster better relations with these kids in the months ahead.

The Algeys also got me to recognize progress. They helped me see that I don’t need to wait until the end of the year to celebrate my students. We have a lot left to accomplish this year, but that shouldn’t distract me from what we’ve already managed to pull off. If anything, it makes me more eager and excited to see how the second semester will play out.

bp

I am documenting my 2022-23 school year through photography. Each day, I take a photograph and include it in a weekly post here on my blog. The goal is to create a compilation of photos that tells the story of my year and challenges me to go beyond the written word. This is the 20th post in the series.

Monday, January 16
— No Classes • MLK Day —

Tuesday, January 17

Wednesday, January 18

Thursday, January 19

Friday, January 20

bp

I am documenting my 2022-23 school year through photography. Each day, I take a photograph and include it in a weekly post here on my blog. The goal is to create a compilation of photos that tells the story of my year and challenges me to go beyond the written word. This is the 19th post in the series.

Monday, January 9

Tuesday, January 10

Wednesday, January 11

Thursday, January 12

Friday, January 13

bp

In the spirit of the new year, when we came from winter break I had my students write math affirmations. I never did this before, but was inspired to try by a colleague and some recent readings I’ve done. I defined math affirmation for my students as a statement of worth about their mathematical selves. These statements are reflections of the principles, self-beliefs, and/or ideals that people want to manifest when they’re doing or thinking about math.

To start them on the journey of writing a math affirmation, I showed them this video:

After, I told them that it was their turn to write at least one math affirmation for themselves. Figuring that some students might have a hard time coming up with an affirmation on their own, I created a bunch of sample affirmations to help them. If they couldn’t come up with an original affirmation, I invited them to adopt one from my collection.

I wanted their affirmations live publicly in the classroom, so after they determined of their affirmation, I asked them to write it down on a half-sheet of paper. I borrowed markers from another teacher so they could personalize them and make them fun.

Now that I had all these fantastic affirmations, where to put them? A neat suggestion from first period: hang them up on the lockers around the room.

What a great idea. At the end of the day, after I lamented a few of the affirmations and hung them up, the student who offered the locker suggestion came into the classroom and saw them. She beamed and said pridefully, “I told you they would look good!” She was right. We now have a bright, colorful, and inspirational touch on what was a boring part of our room. It’s comforting to know that while my students are working on our whiteboards, the affirmations will keep them company, waiting to provide encouragement whenever they may need it.

The whole point of an affirmation is that you read and say it often — or at least whenever you need a boost of positivity. To help accomplish this, I had students write their affirmations on a small piece of paper and tape it into or onto their math notebook. Beyond the lockers, I hope this helps them see their affirmation often.

It wouldn’t feel right if I had students write math affirmations and I didn’t write one myself. Thus, after my kids wrote their personal affirmations, I revealed our class affirmation:

We will grow through mathematics

Luckily for me, my school has a banner printer. This enabled me to blow up our class affirmation, have all the kids sign it (some even wrote their affirmations on it), and then put it up in the room. It looks wonderful.

The finishing touch is one I’m really excited about. Each day for the next few months I’m choosing one student’s affirmation to help ignite each lesson. The affirmation will be featured in the slides for the day and we’ll read it aloud via a lively call-and-response at the start of class. This, I hope, will keep the affirmations alive and well in the hearts and minds of my students. It will also help us all start each class on a positive note.

bp