It's interesting what happens when you have 3 sections of the same class.

The first lesson of the day is generally not as good as the last.  When you teach the same lesson multiple times, you make adjustment and get better each time you do it.  It's kind of unfortunate that the first class is the guinea pigs, and then the last class always reaps the benefits of your experience.

Toothpick triangles went quite well, we started it last day.  Today I plan on tackling the terminology used in sequences and the formula for an arithmetic sequence (going to try and have them derive it) as well as the arithmetic series formula (again, have them derive it).

Looking forward to geo sequences/series.  Have a great introduction activity planned for it.  Hopefully the leap from concrete to abstract isn't too jarring from them.  I have a feeling that these kids are still, really, 10th grade math students with a 10th grade mentality.  It's going to be a shock for them when sitting and paying attention won't be enough to get them through.

How do you get students to participate more in class?  I think a lot of it is making the contribution low-risk.  That's why I want to start using Socrative more.  It's a low-risk way to contribute and get feedback.  It especially helps me, because I can really see how the class is doing as a whole.

Still trying to think of ways to deal better with my biggest class of 33.  Will have to implement a seating plan, firstly.  We'll have to see how that works out.  They really have trouble stopping the talking when I need to address something at the board.  Most of my class is spent with them working so it's not like I demand them to be silent for 90% of the class.  More like...30%?  Or probably less actually.