Stats 5

Stats class is winding down. I wish I could say I'm disappointed, but honestly I can't say that. That feeling is in no way a reflection on the teaching--the poor instructor didn't have much to work with in my case. Everything I thought I was beginning to understand is becoming a big muddled mess now that I'm trying to put it together for the last two projects. The more I look at it and try to make sense of it the more confused I get. Way too many charts and functions for me to grasp. Luckily, the world needs English and social studies teachers too:-) As for the statistical portion of my action research...I think I will be selling plasma so I can afford to pay someone else to figure that all out. Seriously, I have no idea how I will be able to apply this later, when I don't fully understand it now.

The stress of a new school year beginning, waiting for approval on action research was enough, but then the added bonus of benchmarks and final "activities" pretty much did me in. I've never been a good test taker and I'm not fooled by the terminology--they are tests! Thankfully I've kept my notes organized and they've been a great help (this is awesome). In the future maybe stats could be scheduled closer to the point when researchers have the actual data and farther from the start of a school year (I always enjoy a little time in my ideal little fantasy world). I know I'd have experienced less anxiety attacks, sleepless nights and bouts with the hives.

Stats 4

I finally have approval from the IRB and West Bend School District to proceed with my research project--Yippee! I sent home parent letters today, so I can begin next week. Unfortunately, getting those permission letters back will probably be the most difficult task of all. Of course, my school laptop is non-functional again and is an integral part of my research plan. I put the work order in two weeks ago and today the tech. guy finally came and took it for repairs. It's being sent back to Dell for the third time in 2 years. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will get lost in transit, so I can have a new one--nah, never happen...I'm NOT that lucky. I'm just hoping I can get a replacement to use by Monday. At this rate I won't have any data to use with all of the statistical functions, equations, charts and all that other wonderful stuff we've practiced over the past 5 weeks.

Stats cont...

It seems that I never blogged last week, so I'll have to do 2 this week. Shouldn't be a problem... Things continue to baffle and bewilder in stats class. Just when I think I understand it, something new is introduced. My mind just can't seem to wrap around letters in place of numbers. It's the same problem I had in High school. I guess I am too concrete, or maybe I just like things to be easy. I appreciate the extra time we have had the last 2 weeks to try some of it in class. Excel is truely a life saver!! I'm lucky too to have Bryan in my small group because he's patient with my ignorance, and understands it, so he can guide us through the group projects.

Stats 2

Today is the day my action research goes to the IRB. My school district is finally going to look at it as well (usually they wait for IRB approval first-don't I feel special). My fingers are crossed that I provided enough detail that it won't have to go to the full IRB and put my research dates further behind. As it is, I will be in El Salvador for one week during the time I had proposed doing the research, so I will have to make adjustments for that.

Moving on to stats...I made it through benchmark 1 without having to do a retake--thanks to the use of notes, which I had very well organized. I just have to say, that I am a firm believer in, "it's not what you know, but whether or not you know where to look it up that counts." In class I found myself groaning inwardly (or maybe not so inwardly) when things were being presented with letters to represent the numbers. That makes my brain hurt just thinking about it. I was soooo much more comfortable when we had time to go on the computer and work through the processes with real numbers and then to find out how simple it is to do it with excel. I use excel for many tasks in my teaching, but this was new to me. I am so very excited for this additional opportunity to avoid the Greek that others refer to as math!

Stats

Heart racing, head pounding, and a cold sweat dripping down my back. Onset of H1N1? Not at all...That's what happens when I think of anything that has to do with math. To say I suffer from math related anxiety, would be the understatement of the century. I use standard deviations, mean, mode, etc... all the time when I do diagnostic testing on my students. I get that--at least as far as it applies to me and my responsibilities. When you take statistics beyond that, the little voice inside my head starts yelling,"why, why, why, would you want to know that," and I begin to experience all of the aforementioned physical reactions. In addition to math(as though that weren't bad enough) this course includes quizzes/tests, cleverly disguised as benchmarks. Maybe they aren't so cleverly disguised, since I realized it immediately and broke out into hives. Needless to say this course will be the most challenging for me, but in the end I hope to have gained the skills I will need to use my data from classroom research and complete my research project.