final project

I had students work in groups of 2 or 3 to work out complex composite area problems. In years past, I would give them a few minutes in class to work out the problem, and then go up to the SMART Board to present how to find the area. What I found is that students didn't have enough time to prepare, and this lack of preparation made them very nervous about presenting in front of the class. I would usually have to correct their mistakes and teach the problem anyway.

To correct this, I thought it would be a good idea for them to work on the problem outside of class, giving them plenty of time to prepare, and then present the next day. A lot of students would come in unprepared because they didn't have time, or forgot to meet. Once again, I would usually wind up teaching the problems.

This year, I had the groups make a recording of their work using SMART recorder. We spent a day in the computer lab making the videos. This gave students plenty of time to plan out what they were doing. Also, using SMART Recorder allowed them to present their work in a non-stessful setting. If they wanted to press pause to gather themselves, or even start over, they had that option. This made the quality of presentation much better. Each class had 10 problems to present. Each video was anywhere from 2-4 minutes long. We had plenty of time to show all 10 videos. Students took notes from the videos. We could easily replay part of the video if anyone missed something. One of the best parts about this was that the videos were uploaded to the public drive, so that any student could access the videos on their own time using their account. Since I was giving a quiz the next day, I know that many students watched videos of the problems they needed help with.

I think next year I'm going to try having student use Voicethread for this. I think it would be neat for students to create video commentaries on each others presentation. I didn't have a great experience with VoiceThread, but if I work with it a little over the summer, I'm confident that I can figure it out. Great experience!

Click here, and then click on "student composite area video" to see an example

Other Tools

What a great resource for us to use! I am extremely overwhelmed by all the technology out there, but this really helps to simplify things. The first tool I found was What2Learn. This site has pre-made quizzes, as well as the option to create your own quizzes. It creates the quizzes in a fun, game-like format. This would be a great tool to use when reviewing for a quiz or test. I've found that students perform much better on assessements when the info. is reviewed in game format.
The second tool I found was Chart Tool. This site allows you to easily create a variety of charts and graphs. This is perfect for any math classroom, and could be used in any form of a graphing project.
The third tool I found useful was Poll Daddy (not to be confused with Go Daddy). This site can be used to create surveys and polls. Teachers could use this to collect anonymous information from students. Students could use this for collecting data for a project. Student Councils could use this to collect data from the student body. Administration could use this as a means to boost student moral. There are an infinite number of ways that this could be use.
I will definitely add "Cool Tools for Schools" to my Favorites, and post it to my website for students for use.

Wordle

I really like these! I had fun playing around with it. I created one from Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1933 Inagural address ("Nothing to Fear except Fear itself"), and Martin Luther King Jr's " I have a dream" speech. It was interesting to see what words were used the most. What I found myself doing was rereading the speech carefully, looking for these words. How powerful that would be if we could get kids to do the same thing!

This has great classroom uses. Any time an historical figure is studied, a Wordle could be created from their speeches. I think this would help students get to know and understand that figure better. Neat idea!

Diigo

I set up my Diigo account. I downloaded the Diigo toolbar on my computer at home. I "applied" to join the 21st century group, and am waiting to be accepted. That was six hours ago. I would have liked to have had this done today; this is a little frustrating. To be continued...

Just checked to see if I've been accepted... Nope. Still waiting. It's been 24 hours now.

I have been accepted by the group! My self-esteem has been restored. Highlighting and adding sticky notes was easy. I can definitley see how Diigo would help students who are working together on a research project. It would also be great for a teacher to see documented evidence that students are in fact doing research.

Diigo kind of reminds me of buying used books in college. Used books were not only nice because they were cheaper, they were also nice because they had been previously highlighted. Diigo can save you from having to read an entire web page if somebody before you had highlighted, and placed sticky notes already. It is a very useful too.

Digital Storytelling

I used Animoto to create the embedded video below. I had a lot of fun doing this. There was a bit of a learning curve, but it was worthwhile. I'm honestly having a difficult time thinking of how I could use this in my math class, without it taking a lot of time away from teaching Ohio Academic Content standards. I can definitely see how it would be beneficial in other subjects that require students to give presentations. I think it would be cool for L.A. students to create a "movie trailer" type presentation for summarizing a novel. Social Studies students could prepare a video presentation on a historical figure. The possibilities are truly endless. Students would no doubt enjoy using this for school purposes.

Wiki Assignment

I created a Wiki for an upcoming kayak trip in June. The video tutorial inspired me to do so. The video mentioned problems that I've ran into trying to communicate via email and by phone. I created a page for listing items that we need and have (much like the video), one for a list of possible supplies, one for directions, and internet links to a river map, camground, and the outfitters. So I made a Wiki and invited the five guys I'll be going with. They'll probably make fun of me, and call me names for getting geeky, but it might save us some trouble.

I honestly can't remember what Google Docs was like; much like this I think. I imagine more people already have Google accounts, than one for this Wiki site. Though, setting up an account was not that hard. I remember that Google Docs allowed you to upload files directly into it. I don't think a Wiki page will do that. I had to copy and paste one of my files into the Wiki. Google Docs also allowed you to draw; I don't think you could do that in Wiki?

I think this would be a good site to post a problem of the week, and give students a place to discuss it. It might also be a good place for students to help each other with homework. Students could use it as a place to gather survey data for a project. I'm sure there are lots of other math applications out there. Cool site!

Google Reader

Just finished creating my Google Reader account. It was easy to set up; the video tutorial was very helpful. This is nice in that you don't have to go searching for updated information when instead, it's all "delivered" to you. I used Google's News and Sports pre-made bundles, and also subscribed to Ohio Department of Ed., National Council for Teachers of Mathematics, and Ohio Council for Teachers of Mathematics. I subscribed to the latter because I will get updated info. on creative ideas for lessons, and get info. on upcoming conferences and workshops. Great idea!

itunes

Just finished checking out itunes. Found a really cool Pre-Algebra download made by the Florida Department of Education. I downloaded it and am going to use it (Pythagoream Theorem) on the Monday we return from break. I'm also going to encourage students to search it because it's all free! Great find! Thanks!

voicethread

This has been one of the more frustrating experiences of this class. I created a video using SMART Recorder, which was converted to a wmv file. I uploaded it to voicethread, which later stated that the upload can't be processed. I can't figure out why. The first voicethread is my attempt at doing it. The second is the one where I got the idea to use SMART Recorder. She taught a lesson on how to use a protractor.

I thought it might be a neat idea to assign a complex problem (such as finding the area of a composite shape), and have students create a voicethread on how they solved it. They would then need to commment on someone else's. It would be neat to share a couple of these during class. This would show students that a variety of methods could be used to solve the same problem. This could be done during class, but I think that doing this outside of class as well would allow students extra time to gather their thoughts. This could result in some profound thinking and discovery, which would then be shared with everyone.

Audacity Podcast

Using Audacity was so easy, that I honestly thought I did something wrong. I struggled at first trying to think of a use for it in math. I eventually thought of using this as a means of helping students with correct pronunciation. For instance, I've noticed that students have difficulty when pronouncing fractions, decimals, and exponents. Many students don't know how to pronounce an improper fraction like 9/2. They may incorrectly pronounce it as "nine over two", or "nine twoths." I could post a podcast, that may help students hear the correct pronounciation of "nine halves." The following link is to a podcast that helps students pronounce exponents. It is the most exciting thing you'll ever hear. Enjoy!

Exponent Podcast

Skype

I tried out Skype on Jan. 21 with Chad Vahue. The set up was pretty easy. First had to install a web cam on my computer; didn't take too long. I then had to create a Skype account, which didn't take too long either. The connection was a little slow, but it worked O.K.

I noticed that you can find people using the "Directory" function. I was able to locate a few people from our online class, and sent them a text message.

I'm having a difficult time thinking of a classroom use for math, but this would be awesome when studying different cultures around the world. It would be really cool for kids to talk to other kids in different countries. It would be a little difficult to talk to kids in Europe and Asia, but you could probably set something up with a classroom in South America. Maybe you could talk to a classroom in Western Europe if you called them early enough in the morning. I definitely think Skype presents great learning opportunities, just wish I could think of something for math. Any ideas?

Bloom's digital taxonomy

This reading was so exciting; I just couldn't put it down! :) Do the Brits not use the letter "z"? I came to the realization that Bloom's Taxonomy is timeless, it's just the manner in which we teach HOTS that will change.
I liked the point about how Bloom's has evolved to verb-based skills. Makes sense; we're interested in what students can do.
I slightly disagreed with the author in that fact recollection still being important, since you can find out about anything on the net in less than a minute. I think Delicious is a little silly since it is a place to save and organize websites. You can simply go to Google to quickly find a website, rather than spending a bunch of time compiling a list of websites. Maybe I missed something.
I like Mindmeister. Mapping is very useful in math, especially with students that have difficulty retaining info. Advanced Boolean Google searching doesn't really apply to the world of math, but I can definitely see how if would be appropriate in Science and Social Studies.
Blogging can certainly replace journal writing when having kids reflect to demonstrate their understanding. No paper!
Buzzword sounds a lot like EtherPad and Google Docs.
I like how hacking is considered to be a form of application (I know that it's not the same). Perhaps we'll attempt hacking a website!
I love using GoogleMaps (and MapQuest). I use this when teaching students how to estimate distances on a map (proportional reasoning). We use GoogleMaps to compare our answers with actual driving distances, and then discuss why there are differences.

GoogleForms really caught my eye. In an earlier post, I mentioned how GoogleDocs could possibly aid in collecting student data when learning about statistics. GoogleForms is made for collecting and analyzing data. I don't really do projects because of time, however GoogleForms would allow me to do a survey project. Students could post survey questions, collect and organize data, and publish results in charts and graphs, all using GoogleForms. There's no need for bulky poster boards or paper. This project would encompass students analyzing and creating; two of the HOTS. Churches even provides a rubric that I could use!
Animoto and Voicethread would be cool ways for students to create videos. I can't immediately think of any math applications for this right now, but the junior high L.A. teachers might find this useful when doing their video projects (I know they just recently did one, but I can't remember what it was for).
L.A. teachers may also like using Mixbook when creating portfolios.
This reading was useful. I learned of a couple different digital resources to enhance my HOTS teaching.