Tech in My Placement

The tech available in my placement is very well-supplied.  When I walked into the classroom for the first time I noticed 18 iMacs, multiple whiteboards (some even nested in layers), graphing calculators, modern overhead projector with various dongles,and a VHS-DVD combo.  The tech teaching opportunities appeared endless. This observation occurred during a teacher's meeting before the official school year began.  

When the first day of class arrived, the usage of these devices was much less than I expected.  The whiteboards were filled and slid up and down as a constant path of direct communication to the students.  The rest of the devices remained in sleep mode.  

My excitement of observing a well-supplied tech classroom changed course.  When I asked my mentor teacher, the response was directed toward IT support.  Without the necessary support, focusing curriculum that depends on the technology can be very difficult to use when the response to tech problems can take days to weeks to correct.  

I decided to reevaluate the situation from a new perspective.  Instead of creating curriculum that depended on tech, I looked for the positive side of technology applications that support non-tech based curriculum, but would not prohibit progress without.  For example, www.desmos.com was used in geometry and Algebra II as a fantastic graphing website.  It can be incorporated in the lesson to increase the visualization beyond the mini screen of a graphing calculator and human error of a sketch.  If problems arise, two backup options were already in place.  Planning with tech as a complement to the lesson with backup prepared will allow more tech usage to be considered in my future classroom without fear of problems being unresolved on a timely basis.

Bonus points if you know what a "dongle" is?

Padlet - The Online Bulletin Board

On September 25, 2014 a group in my EDUC 504 class presented Padlet to the class. Padlet was presented as an online bulletin board. It encompassed questions to be asked by the teacher and replied to by multiple students.  As the first group, they set the benchmark very high. The class was in the evening following a full day of student-teaching, so most of the audience was tired. The interaction of presenters with the recipients (me!) kept the energy high and the application very easy to understand. The presenting group consisted of mixed content-base, and included math!!!

The thorough explanation of Padlet taught me how to create an account. I was then able to import a combination of images, pdf files, and a quiz to show various aspects of classroom necessities. I was able to link a lesson, homework reminder, warm-up drill, and exit game. The use of the tech tool was instantly added to my tool box. The presentation made me realize how simple it would be to incorporate new age technology into my future classroom in a very organized way without the requirement of having a completely flipped classroom. Padlet could be used in my future high school mathematics classroom as a way to encourage students to collaborate and discuss math applications beyond the classroom. The ability for students to contribute collectively can help motivate the students to contribute pieces of the puzzle. If you are interested in learning more, check out my padlet http://padlet.com/eight/geometry

Review of The Space Between the Numbers Blog

In hot pursuit to find some tech information directed toward math I began with "The Space Between the Numbers."  While I was in search of number talk, the blog post that caught my attention was grading.  The intent to reduce the "pressure of failure" fit my teaching philosophy.  A 5-point scale was suggested as a way to give students the understanding of where they are and how far they have to go to master the mathematical skill.  The fear that accompanies taking the pressure of the students always seems to be that lack of effort and laziness that can result.  A time-constraint was introduced to take the immediate "now pressure" off, without reducing the responsibility of being accountable for following through with necessary assessments within a reasonable timeframe.  

As and advocate for the students, the ability to identify their location on the learning curve with the plan to reach the peak at various rates seems to allow the classroom to be a much more positive learning environment.  Enter the classroom on day 1 seeing the light at the end of the tunnel that represents mastering the concepts of the course.  Throughout the class repeatedly make the student's mark on the growth curve visible with the ability to always see the possibility of accomplishing the goal.  My goal is to educate students and present math in a fun, positive environment.  If reducing one of the pressures of being a teenager helps my goal be accomplished together with the students reaching their mastery of concepts everyone wins!

    

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"Be the Inspiration, Not the Information," David Theune

Last Thursday we had a guest speaker for Ed Tech, David Theune, English/Language Arts Teacher from Spring Lake High School. The evening class follows a day in the classroom as student teachers. You can imagine the natural yawns, fatigue, and distractions. Mr. Theune's positive energy sparked my interest immediately. While introducing the class to himself through his students it was immediately obvious that he could be viewed as an educational innovator. His community inclusion not only reached outside the classroom for the benefit of the students, but incorporated local non-profits, to supply them with writers and researchers who share the same community. He referenced his teaching style with a profound statement, "Be the inspiration, not the information."

The positive support of technology in the classroom from experience also helped persuade me to reconsider my negative stance. Adding a purpose put value in the students' writing. This impacted the quality of writing. It was rewarding for all.

With high school math as my focus, I was looking forward to Mr. Theune's easy connection to mathematics. No such luck!!! It has become a response that I am hearing more and more frequently, "Oh, I'm not math." With this in mind, I looked for ways I could connect his experienced modifications to a secondary math classroom.  

The value of students sharing previous readings on youtube could easily be translated to math. Presenting problems in front of the class at the whiteboard has been known as a common fear for math students. The chances of failing in front of your peers can be crushing. How about a different approach with sharing completed problems that can be well prepared without the intensity of cold-calling? Present your knowledge to another class through youtube and ask that they do the same. Judgement has been reduced by sharing the anxiety and quality of work has been improved through exposure. As Mr. Theune said, "Find an audience!"

Mr. Theune finished with several important references for addressing bullying. No matter what the level and intensity of it, the situation needs to recognized, addressed and eliminated. I am thankful for the well-researched book list he shared and look forward to reading his own.

Review of Connections Across the Disciplines - German Tech

During summer semester, we worked in groups to create lesson plans that could incorporate technology with our specialized content.  My group created an algebra lesson and I found the variety of the tech inclusion ideas as well as math from the angle of a biologist very interesting.  Now I will dig even deeper into the tech connection creativity through a German lesson produced by classmates.  Branden, Kelsey and Lisa created a cultural German lesson with use of Skype.  The students would speak only German to native speakers.  This was a fantastic way to have individualized guest speakers in a dialogue setting.  The visual tool would allow hand gestures and motions as well as facial expressions to compliment the verbalization.  Would textbooks or translation dictionaries be accessible?

The lesson designated the time allowed for each component to keep the students engaged in the activity.  Necessary tools were identified, such as the iPads and headphones with microphones, to even further define the location.  Branden, Kelsey and Lisa took the time to anticipate problems and created additional questions and identified the chat option for potential communication difficulties.

A reflection is included at the end of the lesson to recognize successes and encourage suggestions.  The assigned homework summarized knowledge learned of the German school system.  This would be very helpful to include near the purpose or objective to allow the students to acknowledge the importance of documentation during the Skype dialogue.  A bonus could be recording the dialogues to allow the students to identify details they may have missed during the conversation.  This may have been left off due to the fact it would reduce the focus of working on hearing comprehension.

Nicely done!  This lesson plan has great potential to be utilized.

The Beauty of Blendspace

I was lucky to be placed in the group learning about Blendspace for this assignment.  I had never heard of Blendspace, but was fascinated by the abilities.  In the sense of "Organizing Your Online Life" it was meant for teachers, or anyone curious of learning from multiple angles.  An elevated Google search on an educational platform would be my best description.  I chose to learn about it from a teacher's perspective and leave the student on the receiving end, rather than inclusion since my fall field assignment is limited in technology tools.

Navigation on the Blendspace.com website was very user friendly.  Logging in was already linked to Google email accounts; no additional usernames and passwords to create.  As you develop your canvas which your topic of interest changes can be made with ease.  When looking for math games the YouTube sites were endless, Google sites and images were plentiful for use and decoration, my Google Drive pages were easily accessible if necessary to include the focus assignment.

When I asked a few friends that are teachers if they were familiar with Blendspace.com most were not.  One used it for brainstorming, which is what I think I will do.  Those without knowledge of it asked for the share page to be sent to them.  Blendspace offers a way to integrate tech into the classroom directly and indirectly with its options.  I am very thankful to add it to my bag of tricks and happy to share with others.

My first sharing experience was in class with Anthony and Liz who are both very knowledgeable in their subjects. It was very exciting to see their eyes light up when the results displayed for their own first topic of choice!

Lure of the Labyrinth... Math Game...Don't be fooled by the "Save Your Pet" lure...

As a future math teacher I chose Lure of the Labyrinth, http://labyrinth.thinkport.org, to explore the world of gaming overlapping with math skills.  After choosing to dive in like a future student, I did not read any rules and attempted to figure it out on my own.  No such luck!  I am game-illiterate beyond Tetris and Ms. Pac Man.  After getting lost in the maze and having to click the back arrow enough times to navigate out,  I decided to read the home page from the standpoint of a teacher...

The game is intended for pre-algebra middle school students.  It claims to be easy to play without reading the rules, so I tested my children out, since they are much more familiar with computer games than me.  The home page claims to include proportions, number sense, geometry and variables.  With our collaborative efforts, we did not experience this material.  Selecting a pet at the beginning was the highlight.  As a reward for giving it a try we looked around for another math game to find... Math Man,  http://www.mathplayground.com/mathman.html.  This was a much faster, more interactive Pac Man-like game with order of operations involved.  Yes, it is much more simple than geometry, but the fact that calculations were being performed accompanied by laughter and celebration seems much more worthwhile than frustrating navigation.  I am very curious to read about Lure of the Labyrinth from a gamer's opinion.

To be more open-minded about video games, I read Good Video Games and Good Learning by James Paul Lee with search for positives.  I agree with the motivation from challenge in the games.  A sense of ownership was referred to and that supports our intent help students feel empowered.  The ability to strategize could be enforced through games.  Perhaps I need to further explore the educational gaming world before shutting the door.

Computerized Testing

     Today in class we discussed computerized testing.  We were able to test our own skills on a test site "Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium."  I chose 10th grade math to explore within a comfortable setting.  Immediately I was irritated by the calculator the covered my problem and had keys in irregular locations.  The first problem addressed a comparison a cars traveling at differing speeds and distances.  The answers required the cars to then be placed on a number line to visualize the comparison.  On paper this problem would take less than a minute.  On the computer the time tripled or quadrupled and mainly in the navigation category, not the knowledge bank.  How will computers effect the ability for less technical students to exhibit their skills and knowledge?

     The second problem was a simple equation that had no negative influence from the computer.  If the entire test was like this I would have no relevant argument against computerized testing.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.

     The third problem I attempted, before running out of time, was a graphing problem that would be very easy to visualize with graph paper.  Extensive time was necessary to create the grid, plot the points, then reread the problem because by then my frustration had overcome my cognitive problem solving skills and I had forgotten what the problem was asking.  When I regrouped with the necessary visual in front of me the problem seemed simple.  It disappointed me to know I was close to giving up and that the same feeling would likely overcome many high school students taking computerized tests. I think it would be helpful to have an interface that can be offered to the masses with more similarities to  simple paper.

website, too... no, really... lack of content at this time

https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/mrs-rachel-kreuzer-s-website/

John Dewey - Constructive Learning

     "My Pedagogical Creed" written by John Dewey is full of inspiring information for teachers.  He breaks down education to be dependent on reaching within the student to connect their psychological and sociological qualities to the subject being taught.  As teachers, we need to approach the opportunity as solving a puzzle or mastering a maze... blindfolded in some instances.  Integrity will be necessary on our part, as well as the willingness to accept failures as if they are simply wrong turns that can be fixed through proper navigation... recalculating... The lucky chance that we have as teachers to help students discover the endless tools of knowledge within each of them and point them in the direction to apply this metacognitive wealth is truly rewarding.

     Dewey defined school as a social institution.  I agree with the importance of recognizing that many social behaviors are developed at school and learning to be aware that together everyone is an equivalent piece of the school community.  However, I feel Dewey's opinion that the teacher is not needed to install moral values and social guidance and has lost some value in today's society.  Parental and family involvement has dissolved in many homes, leaving the opportunity for teachers to eliminate some of these vacancies.  This is supported by Dewey's belief in education as a most effective instrument of social progress.

     John Dewey is often identified in the technology arena of education.  Interesting that he published many of his ideas before the turn of the 20th century and passed long before iPads were considered in the classroom.  Despite this time warp, he has suggested many ideas for education that are still innovative.  Putting the student in the center of the learning process as focus and not the sponge was a starting point.  The importance of application and hands-on experience over memorizing facts has been discussed by many educators, but missed on the many avenues that are continuously pushing standardized tests to determine knowledge levels.  This approach does not include Dewey's "learning by doing" philosophy.  I plan to support his idea that the students are the center of the classroom and as teachers, we are present to facilitate the educational process that they can develop through their creativity, schema, and with guidance to obtain constructive learning.

     BYOD, Bring Your Own Device to school sounds ridiculous to me.  The ability to teach amongst the many life distractions in the classroom only grows when incorporating approval of, "Look at my new toy."  As strong enforces of social justice, let's help the students dig deep into their internal google and create, explore, and test the solutions their internal hard drive has to offer!

Give me some numbers.......

As I am thrilled to pursue my dream to teach high school math, the amount of verbiage required to get there is incredibly challenging.  The little bits on math that arises out of pure randomness at this time is like fireworks on the 4th of July!  Along with the writing, I am learning some new tricks.  I have created/shared a Google Doc, Google Sheet, and as you can see created a Blog.  Thanks for visiting!  83594750246340103-30894 Sharing some random  yet beautiful numbers!