This lecture had several great speakers. I enjoyed the diversity of disciplines that the speakers represented. From science, engineering, math, social studies and much more. The one most relevant to me was Ms. Garber's presentation was directly applicable to me as it was directed at engaging at-risk youth with science and engineering.
She touched on a lot of points that I strongly support such as including hands-on problem-based activities and programming. I enjoyed her talking about the different ways that a project can be used to integrate math, science, history and english into the same lesson. In the future, I would love to collaborate with the physics teacher to do a unit on bridges, where I can talk about choices of materials in bridges in chemistry, or doing calculations in math. I could also collaborate with the social studies and english teachers to talk about bridges in history, and how they affected societies. I enjoyed some of the resources Ms. Garber pointed to several resources such as "Building Big" to simulate forces on a bridge, and analyze the weak points. She also made a competition for students to build the most efficient and cost-effective bridge.
Also, I've avoided using twitter so far because I feel that it takes too much time, and it's just too much information all in the same place. But after hearing about the power of professional twitter chats, it's making me reconsider. I do have a twitter handle, so I think I will at least try to follow other educators and see how it goes. I value my discussion with other teaching interns in the Secondary MAC program right now. So having a twitter base of other educators that I can discuss with would be an easy way to continue that tradition of discussing with other educators.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
MACUL Conference
I attended the MACUL conference with other Secondary MAC interns on Friday 3/20. I'm so glad I have my colleagues' company and support at the conference. It was a lot more enjoyable and informative to go to sessions with people I can trust to discuss the presentations.
The best presentation I found most helpful was titled "Leveraging Technology to Foster Communication, writing, and Collaboration in Mathematics". I was intrigued by this session because the idea of incorporating communication and writing into a math classroom seemed daunting, and any insight into this topic would be helpful for me. The session was lead by two experienced math teachers who, after seeing them present, are obviously experienced, and energetic teachers.Their presentation was well-organized, engaging, and practical.
The teachers engaged us by having the audience form pairs, with one person facing the screen and one with their back to the screen. First round, they put 4 math words on the screen. The person facing the screen had to describe to their partner the words, without actually saying any part of the word. We also could not use our hands to help us describe the words. In the second round, the partners switch roles, and now they put a picture on the screen. The person seeing the screen will describe it to the other person, who has to draw it. The act of describing these words and the image required us to use many other math concepts and words, leading to a discussion between students full of mathematical vocabulary. These activities could be modified slightly to make them easier or harder, such as allowing the partner to see each others drawing and give feedback. I like this activity because it is a way to give students practice using the mathematical vocabulary in their own way. I could also facilitate a discussion afterwards to discuss the different ways the students described things, and what words came up during the discussion.
Another activity that they showed us in this session is the "tic-tac-toe" vocabulary activity. In this activity, the teacher puts up the tic-tac-toe board, with math words that the teacher wants the students to use. Then the students are instructed to choose a row of three words that the students then have to put into one sentence. I can see myself using this activity to scaffold the writing of a summary by having them choose two sets of words that they have to incorporate into at least 2 sentences. My students currently struggle with writing summaries. By having a few words that they have to incorporate into a sentence will have them think of how they are related (or not) to construct a sentence.
Finally, the resource that I found helpful is nearpod.com, which works for any device. The teacher who uses this tool has an ipad available for each student to use. Nearpod allows students to write or draw things free hand, for which an ipad is a perfect fit. A teacher can ask students a verbal question, or put a question on the board, after which students answer it on the ipad and hit "submit". When the students submit their answers, the teacher can see all the answers with the students' name. Then the teacher can choose to share one of the answers anonymously, where the answer shows up on the students' devices to examine for a classroom discussion. Although not every classroom has a device available for each student to use, the idea is still applicable. In my own classroom, I can have students answer a question on index cards to be submitted. Then I can choose an answer to share by writing it on the board, or covering the name and using a document camera.
I love all these ideas, and I can see myself starting to use these ideas right now. Being in the presence of so many other educators who are all open to collaboration was a great experience, especially that I got to experience it with my friends and colleagues.
The best presentation I found most helpful was titled "Leveraging Technology to Foster Communication, writing, and Collaboration in Mathematics". I was intrigued by this session because the idea of incorporating communication and writing into a math classroom seemed daunting, and any insight into this topic would be helpful for me. The session was lead by two experienced math teachers who, after seeing them present, are obviously experienced, and energetic teachers.Their presentation was well-organized, engaging, and practical.
The teachers engaged us by having the audience form pairs, with one person facing the screen and one with their back to the screen. First round, they put 4 math words on the screen. The person facing the screen had to describe to their partner the words, without actually saying any part of the word. We also could not use our hands to help us describe the words. In the second round, the partners switch roles, and now they put a picture on the screen. The person seeing the screen will describe it to the other person, who has to draw it. The act of describing these words and the image required us to use many other math concepts and words, leading to a discussion between students full of mathematical vocabulary. These activities could be modified slightly to make them easier or harder, such as allowing the partner to see each others drawing and give feedback. I like this activity because it is a way to give students practice using the mathematical vocabulary in their own way. I could also facilitate a discussion afterwards to discuss the different ways the students described things, and what words came up during the discussion.
Another activity that they showed us in this session is the "tic-tac-toe" vocabulary activity. In this activity, the teacher puts up the tic-tac-toe board, with math words that the teacher wants the students to use. Then the students are instructed to choose a row of three words that the students then have to put into one sentence. I can see myself using this activity to scaffold the writing of a summary by having them choose two sets of words that they have to incorporate into at least 2 sentences. My students currently struggle with writing summaries. By having a few words that they have to incorporate into a sentence will have them think of how they are related (or not) to construct a sentence.
Finally, the resource that I found helpful is nearpod.com, which works for any device. The teacher who uses this tool has an ipad available for each student to use. Nearpod allows students to write or draw things free hand, for which an ipad is a perfect fit. A teacher can ask students a verbal question, or put a question on the board, after which students answer it on the ipad and hit "submit". When the students submit their answers, the teacher can see all the answers with the students' name. Then the teacher can choose to share one of the answers anonymously, where the answer shows up on the students' devices to examine for a classroom discussion. Although not every classroom has a device available for each student to use, the idea is still applicable. In my own classroom, I can have students answer a question on index cards to be submitted. Then I can choose an answer to share by writing it on the board, or covering the name and using a document camera.
I love all these ideas, and I can see myself starting to use these ideas right now. Being in the presence of so many other educators who are all open to collaboration was a great experience, especially that I got to experience it with my friends and colleagues.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Racing to Review - Tech Teach In
'Tis the season for midterms! Students have just come out of a long week of midterms. I saw students have to do review sheet after review sheet. In our own classes, there were even two parts to each review. Students groaned every time they saw these reviews, and were unmotivated to actually complete the reviews, even though it's for their own benefit. The exams took place in the middle of a unit we had already started. After the exams were over, I need to design yet another review activity for the unit we were in the midst of covering. Needless to say, I didn't want to bore the students with yet another review sheet, so I racked my brains for an interesting activity that will help students review the material, and that they will actually enjoy doing. That's where Socrative comes in!
Socrative has a Space Race feature that allows a teacher to turn an online assessment into a fun, competitive race. I can design an online assessment that includes all the review questions I want the students to answer. There are several reasons why I think Socrative is a perfect fit for this occasion. The idea of doing an online activity that students can access both from their phones or from school computers makes it logistically easier than other technological routes. In addition, each team of students will have a different colored spaceship, with all the teams' progress being projected at the front of the class. The competitive aspect will hopefully increase students' motivation to actually do the activity. At the same time, the progress is represented only by color, so by giving each group their color quietly, each teams' progress become anonymous. Another feature is that as a teacher, I can program Socrative to give students immediate feedback of whether the question was answered correctly or not, and give them an explanation. This allows teams to pace themselves in the activity, and gives them the option of reading the explanation, which would help them with upcoming questions. This type of activity maintains a safe learning environment, that is differentiated according to students' skill level.
Some limitations include the fact that I will have to adjust my questions to fit the format that Socrative uses. I can only ask multiple choice, true/false and short answer questions. The students must also be motivated enough to actually read the question instead of just answering randomly, an to read the explanations if they are to be beneficial to them. However, I believe these are small issues compared to the number of potential benefits that Socratve offers. It provides an opportunity for students to review material in a fun, interesting way that encourages self-assessment of their skill level with respect to their peers, while being in a safe learning environment. The teacher can access students' answers to get insight into students' understanding, and identify if there is a specific concept that the class is struggling with, or if a particular group of students is struggling with a concept. All in all, I believe that running a review activity using Space Race on Socrative will be a change of pace for the students that they will appreciate, while still providing the necessary academic benefits.
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