In math this week we spent a little bit of time in the computer lab as well as in the classroom. In the computer lab, we worked on two different programs. The first program was called geometry sketch pad and dealt with geometric shapes. This was a great tool in terms of looking at the properties of different shapes and recognizing how these shapes can be moved in different directions and still hold true to their properties. The task we were given was to copy a picture by adjusting a number of different shapes. Although I am usually fairly comfortable with math, this activity made me a bit uncomfortable. I was having trouble seeing each shape as its individual properties rather than all of them together as a whole picture. Another program that we explored was fathom. This program dealt with creating graphs and charts of information. One really fascinating thing this program did was collected data from a website and put it into an easy to read chart.
In a future classroom, I could see myself using both of these programs. I would use the sketch pad if I was teaching higher level math. The way we used this program was very effective in allowing me to see how shapes can remain the same shape but appear very different than how they may normally be shown. This program also has many chances for differentiated instruction. I am looking forward to exploring it more and finding more useful ways to incorporate it into my future classes. As far as the fathom program, I could see this being a huge resource in teaching tables, graphs, charts, and almost anything else that has to do with data. I could also see myself using this program in the lower level classes to make charts and graphs that I can provide to the students.
Overall, this week in math provided me with a glimpse into the computer world of math. My only question is, now what? Where are we going to go in the computer/math world from here. It seems like just when you think they have thought of everything, something else cooler and more helpful is developed. I cannot image what will be next!
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Continuing to Use the iPod Touch in the Classroom
As I am becoming more comfortable with my technology skills, I am becoming braver about introducing it to my students. This has really begun to pay off. I have been using the iPod touch in a number of different ways, both in the class and also in my schooling. One very useful thing I have recently begun playing around with is the voice recorded and text transcriber. While I live in Seattle and am teaching in Everett, I am finding myself in the car a lot. Being able to record my immediate thoughts after class has really helped in assessing the students and planning appropriately. Being able to transcribe my recording to text makes it really easy to go back to and reread; to check for particular patterns or to remind myself what worked well and what didn't in my lessons and interaction with my students.
As far as having the iPod touch available to students, I have realized this can be a bit problematic at times. While it is obvious that it is a great resource for the students, I am conflicted by the fact that I only have one to share, leaving very little time per student and/or an unequal opportunity for my students. One situation that I found particularly difficult was during a math lesson. I was teaching about long division and realized quickly that a few of my students were not understanding my lesson at all due to their unfamiliarity with their multiplication facts. I decided that I was going to allow one of my students to work on his multiplication facts on the iPod, on an app called ArithmeTick. This was great for this one student, however there we a few other students who were equally low in their math development. To make this fair I decided to have each of the students use the iPod touch for 10 minutes and then allow someone else to use it. The logistics of this worked out okay but I am not confident that all three of these students were successful in effectively using the app. It seemed like right when the students got comfortable with how the app worked they had to give it up.
This leads me to my question for the week. How does a teacher go about acquiring technology tools when the school does not have the resources to fund them? I know there are grants available, but are there other ways in which a teacher can propose to get tools like iPod touches? It is such a shame that there are so many great gadgets out there that can help with teacher instruction and student understanding and many schools/teachers do not have access to them.
As far as having the iPod touch available to students, I have realized this can be a bit problematic at times. While it is obvious that it is a great resource for the students, I am conflicted by the fact that I only have one to share, leaving very little time per student and/or an unequal opportunity for my students. One situation that I found particularly difficult was during a math lesson. I was teaching about long division and realized quickly that a few of my students were not understanding my lesson at all due to their unfamiliarity with their multiplication facts. I decided that I was going to allow one of my students to work on his multiplication facts on the iPod, on an app called ArithmeTick. This was great for this one student, however there we a few other students who were equally low in their math development. To make this fair I decided to have each of the students use the iPod touch for 10 minutes and then allow someone else to use it. The logistics of this worked out okay but I am not confident that all three of these students were successful in effectively using the app. It seemed like right when the students got comfortable with how the app worked they had to give it up.
This leads me to my question for the week. How does a teacher go about acquiring technology tools when the school does not have the resources to fund them? I know there are grants available, but are there other ways in which a teacher can propose to get tools like iPod touches? It is such a shame that there are so many great gadgets out there that can help with teacher instruction and student understanding and many schools/teachers do not have access to them.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Healthy Competition as a Motivator
As the quarter is moving forward, I am finding myself becoming more comfortable and excited about teaching upper level math. After class, I found myself thinking a lot about making math fun for upper level math students. Although I have a lot of passion for teaching and learning math, I am also aware that many students do not share my enthusiasm. Finding ways to get students excited about math is essential to their appreciation and overall success. Something that we did this week, that proved to be a good motivator for me this week was adding a little competition aspect. When we were asked to make the giraffe out of the tiles. When our teacher made the comment "lets see who can figure it out first" I became completely engaged in the activity and was excited and eager to complete the task.
With the inclusion of competition, my question becomes how does a teacher include competition into the class but does not do so at the cost of any lower level students. For me, the competition aspect helped me become more engaged, but was this only because I knew I was capable of “winning”? I would hate to include an element into my teaching of math that could cause some students to retract more than they may already.
Including competition into my teaching will be something I am going to think about and explore more. While I can see so many benefits, I am also aware of the costs. One other thing that I took away from this weeks math lesson was the idea of uniting reading, writing, and math into one interdisciplinary lesson. This is another sticky situation where students can get a boost in their confidence in math from their strengths in reading and writing, or their math can be negatively affected due to difficulties in reading and writing. It is obvious that there are way to many things for one new teacher to know, I am going to have to rely on my peers for ideas about both including competition and teaching math in conjunction with reading and writing.
With the inclusion of competition, my question becomes how does a teacher include competition into the class but does not do so at the cost of any lower level students. For me, the competition aspect helped me become more engaged, but was this only because I knew I was capable of “winning”? I would hate to include an element into my teaching of math that could cause some students to retract more than they may already.
Including competition into my teaching will be something I am going to think about and explore more. While I can see so many benefits, I am also aware of the costs. One other thing that I took away from this weeks math lesson was the idea of uniting reading, writing, and math into one interdisciplinary lesson. This is another sticky situation where students can get a boost in their confidence in math from their strengths in reading and writing, or their math can be negatively affected due to difficulties in reading and writing. It is obvious that there are way to many things for one new teacher to know, I am going to have to rely on my peers for ideas about both including competition and teaching math in conjunction with reading and writing.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Moving From Assessment to Instruction
Unfortunately, I was unable to meet with R this week, but luckily my partner did and I was able to catch up on how their time was spent. I was informed that R read fluently and comprehended both the Amelia Earhart piece as well as the piece on steam engines. This came as no surprise to me. In all of our conferences with R, he has demonstrated strong fluency in his reading and has been very precise in his comprehension and retelling.
One interesting thing that my partner told me was that, while she expected that he would respond stronger to the piece of his initial choice (the steam engine piece), this was not the case. While he was proficient in both readings, she felt like he was strongest with the Amelia Earhart piece. She suggested that this had to do with the fact that R had more background knowledge on this topic. I completely agree with my partners thinking. In our past meetings with R, he has shown special interest in topics that are relevant to his prior knowledge and areas of interest. During our first informal reading conference with him, R chose to read Holes rather than another book we suggested to him because the cover showed a boy his age. Being able to read about a character his age made the reading more appealing to him.
From these observations, as well as other things we have learned about R, it is obvious that grade level text is easy for him to read, comprehend, and make inferences about. One idea I had about pushing R's reading and comprehending skills would be to provide him the opportunity to explore other types of writing. A lesson on poetry would be valuable for R, considering it pushes for deeper thinking and compression, while also being engaging and relevant. R could also greatly benefit exposure to higher grade level readings.
One interesting thing that my partner told me was that, while she expected that he would respond stronger to the piece of his initial choice (the steam engine piece), this was not the case. While he was proficient in both readings, she felt like he was strongest with the Amelia Earhart piece. She suggested that this had to do with the fact that R had more background knowledge on this topic. I completely agree with my partners thinking. In our past meetings with R, he has shown special interest in topics that are relevant to his prior knowledge and areas of interest. During our first informal reading conference with him, R chose to read Holes rather than another book we suggested to him because the cover showed a boy his age. Being able to read about a character his age made the reading more appealing to him.
From these observations, as well as other things we have learned about R, it is obvious that grade level text is easy for him to read, comprehend, and make inferences about. One idea I had about pushing R's reading and comprehending skills would be to provide him the opportunity to explore other types of writing. A lesson on poetry would be valuable for R, considering it pushes for deeper thinking and compression, while also being engaging and relevant. R could also greatly benefit exposure to higher grade level readings.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Physically Teaching Math
This week in math, we did a number of things including a paper folding activity that had us looking at and talking about shapes and we also began developing our group, interdisciplinary lesson plan. Our instructor had us draw a line segment on a piece of paper and then asked us to make geometrical comparisons and shapes using the segment we drew. First we had to fold a line perpendicular to our segment and then one parallel. Then we had to make a square where our line segment was one of its sides. The second activity we did, involved simply folding and discussing the shapes we were making. The end product of the folding activity was a box. This week made me think about how important it is to physically display geometry. This is a subject that seems to be a challenge to most students. The activities we did this week proved that geometry can be easily simplified by having the students make physical displays of the information.
One question that came to mind this week was about interdisciplinary lessons and how math plays a role in this. My question is how much math needs to be present in a lesson for it to be considered a math lesson? While looking online for a lesson plan to use for our group interdisciplinary lesson, I found that many lessons that claim to have a math element simply have a number element. Some of the lessons I found look at numbers but do not actually have the students do any sort of mathematical computing with the numbers. Is this really considered an integrated math lesson? It seems to me that a lesson should have some sort of computing or analyzing element to be considered a math lesson.
Overall, this week taught me about the importance of physically teaching math (especially geometry) and made me think about how to incorporate math into other subjects and areas of interest to my students. The box activity was a great way to teach us about shapes while also getting us excited about creating an actual project. I could see this being a great activity in the classroom. Getting students excited about learning is an easy way to get them to buy into the task at hand and the learning that goes along with that.
One question that came to mind this week was about interdisciplinary lessons and how math plays a role in this. My question is how much math needs to be present in a lesson for it to be considered a math lesson? While looking online for a lesson plan to use for our group interdisciplinary lesson, I found that many lessons that claim to have a math element simply have a number element. Some of the lessons I found look at numbers but do not actually have the students do any sort of mathematical computing with the numbers. Is this really considered an integrated math lesson? It seems to me that a lesson should have some sort of computing or analyzing element to be considered a math lesson.
Overall, this week taught me about the importance of physically teaching math (especially geometry) and made me think about how to incorporate math into other subjects and areas of interest to my students. The box activity was a great way to teach us about shapes while also getting us excited about creating an actual project. I could see this being a great activity in the classroom. Getting students excited about learning is an easy way to get them to buy into the task at hand and the learning that goes along with that.
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