BACK TO THE OLD WITH A SPLASH OF NEW

This week I had both a good lesson and bad lesson, both dealing with the same topic.  This is progress for me, because as soon as I began diving into the lesson the first time, I knew it was a great idea, just poorly planned in terms of time management.  The topic was line of best fit.  In case you don't know, you must look at a trend of any data given, and predict what it is going to happen in the future.  Sounds simple, especially if a graph is in front of you.  But in order to predict with a precision, you should create a formula.  Hence, the algebra.

Well, that's what we did.  But we did it using my salary and my spending based on what my paycheck and bank account said.  The students were definitely in to seeing my spending trends and the lesson was going to be AWESOME!!  Until, I tried to break it down over 31 days for the month and we had to do all of the calculations of where my account stood each day........................boring!!  It was way too slow for me, and I even praised the kids for pushing through it with me.  In the end, we did the lesson, but I had to seriously tweak it before I taught the next class this lesson.  So I dove back to the old Apple stock!!  This is the same lesson except I use points from some company that the kids like.  We graphed points using this data.  Very cool and leads to a lot of good topic discussions.  This basically got the same point across that my other lesson did, in better than half of the time. We find out the function of the data in a linear form and then I have them predict how much the stock would be worth in "X" amount of days using their formula.
I finalized the assignment by having them go and find data on their own.  NFL statistics, crime statistics, stocks............etc., something that they were interested in.  They then were able to mimic the lesson taught.  I had them do everything by hand.  Once I checked their work, they graphed the same thing using a computer program, posted it to their blog along with the function that they were able to find, and then I asked each individual a unique question that they had to answer based on their data and graph.  Here is one of my students postings.

Good points to the lesson:

• Discussion
• Engagement
• Deep understanding of the topic at hand

Bad points to the lesson:

• I'm at the board throwing out probing questions
• I'm writing everything I want them to write down.

I think in the future I'm going to add some sort of tweak to it so that they produce a quick summary and answer a question or give them some sort of goal.  My database lesson is going to be working off the line of best fit.  It is one of my favorite lessons to teach because it summarizes why we use graphs and how we can predict with some sort of accuracy.

Tsunami

So this week I took the students through the events of Sri Lanka in 2004. We watched a few clips of the horror and they asked tons of questions. My students were all around the age 0f 9 or 10 at this time, but they remembered it. We discussed the devastation and what a tsunami was and how they are created.

I then used Google Earth to show them where the earthquake had taken place. Using a "ruler" tool, I was able to connect a line from the coastline of Sri Lanka to the epicenter and measure the distance. I made up another spot of where the wave was after "X" amount of seconds and some times of when this was taking place. I explained to the kids that they are the Homeland Security of the nation of Sri Lanka, and they have to figure out how long the had before the wave hits the coastline. They must evacuate the coastline by a certain time after figuring out the speed of the wave.

After giving them some time, I went ahead and showed them how I would've solved it. A lot of them were very close in solving the problem. They used the tools given to them by previous teachers to solve the problem. I then proceeded to give them some new tools in which we use in algebra formulas. Slope and the Point-Slope Formula in function form was my goal for them that day.

Granted, this kept the students attention and they were all 100% engaged in figuring it out. The entire time that I was giving the lesson, I was thinking, how can I have them do all of this? I think upon reflection, I would give them some coordinates to find on the earth and find the distances on their own. I would show them the tools to use on google earth and they would have to recreate that much. I would provide an XY table for those that I saw subtracting the distance for each second that went by. I also think that I would send them a video of how to create functions from real life problems to see if my brightest students were able to come up with something.

The finale of the day was to have them create their own real life problem given some numbers. I wanted to see if they were able to be creative even though the numbers were just given to them. I did this because we were getting pressed for time. I know in the future that I want them to look up a natural disaster and come up with their own scenario using real data.

School Rumors

Last night I went through our course watching Priscilla link learning to living and living to learning.  We did it through a mystery that she had set up in which we were to sift through data that the class had derived.  The mystery ended up having us play a bit of detective and solve a problem in which Priscilla made up.  As quick and busy as I feel right now, both in class and in my other duties of life, I'm never sure how much is going to stay in me.  The problem is, I want it all.

Knowing that we had class the previous night I was sitting at my desk getting ready to go through a pretty standard day.  Not because I wanted to, but just out of exhaustion.  I got out my favorite worksheets to work with.  They're my favorite because they have a riddle on them.  If you solve the problems, you can decipher the riddle.  So, I was, for whatever reason, reading the answer to the riddle of the worksheet that I was going to give them.  It said, "Did You Hear About...." with a bunch of blank lines on it.  Answers streamed down the sides with words and problems filled the middle of the page.  The answer was "the boy and the girl who went into the revolving door and started going together".  Instantly, I thought of rumors that are spread in our school.  Once that popped in my head, all hell broke loose.

I started thinking about what we've learned.  Come up with an end product for the students to hand in.  Have an entrance and exit strategy on an authentic question.  How can I incorporate software skills?  How can I make a real world problem from this????!!!!!  I quickly wrote a scenario of rumors being spread in the school.  I figured out that I would have the students recreate the same type of problem as I when we get finished.  That way I can assess them.  I figured I can introduce the lesson as a real problem in the school and used a software program that allowed me to have our Security Specialist read my scenario.  Listen to our security specialist.

I then went ahead and explained that our principal had confiscated the new coded words and also found a key on the ladies bathroom floor.  I handed them slips of papers with the same problems from the worksheet, except they were cut up.  I put the kids in groups to solve a few and put someone in charge to put them in order as groups completed them.  The kids totally bought into it!!!  They really wanted to find out what the rumor was.  They worked as hard as I've ever seen them.  After they solved it, I walked them through how it was created.  Discussed with them the technologies used (word processor, cell phone for podcast & pics, podcasting host site) and how I used them.  Then I let them loose in groups.  Again, they worked happily until the bell and some even came in during lunch to finish their projects.  These are my at risk kids.  Now that I've tasted the authentic problem thing and so have the kids, we both are going to crave more.

My Design Idea

Implementing some of the things that we are learning in class has been quite fun.  I actually do most of my lesson planning while driving in the car.  My project today was to come up with a fun way to implement solving proportions, using a technology, and try to follow the desing process.

ACTS

• So, my authentic problem was for the student to create a big giant or a little giant that was proportional to the people on this planet.  It's not real, but it the concept is there.
• The outcome is that the students have a drawing that their group creates.  On their drawing they are to label the dimensions that would help define how big their giant is.  (foot size, height.....)
• The thinking skills involved are that they need to find the best dimensions that would help describe the size of their giant.  Why did they choose those dimensions?  How did they come to their conclusions?
• I used a math engine called Wolfram Alpha. 

 SSCC

• In the SSCC face that the students are held accountable for they had to use the search engine to get the correct data.  They must type in what it is exactly that they are looking for.
• Once this occurs, the engine produces a massive amount of statistics based on the parameters given.  They need to sort through this data and figure out which is most suitable for their project.
• They are to create a drawing with dimensions that will help display their findings.
• Finally, the student communicates the dimensions of their data through mathematical equations that they've set up as a group.  Showing the work that they are using will in turn verify their results.

 

Live what you learn and learn what you live

This week we indulged ourselves into the principles and the ideas of the Sabertooth Curriculum.  The book had to do with how the education has evolved through the ever changing perils of human society.  What started as a basic idea of extending knowledge to the young so that they were better than the generations before, led to manipulation and greed.  It turns out that instead of education changing with the times, we actually do nothing to change it, we just add more to the curriculum and keep the old ideas.  Businesses and government have made up reasons of why we need the old information even if it is not pertinent to our skills and advances as a society.

For example.  In the book, they hold on to the teaching of Sabertooth scaring, horse clubbing, and fish grabbing because there is a historical, "magic" reason for us to know it.  Some say it is because it builds the other skills to be able to do the more advanced things, but truly we have no purpose for it.  So what does society do in the book?  They add bear trapping, fish netting, and horse roping to the curriculum.  It ends up that these courses are required in the highest of learning later on and if you were to question why, you were nearly killed.  People grew up where all of this knowledge was needed.  Because of entrepeunerialship and specialized industries that didn't need a ton of people to get the job done, many had no work and were unemployed.  This led to society just randomly moving around without purpose.  The book ended with an outside society getting ready to take over through war.  It simply came down to the idea that no one cared because they had no purpose for their education.

I know I see a lot of parallels with the system today.  All the way up to the top of the government.  "Let's get our education" everyone says.  No one says why.  You need this subject and that and you need all of them, but you'll know why later.   Some of the stuff you'll never use, but you'll figure that out when you have a purpose or a job.  A society without a purpose, but to "get smarter".

In class we focused on 6 different types of story lines for society.

• DECLINING (Sabertooth Curriculum Base)
• CIRCULAR 
• SPIRAL (which I thought was society in the book)
• PENDULAR (seems I am stuck in this with my teaching.  Do I teach the whole of the curriculum or do I dive deeper into the subject matter?  A question no one has the answer to.)
• PROGRESS
• CHALLENGE & RESPONSE (Norton Favorite)

We produced a rap that summarized the main ideas of the book.  This really helped us collaborate the idea of the book and synthesize what it was about without feeling like we were on the spot with a yes or no response.

Some favorites that I pulled from the discussion were:

1.  that the author (Pediwell), thought that the U.S. was in danger because people weren't educated enough to defend themselves nor did they care.
2. An educated person "knows what their community is doing & has the will and the energy to do it"
3. Live what you Learn & Learn what you Live
4. My favorite:  Don't TEACH................EDUCATE.

1. ACTS

• Authentic Problem (has to be a real idea)
• Clear Outcome
• Thinking Skills Needed (if you want them to compare, make sure they understand compare)
• Software Skills

1. SSCC

• Search - the correct info
• Sort - the info
• Create something
• Communicate about your info

Class concluded with us searching for information in a computer program.  We were read a story that helped engage us into the lesson.  Once our information was discovered, we wrote a letter back to the person who supposedly wrote us a letter inquiring some answers through our research.  This particular activity was fun because it involved multiple skills of research, analyzing what we were looking at, and then articulating our answers in the form of a letter rather than a formal summary.

Wednesday Night First Night Fever

On the very first of night of my very first master's class in the very first hour, I was faced with my biggest nemesis.............Names. I re-learned that I can't remember names right away and it is just my personal flaw.

Besides that stress, I was able to take in quite a bit from the introduction to the coursework that is going to be involved over the next 5 semesters. I quickly learned that this course is going to help me a lot within the classroom. We began by explaining the need for connecting the use of the tool of technology with the lesson that we have planned. Not just to enhance the lesson, but to have the students connect to the lesson with a sort of emotion rather than being told the facts. The term 'affordance' popped out a number of times and it wasn't a term I was familiar with. It basically was saying that I didn't have to use the latest and greatest technology. My goal should be to have my objective and goal for that lesson like usual. However, to approach the subject using the tool that was going to produce quality work with the time constraints of the day.
Another good re-learn for me that we had touched on during this session was the approaches we were currently using in our practice in the classroom. I personally used some of these tools, but had forgotten that they were actual tools. They included, chunking, pneumonics, rhythm, visualization, and repetition. It really helped to hear these words again for the fact of getting so lost into taking the content to new levels with each new generation of children that I tend to never take time to reflect on the roots of where these teaching tools came from.
All of these ideas, strategies, and tools are going to be perfect for enhancing my teaching. To know that we are not just working on technology, but that we are working on quality teaching practice makes me feel even better about the course work that lies ahead. I can't wait to take these things into the classroom and make them part of my teachings and passing some of my personal best practices on to other teachers.