Sketching Hunt

Prior to Thanksgiving Break I wanted to give my Calculus AB students something fun and relevant to what we had just learned. I sent them on a scavenger hunt with prizes:

http://infinitesums.com/commentary/2017/sketching-hunt

Trick or Treat Lock Picking

In October my Calculus BC students were begging me to let them trick or treat, I came up with a unique spin to make them work for it:

http://infinitesums.com/commentary/2017/trick-or-treat-lock-picking

Digital Planning

I've migrated my planning methods from paper to iPad. Read how I juggle some relatively simple tools to make it happen:

http://infinitesums.com/commentary/2017/digital-planning

Taking the Dread out of Sub Days with itslearning

Oh, the sub day. That day where you have to do twice as much work to get ready, and get half the work in response. Now, I'm sure some of you have great go-to subs. Even still, you never know what kind of work you are going to get back. So this year I decided to try something a little different.

I had to miss school a few weeks ago, and my students really needed a work day to revise their essays. Here's the problem: I teach high school seniors. And as we know in high school, work day = free day. So I wanted to hold them accountable, as well as actually have a way to immediately check their work.

I left them an assignment itslearning, asking them to write a brief summary of what they did that day, ask any questions they still have, and to attach a photo of their work. This photo allowed me to ensure they actually worked, but also allowed them to take their essays home to continue revising.

The result? I was able to visualize the work they did through the photos (revising is a messy process!) and I was able to prepare answers for some of their specific questions. The added perk was being able to hold them accountable for their work that day. Below are a few sample responses

To be totally honest, the sub was about 25 minutes late but it was great because I was able to finish my chemistry lab and my calculus study guide. I'll probably ask for help with revisions later. But is it okay for me to change my thesis statement? I don't think I can support it with the evidence I have and my knowledge of the book. 
***Honestly, I include this one both because it made me laugh and also because she had a legitimate question

Today I reread my essay about a million times, to try and figure out how to add commentary. I decided to take out a few lines of summary. I rearranged the conclusion to try and transfer the commentary to the rest of the page. I am still unsure if what I'm changing is adding value to my paper. 

During class, J and I highlighted each other's commentary and plot summary and discussed how we think the other person could best improve their essay from an outsider's perspective. After looking over my essay with J, I decided my essay needs more specific text references and less commentary.

Before I worked on actually rewriting my essay, I highlighted my theme, plot summary, and commentary in different colors. Then I began from the beginning of the essay by rewriting my thesis statement to make it apply to the world in a broader way. I then rewrote the intro to include more information about the time period...I still don't believe my intro is strong or flows very well, so I'll probably go back at the end and rewrite it again. I think my second paragraph is stronger than my first, so I decided to focus on the first page. I noticed I had less commentary on the first page than the second, so when I was rewriting I focused more on that. I also took into consideration how often I repeated words like we'd discussed in class, but that was after I repeated the word "education" multiple times...Sigh. I ran out of  time after that, because trying to figure out how to rewrite the thesis and claim statement, plus adding more commentary made my brain hurt. 

Okay, so some of these responses made me laugh a bit. Many were basic summaries (which is exactly what I asked for, mind you). But some, like the ones shared above, surprised me by explaining their thought process. That was awesome! I think I might include something that prompts more students to do that in the future, making it more of a reflective piece than a summarizing piece. I truly loved seeing their thinking.

All in all? I'd do this assignment again. First, it was EASY to prepare. This was probably the simplest sub lesson I've ever prepared. Second, it was effective. I would possibly even do it on a day that I didn't have a sub, because high school students love an excuse to type on their phones. Honestly, they probably typed their summary on their phones faster than they would have hand-written a response. It felt informal as well, which I think was necessary for this to work. Lastly, (and just as a humorous side note), a few weeks after I posted the assignment, I got an email from ed tech asking if they could use it as an example of an itslearning assignment. I was embarrassed to tell her it was for a sub day - and yet, that seemed to make it all the better! The simplicity and the effectiveness made it a perfect example of how itslearning can be used with ease :)

And now, I no longer fear the sub day; instead, I'm drinking all the itslearning kool-aid and embracing some new ideas.

Nearpod with Rational Numbers = Success

Even whispering "rational numbers" gave me shivers! This is the first unit our students in 7th grade learn in Spring Branch ISD and I can vouch how difficult it can be.  The first part that makes it challenging is how students haven't reviewed adding and subtracting with rational numbers for a whole year, since it was taught in 5th grade.  The second part of the challenge is how any and every word problem shown to students has more than two steps and can be solved in numerous ways! 

 Reflecting on past years I can say whole class teaching in which I am standing in the front of the room did not work; I repeat IT DID NOT WORK. Solely giving students technology without a purposeful meaning also did not work; I repeat TECHNOLOGY WITHOUT A PURPOSE DID NOT WORK. Thoughtful reflections challenged me to think of other solutions. 

Challenge accepted and as a fourth year teacher I can now say I have seen success! 

My solution

There is a free version of nearpod that includes everything I used with my first unit so it has been tried, student approved, and now recommended.
CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW ONE OF MY LESSONS

Nearpod made my instruction engaging because students were actively participating rather than copying notes. You can see every student had choice in their video selection. Every student had their "Book of Knowledge" (interactive student notebook) out and was deciding what was important to write down as examples and notes. Through out the lesson I included videos, collaboration tools, open ended questions, quizzes, and a few more things.

My favorite the DRAW IT tool: It allowed me as a math teacher to see students work instantly as it was submitted. I didn't just receive data from multiple choice questions; I saw steps!

 

I could catch mistakes my students were doing immediately; instead of cringing when I saw these mistakes on exit tickets or worse in their test booklets. 

All in all I am beyond happy that I tried Nearpod because our scores for our first unit test increased 12 percent!!! Happy dance time!!! We definitely have room for improvement but all I can say to that is 

because nothing can stop me now!!!

New Technology Tools I will be Using This School Year

I have started taking my Graduate Courses at the University of Houston for Curriculum and Instruction. One of my classes has focused on technology and I have learned of a few new tools that I will be using this school year. I also wanted to share them with you!

Here is my happy dance because THEY ARE ALL FREE!

1st: VoiceThread

    VoiceThread is an awesome tool for collaboration. The teacher can post a question and share the link leading to the question. Students can then go to the link and choose one of three options: responding with a written response, responding with a voice recording, or responding with a video recording. Once the post has been made other students are able to reply to it with the same three options. Students can also view all of the original posts and responses to gain new insights and continue collaborating.

CLICK HERE to view an example from my Graduate course that shows all of the above.

2nd: FlipGrid

    FlipGrid is another tool used for collaboration. I have already seen a few Vanguard teachers tweeting about it! Teachers can create a discussion thread on FlipGrid that has the question typed out for students. The teacher can then share the link to the thread so that students can collaborate and respond. The difference between FlipGrid and VoiceThread is that students can only respond through video. Students are also limited to 2 minutes for their response. At the end of creating their video response students are asked to take a cover picture for their response. It allows for emoji's and stickers to be added to the picture and then students hit submit. Other students can watch the responses submitted and respond through video if they would like to. It can definitely be fun to use in the classroom!

CLICK HERE to view an example from my Graduate course that shows all of the above.

3rd: Screen-Cast-O-Matic

   Screen-Cast-O-Matic is a great tool for creating screencasts. Spring Branch ISD has done a great job of including Camtasia on the teacher computers. However, I really loved learning about Screen-Cast-O-Matic because it is a free tool that students can use on their computers. My goal as a teacher is for students to produce final products and this tool allows that to happen. You have three options when recording: displaying the screen, displaying the presenter through the computer camera, or displaying both the screen and presenter. Once the recording has been made students/teachers have different forms of saving their recording: saving it as a local file on the computer, saving it to your screen-cast-o-matic account, or saving it on your youtube account. It is extremely easy to use and beneficial for student presentations.

View how you use screen-cast-o- matics.

You can view me using it to explain the importance of 21st century teaching and learning with the video below.



Itchy Brain Syndrome

Summer always gets me "itchy" - not in the physical sense, but rather in the need to "scratch my brain".  It seems counter intuitive that I wait until summer to really start focusing on my learning - I mean, shouldn't I be learning alongside my kids? Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but the truth of the matter is, my learning from August to May, with the exception of the occasional PDs that come along (all of which I am so grateful for), is what I would call "reactive", rather than "proactive". My need to learn is driven by what my kids need me to learn to better support them as readers, writers and thinkers in my English classroom, rather than for me to grow as a professional.  So, about this time every year, I develop what I've come to call "Itchy Brain Syndrome".  For me, this manifests in the form of making resolutions, such as "I am going to read my Twitter feed every morning, rather than once a week", or "I am going to make it a habit to diigo the articles I find so I can go back to them later and remember why I thought they were great".  So, for this summer, I'm adding a new one to the list - I am going to start listening to a new podcast I just found called the "Creative Classroom Podcast", and I invite you to do the same.  The podcaster is former middle school teacher, John Spencer, who is now a college professor.  His primary focus is on helping kids to build on their innate creativity, specifically in the classroom, but also in the world. Finally, each web based podcast (found at the link above), is embedded in a corresponding article.  So, to bring this full circle, I am going to be "diigo-ing" the articles as I listen to the corresponding podcast, as well as other articles I find through Twitter, and other sources.  If you'd like to diigo along with me, the name of the diigo group is "Summer Brain Itch".  Let's get scratching!