Why we use Social Media

In my last post I talked about my newest project Sesame Street Video Mashups... We filmed on Friday and the kids are busy creating posts explaining the ideas of Ratio Rate and Proportional Reasoning.
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It is amazing how after doing a few weeks of hard work and learning concepts kids need to release some energy.  When I first introduced this project they were excited.  Seeing them sing, make puppets, and create these videos was so exciting.

For many years I have been using these culminating projects to build excitement and bridge into the next unit.  If you are willing to let your students go wild and be creative for a bit you can reap the rewards.  Math is a subject that can be boring a dull.  By infusing it with some fun you can make even the quietest student incredible.

I have one student that amazed me for this project.  Kids had a chance to work with in up to a group of three.  This student chose to work alone.  She is a student who is very bright but never makes eye contact or never volunteers answers in class.  You would not characterize her as a problem child but she is uber-shy. On Friday she absolutely blew my mind.

We entered class and she pulled out these homemade puppets.  She had a homemade background and was ready to film.  I wondered how a quiet student could make a video.  She set up her camera and started to film with these puppets.  The room was a bit noisy so I asked if she wanted to stay for a few minutes after class and film.  I held the camera and she did the rest of the work.  She was loud, clear and her information was terrific.  I was amazed at how well she did in the acting and how excited she was.  Her video reminded me of my childhood watching Sesame Street.



This is why using 21stC tools is so important to students.  They all have a voice and gain confidence in their work.  Kids using keyboards to speak loud, creating movies to show understanding are commonplace in some classrooms.  WE need to let these kids shine.

I am glad that I am challenging myself to use what kids like to bring out their understanding in math in new and different ways.  We are doing Pythagoras next and since they like the video project so much we are going to do a different Video Mashup....

I am sure if you have kids you will recognize the following cartoon, if you have never watched it before you should but I warn you it is addicting... so here is the next big movie production (hey we used Flip cameras and they worked great!!)



Kids love this show. It seems to be a no brainer. So wait till next month when they make their new videos.

Update 

The videos are done.  The kids had a hoot and are in the process of writing about ratio, rate and proportion.  The energy level was off the scale and most had the video done on time.