Baby steps?

cc licensed flickr photo shared by sean dreilinger

On Friday John Evans and I walked 9 colleagues through an inservice on Twitter, Diigo and other aspects of social networking.

Here is the wiki we created for the day.

They got the message.  Great things happened, all participants loved wordle, they really saw the great parts of social bookmarking.... and perhaps twitter might sink in too. It was interesting as the day progressed how many looks of amazement kept on coming.  They were really into learning the tools and figuring out how to integrate them into their lessons and with their team members.

What was different this time? The first thing was all participants were keen to learn.  Different from other sessions I have done. Secondly John and I gave them small ideas that can be used instead of hitting them hard with How to use Wiki's, blogging in your classroom.  This might be what I have been doing wrong up until now...

When you start with these little steps you are able to start the process.  Show how easy some of the technology and applications are to make a simple lesson brilliant.  Wordle.net a simple application has to many lesson possibilities to count.  Start with this instant success, now push participants into a social aspect of the Read Write Web.  We introduced Diigo.  Here you bookmark, and save to a group. This bonds the group together and shows the power of collaboration.

You see where this is going.  Once you have them making a few baby steps, they see the results then......... you go to the big dogs!! You introduce them to wikis blogs, and other pedagogical changing tools.

Enough already it was a great day.  Thank you John. Thank you Sargent Park Staff.

Rethinking old tools

A few things are different at the blog this year.  Kids are into doing homework .... assignments on the blog and wanting to do them more frequently.  I am accomidating them right now because they can get what they want.  Are there negative aspects of kids writing more at the blog? I am not sure yet.  Will quality of work suffer because they are doing more assignments.

cc licensed flickr photo by CarbonNYC: http://flickr.com/photos/carbonnyc/2281515041/

One of the beautiful things about the blog was that scribeposts were to be done only once every 35 classes which meant that kids only scribed 4 times a year.  My students have already in 6 weeks created 6 posts.  Twice as many as usual.  So once again I ask has the quality of work suffered.

No.  Work has not suffered.  In fact kids do great are doing even better, good kids are doing great and some just are doing math.  Instead of hitting it out of the park on a few posts kids are getting doubles and triples but still scoring the same amount of runs(do you like my baseball analogy?).

A new beast has emerged in this new class set up.  Commenting.  Kids are commenting so frequently I am amazed by their ability to be an audience.  Between the chat room

cc licensed flickr photo by merezha: http://flickr.com/photos/merezha/2668654829/

20 Oct 09, 20:10 laura: yes, because it has 3 parts, but it is still a 2 TERM ratio

20 Oct 09, 20:08 abby: but if theres a comma is that still considered as 3 part ratio??

20 Oct 09, 20:01 laura: and then you just use the last number of the ratio as the denomonator

20 Oct 09, 20:00 laura: but if you add the 2 numbers that have a comma, that becomes the numerator.

20 Oct 09, 19:55 Harvey: laura that isn't a fraction. You can only make 2 term ratios

20 Oct 09, 19:53 laura: ABBY: Unless there is a comma between 2 of those numbers, (4,5:12) you can't

20 Oct 09, 19:39 abby: does anyone know to make a fraction on 3 part ratio??

20 Oct 09, 19:33 Eric.P 8-73: Guys gotta comment on those australian blogs

and leaving 100's of comments every few nights they have got the whole community of learners thing figured out.

So where do I go next.  One mainstay of the blogging program over the past few years have been BOB's. These Blogging on Blogging assignments are meant as reviews before a test.  Last year they were simply a reflection of a few sentences.  This year the assignment was changed.  I have included a commenting component.  The students will do the BOB and then ask a series of questions as a built in study guide for their fellow students.  The other students then will answer the questions in the comments and this will be the studying needed for the test the next day.

Here is their first BOB.

Here are the instructions to complete your BOB on ratios.  Remember this is a way of preparing for a test.  Please take time to do a good job on understanding your ratio unit.

1. Title Must include BOB and RATIO.
2. labels, displayname, bob, ratio
3. You must include one of the pictures from today's lesson.  The easiest way to include it is to use its location address.  Click the picture link provided, right click the picture, copy location.  Once you have copied the location add image to the blog but use add url not browse my computer.  Paste the url into the window and click ok.  Your picture should be there.  (Just get the picture on the post)
4. Once the picture is at your blog you must create the following.  3 part to part ratios, 2 part to total ratios and 2 three part ratios.  Please for each have a word ratio and ratio notation.
5. Choose one ratio that you have done and show how to write that ratio in ratio notation, fraction, decimal and percent form.
6. Choose one ratio that you have written and show how to create equivalent ratios.
7. Finally create 3 questions that you want people to answer in the comments. Do not make them to hard or too easy. 
8. Answer your questions in the comment section of your post.  
9. Go and answer as many questions as you can about ratio at other posts in your room and the other rooms in grade 8.
10. Look for cheats in comments.  I will post helping hints and questions in comments around the blogs.  

 Now if you have read this far.  CONGRATULATIONS!! Here are 2 examples of the BOB's on Ratio.

Bob 1 Bob 2 Bob 3 Bob 4

What does this say about teaching?

A few weeks ago I watched this video as it was making the twitter rounds. What does it say about teaching and your pedagogy?




Do you give students the answer, do you push them in the right direction or do you just let them struggle.  Just thinking.

Things are going to change this year?

For the first time in years I am using a textbook.  The rest of the junior high bought books in the past years and we are now all using the same book and perhaps this is a good thing.

I have not used texts before because there are so many options out there that are more cost effective.  Also no text gave me freedom to use the best practices from many different sources including the web.

The text the school has chosen is MathLinks from Magraw Hill Ryerson. 

It has some interesting additions that make it very school 2.0 friendly.  Each text book has a number that allows students to access thier homework from home on the net.  They will have access to a textbook 24 hours a day without bringing the textbook home.  With over 90% of my class having internet access at home this allows me to weave the homework into blogging easier.  Assignments for scribes can change to not only include what happened in class today but examples of the homework that has been assigned.

Each chapter is broken up into interesting sections too.  They start off with a foldable (notetaking device that uses a sheet of paper in interesting ways) I have been using foldables for the past 3 years.  Now there is a text that employs teaching techniques that I use and embeds it in each chapter. The rest of the chapter is the usual drill and practice laid out in an interesting colourful way.  (Doing a small google search I found this site that shows and explains what foldables are!!!)

The book also features mental math strategies and problem solving strategies that are crucial these students having success on their final exam.  All of this is will be avialable online.  I am thinking parents will enjoy having the work to see as well. 

Other interesting aspects of the text are built in math games and challenges in real life.  Anything that pushes students to realize the importance of math in the real world works for me.

Having said all of that above that does not mean that the rest of my teaching will change.  We still will use a wide variety of materials to push conceptual understanding of the math being taught.  All my lessons will be streamed and saved at ustream.  Lessons will be done using the smartboard and saved at slideshare. 

I think what I am looking forward to the most is using the textbook to organize my teaching.  I am all over the map and sometimes to scattered to get maximum understanding out of my students.  I plan on using this more focused approach to push my students beyond where I have taken them before.  If this textbook organizies me and keeps me more focused .... then amaizing things will happen.

Anyways that is just one of the new things happening to me  this year in my classroom.

Darren Makes me think

Darren as per usual had a great post a few days ago. He was talking about pedagogy and how it can change. It has changed for Darren. I feel confident in saying that he was an excellent teacher before 2.0 and an even better teacher using 2.0 tools. His thoughts often fall back on this question:

"What can I do now that I could not do before?"

Darren and I are not technology teachers. We teach math using the technology. Well he really teaches math, the high school kind, I teach middle school kids how to be good citizens.... and teach some math as well ;-)

Math is one of those subjects that kids either love or hate. I want to share with them the beauty of math not the 2 x 2 =4 type of math of our past. Using 2.0 tools and the ability of my class to be there 24 hours a day has made math more accessible for students. Why assess them only on tests. They will have enough of those as they progress through high school. I give them projects, Spfractions or UNprojects. The students are learning math but having a good time doing it.

We have dilemmas in our classes. We have the over achievers and the lumps. Using 2.0 projects allows both to do more. Darren in a recent comment said:

Darren said...
Chris & Sophie: Like Chris, I think students enjoy learning this way ... when they apply themselves to it. But I'm also thinking about those students who don't. The ones who sit in class, or in groups, watch through glazed eyes what's going on around them without ever really trying to learn.

I think it is important to celebrate the ability of kids to do excellent work. I have a hard time enriching students education. I am trying to save the ones with "glazed eyes" too much. Doing these projects lets students set their own standards and goals. The best go further than you ever could imagine and the other extreme..... they either do something instead of the ususal nothing or don't do anything at all.

When I first heard about Darren's Developing Expert Voices I knew this was a great idea. I created my version Spfractions or UNprojects and the results speak for themselves. Kids excel and participate in math speaking and communicating a difficult subject. I have tried math journals before but kids did not do them with any feeling. Their projects have feeling and voices too.

Darren also comments

Just today a colleague from across the hall shared with me how some of her students are trying to figure out a way to take a math class next year where they won't have to blog ... anything to avoid blogging. I contrast that with what my students are writing in the reflections at the end of their Developing Expert Voices projects where many of them say they have learned more than they thought they were able. Many say they were unable to do the material when it was covered in class but after doing their projects they have mastered it.

I know some of these students. They "hear about" blogging and complain. This is just what students do. As teachers we have to show them the power of their work. Sell them on the idea that blogging and online projects enhance their learning. You are going to be doing homework, don't you want to do homework that is "different" and fun.

The last bit of Darren's post that resonated with me was the following:

But you know, we don't really need these new tools to improve our teaching. We need to ask different questions. Not "What is 6 times 4?" but "How many ways can you multiply two numbers to get 24?" Not "Are there seasons on Mars?" but "What season is it right now on Mars? Is there any time of the year you could comfortably wear a t-shirt and shorts on Mars?" Not "List the parts of a cell." but "Design your own version of a cell that efficiently takes in food and excretes waste? Include a diagram of all the parts and describe how they work together."

Students need a reason to come to school. They need a reason to learn. When we ask the right questions and give them the tools to be creative in answering them, they will want to be in our building LEARNING. Once you have them..... you can go anywhere.

Take a risk, let them learn their way. You will go further than you think.