This Can't Be a Good Sign

I attended the NCTM national conference in Philly this past week.  Overall it was a great experience, but I have to say that I was a bit unimpressed by the use of technology by my comrades.

The picture above is the perfect example of what I am talking about.  Do teachers still use overhead projectors?  Maybe I am spoiled at my school with the wonderful resources that I am provided with.  Is there a logical reason to prefer this "device?"  Many presenters used Powerpoint with slides containing words and some pictures.  Why not use a more dynamic piece of software or application to present material such as:

• Prezi
• Glogster
• Pages

Why not engage the audience using their own devices with things like:

• Google Docs
• Socrative
• Polleverywhere.com

There are so many unbelievable things happening with the world of technology and education right now.  So much information is available for free - both on the internet or through Edcamp conferences that are happening all around the country.  Other places such as Twitter and Facebook are hotspots for educators who are building their PLN (Personal Learning Network).

In Philly there were some fabulous sessions on collaboration, problem solving, student centered learning, and formative assessment.  Although the use of technology during the sessions was minimal, there was one session that blew my mind where a Kinect and math created software were used teach many math topics.  Although I am a BIG Apple fan, here is one reason that Microsoft may have won my attention back a little bit.  Check out http://kinectmath.org/ for more information.  The short clip here does not do this amazing software justice.

I am left wondering if I should present a proposal, for next year's NCTM conference, on how to integrate technology into the classroom.  Nothing math specific, but based on pedagogy, teaching and learning...and no overhead projector.

QR Codes & Math

I am ready to do more with QR codes to use with my Algebra students, but I have hit a wall.  How do you create a QR code that displays one math equation or expression that contains exponents and other math symbols?

I have come across some ways to create QR codes - different apps and websites, and also using Google docs.  Today I came across Tammy Worcester's blog that explains how to create QR codes using Google docs - specifically using a spreadsheet.  I thought, "Here it is!  Here is the place where I will be able to create text for a QR code with math symbols."

Here is what my test run spreadsheet looked like:

It didn't work as I had hoped.  Bummer.  When I scanned the top QR Code, the word "hello" showed up without a problem.  When I scanned the bottom QR Code, this is what I saw:

Not only can you not do exponents in the actual spreadsheet, but the PLUS sign doesn't not show up when scanned.

So, I am back to the drawing board and will continue my search to integrate math with QR codes.  If anyone out there has any ideas or thoughts on this issue, I would love to hear from you.

Traveling Tuesday

This is going to be a pretty low tech post, but hopefully you will see that it is just as relevant to the way my teaching has changed this past year.

After reading Brain Rules by John Medina in the summer of 2011, I realized that my students were sitting glued to their seats while they either listen to me or work with their classmates.  Medina suggests a set of rules to maximize brain power.  Although the rules all have significant connections to teaching and learning, the ones that seemed most fitting to my teaching are:

• Rule #1 - Exercise boosts brain power 
• Rule #4 - We don't pay attention to boring things.
• Rule #9 - Stimulate more of the senses.

So since the beginning of the school year I have been trying to keep Tuesdays sacred as the day for my students to do something kinesthetic.  After doing the regular class routine of answering homework questions and a few more problems on a new or review topic, I ask the students to get up and walk around the room and solve the problems that I have taped to the walls, and sometimes the ceiling.  Some students grab a clipboard, others do their work in their own math notebook while most of the students choose to use a whiteboard tablet and marker.  The math problems are numbered, usually no more than ten, and students can start any where in the room at any number as long as they complete all of the problems.  While the students walk around to each problem, I get to observe them in a different way then I usually do.  I get to see who and how they work together.  I walk around answering questions and giving hints.  I find this activity gives me more opportunities for formative assessment.  Once the students complete the problems, they correct their answers to the solutions that I have projected to the Smartboard.

I took a picture of this week's Traveling Tuesday questions.  Some of my students requested that I make colorful hearts to attach to the walls in honor of Valentine's day.  When I walked in the room with the hearts I announced, "These are your valentines."

Here is the only tech part of this blog entry.... I took a picture of the hearts with my ipad and used the app Phoster to create the poster/picture below:

I am aware that although this activity is nothing more than a worksheet cut up and pasted around the room, it allows my students to use their brains differently then they usually do.  The topics that I cover are traditional math topics but taught and reviewed in a student centered, formative environment.

QR Code Mini Scavenger Hunt

Today I had all three of my Algebra classes use ipads to do a QR Code mini scavenger hunt.  (QR code stands for Quick Response Code.)  It was great!

I used the website  http://www.classtools.net/QR/ to create a scavenger hunt.  I entered the data into a text box and the website created the directions and QR codes for me.  It was so easy!

Here is the one that I created after we studied many topics (but not all) relating to linear functions:

http://www.classtools.net/QR/qr_generator.php?fold=47&fname=ShgPe&diff=0

I had been talking about QR codes with them for a while, but hadn't given too much information on them.  So I began each class by showing this video:

How to Use QR Codes - cnet

Then I explained that the QR codes that I created for today's class were actually not web-based but in fact they were math questions encoded in the QR code itself.  This means that no internet access was used to view the questions stored in the QR code.

Since this was my first attempt to use QR codes with my students, I wanted to start slowly.  So instead of posting the QR codes that we were going to use around the school building, I put two on each table group in the classroom.  Students used an app called Scan, which is free.  There are many more apps that also work equally well.

I should also mention that my students do not have their own devices for school use.  Students used school provided iPads from an iPad cart.  They still had to find a place to solve the problems either on paper or in another app.  Students who used another app, like a drawing program, were able to take a screen shot of each problem that they scanned and open the problem in that app. They would then solve the problem.  (I found this to be a minor challenge for me as the teacher because I didn't want any pictures stored in the iPads when my other classes were going to do the same activity. If only they had their own devices!) Other students used pencil and paper.

I projected the answers towards the end of class and students corrected their own answers.  The entire time I was able to walk around and answer questions, and give my students some individual attention.  Overall I think it was a success, and I plan on doing even more with QR codes in the future.

I did it! (Well almost.)

After being inspired after visiting Marymount School in NYC and attending EdcampBoston, I had to bite the bullet and just jump right into creating ebooks with my students.

I have to admit that although I would like to be more innovative in my teaching and I like the ideas of student centered learning and formative assessment, I don't do much of it.  If I were going to have my students make ebooks, then I would be going from zero to sixty in no time at all.  (I also have to admit that I picked a very motivated, successful group of students to be my pioneers.)

I decided to have my students pair up and pick a topic out of a hat.  Their job was to first research the topic and learn it with the help of their partner and me.  (I should add that I teach Algebra, not history.)  I had no idea how many days it would take them to not only learn the topic, but then create a book using Pages in one of our Mac labs at our school.  I reserved a lab as many days as I could find one available for a bit less than two weeks.

The research piece seemed to run smoothly.  On the days I couldn't get into a lab, I would have the students share their sources and what they were learning.  It was on those days that students raised concerns about not feeling like they had completely mastered the ideas behind the topics they had to learn on their own.

At the end of the project I had intended to give them a good old fashioned quiz, but how could I if they were only learning one topic out of a larger group of topics that they were required to know?  During the day during class time they needed the time to work in the lab.  At night some students continued to work on their own at home, but I didn't require outside work on the project because I wasn't sure what the limitations were at their houses.  So I decided to "flip" my classroom.  I had tried it a few other times during the school year, but it seemed to be a perfect fit for what I needed.

For the last week of the project, I would flip the lessons using my Haiku site with short videos using Replaynote on the iPad.  (Think Khan Academy looking videos.)  The students would come in to class each day understanding the concepts necessary for the project.  If necessary, they could take a break from working on their computer in the lab to ask me about the lesson they worked on at home.

Back to the students making ebooks.  (Or is it ibooks?)  The students did a great job creating original documents that explained their topics.  Some students modeled their book after a chapter in a math book, while others included movies of worked out math problems or original music videos singing the quadratic formula.

I had figured out that if the students were able to get me their document via email or on the schools public folder on the file server, then I could publish the document as an ePub and open it up on my iPad.  (Was I being crazy to even do this project?  My students didn't even have a school supplied device!)  Once I had the documents, I published them as an epub and saved the files in my Dropbox folder.  I was able to then open up the same file in my Dropbox app on my ipad, then open up the epub in iBooks.

Well, it almost worked.  After I figured out some of the formatting snafus, I was still not able to figure out all the details to make the books look seamless. Overall, I would say that even though this was an ambitious project for me, it was a success.  Looking back, here a few things I would do differently:

1. I need to learn more about Pages before I have my students use it in full force.  
2. I should create an expectation sheet and/or rubric to assess the project.  (I had no structure in place for my maiden voyage.)
3. I wish my students all had their own device so that they could view not only their own ibooks, but their classmates ibooks.
4. I need to learn how to share an ibook with students who DO have their own device.

I will refine the project in the future and definitely do it again next year.

(p.s.  The quiz was yesterday, and they all did great!)

How It All Began - Part 1

Let's just say that this year was life changing for me in terms of my teaching.  I have always been interested in technology, even when I was a child.  I was fascinated by gadgets and loved logo in the 80's when I was in elementary school.  As an adult, I have always tried to integrate technology into my teaching, as much as I could with the resources that I knew about.  But how far could I get with a Smartboard and a tablet PC laptap?  (Pretty far actually.)

Then everything changed.  After taking a professional development course online about blended learning, in the summer of 2010, through the Online School for Girls, I was introduced to a whole new world that I didn't know existed.  It was my introduction to Web 2.0.  I had no idea that not only was my use of technology going to change, but so was the way my students were going to learn.

The first tool I was used was Haiku.  Haiku is a web-based LMS (learning management system).  My school had been using Moodle for years, but I hated it and refused to use it with my middle school students.  I found Moodle to not be intuitive, and I struggled with uploading information and moving it around.  If I struggled with it, then how would my middle school students do with it?  (Don't answer that.  I know the kids are the natives.)

I did learn about a few other tools, but nothing stuck with me like the use of Haiku.  School started in the fall, and I had my pages up and running with a free teacher account.  I have to admit that I started off pretty slow. I only posted links to interesting websites and uploaded extra math practice worksheets.  I made it optional for my students, as I wasn't sure how it was going to work.  (See Part 2 for update!)

The 2nd most pivital moment for me this year was attending the Education Innovation Summit in the fall of 2010 at Hathaway Brown School outside of Cleveland, Ohio.  The conference itself had a huge range of topics, but the one that stuck with me was iCreate, iInnovate, iLearn, a presentation by three teachers from Marymount School in NYC.  I had no idea that technology could be used to vodcast, podcast, create ebooks and visual art in education.  How could I be so clueless?

This was the beginning of my fascination and craving for an iPad,

This post describes my journey up to December 2010.  2011 brought many more exciting changes, which I will share in my next post.