Reflections of a Techie

Podcasting, my class and increasing experiments

Link: Directory of Podcasts.

More information on Podcasting that will be useful as I try to absorb this. I am hoping for a way to understand how to integrate this for my students. I've been experimenting with it on my iPod and I'll admit that I'm OK, not great, at accomplishing it. But the content isn't what I'd use with my students. So I will keep listening to the buzz about podcasting, experimenting with it and hope that more will develop.

The Roy Williams of Math and Also a National Board Teacher Candidate

Challenging day today helping a dear friend struggling with her National Board portfolio entries.   The evidence is there and she is definitely the right caliber, but it's that writing style that is so difficult.

Listening to her describe how her students come to understand how the surface area of rectangles and circles are then related to finding the surface area of cylinders is amazing.  I know I'm in the presence of someone who is gifted in teaching 12 years olds mathematics.  I was lucky enough to tape her teaching the lesson and I watched her prode these kids along...mind you they're good.  Good because she's been training them all year long.

I use the word training because they act more like a finely tuned sports team than a classroom of math kids.  If you keep that picture in your mind's eye, you'll know what this classroom sounds like and acts like.  Each group of 3 or 4 students works to perfect their technique by talking it through and really staying the course until they get it.  Reminds me of a basketball team practicing layups...they just keep running up there laying the ball on the backboard time after time until it drops through consistently.

Here you watch students look at these flat patterns of a long rectangle and 2 circles...students count, stretch what they know about circumference and area....scratching prior knowledge and wondering how all this related to a cylinder.  My friend keeps them humming, never letting up.  I expect to hear that whistle blow at any moment.

One by one each group begins to see a connection.  They see how the length of that rectangle and the circumference of the circle are related.  I'm amazed.  I never knew there was this connection.  It makes sense to me!!!  They figure out the answer and proudly call her over.

You'd think she'd be happy with that.  Nope.  She plops down a Pringles can or a Quaker Oats can and shoves them into generalizing what they know into ALL cylinders.  Makes me think of what Roy Williams must of done when he coached her beloved Jayhawks when they were #1 around these parts so many years!!!!

Again one by one, with more leading questions she brings 'em home.  They see these mathematical connections and by the end of 44 minutes of intense practicing their intellectual muscles, this diverse group of 26 12-year olds know the connection between surface area of rectangles and circles and cyclinders....and they have generalized that relationship into a formula.

Not bad for 44 minutes.  See what I mean.  It's more than a classroom.  It's almost a mathematical spiritual experience of transformation.  That's why I know I was in the presence of a National Board teacher.  Now let's hope she can write about it well enough to document it. Can I help her do that?  Ahhhhhhhhh.  Now the pressure's on me.

Using Wikis for Teacher's Learning Exchange

The ability to track mastery of indicators is key but such a burden to teachers.  This wiki has several Excel spreadsheets.  It has the ability to keep track of what percentage of students have mastered each objective.

Incorporating this into your lesson pacing plans will enable you to more effective in delivering instruction.  In our middle schools, teachers can use additional instructional time to remediate indicators where the percent of students achieving mastery is too low and lessons can be structured precisely to meet needs.

I need to experiment around with the Excel a bit to see how it works, but this holds great promise.  This is the beauty of applying the openness of Wikis...hopefully I can add what I learn about using the tool to the Teacher's Lounge so I can be more than a taker.

Mathematical Fiction Homepage

This young man is trying to create a database of fiction that relates to math. It will be terrific. Hope it lasts.

The MASSIVE database

What a great resource of over 1800 songs for math and science teachers!!! Most of which you can listen to on this website...
As we revise our curriculum I will hope to link some of these inside benchmarks and indicators.

Hyperlinked Fiction Stories---A Way to Pump up Learning

Writing in my computer class has been an unqualified success the past week.  My students have thrived on learning about how computers work and then creating stories to explain what they've learned.

Typically this has been difficult until this year I decided that I would try my hand at having them create game stories by hyperlinking different events in their stories.  Word does this very easily and they took to it like ducks to water.

I couldn't hold them back.  I hoped they would illustrate more of their stories with original artwork but that didn't fly.  But I did get them using photo editing software to alter images to fit the story line.  They worked hard to make the storyline fit their vocabulary words in unique ways and the need to storyboard rapidly became apparent.

We had great discussions about how game designers would need to do extensive planning because of how things double back and have dead ends.  They just couldn't get enough time to work on refining their plots, their definitions and the way the illustrations looked.

This notion of hyperlinking just makes sense to them.  Immediately you can see it is in their set of real life experiences where it might not be there for teachers.  I think that's why it was so easy for them.

Today the proof was in the pudding so to speak.  We took our class quiz.  I had them submit questions about their content from which picked the best and then tweeked them a bit.  I used the Class Performance System to give the it, so we immediately knew if they had answered correctly and I could discuss the correct answer as we went along.  I wanted it to be a learning experience as well as a quiz.

My two classes averaged 85%.  That was evidence for me that this worked.  I think they enjoyed the activity, I think they learned more about file structures, how computers worked, how to write across the curriculum...so many learning objectives satisfied.  And we had fun!!!!!

As soon as I can figure out how to move all the linked files to the school webpage, I want to post them so parents can have the fun of walking thru their student's story.  I think they will be amazed at the work.

Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology: Twelve Techie Things for Librarians 2005 (Updated)

Link: Tame the Web: Libraries and Technology: Twelve Techie Things for Librarians 2005 (Updated).

Trying to tap into what digital kids know and how they learn--learning vocab in "their" way---using hyperlinks ala hyperfiction style

I'm trying to research hyperfiction how-tos. Oh there are college level courses on how to create all sorts of high level games and think about this if you're going to be a high powered programmer.  But come on, you have to start some where way, way, way before that.  Not everyone has to think like that only at home.  Why not at school too....  Good storytelling is good storytelling and I want in on how to do it but I can't find where the information is available for middle school students.  I must be looking in all the wrong places.

There really isn't much out there that is very useful and I wish I could find some good examples.  I want to use them in infusing some life in 2nd semester lessons on what inside the Box.(the computer)  My 7th graders, of course, think they know everything about a computer and the net.

They don't.  But try and tell them that.

So they need a little research time and a way to tell me what they learned.  I've done all the ususal.  Publisher catalogs, PowePoison, and you name it.  So I thought it might be nice if they did some type of hyperlinked storytelling.  You know variation on a theme kind of thing.  Something I don't think they've done a lot of before.  I've found one article at Education World's on HyperFiction How Tos by Lorrie Jackson.  Her series of articles, not just this one, are excellent.

I want to use Word, not PowerPoint.  The idea is the same.  Create files in the same general folder and then hyperlink.  I wanted an easy way out and have some great examples, but there really aren't many hanging around.  I wonder if people aren't using the power of Word to do much with this kind of non-linear thinking.  It seems like a natural to me.

The kids would find it second nature.  It's like all the games that they play..could be multi level and multi path.  Storyboarding would be essential and I like the idea that they could self illustrate some kind of vocab graphic organizers to represent what they find out about their research.  I would also love it if they didn't just link to electronic paper...maybe some other kinds of multimedia files like short DV files.

I know I must be missing some huge reservior of webpages out there.  But darn if I can find them.  Google...what I am doing wrong?????

To incorporate or not....Reading online skills that's the question

January 3rd and I'm trying to set my priorities for this second semester.  I am considering what we will try to do with Universal Design for Learning (UDL).  Our little study group has only met once, but it is a fierce group of teachers who are extreme diverse and passionate about breaking down barriers for students.  Our first session was making sure that we all got to know each other and beginning to develop a common vocabulary...now that January is here we will need to move beyond that and onto other work.

I am wondering how what we know about the three brain networks can merge with what we know about good web design.  Recognition,  and strategic networks are going to greatly impacted by how a page looks.  Since research would tell us that most readers do NOT read material presented onscreen....then what are the implications for how we design online lessons.

How should we think about incorporating that knowledge into our design?

What should we be doing to create lessons that knowingly plans for scanners of information?  Do we try to overcome the inherent tendency to scan and train our students to "read" the material presented onscreen or do we plan lessons to take advantage of that skill?

Simply to ignore this fact and continue on as if they read what we write is not the right course of action.  I think would be a great focusing question for our January meeting.