Summer PD, and WBWO

Happy Summer!

This week, the Pinnacle team is meeting for our Summer PD sessions. On today's agenda: Google Classroom, personalized learning, and so much more. My brain is full.

Our summary assignment for today: 3-2-1. So here we go!

3 Things I Found Out:

• Canva.com (or the Canva app) is free, and pretty amazing. The graphics on this post came from Canva, and it only took about 5 minutes to create both. I can see this in my classroom for our presentations, and maybe to create some classroom displays. Most of the fonts I love are already added. 
• Our neighboring school district has committed to having every school use personalized learning for their students by 2018. We talked a lot about what that means for us, and if we could start implementing some of these techniques in our classrooms (perhaps one unit at a time)
• (This one was by accident, but still awesome) IFTTT connects with the Amazon Echo! I was one of the lucky people that snagged one of these on Prime Day (they sold out in seconds). If This Then That is a great website for streaming your life, but I might also find a couple of ways to use this in planning. We'll see. 

2 Interesting Things:

• Kagan Talking Chips actually works - we used paperclips today, and I was surprised to see that after a few minutes, it really helped keep the conversation going. There was a slight pressure to use all of your chips, and it forced me to speak up. 
• CopyDown as an add-on is also pretty useful. It lets you use formulas for Google Form responses, even before all of the responses have been completed. 

1 Question I Have:

• Can personalized learning be implemented in a HS Math classroom without SBG? There wasn't ANY talk of SBG this morning (mostly because we're a K-12 group focused on technology). My concern is students that move at their own pace/on their own pathway won't all "end up" at standard proficiency. Is that ok? I don't know. Does a kid that "meets" his goal of a below-grade achievement get a 70, AND a kid that "meets" her goal of a above-grade achievement also get a 70? Does SAME GROWTH=SAME GRADE? 

Since I don't have the answer, let's move on. I promised before to explain some of my review games, and this one's an easy one that I use A LOT. 

SETUP: 

Students need dry erase boards and markers, or a device with a doodling app. 

Teacher needs questions, answer key, and a space on the board. 

Each kid needs to write their name on the board with 3 X's underneath their name. (I used to make a template for each class with this done, but it takes only 2-3 mins. to have them write their name, and it lets them get their supplies as well.)

GAME PLAY:

The game works just like Grudgeball - but students compete as individuals. I got the idea from this blog post about exponents from Nathan Kraft. 

I read/show/display a question, and EVERY student works it out on their own board. I walk around, and when they get it right, I tell them to line up at the board. Each right answer means they get to erase someone's X. I pause every few minutes to "supervise" the erasing, so that we don't have a division of people standing/sitting that got the question right/wrong. 

WINNER: 

It's an easy way to do a skill drill that doesn't make them want to whine. Winner is the kid with the last X! (It's always a quiet kid that doesn't do anything to draw attention to themselves.)

My favorite thing about this game: the smart kid doesn't win. The kid(s) that gets the most right has the most CONTROL over who wins, but can't usually win (Since typically, the other kids will erase the X's from the "smart" group right away). 

Exam Review, An Awesome Quadratic Question, & Problem-Attic

Well, it's finally exam week.
NC has standardized tests for each subject for final exams. My kids (and I!) are just worn out.

I've yet to find a really effective method for final review. We usually play a game a day.
A couple of my favorites include:

• Auction game
• ABCD Gambling
• White-Board Wipe-Out
• Dice Game
• Ghosts in the Graveyard
• And of course lots of dry-erase board practice

We also create 1 study page for each unit, with practice problems for key topics. We typically have about 7-8 school days for review, and we do 2 units per day. The last day before exams, we play life-size Monopoly (I use the basic set up from this blog post). I typically use the released forms of the tests to practice with along the way, as well as lots of questions from problem-attic.

Problem-attic (which, by the way, if you've never heard of it, is completely AWESOME) has lots of released tests from many states, and you can search by test or topic. 

Every once in a while, I find a question I really like. Here's the one I found this year that I LOVE. (From NY Regents Alg2 Exam Jan. 2014) It's short, but it packs in quite a bit of math into one teeny little sentence. 

Using this site, you can create tests, quizzes, worksheets, etc. I typically print a couple of "flashcards" to project using my document camera, and we use them for games or dry-erase board practice. 

You can also use the flashcards function to create task cards using their questions! I use this feature all the time! I really love not having to make or pay for task cards, and you can color code sets by printing them out on colorful cardstock. There are also plenty of questions without answer choices. 

We'll be testing until Wednesday, the last day of school. I've already got my summer to-do list for school started, and I'm sure it's only going to grow over the next few days. 

Skitch Connect Four/Tic Tac Toe with Circle Terms

Hi everyone!

I thought it'd be best to start the first of May off with a blog post left over from April.

We've been starting some geometry lately, and my Math 3 kids really needed a few days to get their brains wrapped around the vocabulary.

I found a neat Circles Tic Tac Toe activity and this blog post including paper folding notes, which helped me plan my instruction for my kiddos.

I've really been trying to put my 10 class iPads to use with partner activities, and this fit the bill perfectly. My class is one of the pilot BYOD rooms in the school, but there's still many of my students that don't have a device to bring. Often, lessons where they can work in pairs instead 1:1 with the tech are much more doable. Here's what we did.

Setting up an ISN page that's got several pieces can seriously EAT class time. So I replaced their usual warmup activity with some simple instructions. I had the first 3 people in the room pass out the strips of paper, which were 1/3 each of a colorful letter sized paper.

We worked together to fill out the index cards, talking about what they knew, and the importance of certain distinctions (line vs. line segment, etc).

We also separated their cards into three groups (the idea I got from the post linked above). 

We practiced using some task cards and a game of Scoot. 

Then students were sorted into pairs, and each pair needed 1 device. 

I posted the picture file in Google Classroom, and they opened it using Skitch. 

(If you don't have devices, you can also print & copy one per pair, or laminate and reuse with dry erase markers.) The Slides file with the instructions and complete list of vocab is here. 

The picture file that my students used looked like this:

They used the Skitch app to draw their X's and O's on the board. 

Below is what the board looked like after one pair finished a game. 

The tech allowed us to save some paper, play multiple times, save the results, and have a bit of fun!

My students enjoyed the activity, and I appreciated the 5 minutes that it took to create this activity. I'll definitely be using Skitch for ed games again soon!

MTBoS Directory & Post-it Plus App

Hi everyone!

I just want to give a quick list of 3 awesome things:

1. MTBoS Directory!
Wow this is going to be amazing - one comprehensive list for our little math world!
Go to http://sites.google.com/site/mtbosdirectory to sign up! Click add entry, and let us know who you are. I've been having some fun today looking up teachers in my area, and finding some amazing new blogs to follow.


2. Post-it Plus App
This is random, but I read a blog post today that just ROCKED MY WORLD. I do so many sorting, matching, and ordering activities, and I've finally found a way to digitize this process. Check out the idea from Teaching High School Math here. I tried it out very briefly while my students were working on the warmup, and I'm already planning to use it tomorrow for students to practice switching between log and exponential form.


3. ScoodleJam and Nearpod App-Smash
Is it still called an App Smash if it's only smashed by the teacher? Hmm....I'll have to think about that.
ScoodleJam is a great doodling app - I downloaded it last week when it was free, and have been using it to create some cool activities. It's easy to save an image created in ScoodleJam, and I imported them into Nearpod to create some introduction puzzles based on this blog post. I used it at the beginning of my lesson for solving exponential equations without logs. You can check out the Nearpod presentation I used here. It's not too fancy, but it really made this lesson so much easier on my students, and it only took me about 10 minutes to create!

BINGO 2.0 (Nearpod App-Smash)

I had a moment during 1st period today, where I realized how different my classroom is from when I started teaching. (Yes, we were at school for a half day on a Saturday, for a snow make-up day)

My plan was to play bingo with my Math 2 students, who are working on simplifying radicals today. We also had the Ipad cart checked out, which I had intended to use for a quick Google Classroom update. Instead, the Ipads ended up being exactly the thing that took this activity to the next level. 

Whenever we play bingo in my classroom, I print out a Kuta (or similar test bank) worksheet with questions and an answer page. Usually, I print out 1 copy with 40-50 questions. I put the answer sheet under the document camera, and students copy random answers into squares on a blank bingo card. 

Quick ideas/suggestions for a last minute bingo game:

• Any worksheet with an answer key works - just copy the answers onto the board for the students to choose from. 
• Quick, repetitive type questions work best, such as complex number operations, simplifying expressions of any kind, or switching forms of linear or quadratic equations. (I'll be repeating this activity Monday with Math 3 for completing the square)
• Students can use a blank template if you have time/resources to copy one for each student. I usually have 1 class set, which we put inside sleeve protectors and use as dry erase boards. Students write on the cards with either pencils/dry erase markers. 
• Bingo chip ideas: I use foam sheets from the dollar store that I cut into 1-inch pieces several years ago. I've also used the small glass vase-fillers from the dollar store, although they make much more noise. On the few occasions that students have their own copy of the bingo template to write on, they've used markers to mark their squares. 

But here's how it changed today. We used the Nearpod app's "Draw It" feature. That meant that each time I called out a question, they showed their work and sent it to me! Each question, I had a student sample that I could scroll through, so that we could talk about any mistakes or misconceptions along the way. Below is a screen shot of the teacher's view from the app.

Nearpod has this great "share" feature after using the Draw It slides. It allows you to send the picture of any student's work, without their name, to every other student. This is such a game changer. They can see their peers' work, and discuss it without the pressure of going to the board. This is a view of what the teacher sees from the app, with the blue "Share" button in the top corner of each response. 

My students also figured out that they could take a picture of the projected question, import it into Nearpod, and then complete the work over the image.  Some choose to write the question out, as shown above.

When we review homework, this feature means they're able to snap a pic of their work from their homework page, then send it to me, without having to rewrite anything. Then we look over several responses together, and sort out any confusion. This is a great time saver, and it's definitely an app I hope to find more uses for in the future. 

App-smashing with Desmos

Hi everyone!

So I wanted to share an activity I did for function transformations and piecewise functions (well, maybe more exploring domain restrictions that are used in piecewise functions)

Since I know this post will be shared with some of my non-math friends from Pinnacle, I'll give you a bit of background (hopefully in language that's as non-mathy as possible.)

Our Math 2 students are supposed to learn different types or classifications for equations (functions). They also learn to "move" the graphs of those equations by changing different parts of the original function's equation. (For example, they can add to the end of an equation to move it up on the graph).

Here's what we did:

1) Students created a drawing of their choosing in Desmos (an online graphing calculator).
They were instructed to include 4 linear, 1 absolute value, 1 exponential, and 1 quadratic equation. They were required to have a minimum of 15 components of their graph, including no more than 4 horizontal or vertical lines. They were encouraged to be creative.

2) After creating and saving their graph in Drive, they shared it with me, so I could grade the equations.

3) Then they took a screenshot of their graph, and imported it into skitch. They used the app to label a minimum of 7 of the 15 components. Then they sent the skitch image to me.

It was a great, quick (2-day) activity that lead to some AWESOME conversations. It was also really interesting to see the shapes they could create from certain functions by changing the scale of their graph, or only using a certain piece of that function. Cool stuff.

Here are some of the skitch images (I'm not sharing the equations files because I know so many of my secondary friends do similar projects, and I don't want to create opportunities for cheating). There is one file below that included that in the screenshot, so you can see generally what they were creating for the equations.

Androgogy - How teaching adults is different than teaching kids

We have had quite the day in Pinnacle training today - the morning was full of app-smashing, and I can't wait to start developing some lessons to share using what I've learned.

This afternoon, we had the pleasure of listening to @Judyjudymoore talk about how to teach our peers what we've learned. (Well, to be honest, that last sentence may have given the wrong impression. It definitely wasn't a sit-and-get type of session. She's much better than that. But you'll get the idea.)

I wish she could go back in time to talk to all of the people that have ever presented at PD at my school and district level. She started by asking us how many of us have ever gotten "quietly violent" during a PD session because of a speaker either:
a) talking about something they have no clue about
b) wasting your time with cute-sy games that serve no purpose but to fill time
c) reading powerpoint slides to you

The major point of the session was this. The biggest difference between androgogy (teaching adults) and pedagogy (teaching children) is that adults instantly connect everything they learn to previous eperience. Children don't have this experience, so when you teach children, you're more focused on helping them to learn facts/gain understanding that will build to future topics. With adults, the time they spend is much more precious. When teaching adults, the focus needs to be purely what they can use, and how they can relate it to what they've done before.

It's all in the way you present the information.
The reponse to "This is the coolest app I've ever seen and you should use it" will be significantly different from "If you decide to use this app, you'll get 20 minutes of your planning period back everyday just in the time it will save you."

Adults zero in naturally on connecting new information to how it can be used. When we see something on Pinterest, we don't just see it without context. We intuitively see that decoration in our home, or those labels in our classroom. We internalize new inputs. And we need to make sure that PD sessions allow teachers to do just this with the new information that we're providing.

Practically, what does this mean?

1. Time to discuss, and brainstorm aloud (in groups, and individual brainstorming time)
2. Making sure there's a specific take-away so that the information can be used SOON, rather than a list of possibilities and vague potential. (For example, allow time for participants to look up a specific topic for their classroom on pinterest and find a foldable, rather than showing them that Pinterest has lesson ideas on it) Bonus points if this implementation/play time happens during the PD session, rather than afterwards. 
3. Adults tend to be self-directed learners, so if you can get them to buy-in to the idea, AND get them started, they'll be able to take it to the next level later, and be intrinsically motivated to do so. 
4. Try not to lecture - have discussions, and ask what THEY want to know, then follow that path. 
5. Don't read powerpoints or handouts to participants - use them so participants don't have to take notes. 

I'm so glad I got the chance to hear all of this before presenting in August - I have 3 sessions in our county Teaching & Learning Conference, so this was perfect timing.

Reflecting on SAMR, Blooom's, & App-Smashing

I've been in PD sessions ever since school ended last Friday - for a technology team for my district.
I'm loving all of the possibilities for my classroom, and the potential for how it will change the way I teach.

This morning, we worked tirelessly on app-smashing across all grade levels and subjects.
Here's a glipse at the apps I've been using most:

• Popplet (paid for by the district)
• Explain Everything (my favorite so far) (paid for by the district)
• Evernote
• Skitch
• Tons of math manipulatives (Constructor, Geoboard, Number line, etc)
• Quizlet
• iBooks Creator
• MathPad
• Educreations
• iMovie
• Pic Collage
• TopNotes
• Tellagami - deleted because now they're requiring money for everything. BOOOOO. 

Basically, you use these amazing "core" apps to create the most amazing, engaging presentations that can include just about anything - all students created. 

Part of our assignment was to read and reflect on this article:

App Smash: The Ben Bloom Fist in the SAMR Glove

Great read. The big points for me:

• You don't need a billion apps. Pick 10 or so really functional ones. 
• Start with the end game in mind. "I want students to make a video" is not what you really want. You want students to explore a topic or teach a topic to their peers, and share it with the world. 
• Let your students be creative, and they'll get more out of the experience. Reflect using SAMR.

I'm so excited to start using some of this information for my specific content. Right now I'm just trying to process all of the possibilities swimming through my brain. 

And just because I know you could use a laugh, here's some of the random stuff we worked on this morning to become more familiar with the apps. (Keep in mind this is just rambling - so we could play around with the features while recording.)

Let me know if you've done any math app-smashing before - I'd love to hear as many ideas as possible!