IEP Project

My content area is Secondary Mathematics.  I have exactly one student in my school currently at a Secondary Mathematics level; he is learning Algebra.  As such, it's understandably difficult for him to feel any competition when it comes to math.  There is no bell curve for him to place himself on (at least on a daily basis).  I discuss this issue in a little more depth in my IEP write-up, but the gist of the situation is that I challenged myself to learn enough algebra games to be able to be able to keep my student "competing" with himself.  He has grown up in a gaming world, and "beating the game" is something he understands and self-motivates himself to do.  I wanted to be savvy enough to be able to tap into that self-motivation on the part of my student.

The games I trained on were:

• The Algebots
• Order of Operations
• Solve for X
• Connect Four
• Equation Buster
• Function Machine
• Linear Function Machine
• Gem Game

The results of my training and my plans on how to implement what I learned are in my write-up, but the upshot is, there are a lot of easy-to-learn, easy-to-play games out there for teaching algebra concepts.  None of them are Nintendo or X-Box level games; instead, they are suited for short blocks of time, just like teachers find every week in real classrooms.  Pulling this into my teaching will not only help my planning, but should (hopefully) help turn the non-glamourous math lessons into memorable activities.  With any luck, these games will help make algebra concepts stick with my student for a long, long time. 

Online Community, Part II

I poked in on the folks over at The Math Forum @ Drexel time to time throughout the quarter.  My favorite aspect of that site is the plethora of math puzzles that pop up in the various discussion groups.  I use thinking puzzles as "extra credit" points every day before lunch in my school.  The students all compete to figure out the problem first, and when I need a good math puzzle, this was a good site to troll through.  I had intended to post on the site, but never did, probably because my highest math student currently is lower algebra, and I didn't get stuck much.  My online habits as far as forums go have been forming for years, and it proved to be a bit hard to break that mold.  Typically, I post in forums when I have a problem I can't find a solution to by searching the forum first (good net-etiquitte not to double-post a problem).  I also try to "give back" to a forum by posting answers where I can help, but the people on this forum are pretty johhny-on-the-spot, and I didn't have occasion to add original feedback.

In general, I love forums, and have been using them for a long time.  With the advance of good search features (over the news-group days), forums like this one are very helpful for picking the brains of people all over the world.  

Digital Story

Ah, the Digital Story.  Merging traditional story telling with the miracles of modern technology sounds like a good idea--and it IS!  It's also quite challenging.  "Digital" means "perfection" in a lot of ways.  CD's are "perfect" renditions of the artist's music.  Digital copies are bit-perfect.  And a Digital story should be perfect too, right?  

There's the rub, if the story is not perfect, it's not the technology's fault.  In fact, the technology makes it easier to get a better story, because you can go back and redo it as many times as you want.  All this merely points out the flaws in the actual *story*.   I'm not a master storyteller (yet), but I can  tell you that with the technology available today, it's a lot more fun to tell a story.  It's kind of like the dream you may have had when you were a kid about the book coming alive and telling you the story it contained.  Or maybe that was just me......

Anyway, here's my story.  It's about algebra (hope you figured that out after watching it).  I'm hoping to "make it stick" with my students by cementing the concept with this multimedia story.

Here's a rubric I came up with for evaluating digital stories.  Of course, it completely depends on what the purpose of the story assignment was, but for my first assignment for *my* students, this is what I plan on using.  Admittedly, it focuses on some of the aspects I found the most difficult after creating my own story.

And here is a page with my Story Map and my script.  The little numbers in parentheses are markers I used when drawing my pictures, and when actually creating the movie.  They helped me line up the pictures with the audio.

"Assistive Technology for the Classroom"

Landmark College Institute for Research and Training has put together an excellent primer on the subject of Assistive Technology in education.  Contributers for this particular article include Ben Mitchell, Janie Duncan, Elizabeth Burns, Ellen Engstrom, and Christine Arieta.

The article begins by defining Assistive Technology as:

"any item, piece of equipment, or product that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities."

With advances in educational theory, reliance on lectures and textbooks has been diminished, with the focus instead centering on constructivist models.  Assistive technology makes it possible to offer this type of learning to all students.   This is particularly true (at this time) for reading assistance.  Assistive technology is NOT a replacement for a teaching, nor is it a guarantee of success.

Despite the effectiveness of Assistive Technology, there are some barriers to its widespread adoption:

• Teacher and Student Attitudes.  Both students and teachers may view this as an "easy way out."  
• Demands of Technology.  It can be expensive, dynamic and maintenance intensive to implement an Assistive Technology solution.
• Access.  Not everyone has access to the technology.
• Training.  To quote directly from the article, "If the student is not supported in learning to use the technology, the results may be worse than having no access to technology at all."

The article also has suggestions for successful integration of Assistive Technology into the classroom (emphasis on student introductions) and into the curriculum.  This includes some evaluations of different methods and even types of Assistive Technology.

This article is definitely aimed at readers who are already convinced that they need Assistive Technology in some form.  There is little in this article to help a novice understand situations in which they might want to consider the use of Assistive Technology, and in fact, as per the bullet list above, they present some compelling arguments to avoid the use of Assistive Technology.

Overall, however, if a reader has decided they need to use Technology in their classroom, this article has some good suggestions and ideas for turning that desire into a reality.

 

Math Teacher internet resources

In my first year of teaching, I have found three internet resources to be particularly helpful while teaching Math as a K-12 teacher:

• http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/
• http://aaamath.com
• http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm

The first is a site where you can make up your own math worksheets.  As a primary teaching tool, it's great for elementary kids.  As a "mad math" minute review tool for older students, it also works really well.  I find they need the review, particularly in decimals and fractions.

The second site is wonderfully organized.  If a student is having problems in a particular area, it's easy to find topical practice on this site.  It is also interactive with the teaching and assessing, which allows the student to move through as they progress in their knowledge.  This may be my favorite site for students who can motivate themselves, as they are not needlessly held back waiting for teacher approval to move forward.

The third site is great fun.  It is full of games for all kinds of math up to the pre-algebra level.  If the students are playing a game, they hardly notice they are learning at the same time.  Easy engagement.  It's amazing how they think of time on this site as a "reward" for doing their "schoolwork."

Community

I have started following some of the discussions going on at

 The Math Forum @ Drexel 

 As a math teacher, their site has proven helpful thus far for ideas both on content and approaches.  It's also nice to know that somebody else is having the same challenges I am.  Reading about their successes is also encouraging.

"The Overdominance of Computers" -- Lowell Monke

Students need to be prepared for the challenges of the high-tech 21st century, right?

And schools are supposed to prepare students, right?

So schools should have students start using computers and technology as soon as possible, right?

Maybe not......

Lowell Monke makes a good argument that perhaps immersing students in computers throughout their entire educational process may not only not be a good idea, it may be harming the student.  What students really need, he argues, is to have a good foundation in non-technological areas first, before they are ever presented with the challenges that go hand-in-hand with the power available in high technology.  Students need to be solid with ideas like:

• Commitment
• Loyalty
• Tradition

Obtaining these qualities, Monke argues, is accomplished through real experiences with real people, and not with unfeeling, uncritical, un-personable machines.  Only after laying such a foundation will a student be in a position to make ethical choices about the use of technology.  Similarly, such a student will know that they do not need technology to learn, but will rather view technology as a tool for their learning.

It is quite refreshing to see someone thinking critically about the use of computers in the classroom -- someone willing to *gasp* take computers out of the classroom.  Monke's analogy of teaching a six year old to drive because they will need to know how to operate a care in order to participate in society is an excellent illustration of his point.  I also agree that software is in such a state of flux still that trying to keep a student current throughout their entire pre-collegiate education is both ridiculous and unnecessary.  Let's help kids develop into people who have the ability to choose their own path before we imprint on them the supremacy of technology.