Looking at the CCSS K-12 technology skills scope and sequence I was surprised to see a number of things on the list for secondary students that I am still struggling with understanding. In particular the use of both excel and google sheets in the classroom has been something that I have been meaning to learn for a couple years. Seeing the number of standards based on understanding spreadsheets and appropriate ways to organize and display data, I knew that building a skillset in google sheets was something I had to add to my PLP.
Teaching math and using the lens of my current instruction to determine where I could augment my instruction to address some of the CCSS for technology, I found that there are two major units where I could address many of the standards for technology as they relate to spreadsheets and mathematical application. Statistics unit My statistics unit centers around the collection of data and the various ways that we interact, organize and represent that data to make valid conclusions about real world situations. This unit lends itself so well to the CCSS surrounding spreadsheets and in particular the use of google sheets and Desmos (web based graphing calculator), two powerful programs for working with and displaying data in ways that will help students to understand the data better. For many years I have had students hand calculate measures of centrality like mean, range, and standard deviation but by using formulas in google sheets students will be able to create a quick method for finding these figures for any set of data. In terms of graphing, I had always made my students find the line of best fit by estimating its location in a scatter plot. Using Desmos, students will be able to easily calculate the balance point for a data set and then graph the line of best fit using the graphing tools included in this web app. Geometry unit Incorporating more technology into my geometry unit will certainly address some of the CCSS around drawing two and three dimensional shapes as well as allow me to update my instruction on constructions. I have very little experience with using technology centered geometry tools such a Geogebra or Geometer's sketchpad but I often hear geometry teachers speak of its usefulness for helping students to see certain theorems applied in more meaningful ways. Being that most students are visual learners, allowing them to play around with tools like this might allow them to discover mathematical truths in a more meaningful and authentic way. Constructions is something that I teach very hands on, literally forcing students to use a compass and straightedge to create sophisticated designs. Every year students complain about the quality of the physical tools that I have and are frustrated when those tools fail them. I know that digital tools exist for teaching constructions and those tools will not degrade over time. By switching over to a digital constructions unit all students will have access to the same quality tools and thus access to the same level of understanding via access to the content. I do not want to integrate technology as a means to replace what I am currently doing in the classroom but as a way to increase my capacity to meet students where they currently are. I believe that effective use of technology in the classroom is about showing students how tech tools can take their understanding to higher levels and through effective implementation students can be coached to see the use of technology as an educational tool that will drive their desire to use technology in more effective ways in other areas of their lives.
4 Comments
After our discussion on digital literacy and citizenship I began to think about ways that students use technology for unethical purposes in my classroom. I had an experience this year with a group of students turning in work that was solved correctly but not in the manner that I requested they complete the assignment. We were solving systems and I asked students to use a method known as elimination but when their assignments came back to me all of the problems were solved using a method known as substitution. Normally this would not be a big issue but the assignment was intended to help students specifically practice elimination, the method we had most recently learned, so I was confused as to why so many students ignored the directions. After pressing some students I found that they were using an app called PhotoMath to help them complete their assignments. I had to lecture them on proper use of math based apps and how it was important for them to read the directions because the app is only as smart as the person interfacing with it. After talking with other math teachers I discovered that this app is very popular. I decided to download PhotoMath in an attempt to see how I could leverage this app to strengthen my instruction. PhotoMath makes some big promises to students and instructors willing to use it. “Scan math problems for instant results” , “Learn with step-by-step instructions” and “Explore beautiful graphs” are just some of the activities that users can engage with while exploring PhotoMath. The way most students use PhotoMath is by scanning homework problems and then copying down the answers. PhotoMath interfaces with the camera on your device and turns the input into a digital equation which it then solves and provides step by step directions on how the computer arrived to its answer. This process is very intuitive and does not take any time at all to learn. It’s not quite taking a photo but it’s as simple as scanning a QR code - pointing your phone at something and waiting for the device to respond. However, due to the limitations of the scanning technology, I found PhotoMath to be very limited in the types of math problems that it could actually solve. To show these limitations to my students I projected a worksheet that I had created and attempted to use PhotoMath to solve 3 different types of problems; evaluating a function, multiplying binomials and determining if a relation represents a function. PhotoMath was only able to correctly solve one type of problem (multiplying binomials), but it came through on its promise, providing accurate steps and clear explanations for how it solved the problem. In my experience PhotoMath does really well when is is tasked to solve something that is procedurally based and in a format that is acceptable to the limitations of the app design (types of problems that can be solved are listed on the app developers website). PhotoMath does provide very clear instructions and when used as a study tool instead of a replacement for working problems out it can absolutely help students learn procedure. While users are encouraged to create a profile so that PhotoMath can keep track of the problems that they are solving through the app to create a more tailored experience, PhotoMath is unable to think for itself. Users must very clearly understand the instructions of a particular assignment in order to determine if the answers they are being provided are correct. I encouraged my students to use PhotoMath as a way to check answers after having already done the problem themselves, much like an answer key.
In order to manage the reading “The send-making qualitative-quantitative methodology” I applied AVID strategies that I have been teaching for the last four years. I broke the reading down into sections based on the natural chunking that author did with section titles. Within each sections I numbered the paragraphs and wrote a sentence summary at the end of each paragraph. If the paragraph was simply explaining something about the structure of the article then I wrote a brief description of the structure it was indicating. If I came upon a particularly difficult section in the reading and could not find a way to summarize the information in a way that made the text more explicit, I highlighted the section I did not understand and created a question about the material instead. While I found the reading incredibly rich it began quite dense. As the reading continued I began to understand more about the process of sense making. Note taking and further processing allowed me to bridge my own gaps and arrive at what I believe the methodology of sense making is.
My two big takeaways from the reading were:
During the reading I kept thinking back to a question heard in most math classes, “When am I ever going to use this?” This gap-defining question is often a barrier to teachers, preventing us from reaching students most traditionally at risk to failing our courses. For those struggling in their math courses, the work required to be good at something students assume they will never need, is a gap perceived too large to bridge. In the context of my big takeaways this question needs to be addressed on an individual basis in order for the gap to be bridged. Individual circumstances that construct the student must be taken into consideration for the response to be effective. It is undeniable that every single student will need a basic understanding of math in order to enter the workforce or university level studies but the individual desires of the student must be considered to inspire the need to continue past the frustration that math creates. Students looking to simply graduate high school will need 3 years of math credit and so the need to fulfill the graduation requirement could be the gap-bridging motivation they need, while students who wish to pursue a career in engineering will need multiple levels of math past AP Calculus and thus their gap-bridging motivation is the desire to be as prepared as possible before entering university. While sense-making theory attempts to predict the way people bridge gaps, the individual must be taken into account. If I was teaching this content to students I would use many more visual mediums to convey the ideas within the text. To demonstrate the ideas of experienced reality and perception I would use those images that appear to be two different objects and have students debate which one is correct. I would pull in visual representations of the sense-making metaphor to help students understand the gap-bridging process. I would create screencasts explaining the methodology section as it is very dense and students would benefit from a visual and auditory component. To model the sense making metaphor I would have students think of their process for learning a new task and have them detail each step in the process. Students would share out to look for similarities and differences in their processing. I would then have students write skills they would like to learn on note cards and exchange with another student in the room. The students would then have to describe how they would go about learning the new skill they were given using the sense making triangle as a model for each “stop step” in their learning process. As we move ever closer to a fully digitized society the way that students learn is evolving to reflect the larger society. Just as literacy and math procedure are important aspects of a students formation, digital literacy and citizenship are topics that teachers must consider addressing across all content areas, at every stage of a students development.
Researching ways that I could integrate digital citizenship in my classes, keeping in mind that I teach high school Math and AVID, it became apparent that there are many ways I am already incorporating digital citizenship into my courses. Through our current learning management system, ECHO, I have students access my daily agendas which link them directly to trusted sources for math content. I spend a lot of time talking to students about using the internet (google, khan academy, etc) to find help when I am not available. Students often forget that they are able to find reliable tutorials on problems very similar to those we cover in class scattered among their favorite conspiracy VLOGS. The Common Sense education resources highlight that creating responsible digital citizens protects the digital community we must interact with just as responsible citizens protect the communities we live in. As my school moves closer to 1-1 student and device ratios, students could easily find themselves distracted by the proliferation of technological distraction. I think that most educators shy away from the use of technology because they don't think that students can learn to adjust to such distraction. Also, a lot of my peers refuse to engage in online activities because they do not trust the students be appropriate. With resources from Common Sense students will learn to act more responsibly in a digital space. In the high school section of resources there are topics from learning respect for others online privacy to creating online spaces free of hate speech. I think its necessary for any teacher engaging in any collaboration or communication activity with students in an online space to review these procedures with them. The resources cultivated by the Stanford History Education Group encourage teachers to work with students on developing a critical eye when it comes to evaluating sources of information they find on the internet. These resources are especially important for my AVID students who will be going to college next year and who will be expected to gather, synthesize and evaluate information gathered from multiple sources. Most of my students think that the first hit on google is the most reliable course of information and will cite this information to teachers, unchecked. I will absolutely be using the resources from SHEG to review with my AVID students the importance of checking sources, finding reliable content online and determining if a source is trustworthy. Digital citizenship is important because students need to understand that the personality they cultivate online is a reflection of the personality they carry with them in the non virtual world. How many recent stories have we heard about celebrities and politicians haunted by their digital activities from years ago? The digital footprint that our students leave is easily traceable and if they are not careful they can be forever linked to a toxic online presence that restricts them from becoming everything they truly want to be. InnovatED was an amazing teacher led conference for teachers in the NVUSD and surrounding areas. Sessions highlighted the innovation that is taking place in our district and encouraged all attendees to aim for innovation in their own practice.
Keynote - Teach better and work less with CUE craft Keynote speaker Jon Corippo opened the conference by speaking about the CUE craft protocol. The focus of his work is the reduction of time that teachers spend working while simultaneously increasing the creativity that we inspire in our students as they explore our content. Jon highlighted that we are currently experiencing a revolution in education, moving away from pedagogy that valued the ability to remember facts in favor of the ability to create, apply and innovate. Jon used socrative.com which is a tool, like padlet, that collects student work and allows classes to interact with the answers collected. I could use that in my daily practice during warm ups and bell ringer activities where students answer a question in a group forum I can quickly determine if we need enrichment or reteaching based on quickly scanning the answers that I receive. Screencasting made simple - Scott Marsden Screencasting is something that we explored in the first semester of the TU program but by no means have we mastered it. In this session we explored both screencast-o-matic and screencastify, two of the more popular freemium products available. I found screencast-o-matic easier to use and much more customisable. In my own practice I will need to post my lectures but I will also want to have a drawing or paint app open so that I can do math examples as I go through my slide deck. Posting this combination of materials online, students will have a much more comprehensive experience in comparison to simply having access to my lecture notes. This could be a game changer for any students who are habitually absent and need to catch up on lots of missed materials or for students who sit down to do their homework and realize they need a refresher on the material. Another innovative use suggested by the presenter was allowing ELL students to create screencasts so they could rehearse their material and re-record if necessary, instead of having them present in front of the class. Slides into Digital Notebooks - Ethan Pham Ethan Pham presented all of the very impressive work that he has been doing with his 6th grade science curriculum over the course of 3 years. Ethan has developed a system of digital interactive notebooks, hosted through google slides, that have allowed him to go completely paperless in his classes. Ethan’s work was very inspiring and although the front loading to create the materials is daunting, once it is created and students are taught how to use the digital tools, daily activities are completely streamlined. I think that doing math by hand is an important activity that all students must engage with in order to develop deeper understanding of procedure. I am not sure that I will ever want to go completely paperless but it would make perfect sense to convert all of my note taking elements into digital notes that students could access through their google drives. I currently have students take paper notes and then require them to organize notebooks. Students often lose notes and note checks are time sinks. Making a digital alternative to my note taking system would help students to stay organized and provide a resource to them that lasts beyond my class. Google classroom for beginners (Jen Ellison) and advanced (Nicole Langton) The last 2 sessions that I attended were on google classroom. NVUSD will be converting over to google classroom next year and with no experience using this service it was refreshing to see how easy it is to use. I was able to create classrooms and assignments, agendas and announcements in those courses. Google classroom will be able to unite the innovative techniques that I learned throughout the day. |
Brandon DeJesusMath Archives
July 2019
Categories |