Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Math Reflection
Wow, I really enjoyed my math course this quarter. I learned about a great graphing website (gapminder) and how to use some pretty fun manipulatives like bean counters and Mira tools. I learned that many people have strong feelings about math, and it is hard to teach our students without realizing their "relationship" with math. I learned how important continual reflection can be for improving as a teacher. I also learned just how much I love math.
I got a little frustrated due to the playing card groups, but not because of who I was placed with. I just like to sit where I like to sit in the classroom. However, I think I liked having random groups assigned each week because it forced the entire cohort to work with new people. I think that part of being a teacher is learning to work with different people at the school, so this was good practice. I liked how straight forward our professor was and how wanted our assignments to be concise and short.
I think I will definitely employ some of the strategies I learned in this course in my future classroom, specifically working in randomized groups and using different manipulatives that allow students hands-on learning.
I got a little frustrated due to the playing card groups, but not because of who I was placed with. I just like to sit where I like to sit in the classroom. However, I think I liked having random groups assigned each week because it forced the entire cohort to work with new people. I think that part of being a teacher is learning to work with different people at the school, so this was good practice. I liked how straight forward our professor was and how wanted our assignments to be concise and short.
I think I will definitely employ some of the strategies I learned in this course in my future classroom, specifically working in randomized groups and using different manipulatives that allow students hands-on learning.
Touch Project Final Reflection
I really enjoyed the iTouch experience. I do not own an iPhone and had never downloaded an app before this class/quarter. I got to experiment with a technology that is very new to me and think about how it can be used to help students or myself in the classroom. I think my questions have shifted from how to use the technology (troubleshooting issues) to how will I incorporate the technology available at my school into my daily teaching? Previous to this quarter I had always held new technology at arms length and tried to ignore or avoid it. Now, I am more inclined to try to learn about it and try it out for myself.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Touch Apps Update
So, I successfully found and downloaded 6 free apps to my iTouch. I had one criteria - that they be FREE. I actually had fun looking for apps. I found several that I thought were fun to play and also educational. The two I like the best were Numberline and Pearl Diver. I wrote reviews for these and put them on our class Wiki site.
My current questions about iTouch and apps regard how to best search for a particular app. I searched for "special education" and "factorization" and these did not produce the kind of apps I was looking for. It seems that the search function for apps is somewhat limited to the name of the app. I wonder if the creators can tag the app so that it would be easier to search for it?
My current questions about iTouch and apps regard how to best search for a particular app. I searched for "special education" and "factorization" and these did not produce the kind of apps I was looking for. It seems that the search function for apps is somewhat limited to the name of the app. I wonder if the creators can tag the app so that it would be easier to search for it?
Broken Calculator and other thinking games
Today in math class we explored several math game tools that a teacher could use to challenge students in their mathematical operations knowledge. We first used a broken calculator program that only had certain numbers and operation buttons that worked. Using the numbers 0,6,7,8,9 and addition or division, we had to come up with the numbers from 1-15. I really enjoyed this challenge as it forced my partner and I to re-think the way we "do math".
The second activity we did was using an excel spreadsheet that our instructor created. We had fifteen problems to solve where we input a number and from the output, we had to figure out what operations were taking place. This activity taught the importance of the order of operations and scaffolding your instruction or problems.
I learned today that there are lots of different electronic manipulatives that we can use to engage students in the class, or use as hooks, or as review. Additionally, these electronic manipulatives offer teachers opportunities to teach about other computer programs (Excel, gapminder.com, etc.). I think electronic manipulatives imply that the teacher will be engaged in current technology and actively searching for ways to bring this technology into the classroom in a way that is relevant to students' lives. I also think that while it might seem initially time consuming to create an Excel file like the one we used, once made, it would be easy to manipulate to fit the unit or mathematical concept that you want to highlight.
The second activity we did was using an excel spreadsheet that our instructor created. We had fifteen problems to solve where we input a number and from the output, we had to figure out what operations were taking place. This activity taught the importance of the order of operations and scaffolding your instruction or problems.
I learned today that there are lots of different electronic manipulatives that we can use to engage students in the class, or use as hooks, or as review. Additionally, these electronic manipulatives offer teachers opportunities to teach about other computer programs (Excel, gapminder.com, etc.). I think electronic manipulatives imply that the teacher will be engaged in current technology and actively searching for ways to bring this technology into the classroom in a way that is relevant to students' lives. I also think that while it might seem initially time consuming to create an Excel file like the one we used, once made, it would be easy to manipulate to fit the unit or mathematical concept that you want to highlight.
Gapminder and Telling Data Stories
We explored the statistical data sets in a program called gapminder.com. At first, we looked at sugar consumption by country, by year, and compared to the country's gross domestic product. The gapminder website allows you manipulate the graph to show information you are interested in viewing. Whenever you see graph information, one has to be careful not to confuse correlation with causation. I think it is really easy to make this error, and so the gapminder graphs provide a great way to teach students to really question the data.
To prove this point, my group specifically chose two data sets that one would generally assume influence each other. The y-axis was percentage of the population living on less than $2/day. The x-axis was women's literacy levels. We searched for data where women's literacy increased, so did the percentage of the population that lives on less than two dollars a day. One could look at this data and argue that women's increasing literacy has a negative effect on those living in the country.
I learned how powerful data can be, but also how we need to be cautious in using data and not make it say more than it does. I think the correlation/causation lesson is important for students to learn, so I see the relevance for our classroom instruction. I would like to know where the data sets come from and if they are all a high caliber.
To prove this point, my group specifically chose two data sets that one would generally assume influence each other. The y-axis was percentage of the population living on less than $2/day. The x-axis was women's literacy levels. We searched for data where women's literacy increased, so did the percentage of the population that lives on less than two dollars a day. One could look at this data and argue that women's increasing literacy has a negative effect on those living in the country.
I learned how powerful data can be, but also how we need to be cautious in using data and not make it say more than it does. I think the correlation/causation lesson is important for students to learn, so I see the relevance for our classroom instruction. I would like to know where the data sets come from and if they are all a high caliber.
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