Educational Video Final

This video was made in iMovie using a video camera and a firewire cord. In reflection I would have to say that this project was one of the most frustrating endeavors I have ever put my hand to. I give a lot of credit to Common Craft as this video was extremely difficult to put together. Next time I will leave it up to the experts. I just that doing a video like this has a lot of merit and my students could use it in class. I was thinking about making the topic a lot more specific, though. Doing such a broad topic would not be as achievable for my students and the frustration and amount of time it would take for students to be able to use the technology would be extravagant. Instead, maybe they could do movies about solving one problem each with visuals and then share that with the class.

My intended audience would be Geometry or Algebra II students that have just started the curriculum (it could also be applied to Algebra I students that are about to complete the Algebra I course). The idea is it would be used as a quick review tool for linear equations.

The prerequisite skills would be the ability to see and listen to a video that would be accessible on the desktop of a class computer. They would need to be able to understand a two variable equation at the most basic level so being able to understand that an equation consists of an input and output. Basic arithmetic would also be needed. These should all be skills well within their capacity as they are taking a class that requires them to have this knowledge already.

This video is about linear equations, how to do them and some examples that relate to real life.

The goal was that they would be reviewed enough to remember information they should already know and be able to rejoin the class in further studies.

I'm glad I did this project because it was a big learning experience and really holds up the rule or trying it yourself before having students try it.

Google Document

Here is my google document I did with Tracy and Lydia. We wanted to use the doodle document because we had never used it before. I really liked this or an alternative way of having kids make collage projects. Internet collaborative collages. It could also be used as a way to do collaborative math. Students could "draw" a problem in doodle and then other students could slowly help each other anser it and correct each other's mistakes on a document like this.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/pub?id=17a_rN1YTruuTWvyKsq9RGSByLXcMNzbhQiL5hg_UBj8&w=960&h=720

Voki

This is a Voki! I think Voki's are super cool and would be awesome to connect to material on a website you are having student use. This could also be useful if you had students make historical characters or make themselves and answer questions through their voki rather than as themselves in case they get nervous about doing such things.

This is my Voki. I had a little issue since the program refused to take a recording from my computer's mic but I called in and that was VERY simple :)

Assessments

I like ipsative and peer assessment. I know these two methods are a little "outdated" but I think that peer works because students learn how important it is to get feedback from others but also learn about giving feedback. Both of which are very important.

I like Ipsative assessments because they are a challenge. When you say, you got this, do better on the next one, I want to do that. These are just things that work for me personally and won't work for all students.

I like these two over the others because I think something such as Real-world assessments is too broad and internet anonymity may make the process hard. Assessments are to get a real view of how you did and not bringing down self-esteem or boosting it without value or reason.

I find that self assessment can cause students to slack off. I think it's an important skill but when I assess myself and I have to take time on it, I say, "I did great, I could improve on X and it was fun." This is not a valid self assessment.

Assessing students using their own tools such as a cellphone sounds like a nice concept but I think that there are other ways and it feels a lot like using technology for technology's sake.

So overall, I would chose ipsative assessing with a close second to peer assessing.

Visual Tools - My iMovie

Visual tools in the classroom can be very useful. Most people like to learn things with a visual aid. It allows them options for where they can look and what they can focus on. I also like visual tools because it allows students to access that information in an entertaining way anytime, anywhere with internet access.

Visual tools can be used in the classroom in many ways, including but not limited to, explaining a topic, letting a class view a story or topic in an entertaining way, having students make their own visual media to explain a project they did and many other applications.

For our lesson we did our own personal stories. Here's my story, I hope you enjoy it.

Wikis!

Wikis are a very interesting concept. It's kind of like blogs and google documents combined into a permanent site. I like the idea that someone can work on the wiki and then allow others to work on it and let it grow to multiple sites so information can be combined and linked together.

http://mathatazsmic.wikispaces.com/

I thought this was very funny and relevant to our upcoming wiki lesson :)

Wiki-lesson comic:

Questions from chapter 6

Here's the answers to the "check it out" questions in chapter 6 of Marc Prensky's Teaching Digital Natives.

Search vs. Research: From the article by Marc Prensky called Search Vs. Research I learned that searching is a general search such as google and research is when we cite what we use, we only look for certain articles that are "scholarly" or at least trustworthy enough to be held up by experts or other scholarly articles.

In the Article Phone a Friend by Anna Patty there is some interesting information about using cell phones for tests. Dierdre Coleman a Teacher for an all girls school is trying this concept out in other to prepare her student's for the real world. Using technology on a test shows them the real world need of accessing information quickly, being able to cite it and most importantly, find it if they don't know about it.

After checking out Liz Kolb's blog I was super exciting to start looking at programs where I could send out notifications and course reminders. What a great idea! And for free! Also, a great idea. Putting up study questions, polls etc. So much fun!

From the last two, I think I would use a cell phone for polls or for answering questions correctly the first time and maybe even research but I don't think I'm ready to have students look up math answers to their exams just yet :).

I LOVE algebra meltdown on spree learning. SO AWESOME. it's not great for high schoolers but everyone (including me) can always use a good review tool like this. :)

That's all! See you in a bit making an iMovie!

Social Network

I think we continue to think, what good is this social network thing for other than staying in-touch with that one guy from college. This is how, as educators, we can make social network mean learning. After all, it does take a village. Here's my blog post about one of the 100 ways you should be using facebook in your classrooms. Enjoy!

I think this is one of the most wonderful things that I didn't get to experience until college. Our professor could e-mail us and tell us what to bring to class. Even if they forgot to tell us something at the end of class they could then e-mail us right after and we would still be held responsible for that material! I'll admit, this is not a welcome thought since at the time I was an avid yahoo.com user and I rarely saw a need to check my school e-mail address. This is why I like the idea of using facebook to make announcements.

There are many times I have said, "Shucks! I forgot to tell them to bring in ______ tomorrow! My lesson plan is RUINED!!" This would be a thought of the past if I could e-mail them things I forgot, reminders and maybe even notes/other documents. I could post extra materials for further exploration! It would be such a wonderful way of communicating WITHOUT the issues of "Oh, man. I hate that I have to check this things that my teacher is MAKING me do." and turn it into, "I do this everyday and now it will also tell me what my homework is."

Ok, so maybe it won't be THAT much of a happy change for students but accessibility to students and being accessible to them with a system that we're both comfortable with would be excellent.

First Podcast

Hi! this is a podcast. It's my first podcast and we did it in class so there's a lot of background noise but try to enjoy it anyways :) I think podcasts are extremely useful for student. For math it would be hard to do a lot with podcasts but maybe a presentation on something that uses the science that the math would apply to. That would be fun on a podcast. I also like the idea of finding out about students through podcast. This was fun and despite having a hard time getting it on this blog, I really enjoyed making it.

First Posts, 2 questions and a real desire to decorate

Look! A new blog. And as always a promissory note to my readers (my poor teacher and classmates):

I do solemnly swear to write interestingly, truthfully and often sarcastically to ensure that you don't feel like you just wasted 5-10 minutes of your life. :)

Furthermore, here's the questions for this activity from Web 2.0; how-to for educations, Chapter 1, blogs:

1. In reference to the 6 Assessment Points for student blogs, how would you, as an educator, add or take away from this list?

As an educator I would add that their blog has to be audience appropriate or audience geared. This means trying to connect with your audience which is what I think blogs are for. I also think that, unless commenting is mandatory for the class to do to each, the sixth point, "To what extent did their blog generate real discussion.", is a little too much to ask of a student who is more than likely doing a blog for the first time in a professional manner. I think there are a lot of good, professional, well-written blogs that are never looked at by other people so trying to decide if it started a real discussion is a bit of an unreachable goal for most. Also, a really bad blog can create discussion and that isn't necessarily using the technology to the extent that a classroom or student would benefit from.

2. If you were obligated to use a blog, how would you use one in your unique educational setting?

As a math teacher I think that the average high school math class doesn't pay attention to where math comes from. I'm majoring in math and understand it, I believe, really well and yet I have no idea who thought up y=mx+b. I know a little bit of history about calculus but that's it. I think that a blog would be a great place to write down where math concepts they have learned come from and then find an article that shows a real world application of that math topic.

An now, one of my favorite web comics:

http://xkcd.com/150/