Exploring Options...

Hard to believe more than a month has passed since #ISTE14.

I had such a great experience in Atlanta and I learned so much.  I cannot wait to share with my colleagues when I return to school.

Things I would like to share:
1) Nearpod
2) Kahoot
3) Peardeck
4) Class Dojo

Other things on my mind:
google classroom and GAFE
adaptemy



While in Atlanta, I made some great connections at ISTE as well.  In fact today, I spoke with Lee Lindsey from https://www.adaptemy.com/ about a possible pilot of their exciting adaptive math program for young teens.  I look forward to previewing this material next week.

Later today, I look forward to a Google Hangout with a Nearpod representative. http://nearpod.com/  we hope to share ideas about how best to use Nearpod in math class.

A week ago, I had the opportunity to re-share my ISTE presentation with some tech leaders at UNC-Charlotte.  This was super learning for me as we met in a google hangout.  What a great way to communicate and demonstrate tools and activities!

Awesome!

This is a happy reminder of all that we do! 

Teaching is a very rewarding profession!

Celebrate your awesomeness!

Spoon fed?

IThis is something I feel strongly about and I do my best every day to "let them hold the spoon". 

So why am I struggling?

The cycle already exists through former teacher-student relationships and so students expect it to continue with me. This is especially true of the math students who already lack any confidence in their skills and problem solving. I cannot tell you how many times a student receives a math problem and before I have even turned around - I hear 

" I don't know how to do this". 

I try not to rush in and rescue. I try to encourage. 

Often I get "you didn't teach me this". And

What they mean is you didn't teach this to me by showing me a bunch of examples that are pretty much the same. 

I recently asked a gr 9 class to compare the amount of popcorn that would be needed to fill our school vs the local coliseum. We had been working with volume. 

I was disappointed that I found that they could not really start. 

It does not help that in my building I am surrounded by adults who strongly believe that the 'sage on the stage' instructional strategy is necessary in math. 

if students are so accustomed to the spoon fed approach, how do I have them believe in themselves, take risks, fail and try again? 

I will continue to strive to instill risk taking, mathematical independence and Math enthusiasm in students. 

Why Do People Hate Math?

This is a question that I often ask myself.

As a teacher I want to instil a love of math  and learning  in all my students.

A former student of mine shared this video with me.  I thought I would also share.

Summer Learning... Rekindling my enthusiasm for learning and teaching...

At the end of June, everyone was so tired.  At our school, the staff were exhausted and ready for the summer break.  June was not a time to be thinking about best practices and tech integration.

Just a couple weeks later, I am back on track... I am, once again, enthused about teaching and learning.  I have taken a few days to investigate tools/strategies that I had previously placed on my back burner.

Here are a few things I am exploring/discovering...

Planboardapp.com

...an invaluable lesson planning tool
...plan day by day for each course
...attach current curriculum expectations with ease for every lesson as necessary
...create templates to be used in each course
...can publish and share as well as search for others' lessons
...can print pdfs - would be great for those covering your classes during absences

...

Desire2Learn Binder app

With the growing emphasis on tech integration, blended learning and the availability of Desire2Learn LMS, I was so excited to find the D2L Binder app. Students will be able to save files from d2l course into their "Binder".  Once in the app, students will have options to annotate the documents for own use/learning.

CK12.org

I have had the privilege of being chosen to be part of a team that is creating a CK-12 "flexbook" to be used in our district for our grade nine math students. This site has a multitude of ready-resources.  And even better than that, each resource that can be added to your "flexbook" can be customized to your preferences.

This digital text capability has so much promise because interactive and video components can be embedded.

I envision combining these tools to create a (somewhat) paperless math class in the fall.  Students will access course materials in D2L including the course text designed at ck12.org.  They can add these materials to their "Binder" and then review and practice in the Binder app environment.

Summer is a great time to follow up on ideas/strategies.  I am so excited about teaching all over again.

Gr 8 Transitions Visits to SJAM

I am very fortunate to be involved in the planning and delivery of our transitions visits for grade 8 students intending to come to SJAM in September...
In addition to tours of our facilities and observations of key elective classes, we offered the students the opportunity to voice their thoughts/concerns.

We gave them a google survey to let us know what " A good teacher will" do.
See the survey...
We used their voice to create this wordle.



On a projector, the students used their own devices and accessed Todaysmeet.com (live for a bit longer at http://todaysmeet.com/SJAM) to inform us about what "A good student will" do.


On laptops, students could post a sticky at padlet.com to give us information about how we could help them adjust to SJAM.

Created with Padlet

Our last station was a large paper for a marker graffiti activity... we asked "what clubs and Activities would you like to do when you come to SJAM?" I will post some images soon... 

One more school... tomorrow.  I will update all of our info after that!  :)

This has been a great experience! 

All of this info will go a long way to inform our activities in the new school year.

'Whatever it takes'

A student is "in risk". He is failing more than one class. Life at his home is far less than adequate. He has asked for help. To some it may not appear that he is looking to improve his academic situation and ultimately his life circumstance. He has no positive adult role models in his home life. At school, naturally, he looks to his peers.  He perhaps sees a glimmer of an alternate future in a couple of adults that he chooses to trust. But how?  how does a young teen make the decision to turn on all that he knows so that he can follow a path that leads away from his family, away from his friends, away from poverty, drugs and gangs?  He asks for help.. but clearly knows not what to expect or what lengths he needs to work through.   Some adults in the building have long since given up on him.

I admire his courage. I know he will have setbacks. He needs to know that he has support. I can only imagine that it cannot be easy for him particularly when other adults put up barriers for this teen.  They don't know it, but any "small" barrier, could change his motivation to make a difference in his own life.

I have learned that for success with teens we need to embrace the "whatever it takes" attitude.