Here's a shout out to my dad, one of the newest members of the blogging world. He wants to share a lifetime of experience in high frequency analysis and design through the blog "Physics in Support of Engineering". He's a PhD physicist with a creative and thorough approach to things, he gave me some of my earliest lessons in being an imaginative problem solver. Have fun blogging, Dad, the ideas here are endless!!
YLD
Friday, June 21, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
End of the year
I haven't posted in so long, the end of the year just got nuts. I advise two clubs and I've got my fingers in a lot of pies. It's all done, so now I'm back to communicating.
ALEKS went well, I liked it as a lab activity. My class has a 40 min lab in addition to the regular 80 min block schedule. ALEKS was good for reinforcing basic skills and it let students practice the new concepts at their own pace. They were cooperative about working on it (for the most part) and the lab time was well run. There was no increase in their final exam grade compared with last year, though. I think it helped them, but it didn't translate into higher grades.
This was also the first year that I put all of my course materials online. The part that worked the best was having my class notes available. I used a SMART Board in class and exported the day's notes as a pdf. Student used those regularly. The ck-12 online book was only marginally successful. Part of the problem was that I didn't have the entire book ready at the beginning of the year. I had it about 90% done and I finalized each chapter as they year went along. They didn't particularly enjoy having to download a new version each chapter and they got a little negative about it. I still think it's a good idea, though. We are going to be changing our curriculum around next year for our first try at the Common Core and the flexibility of the online book really lends itself to that. I will have it done at the beginning of the year this time.
ALEKS went well, I liked it as a lab activity. My class has a 40 min lab in addition to the regular 80 min block schedule. ALEKS was good for reinforcing basic skills and it let students practice the new concepts at their own pace. They were cooperative about working on it (for the most part) and the lab time was well run. There was no increase in their final exam grade compared with last year, though. I think it helped them, but it didn't translate into higher grades.
This was also the first year that I put all of my course materials online. The part that worked the best was having my class notes available. I used a SMART Board in class and exported the day's notes as a pdf. Student used those regularly. The ck-12 online book was only marginally successful. Part of the problem was that I didn't have the entire book ready at the beginning of the year. I had it about 90% done and I finalized each chapter as they year went along. They didn't particularly enjoy having to download a new version each chapter and they got a little negative about it. I still think it's a good idea, though. We are going to be changing our curriculum around next year for our first try at the Common Core and the flexibility of the online book really lends itself to that. I will have it done at the beginning of the year this time.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Thinking...
So the year is clicking along and I'm trying lots of things and reading about lots of things. Where am I on using technology in math class? It's very clear that there is a use in the teaching of teachers. I learn so much from the blogs I read. Tomorrow's lesson plan on factoring has two activities that I read about in blogs and one that I found at NCTM last year. I save ideas using a mind mapping program I found in a blog, there have just been so many good suggestions out there. I also think it's useful to post my class material online. I take class notes on the SMART Board and I post those along with the worksheets on my class web site. There is a nice record there for anyone who is ill and it's helpful for students who just want to look at things again at their own pace.
Just how useful is it, though, to use technology to help individual students learn? So many things cost money and I'm starting to wonder if I'm not just bought into some Silicon Valley get rich scheme. I think ALEKS is a great tool in lab to help students learn at their own pace, but it costs $30 per student per year. I'm writing a free online book for algebra 1 at ck12.org, but not all of my students have access to it at home. I print out the homework for people, but I feel funny making a lot of online book work required if every student doesn't have a computer at home and it's expensive to level the playing field there. I'm intrigued by formative and summative assessment programs that track individual student progress and keep students testing only where they need it. This would also be easier if everyone had their own tablet or Chromebook or whatever. Not cheap... I think there is a lot of potential in this new connectedness, but I'm trying to think critically about products that deliver value for the money.
I'm also starting a new class where students learn about STEM careers and this pilot program is one to one. I'm using technology in a whole different way there. I'm showing them how to make a personal learning network around their career area of interest, I am encouraging a lot of time online. They will also be shadowing STEM professionals in my community, I'm hoping this combination of hands on experience and online learning will be a valuable experience. I blog about this class at ehsstem.blogspot.com
Just how useful is it, though, to use technology to help individual students learn? So many things cost money and I'm starting to wonder if I'm not just bought into some Silicon Valley get rich scheme. I think ALEKS is a great tool in lab to help students learn at their own pace, but it costs $30 per student per year. I'm writing a free online book for algebra 1 at ck12.org, but not all of my students have access to it at home. I print out the homework for people, but I feel funny making a lot of online book work required if every student doesn't have a computer at home and it's expensive to level the playing field there. I'm intrigued by formative and summative assessment programs that track individual student progress and keep students testing only where they need it. This would also be easier if everyone had their own tablet or Chromebook or whatever. Not cheap... I think there is a lot of potential in this new connectedness, but I'm trying to think critically about products that deliver value for the money.
I'm also starting a new class where students learn about STEM careers and this pilot program is one to one. I'm using technology in a whole different way there. I'm showing them how to make a personal learning network around their career area of interest, I am encouraging a lot of time online. They will also be shadowing STEM professionals in my community, I'm hoping this combination of hands on experience and online learning will be a valuable experience. I blog about this class at ehsstem.blogspot.com
Thursday, February 28, 2013
ALEKS
ALEKS is working really well. We have been using it in algebra 1 lab every other day for 40 minutes and the students are great with it. They have accepted it as part of the routine and they are happy while they do it. It seems to me that they are better mathematicians as a result of all of this structured practice, but I don't have any data to support this. Their midterm grades were no different from typical, I will also check again at final exam time.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Latest version of CK-12 Algebra book
The latest version of our class' textbook has been uploaded to Scribd. It is classroom ready up to and including Chapter 6
EHS Algebra 1
EHS Algebra 1
Standards Based Grading
I'd like to pilot some technology based implementation of standards based grading next year. I'm intrigued by MasteryConnect. I wonder if the Cognitive Tutor program by Carnegie Learning allows for that sort of thing. I think this would work best with one to one technology.
Carnegie Learning
Our math department is looking at the Carnegie Learning program for Common Core algebra 1. We like the overall flow of the books, we also like how modeling and problem solving are built right into the philosophy of the presentation. I also like a quote from the first chapter "Mathematics is the science of patterns and relationships". They start off with patterns so there is a connection between the course and making predictions with math. We have a few sample books, we will also be checking out the Cognitive Tutor program. If anyone has any comments on their implementation of these materials, I'd like to hear them.
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