The All Important "What did I learn" Post

Before I get started I'd like to say that our professor this quarter was one in a million.....no a billion!  She waxed poetic about what life will be like for us in the classroom, she gave motivational speeches with passion, and she used playing cards in class.  Now, to me, this is a world class educator with nary a selfish bone in her body.  Most importantly though she held her ground against one of the largest cohorts that has come through the system in a long while...and even got us to be quiet a couple of times.

So what did I learn this quarter? 

Well, the most important thing I learned with math is to stick with it.  For me, teaching it was the tough part.  I spent two weeks teaching math to my 6th grade class and they felt more confused after my teaching than before.  Here we are at the end of the quarter and I've been banned from ever teaching math again in that classroom.....wait, that was just what I thought was going to happen.  The truth is I talked to the kids about some of the things I was learning in our college math class, such as Miras, and the awesome website gapminder.com.  They realized I actually know what I'm talking about, and sure enough they began to listen.  With the gapminder discussion we were able to pull some data from one of the graphs and the students were able to come up with their own thoughts about what the numbers meant.  It was a treat watching them use their life experience to wonder what might be going on around the world.

On that note (cool things), we learned a plethora of neat tools that will help us in the classroom:

• Gapminder and Miras have already been mentioned
• The Data and Story Library
• This awesome website is used in conjunction with another piece of graphing software we were introduced to called Fathom.  It is pricey, but the students get to use a virtual manipulative concerning shapes of all sizes and forms.
• Tangrams!!  These little buggers cause a good size headache one afternoon as I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to make a square out of a bunch of other shapes.  It was like in Apollo 13 when Ed Harris said "I suggest you gentleman invent a way to put a square peg in a round hole": 

To make it worse we then were asked to make a dinosaur out of the shapes.  Yes, based on the trouble we 37 adults had putting it together, I think it is fair to say middle school students will have just as much of a challenge. 
• Tinker Plots:  More headaches waiting to happen, but this time virtually.
• wolframalpha.com:  I told several teachers about this math information site and all had the same reaction, "I don't want the kids getting the answers".  It is a great check up for them, and quite a learning tool if you can make sure they understand that the numbers are just answers, but ideas.

We did read a bunch of articles to help us think about how students see math in our classrooms and like the psychologist I will never become, I was intrigued most by an article we read late in the quarter dealing with how students see mathematics.  One option was that students feel they must be "obedient" to math as the rules are not to be tampered with.  You could make the case 10 + 10 is always 20 in our realistic world.  But you sure can confuse a computer programmer with that speak as they are used to base 2.  The main idea I took from the piece is that students who fell obedient to math are almost certain to steer clear of it after they graduate.  These could be students with phenomenal math brains who are stuck thinking math has reached its limits.  They know all the rules by heart now so what is going to be exciting about a career in math?  This idea made sense and basically yields us as teachers to prepare ourselves to show our students that math is dynamic and can be used to solve a lot of the worlds problems.

Now if it could only solve the problem of my grades and West-E Test scores.  Oh yeah, I get to do that!

Thanks for the great quarter.

Wolframalpha said what?

What did I learn today?  The real question is what DIDN'T I learn today.......actually no, let's stick with the original question.

1)  Do you ever feel like you want your grade school students to organize data for you and then organize it again....and then present it for you?  Well you are in luck because there is something called Tinker Plots that allows students to take data sets from almost everything in the world (We studied size, weight, color, etc, of cats).  You can plot it out on graphs in any way you see fit.  Classroom wise this provides a visual for organizing data on a graph.  Pros:  It is awesome.  Cons:  It costs $$.   Booooooo!

2)  Geometry riddles.  Our teacher simply handed us a piece of paper and said go.  It reminded me of a time when I was in 4th grade and our teacher handed out a sheet with 20 items on it with the instructions "Please read through all of them before you begin".  Of course I didn't read through them all because some of the items on the list were pretty fun...like jump up and down while you say the alphabet, or create a collage out of 5 magazine pics.  It felt like a really creative use of time.  Then I got to #20 which said "This was a test to see if you read all 20 before you began.  Please sit quietly and watch the show".  Let's just say it left a mark in my memory.
     Anyhoo, this geometry piece of paper listed out about 7 characteristics of a shape.  Our job was to go through each one of them and figure out what shape it was referring to.  In the time before technology this was a method of getting the kids to understand how to work with information about different shapes.
      It brought up the question of whether a teacher would drop something like this on the students BEFORE or AFTER he/she taught the lesson.  I would push for before as the activity would give you a great idea about what the kids already know about geometry AND it would get them thinking about it.  As long as the teacher followed it up immediately with the answers to the riddle the engaged student would be ready and waiting for the main idea behind the riddle.  The disengaged student usually becomes engaged when the answers are being given.

3)  Wolframalpha.com!!  I'm amazed I hadn't heard of this thing before as it is like wikipedia for math.  You type in a math equation and it spits out algorithms, graphs, formulas, and more helping you understand what math lies behind the problem.  Chemistry?  Heck yes.  Type in H20 and you get all the information you ever wanted to know.  Cool site....and it is free!!

4)  An article we read brought up the question of what "personality of math" do we want our students to have.  It broke the groups into three parts, creative, obedient, and social.  I was intrigued at the claim that "obedient" math personalities (ones who see math as a set of rules that must be followed at all times) tend to understand math but rarely pursue further education in math.  It makes sense as they see no further to go once they understand all the rules.  I really enjoyed the social personality because it hinged on one of my core believes that students learn best when they are teaching the subject themselves.  If they have to talk through a topic with others then they are learning it.  By the nature of being social, they have to be creative in how they get their message across.  Therefore a combination of a socially creative math personality is where I think I would push my students to go once I fit myself into a classroom!

5)  Constant rate of change:  No matter what you use to measure one item.  The proportion will always be the same.  You are measuring the same thing so whether you use fingernails, spoons, or chipmunks to measure an item, the rate of change (slope of the line) will always measure up to be the same.

Cheerio

Can't seem to finish that bite?

This blog is written for anyone that needs to calm down and chill. You realize you have bitten off more than you are comfortable chewing, but you need to finish the bite because it tastes so good. The muscles around your jaw are beginning to tire, just like when you accidentally took too much Raisin Bran as a kid, and you need support to get through your bite. Well ladies and gentleman, today is your lucky day as you will read about ways to chill without even leaving the compass of your own house. Let's Blog!!

5 Things you can do to chill!!

Click Here for today's soundtrack

1) Vicci Martinez - A Seattle native who's songs scream "Chill out man!!"  She plays bars and pubs across the state all year long, has opened for musicians such as Sting, and is pretty darn chill herself!

http://www.viccimartinez.com/

2)  Drive to Portland - IFC launched this new series recently about a little city south of here where "young people go to retire".  Hilarious!

 

3)  Get Smart!  The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit educational organization created by Salman Khan. With the stated mission of "providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere", the Academy supplies a free online collection of over 2,000 videos on mathematics, history, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and economics. (Wikipedia).  Anything you have ever wanted to know about anything...maybe even how to manage your time and priorities better...hmmmmmm.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

4)  Speaking of Probability - We've all heard of "Let's Make a Deal", but did we know that behind door # 4 was math?  Heck no...but after seeing this I've seen the light, will always choose to swap.....AND realize my brain is not focused on chewing the bite, helping my muscles feel better.  It is called the Monty Hall Problem...named after the host of the aforementioned TV Show.



5)  A Quick way to calm your brain is Ice Cream....specifically Safeway Select French Salted Caramel Ice Cream.  The stuff has over 230 calories per serving but it delivers a taste explosion like nothing you have ever had in your mouth...plus it'll cool your muscles as you continue to work on your bite.



BONUS - Write a Blog.  When you find yourself feeling overwhelmed because your bite was more cumbersome that you first thought, write down your thoughts SOMEWHERE.  Whether it be on the Internet, on your home computer, in a notebook, of your dearest diary.  Get the ideas clouding your brain out of there and throw in some Vicci Martinex, Colbie Callait, or even some of the new Metallica songs (they totally sold out). 

Funny for the day:

"Tell me" said the tourist to the local yokel. "Will this path take me to the main road?"

"No sir!", replied the man. "You'll have to go by yourself!" 

Cheerio

I'm touching my ITouch, and I like it!

We've been using the Apple ITouch for the past month with students in our classes as well as at home trying to see how we could make its brand of technology useful in the classroom.  Originally I had kept my focus limited to just that, in the classroom.  I was looking at math apps, science apps, even spelling apps while thinking linearly about how I would have students play them in the classroom.  Over the past month I've been introduced to Google Earth on the ITouch, a NASA app that lets you follow space missions, and a game titled "The Oregon Trail".  I've started thinking about how the class as a whole could benefit from having just one of these things around.  If I end up in a 5th grade classroom discussing U.S. History then Oregon trail becomes part of my unit plan., if I even mention the planets, the moon, or any other astronomy topic then the NASA app has something to offer.

The fact that this device has inspired so many people to write so many programs (apps) that there is pretty much something for everyone at this point.  I know I am still just breaking the ice with what teachers can do with technology and I am glad that my school has decided to use these devices. 

Literacy Blog Analysis Continued

Part of my Literacy class is to spend some time getting to know the reading and writing capabilities of a 4^th grader.  I have been able to sit with my 4^th grade student now for three 30 minute sessions where I have been able to gather a fair amount of data on this topic.  The following is my analysis thus far:

What have I learned about my buddy’s needs?

In the first meeting we focused on writing, spelling, and words.  He showed he was average for a 4^th grader in his capability to spell and read words based on the “Spelling Inventory” but his writing samples proved he misspelled about 15% of the words on the page.  His penmanship was lacking in the traditional sense.  I noticed his writing was “hurried but artsy”.  With this in mind I ask that my student’s first need, SLOW DOWN, come on down!!  He gets so focused on the idea in his head that he seems to want to get it on paper very fast.  His penmanship suffers and so does his spelling.

What have I learned about his interests?

Designing cars, eating pizza, and talking about being creative top the list for my student.  In fact, when I needed a new writing sample from him I asked him to write me a paragraph about what he will be like when he is older he wrote down many details of how he will design cars with his neighbor.  In terms of books, he doesn’t have much interest in reading itself as writing and being creative seem to cause his face to light up with more energy.  I brought in “The Little Prince” for him to read and he said he liked the story, but his energy wasn’t matching his words.  My student, in a nutshell, is interested in the creative idea that is meandering through his mind at that particular point in time.

What have I learned about his capabilities?

Reading – He read two passages averaging about 58 CWPM, WAY below the 4^th grade average for fluent reading.  This was consistent across the board with his out loud reading to me over the three sessions.

Comprehension – When inferring information he was superb at remembering the context of the story.  When it came to specific items from the story he did need to look back on a couple of them but he showed he did understand the passages.

Spelling – His Spelling Inventory Error Guide showed him as average when it came to focusing on spelling.  In his writing samples his pen got ahead of his brain as his spelling slipped to about 15 of every 100 words incorrect.

Writing – Beyond the penmanship, he always seems to have an idea in his head.  Convention wise he knows punctuation, but could use some help using examples to back up his ideas.  For example…he talked in detail about how creative he was in his original writing sample “All about me” but didn’t back up the claim with any evidence.  “My 9 page story about the talking dog was a great way for me to show my creativity” would have helped me as a teacher understand more of what he meant.

What am I thinking now about his lesson plan?

He will write up a story of his choice making sure to use 25 words that I provide him.

Learning Objectives:

1. To speed up his reading
2. To slow down his writing (or find  away to get him to immediately read over his work for grammatical errors)
3. To better his spelling and understand misspelled words can change the meaning of his creativity for others.
4. Use examples as evidence for his ideas
5. Get him to read books about car design.

Materials to be used:

1.      Paper and pencil

2.      List of 25 common misspelled 4^th grade words

The Royal Tangrams

Our professor hit us with these awesome puzzle manipulatives today called "tangrams".  There are seven pieces to each one and they fit together to make a myriad of shapes.  They are great if you were blessed with spatial awareness.  If not, they will cause migraines.  We were asked to make a picture of a giraffe using the seven pieces and most of us eventually figured it out.  Then she threw this awesome nugget of information at us by saying "now make it twice as large".  The math behind it says if you double the height and width of an object you are squaring its area.  Therefore for every one piece of tangram used to make the original giraffe you would need FOUR pieces to match the identical area of the double sized giraffe.  It was a wicked game, in fact that should be the soundtrack for the rest of this blog.

What else did I learn today you ask? 

A Fathom:  Not just a unit of measurement equal to 6 feet, or 1.83 meters.....or the lead track to the Little Mermaid Soundtrack, it is the name of software used to graph data in the math world!!  It is expensive as heck, but if you want to teach data in an organized and thoughtful fashion then please check it out:

http://www.chartwellyorke.com/fathom.html

The Data and Story Library:  http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/DASL/

This place has a plethora of statistical data for you and yours. We were showed a chart that showed the amount of calories in approx 100 hot dogs tested.  Next to this info was a list of how much sodium was in that same hotdog.  Once again, I have given up hot dogs, but I have gained some new respect for those people we honor by giving them jobs finding out how much sodium and calories are in hot dogs.

How this will help me elucidate my students in the classroom?

With Gapminder, the Tangrams, DASL, and fathom, my students will have statistical data pouring out of their ears.  They will be able to read data, decipher data, and come to conclusions about data.  That is what all of this leads to, and I love it.

Questions?

Why is it all the good things in life cost a lot of money?

I'll have more thoughts on this as I put it into use over the next couple of weeks.

Good stuff today.

Taking a bath in math

Math Thoughts Week 5

What did I learn (this week)?
From my placement classroom I learned that multiplying decimals is harder to understand these days.  I remember the moment in 5th grade when my teacher told me, "Student, if I give you a tenth of a tenth of a piece of Little Caesar's pizza...would you want it?"  "Heck yeah" I said.  Then he gave me a bit the size of my thumb and the class laughed.  I looked the teacher directly in the eye and said "Now you listen here.  You WILL divide this piece by .01 and you WILL give me 1 WHOLE piece of pizza!!"  He smiled back at me, took the piece from off my desk and ate it himself.  To this day I'm waiting for my piece of pizza....but I remember the math!!
My point?  I taught this lesson last week to my class and they had a LOT of trouble with it.  This doesn't sit well with me because I'm not sure if it is the way I'm teaching it or if it is just something that takes some time.  Half the class has it, the other half is confused even more than when I started.  The good news is they are all asking questions, and THAT is something I can work with!

What questions do I have?
We are creating a lesson plan involving probability that will be interlaced with science.  What's wrong with me?  (At this point I really don't have any pending questions).

Implications for the classroom?
For me if I can find a way to mix this interdisciplinary lesson together and make it a success, the implication will be a huge confidence boost for my abilities in the classroom.  My nerves fray thinking about mixing an English/Art class.....yikes.  But Math and Science I think I can get a handle on.