More collaborative blogging between HS and MS

By blogging buddy and colleague Jim Haynes at ACMS has been using his blog with me as a means to promote electronic interactions between his 6th graders and my 9th-12th graders.

Jim's suggestions given in an email are highlighted below.

"The first is a letter to a planetary leader explaining the benefits of a tilted planet to a planet without a tilt. They were supposed to describe seasons and explain how the tilt causes seasons in effort to persuade the leaders of this planet to either change their tilt or leave it alone. I don’t think I did a great job with this one, so the letters need work. It is supposed to be persuasive so if your students comment, have them focus on that piece of the writing."

"The second is a friendly letter to a younger student describing the phases of the moon. There is no persuasive piece in this one, just a simple 10 sentence paragraph that describes each of the 8 main phases of the moon. If your students comment on either of these, have them focus on the descriptions and details."

His post to the gl blog can be accessed here

My students are given the Jim's suggestions as well as my guidelines for replying:

1. address the student by his / her first name
2. write something positive about their blog post
3. critique / suggest something for improvement
4. "sign" your reply with your first name and last initial

Most students respond appropriately but for those who don't, then COMMENT MODERATION helps!

Thanks to Jim, his students and mine for this continuing interaction with ACMS and ACHS!

Doug

Voice Amplification

I am so excited that I recently received a REDCAT classroom audio system. This is a voice amplification system that allows my students to hear my voice regardless of where I am standing in the classroom.

Students also love getting a chance to try out the microphone for themselves! During English language development class, students have the opportunity to speak in complete sentences using the microphone. Students will begin with a sentence frame, "My favorite food is________ because _________." Students will take turns speaking and responding to each other. In order to ensure 85% engagement while one student is speaking into the microphone I have all the students repeat what was said using the child's name in front of their sentence, "John's favorite food is _______because_____." The students are very excited to speak in the microphone and to hear their friends!

During the month of January, I have been using something new in my classroom. It has quickly become my favorite piece of technology. The website is called . It is free math website that allows teachers to create a class. Once the class is created, you pick a grade and they have a predetermined list of skills based on six math standards: number sense, algebra, measurement, fractions, geometry, and probability (this may be different for different grades). Each standard is broken into sub-standards such as number theory basics, decimals, fraction concepts, addition concepts, introduction to algebra, foundations of geometry, area and perimeter, and many more. Each sub-standard is further broken into individual skills like angles and their classification, triangle classification, quadrilateral classification, decimals and factions, equivalent fractions, and so on. On the free account, the teacher is also allowed to pick a few more other skills. I chose addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division concepts from earlier grades for my students who still struggle with those skills. Every skill has over 30 practice problems that focus on that specific skill. The problems are all multiple choice. For every problem there are two or three hints for the student and the student also has the option of watching a video that explains step by step the concepts involved in solving the problem.
Each student receives a username and password and they are able to log on from any computer that has access to the internet. As they work through the problems, they submit their answers. From the teacher portal, I am able to look at the work students are doing on each standard, or each sub-standard, or each skill. I can view this as a class overview or just look at individual students. The report is also color-coded based on the percent of questions the student has answered correctly. Every week, I am emailed a report that tells me how active the class has been and the average number of questions answered correctly. Also, you can add parent emails to each students account and they will receive weekly emails with their student’s information.
I have found this to be incredibly helpful in assessing and organizing students into flexible groups for math content and small skills groups. Also, I have contacted many parents and if they have access to the internet, their struggling students can receive extra practice on specific skills that they are struggling with. I have many parents worry that they do not have sufficient math knowledge to help their students, but now they can watch the videos with their students and help them with the math.
While there are so many benefits with tenmarks, there are a few things that I would like to see changed. Because every question is multiple choice, I do have some students who are simply guessing at the question even though I ask them to show work on paper. Also I do not have enough headphones for the class and I have found that students are embarrassed to watch the videos when the whole class hears what they are struggling with. It takes a motivated student to really work and learn from the website if they are struggling with a skill. Also, the website itself is not one-hundred percent reliable. There are times that we are unable to work on it because it is responding so slowly and I have not been able to access student results for weeks at a time. Over all it has helped me focus in on my students needs and on what my students already know and keep all that information organized. I feel this is a huge benefit for me and my students.

January Blog

This January, I decided to have my students publish their three week writing project as a PowerPoint Presentation to share with their parents during conferences. They loved it! They had to complete their rough drafts, revising, and editing prior to being able to publish, of course, and it really excited them through the entire process. I had students who normally barely write in class taking their writing home and completing it for homework just so they could have more time to complete their PowerPoint.
I began the PowerPoint istruction with the bare minimum. I let them pick a slide design, and they then had to type all their writing into certain slides. (I had a break down ready for them as to what part of the paragraph(s) went on each slide.) Once all the typing was complete, I allowed the students to add on the "bells and whistles", such as font, pictures, and animation. They all worked so hard, almost every student was able to add these things! My students wrote some of their best writing, and their enthusiasm was unparalleled. It was fantastic to also watch them present to their parents as well. Now, I have them asking to create presentations for every project we do!

January Blog--Math Website

I have had my class working on the website enlvm.usu.edu. This is a website with many different computer activities that students can complete on their own. All you do is create a class and give each of your students a number. There are activities for grade 2 all the way up to trigonometry. This past month we have worked with the geometry sections. I really liked the geometric transformations. Most of my 6^th grade students could recognize a rotation, translation, and reflection before I did any formal teaching. These computer activities extended their knowledge of the 3 math terms and definitely challenged all of my students.

Smart Slate

So I have begun tackling the Smart Slate! I really enjoy using but admittedly struggle a bit with my hand-eye coordination. My focus tends to shift completely to the board vs the students BUT luckily they are so engaged with watching my "magic" on the board that my lessons have still been successful. As I approach proficiency with the Smart Slate I am eager for more ideas on how to integrate it into more lessons. I will post more as they come but please let me know how you have been using Smart Slate in your room!
Thanks!

January and beyond

Yikes- where has the month already gone? I have been thinking about my goals for technology in my classroom for the remainder of the year. I am sad that one of my goals has been my goal since October, but I still haven't figured out how I best want to use my class blog. Is it still a great idea to have students post or better to just post student work? As of now it has been just a place to post (and not as frequent as I want at that). I guess we shall see where the year takes it. Another goal is to get better at using the smart response clickers in my classroom. I have teamed up with a teammate and we have been doing every weekly reading test on them. I would like to use them for math assessments as well as get fast enough to create quick formative assessments to help drive my small groups more. I guess my last goal is to maintain and increase my use of our new computer lab with my class and my use of the smart board. I still think the smart board is such a great tool for student engagement, I do, and we do instructional times. So look forward to seeing how my technology goals pan out for the rest of the year!