For my latest grad school assignment I decided to try something a little different. Our assignment was to examine the online course management system Moodle and develop a presentation using a digital tool of our choice. I decided to use a website called Xtranormal which creates animated videos to words that you supply. It took a bit longer to create than I anticipated, you have to create a dialog, pick a setting, choose characters, and give your characters hand gestures and facial expressions, but it was fun to work on.
The end product is, of necessity, not as detailed as you could make a website or does not have a point by point explanation using a PowerPoint or VoiceThread. Instead it has to sound conversational and the point needs to come across in that conversation. To that end I tried to throw some realistic elements into the conversation which is between two female students, one who just came from my class. These came in the form of some self deprecating humor, the use of my student shortened nickname Mr. Mo (I am stuck with it whether I like it or not), and a little interest in boys from the female students.
All in all I enjoyed putting it together and I do think Moodle is an excellent tool to be used both in and outside of classrooms. I use it myself in my current classes and I am going to be teaching a summer technology class to math teachers which will use Moodle as our base technology to explore online technologies for specific subject areas.
Here is a link to my animated video:
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11550077
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Differentiated Instruction and Universal Design for Learning Reflection
I went to grad school for two main reasons. The first was so that I could add technology to my classes to make my instruction better and help my students to reach further than they previously had. The second was because I wanted to give myself career options. I wanted to be able to have the option to look for a technology job within a school district or even look at a job with an online high school or community college. This class had the most immediate impact on both of those reasons.
While I have implemented many ideas from my other classes, many of those changes were small or gradual. This class happened to come right at the transition between semesters at school which seemed like a perfect time to create a Universal Design in my classroom and use that design to differentiate instruction. I also got the wonderful news (slight sarcasm) that instead of my expected classes for the semester, I would be getting repeater classes and not just any repeater classes but repeaters for year-long algebra and year-long geometry which meant that my students did not even pass the first half of either algebra or geometry. I knew that if I taught these classes they way I teach my other classes almost every student would get left behind. I couldn’t afford to go in with this mindset so I greatly modified my normal teaching approach and decided that each student would work at their own pace. I would have every student make progress instead of leaving students behind who have been left behind several times previously in their math careers.
Technology has been a great help in the differentiation of these classes. Because I have twenty students who are all at different places in the curriculum I can’t teach a regular lesson. On days when I am unable to use the computer lab (3 days a week) I run myself ragged trying to help every student and teach twenty different lessons. It is much more difficult that I thought it would be, especially since I thought I would only have fifteen or fewer students. When we are in the computer lab students are much more capable of learning without my help using the learning options I have created online using the math curriculum software Odyssey or online tutorials managed by Moodle course management system. This leaves me free to focus on certain individuals each day or bring students together in small groups to focus in on a topic that will be useful for all of them.
I have had differing amounts of success with this approach in class. Many students are working well in the system I have created for them while some struggle with the freedom that they have to work at their own pace while still pushing themselves. One of my two classes needs much more guidance so I have to take the time to tell them every day what they need to work on and finish that day. If I don’t many of them will not do the work. My other class is much more independent. If I touch base with most of those students once a week they are fine to continue working on their own.
So it is obvious that my in class adjustments have been huge with the implementation of differentiated instruction. The impact on my other career options has been equally important. Much of what I would like to do, especially if I found a job at an online high school would be working with a classroom management system like Moodle and having students who worked at their own pace throughout a course. In my current classes I have been able to design online classes and see how students work through them, but since my students are all in the computer lab, I can still interact with them face to face as well.
The one part of the class that did not have much of an impact was the social networking we were supposed to do as part of the class. It isn’t that this would not be a useful area to look into, but using Google groups and having some issues with Google docs, the social network for this course never really got off the ground. Instead it became more of a dumping ground for required classwork. In previous courses wikis had been used to accomplish the same basic tasks that were completed in this class. In fact, one of my group members created a wiki when we were first having trouble with Google. In the future, if I wanted to have a place to share ideas I would feel more comfortable using a wiki. This summer I am probably going to teach a technology course for teachers at a summer math institute and I recently talked to one of the organizers about using a wiki to share ideas for that class. We will use this wiki as our social network and technology tools respository.
While I have implemented many ideas from my other classes, many of those changes were small or gradual. This class happened to come right at the transition between semesters at school which seemed like a perfect time to create a Universal Design in my classroom and use that design to differentiate instruction. I also got the wonderful news (slight sarcasm) that instead of my expected classes for the semester, I would be getting repeater classes and not just any repeater classes but repeaters for year-long algebra and year-long geometry which meant that my students did not even pass the first half of either algebra or geometry. I knew that if I taught these classes they way I teach my other classes almost every student would get left behind. I couldn’t afford to go in with this mindset so I greatly modified my normal teaching approach and decided that each student would work at their own pace. I would have every student make progress instead of leaving students behind who have been left behind several times previously in their math careers.
Technology has been a great help in the differentiation of these classes. Because I have twenty students who are all at different places in the curriculum I can’t teach a regular lesson. On days when I am unable to use the computer lab (3 days a week) I run myself ragged trying to help every student and teach twenty different lessons. It is much more difficult that I thought it would be, especially since I thought I would only have fifteen or fewer students. When we are in the computer lab students are much more capable of learning without my help using the learning options I have created online using the math curriculum software Odyssey or online tutorials managed by Moodle course management system. This leaves me free to focus on certain individuals each day or bring students together in small groups to focus in on a topic that will be useful for all of them.
I have had differing amounts of success with this approach in class. Many students are working well in the system I have created for them while some struggle with the freedom that they have to work at their own pace while still pushing themselves. One of my two classes needs much more guidance so I have to take the time to tell them every day what they need to work on and finish that day. If I don’t many of them will not do the work. My other class is much more independent. If I touch base with most of those students once a week they are fine to continue working on their own.
So it is obvious that my in class adjustments have been huge with the implementation of differentiated instruction. The impact on my other career options has been equally important. Much of what I would like to do, especially if I found a job at an online high school would be working with a classroom management system like Moodle and having students who worked at their own pace throughout a course. In my current classes I have been able to design online classes and see how students work through them, but since my students are all in the computer lab, I can still interact with them face to face as well.
The one part of the class that did not have much of an impact was the social networking we were supposed to do as part of the class. It isn’t that this would not be a useful area to look into, but using Google groups and having some issues with Google docs, the social network for this course never really got off the ground. Instead it became more of a dumping ground for required classwork. In previous courses wikis had been used to accomplish the same basic tasks that were completed in this class. In fact, one of my group members created a wiki when we were first having trouble with Google. In the future, if I wanted to have a place to share ideas I would feel more comfortable using a wiki. This summer I am probably going to teach a technology course for teachers at a summer math institute and I recently talked to one of the organizers about using a wiki to share ideas for that class. We will use this wiki as our social network and technology tools respository.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Integrating Technology Reflection
I am happy with the GAME plan I worked on. I still need to be more intentional using online inquiry. I think it could be a great way to get students more involved in their learning of math. During weeks six and seven of the course I also saw some exciting possibilities using online collaboration, especially with professionals who can share the importance of math, and digital storytelling. I can use both of these tools to facilitate both of my GAME plan goals. The digital storytelling will be extraordinarily helpful “to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity” which was my second goal. Working with students to help them visualize math problems and then showcase those visuals in a story that they can share with will be a very powerful tool.
For me, the thing I will come away from the class with that was a brand new idea is digital storytelling. Some of the different ways I could use it in my class to bring out the creativity in my students and to get them to feel more comfortable and confident with story problems are very exciting.
I will continue to spend more time getting my students to work on online inquiry but my most immediate adjustment to my instructional practice will be to build a digital story lesson into my next unit which will be systems of equations. This unit if perfectly timed because some great story problems come from systems of equations.
At this point I am ready to continue working on the GAME plan that I have put in place and I am going to make it a goal to add a few more goals on the GAME plan before the beginning of the next school year.
For me, the thing I will come away from the class with that was a brand new idea is digital storytelling. Some of the different ways I could use it in my class to bring out the creativity in my students and to get them to feel more comfortable and confident with story problems are very exciting.
I will continue to spend more time getting my students to work on online inquiry but my most immediate adjustment to my instructional practice will be to build a digital story lesson into my next unit which will be systems of equations. This unit if perfectly timed because some great story problems come from systems of equations.
At this point I am ready to continue working on the GAME plan that I have put in place and I am going to make it a goal to add a few more goals on the GAME plan before the beginning of the next school year.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
GAME plan for students
As a reminder, the GAME plan process is to set Goals, take Action, Monitor progress, and Evaluate and extend. This week we were asked how we were going to use the GAME plan process with our students to help them develop proficiency in the technology standards NETS-S.
Looking at the technology standards for students and teachers, if a teacher is dedicated to using technology and meeting the NETS-T, the students in class will naturally become more proficient in the technology standards NETS-S. Because of this, I do not think that I am prepared or willing at this time to use the GAME plan to help my students develop technology proficiency. Instead, as their teacher, I will use the GAME plan to continually incorporate different aspects of technology into my class which will cause an inherent trickle down effect that will have my students become more proficient with technology.
I like the GAME plan and think that I am going to incorporate its structure into my math lessons, which, while teaching a math class, is where I think I should have my students setting goals. I am going to use the GAME plan with my students at the introduction to each math unit. I will have students write down in their notebooks at the beginning of each notes section, what their goals are for the unit and what actions they are going to take to accomplish those goals. At the end of each class period I always have my students do a reflection about the material taught that day. I am going to incorporate a monitoring piece into their daily reflection so they can evaluate where they are and what they need to do to maintain or get back on track. Then I will have students evaluate their GAME plan with each test and offer extension projects for those who have not met their goals.
Looking at the technology standards for students and teachers, if a teacher is dedicated to using technology and meeting the NETS-T, the students in class will naturally become more proficient in the technology standards NETS-S. Because of this, I do not think that I am prepared or willing at this time to use the GAME plan to help my students develop technology proficiency. Instead, as their teacher, I will use the GAME plan to continually incorporate different aspects of technology into my class which will cause an inherent trickle down effect that will have my students become more proficient with technology.
I like the GAME plan and think that I am going to incorporate its structure into my math lessons, which, while teaching a math class, is where I think I should have my students setting goals. I am going to use the GAME plan with my students at the introduction to each math unit. I will have students write down in their notebooks at the beginning of each notes section, what their goals are for the unit and what actions they are going to take to accomplish those goals. At the end of each class period I always have my students do a reflection about the material taught that day. I am going to incorporate a monitoring piece into their daily reflection so they can evaluate where they are and what they need to do to maintain or get back on track. Then I will have students evaluate their GAME plan with each test and offer extension projects for those who have not met their goals.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
GAME plan progress 3
What have I learned so far?
I have learned that it takes me more time to put an online activity together than I thought it would. The first time I tried to get an online activity ready I budgeted an hour to the task. I found that this was enough time to prepare all of the websites that I wanted my students to look at and set up the basic structure on my Moodle page. What I was not able to do was prepare any forum sections for each website that the students visited. I was running into writer’s block trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to ask my students as they went through the online activity. In the future I need to make sure that I give myself more time and more lead time to make my activities.
What new learning goals will I set for myself?
Looking at Nets-T the next goal that I want to develop is 2c which is to create personal learning experiences. This ties in well with my other goals and is the next step. When I fully implement online learning I would start each year with more directed activities and slowly work to give students more freedom to do independent investigations.
What learning approaches will I try next time to improve my learning?
I need to work to tie online activities in with classroom management. Students can only have the freedom to do independent investigations if they are held accountable to be doing their work. I can’t bring my students to the Grand Canyon and have them tight rope walk across, the results would be disastrous as most of my students would fall off and gain nothing. I need to make sure my students have a bridge with guard rails that they can walk across. They can still see all of the majesty before them but they know they are responsible to go across the bridge.
I have learned that it takes me more time to put an online activity together than I thought it would. The first time I tried to get an online activity ready I budgeted an hour to the task. I found that this was enough time to prepare all of the websites that I wanted my students to look at and set up the basic structure on my Moodle page. What I was not able to do was prepare any forum sections for each website that the students visited. I was running into writer’s block trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to ask my students as they went through the online activity. In the future I need to make sure that I give myself more time and more lead time to make my activities.
What new learning goals will I set for myself?
Looking at Nets-T the next goal that I want to develop is 2c which is to create personal learning experiences. This ties in well with my other goals and is the next step. When I fully implement online learning I would start each year with more directed activities and slowly work to give students more freedom to do independent investigations.
What learning approaches will I try next time to improve my learning?
I need to work to tie online activities in with classroom management. Students can only have the freedom to do independent investigations if they are held accountable to be doing their work. I can’t bring my students to the Grand Canyon and have them tight rope walk across, the results would be disastrous as most of my students would fall off and gain nothing. I need to make sure my students have a bridge with guard rails that they can walk across. They can still see all of the majesty before them but they know they are responsible to go across the bridge.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
GAME plan progress 2
In the past week I have done no further implementation of my GAME plan so this will have to be an overview of the process as a whole.
1. How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals? I am still on pace to introduce inquiry lessons at the beginning of the year next school year. I have already identified some lessons that I could modify and make into mini investigations to train students in what is expected of them when they do investigations in math class. I also have prepared a couple of investigation activities for later in the school year that, even though they are not complete yet will be by the time I am going to use them.
2. What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice? After using one of my plans for an activity at a math content meeting and watching math teachers struggle with what I thought of as a basic activity I realized that I need to make sure, especially in the beginning, that I am very explicit with all of my instructions. In addition when I use logic puzzles to assist in teaching a topic I need to spend time in the days leading up to the actual activity introducing the logic puzzle so students become comfortable with the puzzle before it becomes tied to the curriculum.
3. What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen? I still need to learn how to respond to students who use activity time as a time to slack off. I need to look at what procedures I need to put in place for when I have students who are not on task.
4. How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs? I do not see a need to adjust my plan at the present time.
1. How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals? I am still on pace to introduce inquiry lessons at the beginning of the year next school year. I have already identified some lessons that I could modify and make into mini investigations to train students in what is expected of them when they do investigations in math class. I also have prepared a couple of investigation activities for later in the school year that, even though they are not complete yet will be by the time I am going to use them.
2. What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice? After using one of my plans for an activity at a math content meeting and watching math teachers struggle with what I thought of as a basic activity I realized that I need to make sure, especially in the beginning, that I am very explicit with all of my instructions. In addition when I use logic puzzles to assist in teaching a topic I need to spend time in the days leading up to the actual activity introducing the logic puzzle so students become comfortable with the puzzle before it becomes tied to the curriculum.
3. What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen? I still need to learn how to respond to students who use activity time as a time to slack off. I need to look at what procedures I need to put in place for when I have students who are not on task.
4. How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs? I do not see a need to adjust my plan at the present time.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
GAME plan progress
So far so good with my GAME plan. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I have already attended Moodle training so I have access to Moodle and can create my own online classroom using this online course management software. Soon after my training we had a math teacher meeting at our school. In my district many of the math departments are in a program called Mission Possible and as part of that program each school hosts a math meeting on various topics. Our school was presenting on exponential functions and I suggested that we look at some online activities to share at our meeting since nobody had done that before. My fellow teachers liked the idea and I was in charge of preparing the online part of our meeting. I decided that I was going to take all of the different material that I found and create a webquest using Moodle for our meeting. During the meeting we only looked at two parts of the webquest, an applet and a flash game of the Towers of Hanoi which was used for an activity, but I created the whole webquest as if I was preparing to use it in class. Now when my class gets to this unit on exponential functions I will already have a webquest ready for them.
My second goal was to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. During the short week before thanksgiving I always do a lab about hovercrafts. Students have always enjoyed this lab and it really solidifies my students understanding of proportions and direct variations. This fun activity is one of my most successful at inspiring student learning. I am trying to work on student creativity by having students make word problems of their own for each topic that we cover. Often times creating problems in Algebra is challenging because you can’t pick any numbers you want if you plan to have an answer that makes sense. For each lesson I am spending a little time showing students how I come up with problems for that lesson and then guiding them through the creation of some of their own problems. It is hard for my students to figure out how to make problems and be creative in math class but they can be creative and if they understand how to make a problem, solving other problems becomes much easier.
The one thing I have not done is combine my two goals together and inspire creativity in response to some of the digital learning experiences I am creating. This is my next step in the implementation of my GAME plan.
My second goal was to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. During the short week before thanksgiving I always do a lab about hovercrafts. Students have always enjoyed this lab and it really solidifies my students understanding of proportions and direct variations. This fun activity is one of my most successful at inspiring student learning. I am trying to work on student creativity by having students make word problems of their own for each topic that we cover. Often times creating problems in Algebra is challenging because you can’t pick any numbers you want if you plan to have an answer that makes sense. For each lesson I am spending a little time showing students how I come up with problems for that lesson and then guiding them through the creation of some of their own problems. It is hard for my students to figure out how to make problems and be creative in math class but they can be creative and if they understand how to make a problem, solving other problems becomes much easier.
The one thing I have not done is combine my two goals together and inspire creativity in response to some of the digital learning experiences I am creating. This is my next step in the implementation of my GAME plan.
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