Further Reflections on iPod in the Classroom

I am sad to say that the only real use I got out of the iPod this quarter was for my benefit in the classroom and out.  At the beginning I had such grand plans, percolating ideas of splash, creativity and color for the kids in my classroom; thinking of many possibilities for  differentiation and for helping less literate students express themselves.  I had apps downloaded and ready, but had little time to share them with my third graders, and felt that it would take too much time to get them up to speed with it.  Looking back now, I wish I had chosen one or two kids to work with over a period of weeks.  I am sorry that it didn't occur to me until now.  That might have worked.

I will say my students did enjoy being in charge of it, holding it gingerly as it were some sort of holy grail, when I needed to record them for literacy assignments. And the dictionary came in handy on more than one occasion.

There were novelty functions too: a stopwatch, a compass, a level, google world, word play games and math games.  The difficulty was the small key pad which makes typing time consuming, the small screen which limits collaboration; and the lack of video capabilities.  In my own classroom some day I can definitely see making daily use of that feature alone.

I should mention that my kids loved it.  Through their gaming I came to realize how big some of the games are - especially Angry Birds and Cut the Rope.  Their symbols are becoming part of our culture.  Personally I enjoyed Unblock Me and Peggle, not that I had much time for them this quarter!

Final Reflection for Math

Here I sit looking back at all of my math blogs this quarter and thinking about the lesson that I taught today to my third graders.  I had to teach them about equivalency in fractions, and how to make equivalency chains, something I had trouble making relevant for them other than the learning it will lead to.  I wish I had read my blogs last night before my lesson - I may have tried to figure out how to do it in groups.  I was trying to allow each student to have their own "Aha" moment, and somehow group work didn't seem to fit it.  Now looking back, and thinking about how I learn, those moments can happen anywhere, and probably faster when in kid speak for them.  Oh well, a missed opportunity.

Back to my learning this quarter - the thing that stands out for me to carry to my teaching of math (and other) lessons next week is reflection.  Taking this moment now to think about what I taught from the standpoint of what the students actually learned is illuminating.  It makes clear for me where I want to go next. There are a few cultural things I want to work in over the next little while: group work with roles that make everyone active and responsible in the group; asking questions - no "I can't" or "I don't know."  Having students explore their curiosity and savor their learning explicitly - this is the culture that I want to create.

My tool belt of online resources has grown exponentially from this course as well from the likes of discovering Kahn Academy, Geometer's Sketchpad, and Fathom to playing with online maniupulatives.  And the data sites are extraordinary playgrounds for interdisciplinary lessons - especially Gapminder and Tableau.  It was instructive and fun to see Robin's excitement about and use of apps to make class management easier, from attendance checking to RSS feeds of our blogs.

I also appreciate the readings, which I will keep: Creative Writing and Math; Creating Meaningful Work, Group Worthy Work, Orchestrating Discussions and Don't Say what a Kid can Say.  Each one easy to read with many doable and worthy ideas.  Thank you for those.

Lasting Math

Today we reviewed the 4 key parts of a lesson plan:
1.  What do the students already know?
2.  What do I want them to know?
3.  How do I want to get them there?
4.  Did they get there?  How do I know?
If we cover these bases well and keep coming back to them at the end of each day as assessment of our instruction, our students will surely benefit.

The wolframalpha website is terrifying and wonderful in the same moment.  If students have access to this "computational knowledge engine" in class or elsewhere, they may never actually have to learn the how of math.  This inspires me to further my explorations of relevance.  If I use this ready access to computational information as an impetus to make the students want to learn how to do it, to help them find how and why this math is used everyday, perhaps even talk about how and why it was dreamed of in the first place, I might get interdisciplinary in a very engaging way.

This relates somewhat to the reading for today as well (Exploring our Math by Leatham and Hill).  Helping students to "broaden their views of the nature of math" helps them see its value in real life activities and jobs.  This alone could draw their wonder toward deepening their own understanding.  I also appreciated how the authors talked about students expanding their own beliefs when they hear "other students express beliefs about math that differ from theirs."  I love those moments in particular where we actively take in information from someone else, evaluate its significance for us, and decide to change what we think.  Very Powerful.

Geometer's Skethpad!

OK - I have to admit that this is one of my favorite pieces of software that I have seen for having students play with complex ideas on a computer.  For a virtual manipulative - it is far and away the best I've seen (not that I have actually seen that many; and most of the ones that I have looked at were free).  I could have played with it quite a bit longer.  It was fairly easy to use, playful, useful and insightful once I got the hang of it.  In the Cohort, our ever efficient brains eventually led many of us to strategize about what shapes to use first and what versatile ones to save for last.  I can see how this would be a very effective adjunct to teaching geometry in class; actually better than most physical manipulatives I've seen.  If my school district does not already have it when I get there (have to be optimistic), I will lobby for it!

Technology in the Classroom

So what do I think of the itouch in the classroom?  Honestly, I have used it very little beyond recording student interviews and literacy assessments.  For those ends it has been very helpful to track information.  The students have enjoyed handling them while helping me record their work.  I would make more regular use of them if they had video capabilities. I can see videoing presentations, readers theater or other fun antics and sending them home to parents or to student files that they can keep for a portfolio.  I would also like to see students use them to create stories, but have not made it happen yet.  At the moment, I feel very limited by time constraints and have a hard time giving up the time it would take a student to get up to speed with an app that might be useful for them.  I can do so much with them in that amount of time, and let my assessment of their work guide my future instruction.  Perhaps these are the whinings of someone who feels overburdened at the moment.  Cheers to better uses of the itouch in my classroom by the next time I write.

Ideas for Supporting S in Literacy

1.   What have I learned about my buddy’s needs, abilities and interests?

When I first met S, her open face and ready smile put me immediately at ease.  She is excitable, talkative and eager to please.  When I first asked her about herself she told me that she liked penguins and pandas, M and Ms, painting with watercolors, reading and science.  She also told me that she likes to be clean and organized.  When she went on to share some of her writing with me, I noticed that she likes to move fairly quickly over the text (familiar because it is hers), reading with some expression in her voice.  A few times I heard her use a past tense verb where present tense was appropriate, and I thought there was a slight mispronunciation of a “d” or “t” as a “b,” but I could not confirm it as it was not consistent. 

Then she read from a text they were reading in class.  I have a sense that she is rushing her reading a bit, adding endings to words and naming similar sight words that don’t make sense, but moving on anyway.  When I stopped her and asked her what was going on in the story, she could not quite figure it out either through words or in the pictures.

I asked her about what she likes to read.  Immediately she said, “Ramona.”  When I asked her to tell me about the story she described details with interest and characters with insight.  There is a bit of a conundrum for me: she clearly understands some things, but completely misses others.  She gets the overall gist of passages, but not the details.

In subsequent reading time together I discovered that she loves to read and is proud of it: “I read 130 words per minute!”  As we began to do our own assessment I found that she can read some passages fairly quickly (just over 100 wpm) with fluidity and expression, but others are quite slower, sometimes even in the same passage.  This overall inconsistency seems to be related to decoding unfamiliar words, especially names and words over 3 syllables long.

In both the spelling and reading inventories I found that she likes to do them as long as she feels successful and wants to stop the moment it gets hard for her. When asked if she would like to go back to the text and look for the answers she didn’t remember, she politely says “No.”

Most intriguing to me over these past two meetings with her is her choice of reading materials.  She chose to read one of several “Hannah West” novels written by a local librarian and set here in the Seattle area.  The author writes with suspense that is difficult for S to understand, yet she reads on.  It surprised me that she continues to read when she seems to be missing big chunks of the plot.  (Then I just read Tovani and she tells the story of her friend that likes to read Anna Karenina every year and see what new insights he finds.)  I like puzzles, especially real-life ones like this one!

2.   As a result of this knowledge, what learning objectives and materials are you considering using for your next lesson?

If given the opportunity I would work with S on several fronts.  The first is the strategy of asking questions as I read.  This is a valuable skill to start growing for all readers and could be especially helpful to S right now.  I would model how I do it right from the start by looking at the title and through the pages of the text.  As I go on to read the text, I would stop to ask questions aloud.  Ideally, we would then move to guided reading groups so that students can give each other insight from their perspectives as well.  For the text, I would ask Maggie, her teacher, for guidance on a grade-level text and a group of students at similar reading levels. As they stop and voice their questions, I would write them down.  As they find answers I will ask for their evidence (informal assessment that will guide further instruction).  I want to make explicit the many clues we find in what we read. I would like to do this with both fiction and non-fiction.

Second, I would like to do a reading inventory of words that begin with “b,” “d,” and “t,” as well as a list of verbs, to see if I can pinpoint the problem in what I hear.  It may not show up in her reading a list of words, but I would like to see if it does.

Third, I would like to help her find a just-right book for her independent reading and check in regularly to see if she is understanding the text. She is very excited about reading and likes to think of herself as a good one.  I want to do what I can to support her where she is and promote her growth and development.  Any suggestions?

Mathematical Meanderings

Wow, I learned a few things today in math.  I've thought about using math journals both as an interdisciplinary tool and as a way to check for understanding, but must confess that looking through all of them each week, sounds daunting, not to mention potentially out-of-date with where they are now.  Today we talked about using online journaling thru RSS feeds.  That makes them seem more relevant to me.  I can find out the same day they write about their confusion and address is readily.  I appreciated learning that they should never be graded - I hadn't thought about that yet.  I mainly wanted them to help inform my instruction.

We also learned a few more tools to add to the toolbox:
* Fathom - a very dynamic graphing software that can even use data sets from the web!
* Data and Story Lab - on the web for finding interesting data sets.  I liked the idea of inspiring our students to be "data detectives."
* Geometer's Sketchpad - we hope to get a demo of it next week.

We talked more about the "Using Creative Writing and Literature in Mathematics Classes" article today. The idea of using multiple disciplines to get students to show their understanding excites me.  I'd love to give groups a video camera and have them tell their story or even explain how to do the math, so that the writing isn't even a block for them.  It could be illuminating and entertaining!