Mrs. O'Brian's Math Journal

8.18.11

2011-08-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

What I learned:
Today we learned more about Tableau and how to create an interactive lesson for students to be able to find the story about some data and explore the date more in depth, and even come up with different/additional questions. This is something I can use in my class and will explore further :)

Found that our school website was easier to place the Tableau activity on - which is sweet because it is not blocked like many bloggers are :)

We also learned how to use GeoGebra as a tool for students to manipulate and work with mathematical data. The trick about GeoGebra is learning about all the tools and how to use the tools to manipulate the information so the students can interact with the information :) Can see using this to create graphs for students to work with data, and also for them to use to create their own - possibly for them to create and submit for another team to solve :)

Questions I have:
How to create lessons useable for all students, especially targeting at risk or special needs students... Thoughts? Feel free to e-mail thoughts to tobrian@entiatschools.org :) Thanks!

Entiat US Prison Populations

2011-08-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

If the Viz does not show, click on this link:

What is your first impression of this data? Provide details.

What is the main idea of this graph?

What is the difference between ‘on probation’ and ‘on parole’?

Select ‘on parole’ and ‘on probation’ and compare. Describe or explain what you see.

Why do you think the number on probation is higher than parole?

Find the percent of change for each of the categories:
Prison Parole Jail Probation
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2008

Is there a trend or pattern? What do you see?

What do these results mean?

Extension:
Look up and break down offences. What are the top 10 offences?

How many are repeat offenders in each category?

8.17.11 Addendum

2011-08-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

I really want to get students interacting with technology and data... plan on working with Tableau and help students work with data sets... need to become more comfortable with Tableau and the math... Robin, do you want to come teach Tableau to 9th grade :)

Would like to incorporate XBOX360 and Kinects to help students gather their own data and work with their data to learn more about math - my concern is that I can teach them the technology but not all the math that goes with :(

8-17-11

2011-08-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

What I learned:
Love the gallery walks :) I will use these in place of presentations for group projects. I already use a modified version for my digital design class where students walk around and see what other students have been working on, then they take turns making POSITIVE comments on the work they observed and ask questions about how a student accomplished the effect.

Love the Tableau! Thinking of how I can implement this in my classes to help students begin to look at data sets and find the story. Will start with pulling up data sets for them to play with, then have them work through finding data sets and creating own graphs and correlations. Way cool!!!!

Questions: Lots of information – no questions until I start implementing :)

Feedback for Jeb & group
Excellent work!!! Wow! So very cool and can see how students would really be engaged with the software and math involved :) Thank you!

Tony's 5C's Questions

2011-08-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

Tony’s… 5C’s (Concepts, Content, Clarify, Cut, and Construct):

What do you consider to be the biggest challenge in terms of mathematics, vocabulary, and the needs of your students?
Students often struggle with retaining vocabulary unless they/we can make connections to something they already know. It is a challenge to trim down vocabulary to just essential vocabulary in lessons, because often students need to know all of the vocabulary terms.

What are your thoughts about the kinds of words students need to use during math class?
Students need to be able to speak the language of math, just like they would need to speak the language of science or social studies so they have a greater understanding of the content/concepts. However, if the students lack the understanding of vocabulary/terminology, they may ‘speak’ the words and feel like they sound smart but not have any understanding/comprehension 

How did the 5C’s process help you think about vocabulary planning and instruction?The 5C’s process helps me understand the process for determining which terms students must know versus terms that are good to know, but perhaps not essential.

Tony – when are you coming back? :)

8.15.2011

2011-08-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

What did you learn?
Engaging students with technology and integrating technology into classroom is easier than I thought – who would have thought that video games would include math skills. Most students have some type of gaming console and could even do these learning opportunities at home and bring in the data.

Learned more about using Excel to analyze data and add-in options :)

What do you have questions about? Hmmmm?

What changes can you make to your curriculum to increase the math thinking and engagement – how we change what we are teaching to increase students’ math thinking and engagement?
I think if we can use and implement technology more in classrooms, students will be more engaged :) The trick for me will be to integrate the different content areas, such as math, science, and social studies into my technology classes to make the content more relevant.

Thursday - 8.12.2010

2010-08-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

What did I learn today?
The motion lab and proportion activity were great! It was interesting to find that the time for the pendulum doesn't change for the period swing; it is the speed the changes :) Crows apparently have great memories - they say elephants have great memories... The vocabulary refresher is always good, especially since we are focusing on vocabulary district-wide.

What questions do I still have with regard to content, technology, and pedagogy?
Comment - our group is discussing how we can get some of this technology into our school... a work in progress, but we think we could get one set and share it among the group :)

How can I apply this to classroom practice?
The students would like creating graphs to match those on a handout and also would enjoy the challenge of matching a graph.

The proportion lab with Mark would be a good activity to engage students in learning proportions and ratios :)

The vocabulary worksheet can be used to determine which vocabulary words need clarification and specific teaching. For some of our content areas it is difficult to eliminate/cut vocabulary... thoughts?

Wednesday - 8.11.2010

2010-08-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

What did I learn today?
We tested our hypotheses today and found that our thoughts were the opposite of what we had originally thought... guess that is science :)

The idea of using VoiceThread to help students review for a test is a great idea - having them comment on or answer questions is helpful, encourages discussion, and helps students to gain Century 21 skills... :)

What questions do I still have with regard to content, technology, and pedagogy?
Processing how to get math students in the field to gather data and play with it - really want to use hands on activities to help my struggling students be able to retain concepts.

How can I apply this to classroom practice?
Students playing with real data and experiencing variable conditions is an excellent way for them to retain and remember experiences which should increase student learning/retention :)

Tuesday - 8.10.2010

2010-08-10T13:31:00.000-07:00

What did I learn today?
The hands-on experiments were great - thank you! Using real data to find a slope was interesting.

What questions do I still have with regard to content, technology, and pedagogy?
What we are learning is all very interesting. However, there are several of us who do not teach advanced math or science. Could we do activities that could be adapted to MS?

How can I apply this to classroom practice?
Not able to apply this to my classes because it is way over my student's heads :(

Monday - 8.9.2010

2010-08-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

What did I learn today?
We learned about temperature probes, conducted experiments to gather data, refreshed on Fathom... I learned more about a graphing calculator and transferring data from calculator to be able to use it in Fathom.

What questions do I still have with regard to content, technology, and pedagogy?
Not sure yet - a lot to absorb and process :)

How can I apply this to classroom practice?
I think the hands on activities are very applicable to the students I teach. It has been my impression that students retain more when they are actually using math/science to do things.

Math Updates

2009-12-14T09:28:00.001-08:00

As the year progresses I am amazed at how slowly we are progressing. Do I push the kids or do I just keep plodding along? Am I helping them by going slowly? Are they being challenged?

For my lower students (2nd) we are working on the basics of fractions. I need to find some other more interesting ways to help them remember the different pieces. I found a couple of cool videos on TeacherTube - the kids liked Mr. Duey's rapping the best :) Today we are going to work with multiples and factors/factor trees.

My road trip students have been lagging behind, so I am pushing them to finish by this Friday, 12.18.09, so we can continue working on other things in January.

My WASL class was pared down so there are fewer students - hoping we can pick up our pace and complete units quickly.

For the 3rd and 5th period classes I have had the students research and prepare three (3) WASL questions/problems a day - one student is responsible per day, posted on the Wiki site and recorded in their planners. My 5th period class is doing very well with preparing their daily POD, the 3rd period class leaves a LOT to be desired :( Anyhow, when they prepare the questions, they then teach the problems to the class - works pretty well - opens up discussions of problem solving and helps them to see how other people solve problems - sometimes there are as many as 3 different ways to solve.

The other thing the kids are struggling with is showing their work. I have begun to dock them points for not showing their work in hopes that they will show their work/thinking to get a better grade.

12.2 Reading

2009-12-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

Day 2: Today we reviewed the vocabulary list together. I asked the students to say the words after I did, together. One strategy I told them that I use is to actually say words out loud that are unfamiliar so I can hear how it should sound. The lesson we are working on is about Greek theatre, so there are some unfamiliar words and pronunciations. The students were cooperative today, and the discussions were active. We talked about word families, and parts of speech (n, v, adj, adv) with examples. We concluded today working on underlining key pieces of information of each paragraph to write a one to two sentence summary of the paragraph - this is the focus of the first 5 lessons - to conclude with a written summary. Next week, I will have the students work on writing their own sentences and then we will do a group share. The group works well because the students all know one another and work well together, except for one who tries very hard not to participate... however, if this behavior continues, he will find himself in the remedial, remedial group where he will definitely NOT have any fun.

In asking the students how the lessons are going, they said surprisingly they were not boring, and they thought they were helpful :) Progress in just two days...?

12.1 Reading

2009-12-01T13:45:00.001-08:00

Reading, at last :)

Today, after an extended hiatus from the reading intervention program, we will once again begin.

Due to some confusion about how and what to do, plus student-led conferences, we have not been doing our reading intervention groups for over a month - since early October :(.

Our group will be focusing on comprehension. We will be using the Rewards Plus Social Studies program. We will be skipping some of the activities and focusing on vocabulary, reading, and writing summaries. Figuring it will take us 2 weeks to get through one lesson because we only meet for 30 minutes on Tues. and Wed. afternoons.

Day 1: For the vocabulary, I plan to begin by front loading the vocabulary, pronunciation and definition as presented in the text. Then I plan to have the students highlight the words as I read the text. This is all the time we will probably have for one 30-minute period.

Day 2: Review the vocabulary, do the rest of vocabulary exercises, have the students read the story.

Day 3-4: (Next week) After the long break, I expect I will need to review the vocabulary and pronunciations, then we will review the text/story, and begin talking about the summary...i.e., what is different between a retelling and a summary...help them pick out the main points. (This will be good practice for me as well since I tend to get caught up in retelling rather than summarizing.) Then they'll write their summary - think we'll have them do a pair-share.

Follow-up - Day 1:
Well, today went pretty well. The students were receptive to what we did ;) We went over the vocabulary first, talked about common words, made a list of the common words on the board, then had the students highlight vocabulary words in the story as I read it. After reading it, I asked the students to circle new words and words they were unsure of the meaning. We went around the room, I circled in my book the words as well. I had them use paragraph and line references which worked pretty well, then we discussed the words relating word parts to words they/we already knew, and talked about common things that we could relate to. We finished by having the students write the vocabulary words, not as a spelling test, but as a practice working with the words.

11.3.09 Updates

2009-11-03T18:01:00.000-08:00

Technology uses in class... Today I learned that I should be using manipulatives with my SpEd students... We are learning fractions, and using manipulatives might help them understand the concept. On Friday, I will have them do a Internet math game focusing on fractions.

My "Road Trip" Group is making progress - some are grumbling as I ask them to correct postings and am pushing them to be making more progress... time to start sending them chance cards. This has become a little more time consuming than I originally thought... wish I had this program from Knowledge matters called Virtual Business Retailing 3.0 or Personal Finance - perhaps I can get admin to purchase - both would definitely help with this group and my SpEd group to teach them financial literacy - and save me oodles of time!

The counselor came to discuss a couple of students today - asked about changing some of the less motivated students to a smaller group... I wonder if technology-type lessons would benefit these students? I'm not sure because they are fairly technologically illiterate :( However, with a smaller group of students I might be able to implement/use more technology with this group...?

2009-10-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

Today I set up blogs for my 11th-12th grade math students - mostly because I wanted to have control of these for future classes/projects. On Monday they will begin a road-trip project where they will be posting to their blog daily about their trip.

Blogs is a great way to follow students, but can be a little time consuming... especially if you get behind on the posts :)

At the WAMC conference this week we talked about technology resources - I am waiting for the compiled list of resources, then will implement more in my classroom :)

2009-10-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, this summer we learned a TON about using technology in our classrooms! We are off to kind of a slow start in my math courses for technology :( This Friday the students will be playing games to support what we have been learning.

The year got off to a rocky start - we went from a 7 period day to 6; I'm teaching 3 periods of math; two weeks into the year I became a SpEd math teacher; last week we began our reading interventions, I'm tier 2 interventions.... my stress level is finally starting to settle down a smidge as I get into the swing of the year... too many changes all at once :)

Although I have loaded Fathom, I have not had the opportunity to use it with my classes yet ;(

I have implemented blogging with my web design students :) Each project they do, I have them optimize the image for the web, then blog about what they did to achieve the effects. At first they grumbled; now they ask if they get to blog each day. They are getting better at it, and their posts are improving. If you are interested, I can forward their links to you - just so you can see how they are using them and what projects they are creating... :)

I set up RSS feeds to monitor their blogs... took a little manuevering to get everyone's working - interesting how when you give directions to write down EXACTLY what is in the address bar, they hear something totally different! The feeds are working well and I have even figured out how to subscribe to their blogs so I can leave them comments. It is a really effective way to give them feedback and to get their perspective on assignments :) This is also a great way to share their projects with their parents and for them to begin electronic portfolios :)

As for the wiki, I started it and have created some things, but have found it is somewhat limiting. I will be creating pdf files for my vocabulary lists due to the limitations of the columns/tables. I have used it to post assignments - have shared it with my web design students, but not the math kids yet - hoping to move more towards that very soon. One problem we found was that my web design students could not copy the list and past it into their blogs?

My three math classes each are maintaining a notebook - I decided not to grade them, but to allow them to use them as a resource. I need to be more intentional about adding vocabulary, but for now, they seem to be working fine. The students are bringing them to class each day and by doing the vocabulary and notes, posting the vocabulary in the classroom, intentionally using the vocabulary even my SpEd students are getting them :)

My wiki address is http://obrianmathjournals.wikispaces.com/

My only questions would revolve around good math game sites for my struggling students.... I will be searching tonight since I promised them since they were doing such an outstanding job, we would do math games on the computer tomorrow :)

Sunflowers

2009-09-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

This is a large image of a sunflower that we modified using
the optimization panel in Fireworks to reduce the file size and load time.

Digital Web Design Blogging

2009-09-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

My Digital Web Design class is using blogging to post learning :) I subscribed to each of their blogs, manage them through a RSS feed, and am able to post comments/feedback on assignments directly on their blogs. The students are learning to use technology in a variety of ways, writing down their learning and I can easily follow. Very Cool!

2009-09-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hue
Chroma
Tint
Tone
Shade
Complementary colors
Analogous colors
Contrasting colors
Texture
Graphic Design Principles
Three types of balance for color, shape and position
The three lines of symmetry

Class assignment posted on wiki

Microsoft

2009-08-13T13:52:00.004-07:00

(1) How do they currently use technology in the classroom, if at all? If so, what technologies? How many students have access to PCs at home?
As primarily a tech teacher, my room is a computer lab. I have 22 (9-year-old) PCs in my room. Most of our students have access to PCs at home, possibly 10-20% do not.

(2) Is their school leadership supportive of their individual use of technology in teaching and learning? Yes

(3) Where did they get information about ICT in the classroom or about technology (before your class, of course!)?
I'm a BE/tech teacher so I have acquired knowledge through trial/error, exploring, and pushing programs to do what they are advertised to be able to do.

(4) Would they be interested in connecting online with other teachers from around the state/region/world with similar interests?
Yes

Summer PD

2009-08-13T13:52:00.003-07:00

Blog 3: Ideas for next summer PD

Mixing in with the science and seeing some real-life application cross-over lessons.

More to come....

Robin

2009-08-13T13:52:00.001-07:00

Blog 2: What do you want/expect/need from Robin as she observes or visits your school this year?

What are my options? I will have three different levels of students this year - 9th, 10th, and 11th-12th graders. I want to implement journals in my room and think I will do blogging for most of it, plus have students keep notebooks for diagrams and vocabulary to be used/available for testing...

Will you be doing observations? Would you prefer to teach a lesson?

Professional Development

2009-08-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

Blog 1: Ideas for Professional Development Sessions during the school year
For PD over the course of the year, I would prefer weekends. I have 7 weekends already committed to the University of Washington - Puget Sound Writing Project and can give dates if need be.

Practical, hands-on math activities - help make connections between math and the real world - answering the unending question, "When am I ever going to need this?"

More training around the power standards. Additional time to explore/understand the technology tools available.

Thursday

2009-08-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

1. Describe something you learned
I learned some cool ways to teach probability.

2. What do you still have questions about or would still like to learn?
I still would like to learn more about RSS feeds so I can incorporate them into my math journaling project. Would like to explore using technology (cell phones) in my classroom a little more - will revisit the activities in "Toys to Tools" for more ideas.

3. What applications are there to classroom practice?
Getting the students out of their seats, doing hands-on activities is a good way to get them to buy into activities. Need to figure out ways to make the learning more meaningful because ALL of my students are struggling math students (& usually reading too).

Wednesday

2009-08-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a day. I learned more about lines, intercepts and using formulas. The interactive worksheet for demonstrating order of operations is really good. Since I have a computer lab as my classroom, I will be able to use the spreadsheets to enhance student learning. I am interested in learning more about RSS and other web 2.0 options - thinking it would help draw reluctant students in.

The more I learn, the more I realize I need to learn. I'm thinking I need to come back to school and retake math courses - Thanks Angie :)

Digital Natives is who are future/current students are. Although there are two schools of thought around student multitasking, I think they do multitask. They are bombarded with information constantly, therefore, they are constantly processing information - perhaps incorporating into their understanding or perhaps they are filing it away for a later time. The reality is, students do listen to music, watch tv, text, twitter, etc. while they are in class.... all the while supposedly listening and usually they are listening because when called on, they can tell you where they are. So perhaps we could compromise and consider that some students can and some cannot multitask.

Tuesday

2009-08-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

1. Something I learned today was the learning progression process. I am interested in working through this process to learn how to use this tool for my students. Mary Jane, have you ever considered using this as a handout for students, incorporating the Marzano graph in the student feedback section....? The slope intercept application was great. Helping students see lines in a different way.

2. What do you still have questions about or would still like to learn?
Robin/Mary Jane could you give me some tips on setting up math journals. I have three classes I'm teaching this year and want to implement them - I like the blogging and have computer access, but also think they need to have pencil/paper for vocab and graphing/examples... thoughts?

3. What applications are there to classroom practice?
I think the learning progession has huge application for classroom practice. The questions about the graphs in Fathom are also beneficial. I would have to work through this some more and determine where my students are to be able to implement in my classroom. I think these graphs are more real-life and would interest my older non-traditional students. I'm willing to give it a try :)

Monday

2009-08-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

At the end of each day you will be asked to answer at least 3 questions:

1. Describe something you learned
I learned about blogging.

2. What do you still have questions about or would still like to learn?
Our big question for today is what we will be doing during the institute... our purpose?
How do you use the RSS feed?

3. What applications are there to classroom practice
I am looking at implementing journals in my classroom - this is a great alternative and I think the kids will really like it.