Tech Tip #2 - Teacher Use of Google Hangouts (Free App within Google Apps for Education - GAFE)

We want our students to connect with people outside of our school. They need to see what it is like in other areas of the United States and beyond.  When you only see the little square of land that is your neighborhood, you don't know what your life could be like elsewhere.  You can't see the opportunities that may be just beyond the edge of the neighborhood. We don't want our students to be limited in their dreams and goals for the future.

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Tech Tip #2 - Teacher Use of Google Hangouts (Free App within Google Apps for Education - GAFE)

Hello ...,

Google Apps for Education allows Teachers to connect with their students, parent and other classrooms worldwide.  Why would we want to do this?  

Teachers want their students to see the world around them but logistics limit this ability in many cases.  Through Google Hangouts, teachers can

• During the Global Read Aloud (October 3rd - November 11th, 2016)
• https://theglobalreadaloud.com/
• During this time teachers can set up a Google Hangout with another classroom in Michigan or beyond to read one of the chosen books to both classes.  During this time, students would be able to talk with the other class about the book.  ( I am currently putting together a list of grade level teachers across the US to connect with our teachers that wish to take advantage of this opportunity)
• During Mystery “Skypes” (we would use Google Hangouts instead of Skype)
• https://education.microsoft.com/connectwithothers/playmysteryskype
• Teachers set up Mystery Skypes with individual teachers based on their schedule and needs for their class.
• This activity allows teachers to do pre-work with their students on questioning strategies, narrowing down search criteria, map reading, etc.
• This activity, also, gives students the opportunity to meet and learn about other classrooms and cultures outside of Pontiac.
• They practice soft skills when working with the other class.

• Parent communications
• For parents that aren’t available to come in for Conferences, teachers can use a Google Hangout to connect in a virtual face to face environment.  (Parents are not required to have a Google account to participate)
• Experts
• Bringing in experts in a particular field is generally difficult to do, but many will work with Teachers to do a 10-30 minute Google Hangout.
• Maybe Authors of Children’s books will talk with a class for 10-15 minutes without the speaking fees normally charged when coming into the classroom or charge a small fee.
• Professional Development
• Many teachers use Google Hangouts to connect to their PLN (Professional Learning Network) or other experts to learn, show, teach how to use a particular app, strategy or brainstorm ways to tackle a learning area of growth.

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I'm hoping to bring many of the teachers that I have talked with about these opportunities along for the ride.  I know my superintendent is very excited about the possibilities that these opportunities provide our students.

Tech Tip #1 - Administrative Use of Google Classroom (Free App within Google Apps for Education - GAFE)

I have started to document some of the cool features of being a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) School for my Superintendent and Curriculum Director in the form of Tech Tip emails.  As I send them out to my Administration, I will post the email contents here as a reminder of the extension to our classrooms that using GAFE provides.


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Tech Tip #1 - Administrative Use of Google Classroom (Free App within Google Apps for Education - GAFE)

Hello ...,

Google Apps for Education allows Administrators to maintain a class within Google Classroom with Teachers as the students.  Why would we want to do this?  

This would allow a class to be set up with Ms. Williams, Ms. Jones and Ms. Janell as the co-teachers. Teachers would be students in this class.

• Surveys, forms, articles, training, flyers, etc. that are normally sent out through email would be assigned as an assignment in Classroom with a due date.  
  What this alleviates:
  • Teachers searching their email to find the survey, form, etc. to fill out.
  • Teachers not knowing or being able to find the due date.
  • Admins sending multiple email reminders to teachers before and after due dates.
  • Admins searching their email for responses from teachers. (Responses can be recorded, uploaded, etc directly into one location - Google Classroom).
  • Attaching actual files to emails. (Files can be linked directly from Google Drive to the assignment in Google Classroom. No more multiple version of files that untraceable.  Can force the creation of an individual file for each teacher from a template document to each teacher’s account, if individual copies are needed.)

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Kindest regards,

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As I document these exciting opportunities for teachers and administrators, I am also talking with teachers and administrators, documenting their needs and concerns, contacting experts in these areas, and creating training for them to easily implement these tools into their classrooms for the benefit of our students.

Flash Blog - Balancing workload

I implemented a new structure for my flipped mastery classroom a couple weeks ago. Students are still getting used to the structure and mastery pieces, so we have not implemented many activities in this unit. We have brought in quizzes almost every day on 2 concepts at a time. This Unit I am allowing students to retake quizzes as many times as it takes to get them correct before the test in a week and a half. 

In talking with students, we have decided to move quizzes that normally happen on Mondays to Tuesday or Wednesday. We meet every other day. We also decided to move the quizzes to the last 10 minutes of class instead of the first 10 minutes. That allows students to ask questions throughout the class period. 

As we move into our next unit, I will be adding in more activities and less practice problems. That will allow them a chance to make a connection to the material other than rote practice. My goal is to not give 50 practice problems and an activity, but to narrow the focus of the practice problems and use the activity to solidify the learning. 

So balancing the practice, activities and quizzes will encourage learning and limit stress.  Instead of trying to give students full sets of everything in the time allowed in class. Sometimes less is more.    

Flashblog - Homework grading a new way

I have been teaching Algebra 2 for over 10 years and have been through various methods of HW checks.  When I started, I checked homework everyday for correctness and entered the grades accordingly.  The policy was no late work, so students who didn't turn in work could do it for the learning but not for credit.  Of course students did not go back and do the work for no points.  The students that did the work, hand it in and received comments on their work didn't correct their work either.  This was a loss of learning possibilities, so I started requiring students to make corrections to their incorrect problems and handed back in to be checked.  Students were continuously handing work back in for a recheck.  This became extremely overwhelming for so many students and I had to keep going back to old solution keys and was grading all the time after school.

I tried just giving students credit for turning it in completed with work.  I didn't check the actual work, just counted up the problems that were completed fully.  Most students would turn in work for the lesson, but some would try to pass off an old assignment for credit fir the new assignment.  When it got to be time for the test.  Surprise!  Students who had done work and not checked it or copied their friends or turned in an old assignment performed poorly on the assessment.  So conferences went something like this..."Billy is doing great on his homework, but when he gets to the test he freezes and does poorly.  Billy is just not a good test taker."...and then I would have to reiterate that homework is not checked for correctness but for completeness.  I told them that their child needed to check the answers and correct their mistakes on their own before turning it in.  That didn't seem to work very well.

I wanted to be able to assess student learning without having students continually turn in their homework so I could grade their papers every night.  Students work better in my classroom when they get to work with peers of their choosing and ask me questions when they are stuck.  So my policy now is that students are to work in teams of 3 that they get to choose.  The team is responsible for helping its members learn the material and ask me if they have questions.  In order to receive credit for their work, each student needs to complete a one questions quiz on the material individually with me.  They will have 1.5-2 minutes to complete the problem.  If they get it wrong, we will talk about what went wrong and then they are sent back to relearn the material.  They are not allowed to quiz on the next material until the previous quiz has been passed.

This allows me to work with students individually, get to know what they need and allow students to learn responsibility for their learning and not just a piece of paper to hand in.

What is Working in Class Today

Looking back at this past semester and forward to the next semester that starts on Tuesday, Schoology has started to work.  Using Schoology to trigger the assignments has helped me keep track of where students are in their progression through the Unit, as well as, help students recognize where they stand with the material.  The Unit is currently set up to open each folder and assignment in a linear progression.  It starts with the first folder and the first video assignment.  Once students post pictures of their note packet filled in, then the WSQ opens and they can fill in their summary and questions.  Once that is submitted, the assignment opens.  Students submit pictures of their classwork and then the next folder opens for the next topic.

I need to use the information I gain from the WSQ more strategically in class. At first I was responding to the questions individually, but I would like to take a group review approach in class the next day for common questions.  That way I can clarify and get more feedback on what isn't understood through the video notes.

I, also, use Interactive Notebooks to review the concept at the beginning of class.  It gives students one page of procedures and examples to put into a bound notebook that they can use as they progress through my class, then PreCalc and on to Calculus.  For students who have used the notebook, it has been useful.  I am still working to get students to understand that you cannot just remember or ask for every procedure to be explained each time you need it.  You have to refer back to something.  That is the biggest struggle I have with students and notes.  They need to use the notes and not just check it off as an exercise in writing things down and then just set them aside.

This coming term, I will be allowing students to fast forward past material that they already understand and move on based on quiz results.  If students do not pass out of the material, they will detour into video notes and practice for those topics.  I need to find a way to structure this in Schoology along with allowing students to choose the application problem that they are going to complete next in teams.

Lots to think about!

ACT Preparation

Working in a school that values ACT scores that will allow students to be accepted to top universities has pushed me to think about ways to prepare students for these high stakes tests.  In my old school, we would give students practice problems to complete and then go over the answers as a class.  Many students did not pay attention to the explanation and did not get better on the same type of question if it were given later.

I want to work toward a more personal approach to the thinking of individual students.  The tests are written so that there are a variety of ways to solve each question, so I want to leverage the thought processes that each student already has about math.  That means that students may solve a problem in multiple ways in my class, but as long as they can solve the problem we have a basis for getting the question correct.  Based on the students background and understanding, I can work with them to find more efficient ways to solve the problem based on their own understanding.  Without knowing where they are starting with the problem, I can't steer them appropriately.

If I direct all students to use the same process or algorithm, then I may have students that are missing an important component and they will not be able to follow the process.  I know that students who are in Algebra 2 should have a base understanding to build on, but the fact is that they could pass their previous class with a 70% and have holes of understanding that are critical to moving forward with a particular method.  Sometimes you have to go old school and just create a chart and find the answer or skip the problem and come back to guess.

In class, we use ClassKick to complete ACT Prep Warm Up questions.  The app allows me to give students individual feedback on their solution.  Students then go back and correct their answer.  If the answer still isn't correct, I give more feedback and the process continues until the questions are correct.

My hope is that each student will get the help that will propel them forward and earn a respectable score on the ACT.

Using Coding in the Algebra 2 Classroom

Making connections between Algebra and the real world is important. Coding is one way to both show students mathematical thinking, since it needs to be fairly explicit when writing code, and show how what they do daily is actually Algebraic thinking and modeling.

I started using bootstrapworld.org to get my students practice in setting up code for evaluating numeric expressions.  This practice reinforced the use of function notation.  After students were comfortable with numeric expressions, we moved on to using function calls to generate shapes that were either outlined or solid in multiple colors.  The next phase is to have students write contracts (function declarations) for functions that are or will be defined.  While working on these contracts, student will being to understand the format of arguments coming into the function as well as coming out of the function.  We can tie these contracts with the actual functions we use in Algebra.

Once students have this general understanding, they will start using their knowledge of transformations and coding and create code that will move a shape around the screen and change it's characteristics.  This will be the transition to coding from the Algebraic background.  Students will have the opportunity to import an image of their choosing and then create a game that will move the image based on a known function.

The opportunity to make the Algebra come to life, so to speak, will hopefully make students more engaged in their learning and increase their understanding.