Today wraps up Spring Break, traditionally a time for sunscreen and road trips. Thanks to the torrential downpour (humor me- I'm from California) the sunscreen wasn't necessary, but I was able to take an amazing road trip down and up the coast of California, pausing on the way back up to attend an amazing CUE Rockstar STEAM event. Before we dive back into work I wanted to share my major take-aways from this inspiring gathering.
What's With All Those Whiteboards?!
Lately there has been a lot of buzz about 360 degree math. This morning I attended Ed Campos' session to learn more about it. I mean, it is just throwing whiteboards up on the walls and having students do their work there instead of on paper, right? I was SO wrong. It is more than a shift in instruction, and even more than a new instructional strategy, it is a true transformation of what the math class looks and feels like.
With 360 Math, learning becomes collaborative, transparent, and most importantly a process where students are able to make quick revisions based on instant feedback. The teacher can stand in the middle of the room (hopefully you just had a big "aha" that this reduces the need for a "front" of the room) and provide instant feedback to students, identifying trends in misconceptions and truly teaching in the moment.
Students also benefit from incorporating movement into instruction. Ed kicked this up a step further in his presentation by incorporating Music Cues (a strategy shared by Matt Vaudrey where music is used during instruction to signal what the students should be doing at any given moment, including work time, countdowns, and transitions.
So where's the tech? In the nature of truly effective tech integration, it's there only when it's needed. You can further reduce the need for a "front of the room" by using a single iPad to project the problems you are assigning, and also project student's work. Take a pic of common misconceptions and load them into a shared Drive folder for further class evaluation. Use Doceri or iPevo Whiteboard to annotate on the images.
CUSD teachers- want to try this out in your classroom? Let me know! As you can see in the pics above, you can try it out simply by taping up small whiteboards or using poster paper! We can then talk about how I can help you pester the right people to get more whiteboards and transform your math class! "The Answer is Always a Spreadsheet"
The above title is a quote from the great Alice Keeler, which I come to believe more with every math training I attend. At #CUERockstar STEAM, the amazing, hilarious, and always entertaining Fawn Nguyen presented how to use Google Sheets to support algebraic reasoning with word problems. You might know Fawn already from her sites visualpatterns.org and mathtalks.net.
In the session she provided us with this list of word problems, and we were tasked with solving at least 3 using a spreadsheet. Through this process we were addressing several skills:
Locating information needed to solve a problem
Identifying relationships between quantities
Writing formulas to represent the relationships between quantities
Evaluating the validity of formulas
So much more!!
For example, let's look at the problem below:
In an isosceles triangle the unequal side measures half the length of one of the two equal sides. Calculate the perimeter if the length of the unequal side is 5 cm. Calculate the length of the sides when the perimeter is 80 cm.
Quick Tip: I like to either paste the word problem into a cell on the Google Sheet or insert a screenshot so that I don't have to bounce tabs to go back for information.
In order to solve this problem, I had to identify all quantities involved (part and whole) and use the relationship between these quantities to solve the two questions asked:
What is the perimeter if the unequal side length is 5cm?
What is the length of the sides when the perimeter is 80cm?
The answers are highlighted on the spreadsheet. While this is a question that could have been solved by writing and solving an equation, the Google Sheet allows you to really break down the relationship between all quantities involved.
Below is a quick screencast walking through how I creating the Sheet to the right. What benefits do you see to using Google Sheets? CUSD teachers- want to try it out? Let me know and let's do this!
Cute story alert: During my first year of teaching one of my students showed up on March 14 with a pie for the class. He insisted that it was pie day. I went with it, since I honestly can't recall a time in my life that I've ever said no to pie. It wasn't until I was in conversation with a veteran colleague that I realized that it was not Pie Day, it was actually Pi Day!
Every year math fanatics around the world celebrate Pi Day. While the day has been nationally recognized since 2009 (thank you, Wikipedia), it not only serves as a celebration of the constant Pi (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to it's diameter), it serves as a celebration of the beautiful world of mathematics.
At Monroe Middle School the celebration of Pi day goes beyond March 14. We've all heard of a Spelling Bee, but at Monroe they have a Pi Bee! All 7th and 8th grade math students are eligible to compete. Each teacher has five finalists (one from each class) who are invited to the final rounds. Yesterday at lunch I walked into a packed room of students quizzing each other on rehearsing the digits of pi. The two top contenders will face off in a final competition next week on the actual Pi Day, March 14 (3.14). Enjoy this video of our two finalists and join me in wishing them luck as they face off next week!
A little over a month ago I received this message in my inbox. Tears of joy, laughs of disbelief, and an inordinate amount of screaming into Voxer ensued. I knew that acceptance into the Google Innovator Program would be a life-changing experience for me, but most importantly I knew that it would enable me to truly make a difference for the teachers and students I serve.
I am a first year Math & Technology Coach in the first year that my position has existed in my district. Alongside my #CUSDrockstar math teachers and with a supportive IS/Tech team, I have been able to define my role and begin on a path that, unbeknownst to me, paralleled the tenets which are the foundation of the Google Innovator Program: Transform, Advocate, and Grow. As part of the application process, I pulled together a Vision Deck which identified a problem in education and my ideas for the beginnings of an innovative solution by asking "What if?"...
The academy provided the opportunity to dig deeper with potential solutions to the questions I asked in my initial proposal. In fact, many or my fellow Innovators dug so deep that they ended up switching projects! While I was tempted to hop on a team that was exploring the potential of creating a new style of school where learning is 100% individualized, I decided to stick with my math project, as I feel very fortunate to be in the position where I am working with a group of teachers who are willing to do whatever it takes to help meet their students needs as learners of mathematics with positive mathematical identities.
So the brainstorm process began. Believe it or not, there was method to my madness in the layers of graphic organizer you see to your right (please, don't judge me by my handwriting, I prefer to call it doctor-scribble). Blue is the problem and possible solutions, green is the solutions that currently feel impossible, and purple is the juxtaposition of the two that I will incorporate into the initial stages of prototype development. We examined a variety of ideation techniques, but the one that stuck with me the most is wishing, and examining what we can do to make these wishes possible. This tied into the concept of Moonshot Thinking, where we aim at a 10X improvement to what actually exists.
This was when I realized that I wasn't looking to just build a platform for my teachers to share resources and experiences with lesson design/implementation, I was looking to build a wide-scale tool that could benefit all math teachers and expand their expertise in going beyond the textbook, providing authentic learning experiences for their students; I want to give all students an opportunity to love math.
The scribbles above morphed into this:
In essence, I will build a collaborative platform where middle school math teachers can not only easily share lessons, but also share their experiences in implementation of authentic learning tasks, problem-based learning, and technology integration in mathematics, engage in collaborative and constructive dialogue, establish a professional learning network, and eventually receive flipped professional development. This would integrate with the already excellent existing resources from groups like MTBoS (the Math Twitter Blogosphere). The website would be a wiki of sorts, allowing for multiple contributors and crowdsourced creation.
As a Google Certified Innovator, I will receive the support of a fabulous coach (Sandra Chow), a mentor (TBD in the coming week) and the entire Google community. I know that for the next 12 months and beyond I will be truly supported to impact change in education.
As we wrap up January, a month historically know for setting goals, I have had many requests from teachers who want to incorporate more formative assessment into their instruction. This awesome goal stems from the fact that our CUSD teachers realize that no two students are exactly alike, and there is no one-size fits all type of instruction. When we are teaching, if we don't make time to assess what our students are learning and gear our instruction accordingly, then we run the risk of leaving many of our little mathematicians in the dust.
One of my favorite parts of being a math/tech coach is having the opportunity to sit with our CUSD teachers while planning and brainstorm how we can take instruction to the next level. In this post, I hope to gather the main "aha's!" that happened in some of the collaborative planning sessions I engaged in this month:
Many of our CUSD teachers have started using Kahoot, a gamified assessment tool, for whole class instruction. Over at Monroe Middle School, 7th grade teacher Minae Seog has started incorporating Kahoot into her station rotations. Rather than leading the Kahoot group herself, she has students who have demonstrated mastery of a concept facilitate the small group. These students then get to solidify their own knowledge by explaining concepts back to their classmates and she is able to focus in on meeting with a different group of students for targeted, individualized instruction.
Aha #2: Stop recreating the wheel in Go Formative!
Kathy Alsup, 7th grade teacher at Rolling Hills, discovered that almost all of the EngageNY/Eureka math exit tickets are already loaded into Go Formative and ready for you to use!
Click here to view a blog post on this and access the lessons!
Click here to access the full Go Formative library of assessments!
Aha #3: Go Formative doesn't have to tether you to your computer
Over at CMS, 7th grade teacher James Peng loves using Go Formative, but doesn't love the thought of being tethered to his computer. He is making Go Formative work for him by still floating the room during lessons rather that watching and monitoring all student activity from the teacher screen alone. He then uses the data generated on student performance to plan his next steps in instruction.
When Susan Smyth, 6th grade at Monroe, caught wind of this she had a brilliant idea of how to use the teacher monitoring features to actually free you up as a teacher. Why not use Go Formative as a station while you are pulling groups/running a lesson? You can monitor the group that is on Go Formative from the corner of your eye on the computer screen while you are able to work with another group!
Aha #4: Google Forms Speaks the Beautiful Language of Math with the GMath Add-on!
I'm surprised no one came to make sure that Christina O'Keefe (6th grade at Monroe Middle School) and myself were okay as we screamed in excitement during our planning session last week. Christina had been playing around with the GMath add-on in Google Forms, which allows you to insert graphs, equations, and complex math directly into your Form. Upon deeper examination of the tool, we discovered that it now also allows you to deploy GMath for student responses (woot woot!) and (drum roll please...) there is an option to use voice to text as well as handwriting/drawing responses. Game-changer!!
We have an upcoming opportunity to see how these tools (and more) are being used in CUSD classrooms to gauge student understanding during instruction. If you are interested in learning more, please join the upcoming session on Digital Tools for Formative Assessment on Tuesday, February 23! You can register at pd.campbellusd.org.
Please continue to let me know how I can support you!
On Tuesday mornings my alarm clock goes off extra early since I have the pleasure of weekly meetings with the 7th/8th grade Monroe math team every week at 7am. The team has held these meetings for as long as anyone can remember in order to make sure they have time to touch base, share resources, and use their collective brain to generate awesomeness. This morning's meeting was a special treat. 8th grade teacher Anna Lawrence declared, "I am going to try Marbleslides with my class today." Within minutes, the entire team had engaged in a sample lesson and began discussing ideas for classroom implementation of Desmos' latest tool. While Marbleslides utilizes the Activity Builder feature of Desmos (easiest way to sum this one up is the Nearpod of graphing), it takes it a step further by adding a gamification element. The goal is to get your marbles to slide by making necessary mathematical adjustments (today's lesson was on lines). For those unfamiliar with Desmos and the features of Desmos Activity Builder, feel free to click here to view my previous post for some background knowledge. But now... let's talk getting rolling with Marbleslides!
Since this was a new tool and parts of the lesson pushed deeper than the content already covered in class, Anna reminded the students that they would experience some frustration. They discussed how frustration supports their learning, and students were allowed to buddy up to work through these frustrations together.
It wasn't long before exclamations of "I got it!" started erupting around the room, and students were getting out of their seats to coach peers through the process. The room was alive with excitement around learning, and students were eagerly engaging in productive struggle.
Not yet sold? Check out what Dan Meyer and Michael Fenton have to say about Marbleslides! Please let me know if you would like help in planning and launching a Desmos lesson in your room and I would be more than happy to help. Using the Activity Builder tool, we could build a lesson together for any grade (yes 5th grade, even you!). Anna and I both agreed that having two of us in the room allowed for "collaboration in action" (her brilliant words, not mine) since we were able to discuss pedagogical ideas around implementation, trouble-shoot, and reflect together in real time.
As I think back on 2015, it has been an incredible year for professional growth and mindset shifts. The world of math and technology integration is so very new, and I am excited to work alongside our #CUSDrockstar teachers on the forefront of this endeavor to effectively integrate technology into mathematics in a way that enhances instruction and learning. One thing I know for sure is that this is not a path to be walked alone. I would like to take a moment as the year wraps up to share what I have learned from this year's Top 8 Influential Thinkers in my Professional Learning Network (PLN).
(Drum Roll Please)...
Ladies and Gentleman, I bring you my Top 8 Influential Thinkers of 2015:
Thinker #1
Jon Corippo
Twitter handle: @jcorippo
I don't know why I am honoring this man, because he has absolutely RUINED professional development for me. Jon is the Director of Academic Innovation for CUE (Computer Using Educators) and founded a unique type of professional development called CUE Rockstar Camps. At CUE Rockstar, all of the speakers are incredibly dynamic and knowledgable and sessions are small and hands-on. Ed tech is presented through integration as opposed to isolation, and the day starts late, includes a long lunch, and ends early in order to promote networking and expansion of your PLN. If you haven't attended a CUE Rockstar camp yet, do it! Corippo also gave some end of the year advice on Alice Keeler's blog that breaks down what needs to change in education so simply and succinctly it is almost frightening.
Thinker #2
Robert Kaplinsky
Twitter handle: @robertkaplinsky
Kaplinsky is a leader in math metacognition, transforming how both us and our students think about thinking in math. He speaks to depth of knowledge in mathematics and refers to rigor as not making math harder, but allowing for students to build a deep, authentic command of mathematics. He provides tools to distinguish depth of knowledge in math, and is a co-founder of openmiddle.com, a website that provides a wealth of "challenging math problems worth solving". As if this wasn't enough, he also has a problem-based search engine. In his Ignite speech below, Kaplinsky discusses productive vs. unproductive struggle, and how productive struggle accompanied with feedback produces gain, and unproductive just causes struggle. As educators, we need to show students how to learn and allow for productive struggle. Feel free to skip to 1 minute 30 seconds for the talk on productive struggle.
Thinker #3
David Theriault
Twitter handle: @davidtedu
David is a teacher and a true innovator in how he promotes bringing adventure into learning. I was fortunate enough to see David's Keynote speech at Fall CUE and to participate in his session at Voxer Ed Camp (a virtual Ed Camp hosted through the walkie-talkie app Voxer). In his Keynote he references how quick many can be to pull technology out of the learning adventure rather than teaching the real-life skill of using tech to learn. David says, "We have all seen the f* word on a desk, nobody took the desk away." He also advises us to take pictures daily at school and share out what's going on in your class. The sharing shows the students that what you are doing is "rad" and deserves to be shared with the world. He promotes opportunities for authentic learning in the classroom and is a true inspiration to those of us striving to bring learning to life. David shares his thoughts on his blog.
Yes, I realize there are actually two thinkers listed for number four, but together they are La Cucina Matematica and well, it's my blog and I'll do what I want. These two teachers/educational technology coaches would make David Theriault proud with the level of adventure they bring into learning. Between mullet ratios, Barbie bungee jumping and ziplining, and music cues these two certainly know how to put fun and adventure back into math instruction. John Stevens also promotes bringing real-life argumentative skills into the classroom by starting "math fights", or engaging in dialogue around mathematics using volume, eloquence, style, and tone (VEST). You can find great ammo for these fights at his site Would You Rather Math.
Thinker #5
Andrew Stadel
Twitter handle: @mr_stadel
At CMC North, Andrew Stadel gave a talk on Error Analysis that had many CUSD teachers eagerly running back to their classroom hoping for their students to make some mistakes. He encourages using student mistakes to prompt dialogue/discussion around why certain approaches might be used when tackling complex mathematical problems. He recommends strategies such as "My Favortie No" and structuring lessons based on common mistakes. On his site Estimation 180, he provides a wealth of resources for students to engage in mathematical discussion around real-life estimation activities by asking 4 simple questions; What's too low? What's too high? What's your estimate? What's your reasoning? Stadel shares his thoughts on his blog, which I highly recommend following.
Before I went to their session on becoming a connected educator at Fall CUE, I loosely used Twitter at conferences and was in one Voxer group which consisted of entirely local educators. I now am an active participant and facilitator in multiple Twitter and Voxer chats with educators around the country, and will be presenting on Expanding Your PLN at Silicon Valley CUE's T3 event and at National CUE. What was so transformational about this session at Fall CUE? Let's start with the presenters' infectious energy. They had us applauding for each other's Twitter handles, building interactive directories that shared our blogs, accomplishments, and expertise (you will find yours truly on slide 40), and actively contributing to an Ed Tech Coaches handbook. At several points during the presentation Cate was so overwhelmed with excitement she fell to the floor (literally). No one in the room wanted to leave the session without becoming part of this amazing PLN. Along with Matt Vaudrey, Cate and Rhonda founded ConnectedTL, a Twitter and Voxer group that allows teacher leaders to unite and collaborate. Come join a ConnectedTL Twitter chat on Tuesdays at 7:00pm PST using #ConnectedTL. You can also find resources on their Pinterest board.
#connectedTL
Thinker #7
#TOSAchat
Twitter handle: @TosaChat
TOSAchat and ConnectedTL often use the hashtag "#bettertogether" since these two groups work side-by-side to connect educators across the world. TOSAchat was founded by Ben Cogswell, Karly Moura, Joe Young and Kelly Martin, and is focused on connecting Teachers on Special Assignment in order to share resources, ideas, and inspiration. In TOSAchat, we often refer to the support we give each other and our teachers as "fluffy squishy love", since it is the type of group where you feel unconditional support from your peers. TOSAchat has both a Twitter and Voxer group, and hosts live Twitter chats on Mondays at 8pm PST using #TOSAchat. You can also find resources from TOSAchat on their website.
Thinker #8
Ryan O'Donnell
Twitter handle: @creativeedtech
What do Cher, a Jedi knight, and Ryan O'Donnell have in common? They all inspire awesomeness. At CUE Rockstar TOSA this year, I was fortunate enough to attend two of Ryan's sessions. He led a session on creating a culture of sharing and collaboration, where he shared effective blogging techniques (some of which I have snuck into this post- hehehe), podcasting ideas, tips for inspiring a Twitter culture and more. After his session on digital storytelling, I rushed right back to my cubicle to set up a Green Screen and started discussing possibilities of Green Screen use with my teachers. I am fortunate to be connected with Ryan in both the #TOSAchat and #ConnectedTL communities, so I am constantly grabbing tidbits of inspiration from him. Check out his website (where you can also find his podcast and his blog), follow him on Twitter. Just do it. Watching Ryan in action is like breaking an educational piñata, with awesome knowledge scattered all out in front of you and you just run around trying to grab as much as you can.
Cheers to another fabulous year together...
For my #CUSDrockstar teachers and all who might have stumbled upon this post, my New Year's wish for you is that you find and form a strong PLN that helps you and your students achieve absolute excellence. Not sure where to start? Follow my inspirational thinkers on Twitter and feel free to contact me directly for tips on how to Expand your PLN!
As we wrap up 2015, I want to say what an absolute honor it is to work alongside such dedicated, talented, and risk-taking teachers. I look forward to working with you in 2016 to continue to bring innovative practices in math instruction/technology integration to our district.
Here are a few tips and tricks for ed tech tools that you might want to explore over the Winter Break. The tools focus on networking to expand your Professional Learning Network (PLN), lesson delivery, assessment, and bonus engagement tools. Pick and choose which tools you think would lend themselves to enhancing your instructional repertoire! Expanding your PLN (Tools 1-3) On the first day of Winter Break, my math/tech coach gave to me, tips on using Twitter effectively:
Twitter is essentially a news feed of only the news that you care about. Through Twitter, your professional development happens on your time based on what you find relevant. You can follow experts in math and technology, connect with colleagues both near and afar, participate in Twitter chats, and join other professional communities that brach off of Twitter groups (i.e. Voxer chat groups- see below).
Tips for getting started:
When you sign up, don't succumb to the Twitter pressure to follow celebrities. Only follow people who are relevant to your professional growth. Start by uploading a photo (don't be an egg!) and writing a few words about who you are in your bio.
If you want some suggestions on people to follow, here are some lists I've created:
Just watch at first- it is totally acceptable to be on Twitter and not post!
Join in conversations with people. Include handles (Twitter usernames) using "@" so they receive notification that you are communicating with them.
Use hashtags to follow a topic, conference, or to engage in a Twitter Chat
On the second day of Winter Break, my math/tech coach gave to me, Voxer as a walkie talkie:
Voxer is an app that you can run on your phone or computer that acts like a walkie talkie. Recently in education, many people have begun forming specialized Voxer groups to chat about topics of interest. Think of Voxer as a personalized podcast which allows you to participate in professional development while you clean your house, work out, or drive around running errands.
Interested in trying out a Voxer group? Twitter is a great way to connect with others and find a group that is relevant to you. Otherwise, just reach out to me! I participate in a Voxer group for teacher leaders, one for TOSAs, an Ed Tech Book Club group, and a Math/Tech chat group. I can help you find a group that works for you!
On the third day of Winter Break, my math/tech coach gave to me, Google+ Communities:
Google Communities are a great way to share resources and learn from others. Within our district's Google Apps for Education account, we are able to establish private communities so that posts are only shared within our district. We currently have communities for our tech coaches and for math.
Join our community or create one of your own! You can search for the math community (CampbellUSD Math Connection) when logged in with your CUSD account, or contact me or Amanda Haughs to join!
Lesson Delivery Tools (Tools 4-6) On the fourth/fifth/sixth day of Winter Break, my math/tech coach gave to me, tools for lesson delivery:
While Nearpod is not a new tool, they are constantly adding new features that make it an instructional tool that can't be resisted! With Nearpod, you can take any boring old powerpoint lesson and make it interactive with components such as "Draw it" slides, embedded assessment and polls, video and web searches. Students submit their responses to you, and you can project those responses on the other students' screens. Just think of the great opportunities for error analysis with this tool! You can use live sessions where you control the students' screens during instruction, or homework sessions for self-guided lessons. While some features are only available with the subscription, many of the features can be used with the free version.
In my last post on Desmos, I described the Activity Builder tool (the Nearpod of the graphing world). Desmos has many other fun and fabulous features. To learn more about how to use Desmos in instruction, watch some of their existing tutorials. You and your students can use your CUSD Google Apps for Ed credentials to log in to Desmos. Also make sure to check out their latest tool Marbleslides (just launched on Monday- click here for Michael Fenton's blog post on the tool!). I know many teacher have expressed interest in receiving additional professional development/collaboration opportunities with Desmos, so this will be high on my priority list when we return from break!
Geogebra is another fantastic tool that allows for digital modeling with mathematics. Like Desmos, you and your students can use your Google login information to access lessons. One additional feature Geogebra has is that it allows you to submit assignments via Google Classroom- woo hoo! This picture shows a lesson that Pedro Garcia at CMS did using Geogebra to model transformations (translations, rotations, reflections) by designing mock video games in Geogebra.
Assessment Tools (Tools 7-9) On the seventh/eight/ninth day of Winter Break, my math/tech coach gave to me, tools for assessment three:
This game-based assessment system is a guaranteed crowd pleaser! With suspenseful music and a very streamlined platform, the students quickly jump into assessments with the eagerness they have when playing games.
Google Forms
This tool allows you to go beyond multiple choice/true false assessment and create meaningful assessments that will allow you to assess in depth understanding of concepts. This blog post from Alice Keeler describes in depth how to create your first form!
Plickers
This is the perfect assessment option for a quick check in since the students don't even need devices! Students are given QR style cards, and they respond to multiple choice questions by holding the card up in a certain direction. You then scan the student responses using your phone or iPad to instantly see how the class responded. You can also look at individual data by assigning numbers to your students.
Engagement Tools (Tools 10-12) On the tenth day of Winter Break, my math/tech coach gave to me, engagement with Bitmoji
Bitmoji allows you to create your own personalized emojis. Available as an IOS app and also as a Chrome Extension, you can access your emojis anytime and anywhere. How does this tie into instruction? Use your Bitmoji to personalize your instructions/directions to students. Bitmojis can also liven up your newsletter or website for parent communication. *Please note that Bitmoji is for teacher use only (not for under 13).
On the eleventh day of Winter Break, my math/tech coach gave to me, a tool to make Memes for free: Take your Bitmoji to the next level by adding text to make it a Meme! The Mematic IOS app allows you to add personalized text to any picture. Memes allow you to use humor and style to engage students.
On the twelfth day of Winter Break, my math/tech coach gave to me, Green Screen by Do Ink:
The IOS App Green Screen by DoInk will turn any wall of your classroom into a Hollywood studio. Simply cover the wall with green paper and record in front of your homemade green screen. You can then place any photo or video that you want as a backdrop to the video. Use this tool to make engaging videos for your students, or even better, allow your students to create the videos! Do you already have your students explain their problem solving through screencasting? Imagine a screencast or math problem in the background while your students stand front and center presenting their explanation (a la weather person style).
Please continue to let me know how I can support you and your students! Happy holidays!
