Assessment! (Again)

I will not apologize for creating another post about assessment.  This is surrounding the assessment done at the end of the unit.  So, for the first part of the assessment, I would want students to create a project (this is the assignment and rubric).  They would be in groups of two or three and pick one topic we covered.  They would have to explain what the section is all about (definitions, concepts, etc.) and pick three examples to explain and provide the correct solution.  They would have to use some technology app (Google Slides, Prezi, etc.) to do all of that and then provide a screencast of the tech app they used.

Once students have completed the project, they will fill out a Google Survey I created about how each group member contributed to the project.  This isn’t for marks, it’s just to see if all the members pulled there weight.  If there were any instances where the surveys did not match up (a student saying they did all the work but then their group member saying they did nothing) then I’d talk to the group.

For the most part, that is the rubric being used to grade the students.  Rubrics are really important for teachers and students.  Rubrics can help students understand what they need to do to be successful for an assignment/project.  Rubrics can also help teachers with marking, they are a great guideline for teachers and keep the marking consistent.  I’m a big fan of rubrics!

Students will also complete a hand in review.  The review is to be completed and handed in for marks.

That is part of the hand in review.  It’s matching graphs to equations.  Other parts of the review include: Filling out a chart of polynomial characteristics, word problems (linear, quadratic or cubic regressions), creating equations and creating graphs.  Students should try to complete the review on their own but they can work with other students or go online and look at different resources like Khan Academy and of course they can ask me for help!

I also created a review for the students to help them study.  It just highlights the important things we did this chapter.

The last part of the assessment is a unit test.  I do not try and ‘trick’ my students on unit tests.  I give fair questions, nothing they haven’t seen before.  As long as students understand the work we’ve done through the unit they won’t have trouble on the test.

The school I interned at did outcome based assessment, so that is why I have the outcome at the top of the page.  Whatever mark students receive on the test will be put in that outcome.  The first part of the test is multiple choice and the second part is short answer.  One thing I want to mention is that for multiple choice, I like to double space the answers for multiple choice because I think it makes it easier for students to read because there is space between the options.  Also, during my internship I put the little motivation piece at the topic of every test I handed out.  I think a lot of students struggle with test anxiety, so I like to remind students to believe in themselves and that they understand the concepts!

Well, that is all there is for assessments!  I don’t think you can ever blog enough about assessment.  Assessment is so important and I will never stop talking about it!  I will have one more blog post to wrap things up but this is pretty much the last post!  Wow, this semester has flown by!

 

6.4 (The Last Section!)

Well this is an exciting blog post for me to make.  This is the last section of my online unit!  I’ve put a lot of work into this unit and I’m proud that it’s almost done.  6.4 is the last section of Unit 6 (Polynomials with a degree less than or equal to 3) and it’s on Modelling Data with a Curve of Best fit.  It is really not that different from 6.3 but instead of only liner regressions, there are are quadratic and cubic regressions as well!  I know, this is very exciting!!

Google Slides is just like a PowerPoint but it is through Google so I can access it anywhere I have internet.  PowerPoint has more options but Google Slides is also convenient to use because it’ll work on every computer with internet.  So, I decided to create my own Google Slides for this section.  I also completed a screencast using a site called Screencast-O-Matic to explain the concept in further detail.

Those pictures are from the Google Slides I created!  It took a long time to create because I had to screenshot and edit each individual picture of the graphing calculator but it was worth it because I think it turned out great!  What do people prefer?  Google Slides of PowerPoint?

I’ve talked about Google Surveys a lot during this unit.  I think they are a great tool to use!  I created another Google Survey to check for student understanding for this section.

 

Well that is all there is for 6.4!  There will be one more post about assessments for the end of the unit and that is all she wrote!  I’ve really enjoyed creating this unit for this class because it has taught me a lot about creating online units and how that can work in the classroom!

Online Education

What role will online learning play in the future of education?  That is the question!

I think online learning will play a huge part in the future of education.  I think even presently, it plays an important role.  Students in smaller communities are able to take classes that aren’t offered at the school so they are able to take classes of their interests by taking online classes!  Many schools have SmartBoards in classrooms and have laptop carts/computer rooms available for classes to use for online learning.  

In the future though, I think technology will have more of a presence in education.  I think in the future, people will embrace technology more.  Right now, I think that some people (students, parents, educators, etc.) are hesitant about how much online learning should be incorporated into class, mostly because they just do not know how beneficial it is to have online learning in the class.  I think we will see advancements in technology and in the future we would be able to even more in the classroom related to learning online.

I am a big advocate for online learning and I think when used correctly students can learn a lot from learning things online.  If teachers aren’t comfortable or don’t think online learning should play a part in education, they should try collaborating with other educators who maybe more comfortable with technology in education.  I think collaboration can always help improve the way we teach students!

Overall, going forward I think we are only going to see an increase in technology use for using online learning in the classroom and I am excited to see what kind of resources we will have as educators in the future!

 

Desmos Activity Builder

I had to find math blogs for my EMTH class and I found a blog that I really liked.  This teacher posted a lot of great activities.  She does a lot with integrating technology and mathematics.  There was one post she did on Desmos Activity Builder.  I love Desmos ,Desmos is a free online graphing calculator, and I use it all the time in the classroom.  I had never heard of Desmos Activity Builder before, but it’s such a cool resource!!  It’s basically an interactive PowerPoint.  You can go through the slides at the board and then students can view the slides on their own device.  You can have students answer questions, do multiple choice activities, you can have students graph things, and much more!

I decided to try the Activity Builder out for my polynomials unit.  I went back to 6.2 and made some card sorting activities that students could do.  Making these activities takes a lot less time than making card sorting activities yourself!  Basically there are a bunch of cards and you sort them into groups.  I absolutely love Desmos Activity Builder and think it’s an easy way to create an interactive lesson.  Try out the activities I made and let me know what you think!

Summary of Learning!

This semester has gone by so fast!  I feel like it was yesterday that Christmas break was ending and I was about to start my last semester for my undergrad degree.  This class has taught me so much about #EdTech and I have grown as an educator.

I used StoryJumper for my Summary of Learning which is a online program where you can create your own storybook!  So I did the ABC’s of Tech!  Yes, I thought of something for each letter!  StoryJumper is free and really easy to use.  You can use text, pictures that they have, upload pictures, and you can even narrate your own story!  This is my story that you can check out!

That is a page from the book I created!  There is an app or concept I’ve learned from the class.  The text is a brief description and then with each page I did a narration as well!  It was a lot of work but I’m pleased with the final product.  I can’t wait to see what everyone else did!

Assessments

Ongoing formative and summative assessment is so important.  I created another Google survey but this time it is for 6.2 and then one Google Survey for 6.3.  Basically the 6.2 survey asks students to rate their understanding of different concepts on the mid-chapter review on a scale of 1-10.  This would be completed before starting the review to see if students understand the material before it is presented to them as a summative assessment.

This is nothing fancy but it does the job!  A quick formative assessment to see if students are understanding the concepts before starting the mid-chapter review.

I’m a strong believer in the assessment strategy of triangulation.

Basically this is where evidence is collected in three different ways: Observations (during activities, lecturing, work time, etc.), Conversations (talking to your students inside and outside of the classroom if they are understanding the concepts), and Products is more summative assessments (tests, assignments, projects, etc.).  I think this is a great way to assess students to see if students are understanding concepts, not just knowing them.  I started an Excel spreadsheet that I would use to record formative and summative assessments.

At the top is all of the methods of assessments and then I can fill it out as I go.  I think this would help me stay organized and on top of assessment.

I’m also a big believer in Bloom’s Taxonomy.  We talk a lot about this in university.

I realized most of my assessment so far is more on the remembering/understanding part, so  I wanted to change it up a bit!  For an assessment for 6.3 I’d have the students create their own question surrounding linear regressions.  They could pick any topic they want as long as they can find data on it and can put it into a type of question we’ve been doing in class.  Then they create their own question and then once every student is done, I’ll randomly assign everyone a question for them to complete.

I think this is a cool kind of assessment to do because it really shows if students understand this concept by having them create their own question.  Formative and summative assessment is very important so I thought it would be a good idea to create another blog post specifically for assessment.  Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for different types of assessments!

 

 

Prezi Power?

I decided to use Prezi as a way to demonstrate to students how to use graphing calculators for 6.3 – Linear Regressions. In this section, students can use graphing calculators (TI-83 Plus) and Excel to complete word problems where they need to find an equation in the form of y=mx+b (slope intercept form) and answer questions in regard to figuring out the x value when given the y value and vice versa.  In my internship, we only used graphing calculators because my students had to write a departmental for a final and they would be allowed to use graphing calculators but not Excel for the final.

I don’t have a lot of experience with Prezi and after using it, I’m not sure how I feel about it.  I found it was difficult at first, I really didn’t know what I was doing and in hindsight I probably should have watched a ‘How to Prezi Video’.  I got the hang of it but I found it took a long time to complete the Prezi.  I know people who use Prezi and know how to use it well.  Perhaps I need to try it out a few more times and it’ll be easier.  What are your thoughts on Prezi?  Have you used it before and do you like it?

I made a Prezi though and I’m proud of how it turned out so you should check it out and tell me what you think!  I think it would be beneficial to use Prezi to help teach the concept to students.  I used screenshots of what the calculator looks like at each step for visual learners as well as written instructions for each part of the Prezi.  The Prezi would be beneficial because students could use this as a resource outside of class.

The above is an example of what one of the slides looks like.  I’m pleased with how the Prezi turned out but I’m not sure how often I would use Prezis.  Maybe I’ll try it out a few more times before I make a final call on using Prezis!

I attempted to embed the Prezi I made into WordPress but I had some issues.  If anyone knows how to, I would appreciate the help! Thanks in advance!

6.3 Excitement!

6.3 is the exciting part of Modelling Data with a Line of Best Fit.  Students will use Excel and graphing calculators to do word problems!  Students will be using technology to complete different word problems.  I used Screencast-O-Matic

During my internship, my cooperating teacher gave me a file that has a graphing calculator you can open on your laptop calculator!

The left side is an example of what the worksheet looks like.  There area  few definitions and some examples of the type of word problems they’d have.  They can download the worksheet and do the workshop on the laptop.  As you can see from the image, the graphing calculator looks just like the real thing!!  This way, I can project this on the board/SmartBoard and demonstrate to students steps for how to do these problems.  I absolutely loved using this during my internship.  Graphing Calculators can be tough to work with so this is a good way to demonstrate to students what to do while they use their own calculators.

I did a screen cast that explains how to use the graphing calculator to create a scatter plot.  I am still a little sick so I apologize ahead of time for the coughing.  It wasn’t exactly how I would explain it to students, I had a little notes for teachers.  I really like using screencasts to explain concepts to students because they can view it whenever they want. Screencast-O-Matic only allows 15:00 screencasts so I did only part of the example.  I will put part B and C of the example in another video.  I also made notes for students, just a couple definitions and examples.

 

Brainscape

I have been searching for any math app that I think people haven’t heard of or used before.  I searched for awhile and found some apps that were cool but you had to pay money and I’m too cheap to pay for apps so I found this gem called Brainscape.  It’s like Quizlet, basically a different way for definitions.  You can use Brainscape online, or download it on your phone or Ipad.  You can create your own flashcards or view flashcards that other users have made.  The app is very easy to use, there are categories or you can search for whatever you are looking for.

Factoring polynomials is definitely in my top five things to teach and do in math, so that is what I searched for.

As you can see, there were so many results from what I searched!

I found one had good topics to what I was looking for and I decided to check the ‘Steps When Factoring’.

You can view what the questions are before you start and see if those are the types of questions you are looking for.

The pictures above are examples of what the questions and answers look like.  Once it asks a question, you can the reveal the answer once you have thought about what the answer is.  Then it will tell you the answer.  Then you can rate how well you think you did on the question.  If you rate the question a 5, a message will pop up saying that the question will not be included in the rotation anymore.  Once you’ve started doing questions, under the title it’ll record the ratings you’ve given.  You can go over the questions as many times as you want.  Once you’ve started doing questions a second time, it’ll have an outline in the color you rated the question the first time you did it.

Once I did the Factoring cards I wanted to create my own.  I started my questions and I realized if you wanted to add a photo to the question you have to pay money.  So I would use this, as long as what I’m using didn’t require pictures because like I stated at the start of this blog  post: I’m a cheap person.

Overall I think this is a fairly neat app for anyone to use.  You don’t need to be a student or teacher to use this, anyone who wants to learn should try out this app again!  So anybody doing a learning project for their major project should check this out because maybe they have the topic you’re doing!

Thanks for reading, leave a comment or question!

 

 

 

 

 

Course Outline

I got way ahead of myself!  I started off my lesson plans but I didn’t create a course outline!  I based this course outline off of the one my cooperating teacher used.  I taught Foundations 30 for three months during my internship so I ordered the units based on what order I taught the units in.  This is the course outline I created and below are the justifications for why I put units where they are.

I start off with a unit surrounding Venn Diagrams.  Most students consider this to be one of the easier units of the course, so it is a good unit to start up with.  It also sets up the next few units.  I then go into counting methods (combinations and permutations) and then probability (probability involves a lot off counting method problems).  Venn Diagrams can be used as a visual for many probability and counting method problems, which is why Venn Diagrams comes before those.

The next three units are all from the same outcome!  They all have to do with graphing and the characteristics of equations and graphs.  I put the three units together because they have a lot of overlapping concepts which is why I think it’s best to have them all together.

The last two units are financial units.  I put these two units at the end because they are kind of shorter units and if need be, the last unit can be covered after Christmas and before reviewing starts for finals.

Then there is a section for how the evaluation is sorted out.  There are four sections with how much they are worth.

Lastly, there are classroom expectations so that students understand on the first day of school what is expected for students to succeed in this course.