I have these being completed and hopefully in the classroom by next week so students can have something to refer to when it comes to previous work and topics we've covered in class.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Math Posters
I have these being completed and hopefully in the classroom by next week so students can have something to refer to when it comes to previous work and topics we've covered in class.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
The New Wheel of Improvement
Here is a picture of the old Wheel of Improvement:
I tried my best to make the boxes and image a lot more even but ultimately I wasn't able to get it.
After a lesson in using shift to straighten out lines (and being told that I could bring this to life via staples or kinkos) I chose to make a new wheel:
I can't wait to introduce this to the students to see who is interested and wants to participate. I'll make a post later on what I've been thinking.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Mario Kart 8 Christmas Tournament Results!
The Christmas tournament concluded on Monday December 22, 2014. I was sick with the flu the entire week prior, so we had to finish it on Monday. We started on Thursday. This all took place during lunch time. Congratulations to the top 4!
Results
1st Place - N.H.
2nd Place - J.B.
3rd Place - O.G.
4th Place - J.F.
Results
1st Place - N.H.
2nd Place - J.B.
3rd Place - O.G.
4th Place - J.F.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Merry Christmas!
Wishing all of my students, fellow staff members, and their families a Merry Christmas!
What I got:
- The missing package that USPS should have delivered a month ago (better late than never eh)!
- 2 Pitt Amiibos (ultra rare)
- 2 Marth Amiibos (discontinued)
- Captain Toad (Wii U)
- Kingdom Hearts 2.5 Limited Edition (PS3)
- $25 Gamestop gift card
- Kenneth Cole Reaction Desert Sun Shoes (Navy)
P.S. - I have a lot of things to post and it's been about two weeks but lots of things have been happening not to mention the semester recently ended. I'll be updating within the next few days!
What I got:
- The missing package that USPS should have delivered a month ago (better late than never eh)!
- 2 Pitt Amiibos (ultra rare)
- 2 Marth Amiibos (discontinued)
- Captain Toad (Wii U)
- Kingdom Hearts 2.5 Limited Edition (PS3)
- $25 Gamestop gift card
- Kenneth Cole Reaction Desert Sun Shoes (Navy)
P.S. - I have a lot of things to post and it's been about two weeks but lots of things have been happening not to mention the semester recently ended. I'll be updating within the next few days!
Monday, December 8, 2014
The Hour of Code!
Today my students completed the hour of code! More information can be found if you click that link, but the gist is that students learn a little bit about javascript and the codes that program a computer and tell it what to do to bring some of their favorite games to life.
This is done in an entertaining fashion so students are also having fun. They progress through a series of levels in different games that teach the students different commands (move, turn, walk, run, repeat, etc). As they continue to progress through the games, eventually they are allowed to use many of the different coding blocks they've encountered throughout the levels to create their own game.
As someone who has logged in tens of thousands of hours on video games, I was very happy to see students and especially adults that shun games, realize that there is a lot of problem solving and critical thinking that takes place behind what they see on the screen. In other words, games are more than just "games". The students were VERY eager to try out the hour of code when they saw the "code stars" video:
After watching this video, the students were very excited to dive in. Unfortunately, the site was down all morning, and even throughout some of the afternoon because there were so many students doing the hour of code as per code.org's tweet:
This is done in an entertaining fashion so students are also having fun. They progress through a series of levels in different games that teach the students different commands (move, turn, walk, run, repeat, etc). As they continue to progress through the games, eventually they are allowed to use many of the different coding blocks they've encountered throughout the levels to create their own game.
As someone who has logged in tens of thousands of hours on video games, I was very happy to see students and especially adults that shun games, realize that there is a lot of problem solving and critical thinking that takes place behind what they see on the screen. In other words, games are more than just "games". The students were VERY eager to try out the hour of code when they saw the "code stars" video:
After watching this video, the students were very excited to dive in. Unfortunately, the site was down all morning, and even throughout some of the afternoon because there were so many students doing the hour of code as per code.org's tweet:
This was unfortunately extremely frustrating as many of the better games (or at least the ones students were interested in) are found on their site. We used scratch.mit.edu and tynker.com as a backup, which turned out working very well because scratch allowed the students to play with all of the coding blocks at once. I really prompted the students to play around with the blocks on their own. Many of them were diving in and messing around with the coding blocks to alter the game.
I will now be doing coding afterschool with the students starting today. I only have two signups, but that's fine as it's not everyone's thing. More people will come next week. It was only day one, and here two clips of what the students made:
Afterward we all were frustrated about the code.org site not working and the games loading at a turtle's pace, I decided to download the "Lightbot One Hour Coding" app, which works just like the games on code.org's site but has more challenging puzzles (they needed to work together to clear one of the more challenging ones). I can't wait to see what lies ahead!
Sunday, December 7, 2014
The Mathematician's Wheel of Improvement
Going back to what I said in an earlier post I have finally finished creating a model of what I want in the classroom for students to be able to see where they are in terms of their improvement.
Something like this isn't bad so long as it's nice and colorful. Students can move their wooden pegs or something stick with their name on it attached to the edges of the board. What I may do is cut each section in half so there are more sections for students to move along. Prizes for each one. This can also be used for different topics, and the further you go along the board, the more difficult the problems of that topic become. I may not use it like that though. Hopefully I can create something in real life that looks like this with the help of the art teacher, as I want to start this program not too long after the beginning of next year.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Why Is Math Important? Part III
Coming soon with the help of 7th grade science, 7th grade social studies, and ART teachers!
The VSC Math Peer Tutoring Program
I have failed to finalize what I want to with the idea I've come up with for a lunchtime peer-tutoring program. I did enjoy my break though. I needed it. Teaching is literally a never-ending job. My loose ideas were:
A) A classroom that mimics a library. A "mathematician's luncheon". The purpose is for students to come away with work completed of 90% accuracy or higher.
B) Zero tolerance for disruptions. A place where the idea/theme of being there to improve is explicit and taken very seriously.
C) A very visible chart/graph/system of improvement where students can immediately see where they are and their level of progression
D) Higher level students peer-tutor struggling students
E) My role - to help everyone, tutors and peers alike, and make sure that everyone walks away with a stronger foundation and greater conceptual knowledge
F) An incentive. The kids are already familiar with tokens, so something along those lines. An "improvement token" was the first thought. As for what they'd do with them, not sure.
(Current) Kinks
A) What exactly do I want it to look like? What kind of work will students have? I want it to be separate from class. How will it be managed?
B) What sort of time-efficient system will be used to determine how students are improving? Furthermore, the improvement of students MUST be visible. This is undoubtedly the most vital piece. This is the big idea I had in mind and I won't start this until this piece is figured out. Making the assignments worth points, and/or having tokens align to points along with a chart (i.e. a chart listing points and their respective levels - 500 points = Math Apprentice, 1000 points = Math Guru) have all come to mind in the past.
This could be done a different way without points, where the chart just lists the number of tokens along with its respective level (i.e. 3+ tokens = Math Novice, 10+ tokens = Math Apprentice, 15+ tokens = Math Admirer, etc), and these amount of tokens can serve as "checkpoints", where students earn different prizes once they reach these checkpoints. 7th grade math teacher has a "device" (it's wooden..) where she uses these wooden pegs to move names. Perhaps I could use something similar.
C) What incentive do the stronger students have to tutor/help out? What incentive do the weaker students have to stay (we know the answer, but this has to be sold to kids...)?
D) If I use improvement tokens, what will the students do with them/use them for? How will they use them?
E) How often will this be each week with the other recognition pieces that normally take place on Thursday and Friday (and have been creeping into Monday thanks to holidays..). I can't give up my lunch period everyday. Perhaps 1 day out of the week to start?
A) A classroom that mimics a library. A "mathematician's luncheon". The purpose is for students to come away with work completed of 90% accuracy or higher.
B) Zero tolerance for disruptions. A place where the idea/theme of being there to improve is explicit and taken very seriously.
C) A very visible chart/graph/system of improvement where students can immediately see where they are and their level of progression
D) Higher level students peer-tutor struggling students
E) My role - to help everyone, tutors and peers alike, and make sure that everyone walks away with a stronger foundation and greater conceptual knowledge
F) An incentive. The kids are already familiar with tokens, so something along those lines. An "improvement token" was the first thought. As for what they'd do with them, not sure.
(Current) Kinks
A) What exactly do I want it to look like? What kind of work will students have? I want it to be separate from class. How will it be managed?
B) What sort of time-efficient system will be used to determine how students are improving? Furthermore, the improvement of students MUST be visible. This is undoubtedly the most vital piece. This is the big idea I had in mind and I won't start this until this piece is figured out. Making the assignments worth points, and/or having tokens align to points along with a chart (i.e. a chart listing points and their respective levels - 500 points = Math Apprentice, 1000 points = Math Guru) have all come to mind in the past.
This could be done a different way without points, where the chart just lists the number of tokens along with its respective level (i.e. 3+ tokens = Math Novice, 10+ tokens = Math Apprentice, 15+ tokens = Math Admirer, etc), and these amount of tokens can serve as "checkpoints", where students earn different prizes once they reach these checkpoints. 7th grade math teacher has a "device" (it's wooden..) where she uses these wooden pegs to move names. Perhaps I could use something similar.
C) What incentive do the stronger students have to tutor/help out? What incentive do the weaker students have to stay (we know the answer, but this has to be sold to kids...)?
D) If I use improvement tokens, what will the students do with them/use them for? How will they use them?
E) How often will this be each week with the other recognition pieces that normally take place on Thursday and Friday (and have been creeping into Monday thanks to holidays..). I can't give up my lunch period everyday. Perhaps 1 day out of the week to start?
The VSC Math Christmas Tournaments!
I've been spending some time thinking about some additional things that I would like to add to my class (like some signs around the room), but I have mentioned to the kids that I would create a tournament for their favorite games.
I've spent some time planning it and checking for feedback on gamefaqs to see what others think. I have finally come up with a tournament format and style for the students. Introducing VSC math's very first Christmas tournament!
I know that the students will really appreciate this and I'd like to see the level of motivation they have upon hearing this. The only downside is that they must have all gold tokens from now until the beginning of the tournament in order to enter, and I am gunning for 16 players.
The fewer the number of players, the easier it is to run. The more players there are, the better the class is going. I still have to come up with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prize for both tournaments though. Maybe I should get the students their own Amiibos?
I've spent some time planning it and checking for feedback on gamefaqs to see what others think. I have finally come up with a tournament format and style for the students. Introducing VSC math's very first Christmas tournament!
I know that the students will really appreciate this and I'd like to see the level of motivation they have upon hearing this. The only downside is that they must have all gold tokens from now until the beginning of the tournament in order to enter, and I am gunning for 16 players.
The fewer the number of players, the easier it is to run. The more players there are, the better the class is going. I still have to come up with a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prize for both tournaments though. Maybe I should get the students their own Amiibos?
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