Woo-Hoo!! This year was great! (I just hope we get to finish it out.) I started the year looking at making my student’s learning more visible. After looking at multiple parts of the curriculum, I identified four main areas that I wanted to focus on. I used Randall Charles’ ideas to look at how I could impact my teaching of variables, equations and inequalities, comparison, and measurement (Charles, 14, 18-20). Each of these areas were part of a variety of projects and daily lessons. The other high impact that this project had on my teaching was my rethinking of how technology integrates with my curriculum, using the T-PACK framework.
I started the year by addressing the technology deficiencies with the group through the Apple Store Field Trips. (Insert movie here).
I started the year by addressing the technology deficiencies with the group through the Apple Store Field Trips. (Insert movie here).
I also worked in some Quickfire challenges so that students had some extra motivation to learn some new ways of doing things using their Chromebooks while also having a very enjoyable experience. I found that the students were very capable of helping one another through these challenges.
I addressed the area of measurement with various paper throwing experiments and with human histograms. There was also a Halloween Quickfire focused on ratios that allowed students to concoct their own “potions” and then scale them up so that they could have the entire class taste them. In the past, I tended to get lost in the projects and the math didn’t stay on the forefront of the activity. I found that I had a clearer idea this year about the math that I wanted the students to experience, which allowed me to plan better as the lesson progressed. The students, when I asked them, said that they felt they learned a lot even though the activities this year were so fun!
A vehicle that I decided to use this year was Google Classroom. I’m still experimenting with how I want to use this very convenient technology. I was trying to have students take three pictures each class period so that they were documenting their learning story, but I found that it was taking too much time and taking away from instructional and work time. I hope to continue to try using this in the future and improve the integration into lessons.
I think the greatest impact to my curriculum was the introduction of coding in JavaScript. I used it as a way to show students a different context for variables. They loved it, and then created websites using Weebly to showcase the projects they completed. They followed the JavaScript course from Khan Academy.
I think the greatest impact to my curriculum was the introduction of coding in JavaScript. I used it as a way to show students a different context for variables. They loved it, and then created websites using Weebly to showcase the projects they completed. They followed the JavaScript course from Khan Academy.
Finally, to end the year, they made songs and/or videos that taught a math concept. I was very nervous about this project, and I know I will restructure it next year, but I was amazed at the ability of the students to really get content into the lyrics. I was very afraid that they would be all fluff and no depth, but they did really well.
I am thankful I had this opportunity to work through this year with all of the support from Missy Cosby, the MSUrbanSTEM team, and Wipro. It will impact my teaching for the rest of my career.