Scratch

My son is very into Scratch Jr. right now. I think coding is very important skill for all students to learn. ( I am new and learning just like the students) Scratch Jr. is a great start and even students in Grade 7 and 8 can use their integers, transformations, and spatial reasoning skills while having fun. Scratch is amazing and students can use so many math skills while they learn to code. 

https://www.scratchjr.org/

Here is a gallery of scratch projects that teach math concepts. Check it out!

https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/6423/

Math with Context: Resources for Grade 8/9 First Nations Students

As some may know, much of my experience teaching the last two years has been with First Nation students. I arrived at my teaching assignment with some knowledge of First Nation themes and curriculum, but in my mind I thought, "I'm teaching a Math curriculum, how different could that look from what I learned growing up and in teacher's college?" I admit that I had little conception as to how much context can affect our students in every subject, including math. 

I'd like to share a resource that I found very helpful when ensuring that what I was teaching reflected the realities of my students. Although this is a document developed in British Columbia, many First Nations in Ontario share similar themes and connections. A few examples of overarching themes and how they can be integrated culturally with math are:

• Hunting/Fishing: Statistics, Rates and Ratios, Percentages
• Food and Nutrition: Percentage, Fractions
• Mapping/Directions/Travel: Pythagoreon Thereom, Proportional Reasoning, Surface Area, Volume
• Traditional Games: Data Presentation, Chance and Probability

http://www.fnesc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/PUB-LFP-Math-First-Peoples-8-9-for-Web.pdf

There are worksheets and lesson plans in the above document. These documents can be wonderful additions to our current units, not only for First Nation students, but for all Canadian students looking to broaden their knowledge of Aboriginal culture and themes. Often we teach math as a "standalone" subject, but I think any opportunity to reach all students is valuable and should be utilized.

Twitter for Education

For some time now, I've been really into browsing Twitter for educational purposes. My experience exploring Twitter has definitely been beneficial. I was able to gain knowledge on many diverse areas of education. I had followed five sites in particular, that I believed I gained the most insight from regarding different aspects of education - all of which could be incorporated into the math classroom. A lot of the accounts I followed taught me about the various ways I can incorporate technology into the classroom. Below, I have listed my top five favourite Twitter accounts and a brief explanation of each:

1.     LEARN STYLE LTD. www.twitter.com/Learn_Style
the first account I decided to follow was Learn Style. Learn Style’s purpose is to revitalize education with interactive, multimedia learning opportunities for anyone, anywhere, at anytime.

2.     GOOGLE FOR EDUCATION. www.twitter.com/GoogleForEdu
the next account I decided to follow was Google for Education. Google for Education’s purpose is to transform learning for students. They consistently keep their followers updated with product announcements, industry news, and program updates. 

3.     KRISTEN WIDEEN. www.twitter.com/mrswideen
the next account I decided to follow was Kristen Wideen. Kristen Wideen is an Apple Distinguished Education who collaborates with other teachers using technology in the classroom. She is consistently sharing her many fantastic ideas that takes place in her school.

4.     GEORGE COUROS. www.twitter.com/gcouros
the next account I decided to follow was George Couros. George Couros is a division principal of Innovative Teaching and Learning of a K-9 school. He constantly updates his followers with new ways for innovative teaching. He provides many links and sites for educators to browse.

5.     PULSE. www.twitter.com/PULSElearnstyle
the last account I decided to follow was Pulse. Pulse is collaborated with Learn Style LTD. This site provides students and teachers find different ways to excel using technology in the classroom. The account consistently posts new and exciting ideas for incorporating technology. 

Nearpod

 Using Nearpod in the Classroom

Nearpod is an interactive presentation and assessment tool that can be very beneficial in the classroom. The app allows teachers create polls, quizzes, videos, drawing boards etc. The process of using Nearpod is simple; students can access the teacher’s presentation by typing in a specific code given by the teacher. The teacher can then use his/her device to move through the presentation. Below, I have listed several ways Nearpod can be used in the classroom:

• Presentation: Nearpod can be used to replace other presentation tools such as PowerPoint. The presentation can be streamed to every students tablet or computer in the classroom

• Live and Formative Assessment: Teachers can use Nearpod to create quizzes that can be used for assessment. Each student types in his or her name before taking the quiz, this allows the teacher to keep track of every students understanding.

• Ongoing Assessment: Once students complete a quiz, Nearpod automatically creates a report on the data. Teachers are then able to access this report and download it. This makes marking simple (aka, Nearpod marks for you)!
  
•  Self-Assessment: Children are able to assess themselves. Teachers can create a poll with self-evaluating questions for each student to answer and submit. Once again, the results are saved for the teacher to view and download.

• Modeling: The app has a feature called ‘Draw It’ that can be used during presentations. This app turns the students’ tablets into an interactive whiteboard. Once all of the students have completed their drawings, the drawings are all displayed on the teacher’s iPad where he or she can then share the drawings with the rest of the class (on their tablets).
  
• Homework: Students can also use Nearpod on their own time. Teachers can provide a homework code that allows them to access pre-made presentations outside of school.
  
  The video below is a short Nearpod testimonial, enjoy!
  

References: 10 ways of using Nearpod in the Classroom. (2014). Retrieved June 08, 2016, from http://www.learninginspired.com/10-ways-of-using-nearpod-in-the-classroom.

Designing in the math classroom (Coding with Arduino)

Coding in the classroom:

After attending a PD session for Science in the US, I have a new passion to learn about arduinos (maybe raspberry pi in the future) as a tool in the classroom. I’ve hear so much about Hour of Code (Code.org) and genius hour (slightly different but the idea still stands that students need time to tinker and process their own projects). In light of this, Senior School Computer Science class held a hackfest with the middle school a few weeks ago which was a great success for all involved. With this movement of MakerSpaces and creative solutions, there is a lot of discussion of bringing coding into the mathematics classroom (or any classroom really). I am still just learning the basics of the coding world but have come across sites such as sparkfun.com and http://playground.arduino.cc/Projects/Ideas which have project ideas and coding help (there are also a plethora of resources online through simple google searches.

In relation to math specifically:

http://makezine.com/2013/08/26/arduino-in-math-class/ is a well known maker magazine which examined the use and potential connections for a microcontroller in the math classroom. The author of this article in particular discusses one example of using code in the math classroom and some of the successes and hiccups within the process. The article posted on https://www.theedublogger.com/2014/02/06/forget-coding-lets-change-up-how-we-teach-math/ by Ronnie Burt also examines the use of technology in the math classroom and how we may want to adjust the way we teach. One of his main points towards the end is that many teachers say there aren’t enough Computer Science teachers in the school but yet we have a lot of math teachers who are looking for new and innovative ways to deliver the curriculum. With some highly specific/geared PD sessions on programming, we could integrate these two disciplines and bring a new perspective to the discipline of mathematics.

Here is an intriguing Youtube video which may spark your interest in getting your math class using the Arduino ONE (aprox. $26 +$10 for supplies) to hear what your function sounds like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCSLD3qD75c. And if interested, here is a course to learn about Raspberry Pi (FREE for a limited time) https://www.udemy.com/hands-on-internet-of-things-raspberry-pi/?couponCode=BESTBLACKHATFORUM.

Thanks for reading,

Chris

The Giant Cookie Dilemma - Gr 6 to 8 Mathematics

The Giant Cookie Dilemma:

https://illuminations.nctm.org/Lesson.aspx?id=2816 – This website does a fantastic job of breaking each step down, providing sample questions, and motivating students to complete the challenge. Three things which may be suggested for change include:

1. Make the handouts more open  ended to deepen the discussions. The handouts provided here are too specific and may not allow the students to experience some struggle
2.  Bring in a giant cookie (big success and gave students something to work towards.)
3. After learning about the 3act lesson made popular by Dan Meyers, I would think that this activity lends itself very well. The hook would be the giant cookie at the front of the class with the generic questions (questions you have, question(s) to answer and highest/lowest guess) Then moving into the Work where the students are given several questions to generate further discussions (and create teahcing moments) and then the reveal will demonstrate that it is possible and the students can all enjoy the cookie!

This activity was done at my school at the Grade 8 level as a fun yearend task. It was run during a single period but could be extended into two lessons (if you so wish).

The Problem: It’s the farewell celebrations at the school but your teacher wants you to do a little math to get the reward of the cookie. How could you cut the cookie so that each student in the class gets their fair share? (Yes – the cookie is baked the night before and brought in)

Concepts being tested –

1. Finding the area of a circle 
2. Finding radius of circles
3. Using ratios

 In the end, the students thoroughly enjoyed the cookie and  went through some great reasoning and problem solving skills along the way.

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Grade 9 Applied and Academic Curriculum and EQAO

This week I got called into emergency supply as an EA. While I was at the school I got to sit in on a grade 9 academic math class. The teacher had been going over information for EQAO and was starting to do review packets. The first thing she told the class she wanted to start with. She talked about how it wasn't in the curriculum but that it always seemed to be on the test, maybe because the ministry expected them to remember it. I thought this was strange as I had just completed an assignment for my math ABQ course and used rates and percent ratios as a grade 9 expectation. I went home and looked at the curriculum document and was surprised to see that this expectation was only in the applied curriculum. How is this fair for students who haven't seen the material on over a year? Are there other expectations that are tested on but not in both curriculums?