Happy Halloween!

Time to get down to business after fun, long weekend. I feel overwhelmed with homework, thankfully I work well under pressure. Tonight I created a new presentation: And I guess I figured out how to embed a video, finally!

Math Interview

For a class, I had to write a a math interview. I interviewed three different third graders and asked them questions. If you would like to see my findings and questions, please read further.

Pre-Assessment:

I chose to interview third grade students at varying levels. The first one was below grade level, the second was at grade level, and the third was above grade level. I did this because I thought comparing the results would be interesting.

The math questions I chose were directly from my CT?s textbook. I chose these because they were similar to what the students were learning in the classroom. I also chose these questions because they represent Michigan GLCE?s for Math in the third grade. These are some GLCE?s that I based my questions around:

N.MR.03.15 Given problems that use any one of the four operations with appropriate numbers, represent with objects, words (including ?product? and ?quotient?), and mathematical statements; solve.

N.ME.01.07 Compose and decompose numbers through 30, including using bundles of tens and units, e.g., recognize 24 as 2 tens and 4 ones, 10 and 10 and 4, 20 and 4, and 24 ones.*

N.MR.01.11 Understand the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction, e.g., subtraction?undoes?addition:if 3 + 5 = 8,we know that 8 - 3 = 5 and 8 - 5 = 3; recognize that some problems involving combining, ?taking away,? or comparing can be solved by either operation.

N.FL.01.12 Know all the addition facts up to 10 + 10, and solve the related subtraction problems fluently.

N.MR.01.13 Apply knowledge of fact families to solve simple open sentences for addition and subtraction,such as:? + 2 = 7 and 10 - ? = 6.

I will start out my interviews by first asking each student what their favorite subject is, how they feel about math, and what their favorite and least favorite things are in math. I will also tell my student that these questions are not graded and make it clear that I will not tell my CT how the student did. This is just for my personal learning because I am going to be a teacher.

I will take one student at a time to the hall. This way, there are less distractions and more one on one time. The only materials I will need are paper and a pencil. I have chosen to ask the children these questions orally and record the answers myself.

Assessment

1. If 3 + 9 = 12 and 9 + 3 = 12 (Additive Property)

Can you also switch numbers when applying subtraction, while still getting the same sum in both cases? Please give me an example.

1. The sum of two numbers is 14. One of the numbers is 5 less than the sum. What are the two numbers?

1. Josh saw three butterflies in his yard on Saturday. On Sunday, he saw 2 more butterflies than he saw on Saturday. How many butterflies did he see in all?

Post-Assessment:

Ask student if they thought these questions were difficult?

Student One:

I first asked him how he felt about math and he responded by saying, he feels good about math and likes all math, but division. He seemed to be easily distracted and kept asking me questions about my life. He thought that I was 27, and had three kids; I had to set him straight. Besides that, he continued to tell me about his dog and siblings. After that, we actually got into the swing of math. He figured out the first answer, but the other two were more difficult for him. He never figured out the answers to the second and third questions, I think this was because they had more than one part to them. He could figure out the first part, but never moved beyond that. I learned that he could not understand the point of a two-part question and instead only figured out the first half. This surprised and confused me. I chose to interview him because my CT said that he was a struggling student. If i had to design lessons for him in the future, I would separate two part questions into two different problems. I would then show him that these questions can go together, you just have to solve the first part and then use that answer for the second question.

Student Two:

To begin, I asked her how she felt about math and she said that she likes math, especially adding. None of these questions were simple for her, but we eventually got to the correct answers by talking about them together. She was eager to say the right answer and was stressed out when she wasn?t getting the correct answer. I made it clear to her that this interview was just for my personal learning and that I wouldn?t tell her teacher how she did. This seemed to calm her down a bit. This didn?t surprise me; I imagine that when I was a child I would have reacted the same way. I chose to interview her because my CT said she was right on grade level. I learned what children on level for math can accomplish and what is ?normal?. I wonder if this meant she was on grade level for this school, or for all third graders? Instructionally, I would try to keep the stress to a minimum for this student.

Student Three:

This student was all business. My CT chose him for me because he is at the top of her class. I was definitely surprised by how intelligent h was. I would really like to assess him further to see what level he really is at. Like the previous two, I asked him if he liked math, he said he liked math and his favorite things to do were multiplying and dividing. For the other students I would read the questions aloud and talk out the answers with them, this student read my paper and told me the answers before I even had a chance to ask. Instructionally, I?m not sure what I would do with him. Maybe I could partner him with some lower level students and hope he can help them.

Reflection:

I learned a lot from conducting these interviews. I was surprised a few different times but I think that was a good thing. I hope that by comparing three different levels of learning, I can better see a spectrum of learning in the classroom.

StumbleUpon

I can honestly say I've found my new addiction: StumbleUpon

In case you're not familiar with it, StumbleUpon is a web site that generates new webpages that are compiled just for you! You tell this site what your interests are and then it directs you to websites. You then get to bookmark it with a thumbs up, or if you don't like it you can give it a thumbs down.

I'm obsessed. I spend hours just stumbling; I even got the app for my phone! Whenever I'm around my friends while stumbling, I make them stop and look at all the cool new sites I've been shown. So now I want to share some of my favorites with all of my devoted readers (the two of you)

I'm not scared of bugs, in fact I let spiders outside when they're inside. But, this article creeped me out! The Five Most Horrifying Bugs in the World

I really liked this, it makes me want to create new art from my children's art in the third grade. Kid Creatures

This is adorable. I have such a soft spot for animals, and love when I stumble onto pictures of cute animals or read heart-warming animal stories. Unusual Friendship

This is great; I know I'll be using it in the future. 101 Excellent Resources and Tools for Students of any Age

This brought me close to tears. Do not read this is you get emotional about animals- or do, it's sweet. Who Says Bird don't have Feelings?

This is a fun game, kind of like Pictionary online! Draw my Thing

Don't worry, I'll be adding more later! Hope you enjoy.

Digital Storytelling

I just created a digital story for my CEP class. To see it, click here. I chose to use Roxio PhotoShow to put together my digital story, which kind of reminded me of a slide show. I really liked this website, it was easy to use and came with some great templates. The only down side is I can only access my digital story for 30 days, unless I pay to become a premium member.

I can definitely see myself using digital storytelling in my future classroom; it's like PowerPoint for the future! I think more teachers should take advantage of this wonderful classroom tool.

Environmental Literacy

For my TE 401 class, we were assigned to create a new technology regarding a literacy. I decided to create a website about environmental literacy. To begin, I searched for websites and domains. Unfortunately, I first created another website, but it didn’t turn out to be free. After working on it for a while, I went to view it and it wouldn’t let me until a paid a certain amount. It wouldn’t even let me go back to copy and paste what I had already written. Needless to say, I wasn’t very happy. I was also much more careful when choosing my next web service to use. I refined my search and found webs.com; this website helped me to easily create and customize a website. This reminded me of another program I’ve used in the past- Weebly.

I chose this literacy because I enjoy learning new information about the environment. I consider myself to be a very environmentally conscious person; I do not eat meat, I always recycle, and I try to educate others about the importance of helping our environment. I took the eco-IQ test and scored almost as high as I possibly could; this is what the test score said about me:

Hommo Excelsius: What are you doing reading blogs on environmental issues? You already know it all!! Spend your time in your environmental activism instead – it will make a far larger difference that trying to learn about that extra 0.05% that you haven’t heard about yet!

This really made me think; why don’t I create a website that enables me to inform others about environmental issues? This is something I am truly passionate about and I feel comfortable sharing my knowledge with the digital world.

Before this project, I would have never equated the environment with literacy. My old definition of literacy was this: “To me literacy is the main component of learning; this not only critical in the classroom, but also in everyday life. Without literacy, an individual couldn’t even find their way about a new place; they couldn’t navigate a map, or read street signs, or even figure out written directions.” Obviously, traditional literacies will play a part in my website because people will have to read as well as listen.

I am working to make my website friendly for all ages. To do this, I will use larger font and simple language. I’m also trying to find a text-to-speech software that is compatible with this website. The website is relatively easy to use. It’s a little bit frustrating that I can’t get rid of some of the tabs, but that’s what I get for not paying. I’m struggling a little bit with uploading other documents and pictures, but I’ll make it work.

I have learned a lot from this website: enviroliteracy.org. The Environmental Literacy Council is concerned with connecting “teachers and students to science-based information on environmental issues.” They have compiled lots of resources and lesson plans for educators. This website has divided the environment into seven main sections: air & climate, land, water, ecosystems, energy, food, and environment & society. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to include all of these groups on my website, but I really like the idea.

For now, I would really like to focus on big environmental issues, like global warming, animal cruelty, and vegetarianism. I’m not sure how broad or narrow my topics will turn out. At this point, I’m just trying to gather a lot of information and then sort through it and decide what to include.

I will continue to post about my progress!

Cell Phones + Education = ?

I never thought these two aspects of society would be brought together and applied in an actual setting. This year, more than any other time I can remember, the idea of cell phones being implemented in the classroom has been brought quite regularly. When I was in school, I never would have imagined teachers encouraging the use of cell phones to aid in learning.

This week, I tried to rely only on my iPhone while in classes instead of my usual go to (my laptop). Smart phones make classroom work easy, as long as you’re not trying to type up your notes. I liked that I could look up a website or document readily without actually having to start up my computer.

I definitely would advocate for the use of cell phones in the classroom. I think that students, especially those who aren’t in college, aren’t likely to drag their computer around in class. Yes, there is the possibility that students can abuse this privilege, by texting or facebooking in class, but maybe they can show how responsible they can be. Hopefully teachers can see that the benefits outweigh the possible distractions.

Check out other websites and blogs that are concerned with this topic:

ed week

cell phones in learning

cellular-news

business week

Copyright and Image Editing

Recently, I have been learning about copyright and what that actually entails. I've always heard the term, but never truly understood what it meant. Some other new vocab that I'm becoming familiar with can be found here.

Here is an image I copyrighted. It is just a photo I took on my phone at the local pet store. These two turtles are 54 and 64 years old! I'm supposed to embed that image a different way, but I really can't figure out how.. I know how to share a link and upload an image from my own computer, but for some reason I can't make it work.

I created a Picasa account. So far, I only have a couple pictures on it; this is because I literally have no music, pictures, or documents on my new laptop. I'll have to keep adding more later.

I used Picnik to edit my previous picture of the turtles. I was much more familiar with editing photos, mostly due to my prior experience on the yearbook staff. Next, I took a screen shot and updated a couple more of my edited pictures to my Picasa. I'm really trying to embed a slideshow of them, but that's not working out too well for me. To go directly to my slideshow, click here.

My next technology goal to learn is how to embed in my blog.. I've figured out how to do so in my wikispace, which is a whole new challenge- definitely feeling overwhelmed with technology.