More student blogging ...

Another student blog post ... there's a theme ... 

Bored in seventh grade math class again, Maureen rolled her eyes as Jacob asked for possibly the millionth time this week, “When are we actually going to use this in the real world?”

But this time it was different.

The math teacher had done her research this time, in advance, and began.

“Have you ever looked at a building?” She asked her students, most of which weren’t even interested enough (yet) to look at her.

“I mean, really looked at a building?” She repeated as she pulled up a slideshow of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

Lorraine, in the back row, raised an ink stained hand to the ceiling. “Yeah, but buildings are art, not math.”

“Au contraire,” the math teacher quipped with a glint in her eye. “How do these buildings get constructed in the first place? If these walls weren’t properly supported, how would we be sitting here, on the second floor, right now?

“You see, architects have the talent of art from the moment they’re born, but making safe buildings for people to live and work in takes math.”

Lorraine was now enthralled, and the teacher smiled as she saw the possibilities fly through her student’s head.

But the rest of the class stared back blankly.

“I can see that you’re not all future architects, then.” She laughed.

Maureen rolled her eyes again, and Harley turned his music up louder.

“Sports and games use math too.”

About half the class’s heads popped up, their interest now piqued.

“Yeah, do you remember that lesson we did on angles? When you play pool, you have to use the sides of the table to direct the ball into a pocket. If you can calculate what angle it will be, you can get the perfect shot every time, with some little margin for human error, of course.”

Now about half the class, plus Lorraine, were preoccupied with dreaming up all the ways that math was found in their own lives.

Sam raised her hand. “What about in books? There isn’t any math in there.”

“There are math books, you know, plus math can even be funny sometimes!”

Sam instantly opened her math book and poured over it.

“Has anyone here played Minecraft?”

The group of boys that always sit in the back nearly dropped their hidden game players when she said the name of their favorite game.

“Yes, you guessed it, Minecraft even has math in it. The code behind what you’re seeing on screen is fueled by algorithms in the computer! If you look really hard at the code, you can find equations, and logarithms galore!

The teacher went beserk now, listing of a multitude of things that math could be used for until every single student in the class was excited about math.

“Wait, wait!” The teacher yelled above the hububb.

“First, you have to learn how to-” The teacher’s voice faded away.

* * *

The teacher jerked awake to an empty classroom. Everything was exactly as she left it.

Then she thought to herself, If only I could get the students excited about math outside of my dreams.

https://kidblog.org/class/math-matters/posts/20pprahej55w0v2uz4ncrtnno

Students blogging

Last year I asked students to blog - twice a marking period.  And we are at it again this year.  Our blogging is an opportunity to explore math from a perspective apart from what you typically see in a math book.

Today's challenge ... be creative ... let your imagination fly ... 

So, I open up our students blogs tonight and find this poem by Elizabeth ... love it!

People don’t think math has its uses

All they think is that it confuses

Their only quest?

Passing the next text.

But what they don’t see

Is what math can be

The degree you could achieve

If only you can properly perceive

If only you stopped and looked around

You’d be surprised at the things you found

Parabolas in buildings, bridges, sports, and the Saint Louis Arch

The slopes, the lines, the shapes of bands that march

Everything you do has math at its center

If you're a musician, an athlete, an inventor

A musician with math in the chords

An athlete in the jumps and throws to get awards

An inventor the algorithms and functions needed

For the  invention to work unheeded

And that was only a slice of the cake

There are so many more connections to math you could make

And while students continue to hate

They’ll soon find why adults think math is so great 

https://kidblog.org/class/math-matters/posts/eaoy5k1rus4ububm5u0d9tgvi 

#MTBoSBlaugust 21: Setting up ABOUT in Google Classroom!

Last night I worked on three Google Forms that will be standard tools posted in the "About" Stream in Google Classroom.

At the top of the list is the "Start Here: Daily Warm-UP" Form.  The form asks basic information, name, ID, email address and then has 5 blank questions.  The actual questions will be projected in the classroom each day.  This generic form will be used everyday - no matter what questions I project.  This way I have all of a student's participation in warm-ups in one spreadsheet.

The next form is a unit reflection to be completed after each unit test.  I am excited about this one because it will help students and me to capture study habits all throughout the year.  Instead of waiting until the end of the year for feedback, students can give feedback on this form.

That's difficult to read ... here is a pdf of the questions I asked.

The last entry on the "About" page is a self-reflection, self-graded rubric for blog posts.  Students blog twice a six weeks.  They will evaluate one blog post each six weeks based on a rubric and enter their scores in the Google Form.

These three forms will be standard tools, one used daily, one used 2 - 3 times a six weeks, and one used once per six weeks.

#MTBoSBlaugust 6: Reposting ... Student Blogging!

Reblog an old post - reflect how you see/use it now?

REPOSTED from January 2015 ... I'm choosing to repost this note because student blogging was a success this past year.  I hope to improve on the experience in the coming year!

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This year is going quite well.  We received data this week from our fall benchmarks ... and our school data is strong, my classroom data good, and I felt affirmed in my work.  Of course, I have amazing students ... so the data is a result of their being awesome!

One particular practice in my classroom this year that stands out is student blogging.  I entered into this activity this year with some fear and trepidation.  I have 150 or so students, in six classes, 3 classes a day for 90 minutes.  I see students every other day.  I wondered how I could manage student blogging ... would they write?  what would they write?  could I read it all?  how could I grade it?  would it be worth the effort?

Answering the last question first ... YES, it has been worth it.

I teach advanced students, students in grade 9 and 10 who are taking Algebra 2.  They have already completed Algebra 1 and Geometry.  Many of them took those two courses in their middle school.  While they are in an advanced sequence, they still need instruction and our course curriculum is full.  There is little time for exploration in math topics outside the curriculum.  Many times students ask me questions that would take us deeper ... but we don't have time to take that journey.  It hurts my heart when they demonstrate a thirst to know ... and I say, maybe we can come back to that.

So blogging is an opportunity for students to explore topics of interest to them.  Only once or twice this year have I specified a particular project to address.  Instead I have encouraged them to write about any topic of interest that is math related.  I introduced students to collections of news articles about math here, here and here, to Math Munch, and to a list of common enrichment topics.  Yes, they can write about what they are learning in class, or about their study habits, or about how a recent science lesson connected with our curriculum.  It's WIDE open!

I require two blog posts each six weeks and I request that students comment on three other students' blog posts in that time frame.  Only a very few students have not kept up with that pace.  I do post one blog grade a six weeks.  Students can submit a blog post of their choice ... a post they think meets the requirements and is well written. 

An extra benefit of blogging has been the opportunity to teach students how to embed multimedia in their work creating more visually appealing blog posts.  It's been fun to watch them learn new technology skills as well!

---------------------------------

If you are interested in student blogging, I'd love to chat with you!  

It's going very well! #youredustory

This year is going quite well.  We received data this week from our fall benchmarks ... and our school data is strong, my classroom data good, and I felt affirmed in my work.  Of course, I have amazing students ... so the data is a result of their being awesome!

One particular practice in my classroom this year that stands out is student blogging.  I entered into this activity this year with some fear and trepidation.  I have 150 or so students, in six classes, 3 classes a day for 90 minutes.  I see students every other day.  I wondered how I could manage student blogging ... would they write?  what would they write?  could I read it all?  how could I grade it?  would it be worth the effort?

Answering the last question first ... YES, it has been worth it.

I teach advanced students, students in grade 9 and 10 who are taking Algebra 2.  They have already completed Algebra 1 and Geometry.  Many of them took those two courses in their middle school.  While they are in an advanced sequence, they still need instruction and our course curriculum is full.  There is little time for exploration in math topics outside the curriculum.  Many times students ask me questions that would take us deeper ... but we don't have time to take that journey.  It hurts my heart when they demonstrate a thirst to know ... and I say, maybe we can come back to that.

So blogging is an opportunity for students to explore topics of interest to them.  Only once or twice this year have I specified a particular project to address.  Instead I have encouraged them to write about any topic of interest that is math related.  I introduced students to collections of news articles about math here, here and here, to Math Munch, to a list of common enrichment topics.  Yes, they can write about what they are learning in class, or about their study habits, or about how a recent science lesson connected with our curriculum.  It's WIDE open!

I require two blog posts each six weeks and I request that students comment on three other students' blog posts in that time frame.  Only a very few students have not kept up with that pace.  I do post one blog grade a six weeks.  Students can submit a blog post of their choice ... a post they think meets the requirements and is well written. 

An extra benefit of blogging has been the opportunity to teach students how to embed multimedia in their work creating more visually appealing blog posts.

If you'd like to explore our blogs, check out the links below.  A shout -out to KidBlog is essential - their platform is so easy to use!

Links to our BLOGS:

Period A1 Student Blogs

Period A2 Student Blogs

Period A3 Student Blogs

Period B5 Student Blogs

Period B6 Student Blogs

Period B8 Student Blogs

NaBloPoMo #9 Student Blogging

I've written several times about our student blogging.  It's not an easy task to read all the writing, and even less easy to comment on them in a meaningful way.  So ... can't say that I'm really good at that part.  But I am reading, enjoying their writing, commenting where I can, and assessing in simple ways.

One of my goals is to share the student blogs more widely.  In an effort to make that happen, I've added a page on Algebra's Friend ... a RSS feed that will highlight blogs as they are posted.  I created a similar feed on our class website.

One of my next steps is to add the student blogs to a twitter feed ... watch out!

If your students blog, please contact me.  I'm interested in collaborating on this project!

Currently October with a Treat!

It's October already ...

In beautiful central Texas, our morning was cool and our midday is mild!  Loving the open windows and fresh breezes!

Most of the Currently entries are self explanatory.  Notice the "trick or treat" ... I have a real treat for you!  I'm loving my students' blog posts!  So far the requirement has been to write just one post ... about any topic that is related to math in some way.  I invite you to check out all of our blogs - use this link as a jumping off place.

I'm also highlighting a few specific posts today ... check these out ...
Is a Member Card Really Worth It
Math News
Cantor's Diagonal Proof
Bohemian Mathsody
Math in Gaming
Euler's Sonnet
Shhh….Seven Super Secret Study Tips

There are many more ... such talented young men and women!  Love my students!!

Student blogging ... excited to share!

Student blogging ... excited about the possibilities!  Sharing a post written today by one of my students ...

If you have a chance, check out our blog URLs listed here ... and provide an encouraging comment to students!

Math in the news

Categories: BlogSeptember 17, 2014 @ 12:00 PM 2 Comments      

While looking through the news, I found an interesting article about sharks and math. A bio researcher named  Andy Reynolds believed to have discovered a way that sharks use math in their everyday lives. He wrote “Sharks trap their prey using what’s known as Lévy flight”. Lévy flight is a mathematical description of an ideal way of moving from one position to another using both long and short hops. Reynolds states that while he was looking over his computer simulations he compared the way sharks moved to his data. Reynolds suspects that sharks wind up using  Lévy flight due to turbulence in the water. Andy Reynolds also has a theory that some behavior in other animals may not be what it appears. I found this article to be so intersting considering that fact that there is so much people have not discovered. It makes me wonder, what else is waiting to be discovered? If you want to read the full artice go to the link below.

http://phys.org/news/2014-09-figures-sharks-math-geniuses.html

Thanks for reading!

-Kristen(:

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Students ... blogging

We didn't have time to talk about it thoroughly today since students were testing.  I just mentioned that our writing assignments will be completed in a blog.  I sent them instructions for how to log on in their school email.

Their first assignment is to blog just one post in the next two weeks.  I left the topic wide open.  For some that will be a problem.  For others it will be a goldmine!

One student has already published his first blog ... a nicely written description of how a, h, and k affect the transformations of parent functions.

We are using KidBlog ... because it is easy to set up and fairly intuitive.  I look forward to writing more about our blogging adventures soon!

#70Days Student Blogging - getting ready!

47/70

A letter to my students ... introducing student blogging!

Dear Students,

This year you will have the opportunity to blog about your journey in math.  I’m hoping that as we get into blogging we’ll find other high school students who will enjoy reading and commenting on your posts.

Blogging about learning is inherently reflective thinking.  It provides a structure for connecting new learning to prior experiences.  It offers the opportunity to explore conceptual understanding. And last it helps you to solidify your own learning strategies.

The expectations are simple – I expect you to submit one blog post per week and to respond to other classmates’ blogs as often as possible – at least 1 per week.  I, in turn, will read and respond as often as I can to as many blogs as I can with the goal of responding to everyone’s at least once in a six weeks’ marking period.  In the first six weeks I don’t plan to “grade” your blog.  We’ll talk about assessment as the second six weeks marking period gets started.

I’ll prepare the blogging platform for you since we all need to use the same one.  I expect our blogging to begin by the middle of September.

I have a few generic blog prompts for you.  In class I may post specific ideas based on our unit of study.  Your post simply must be math related (from the news, your reading, our classwork, or your imagination!)

1. Create a graph on Desmos, pasted it in your blog and describe the graph.
2. Create a problem for the class to explore.  Write about the problem in your blog post but withhold the solution.  Put your thoughts about the solution in a Google doc.
3. Explain in detail something that you understand about a concept, lesson, or unit.
4. Explain something new you have learned recently about math.
5. Go to Explore Math!  There are more than a dozen fascinating sites about math.  Choose one, explore, write, enjoy!
6. Make a list of 5 things related to our unit (or math in general).  Why did you choose these five?
7. What learning or studying strategies are working well for you?
8. What new math words have you learned?  Explain the etymology of the words.
9. Write about a complex task by breaking it down, explaining it carefully as if for a younger student.
10. Write creatively about math – use the vocabulary words in a song, story or poem.

Last, I know you don’t need for me to mention etiquette but just in case, remember, live and blog “above the line!”  And if you need to ask if something is “above the line” then just don’t do it :)

By the way, I model what I am asking you to do.  I blog about my work as your math teacher.  You are more than welcome to follow along!  Find me at Algebra’s Friend!

Enthusiastically,

Mrs. Ferguson