Whistling and Working

Reflection Parts	Description	My Notes
1. Resources	This is what I looked at, this is what I learned about, “this is what I found out”	I played around on alternative graphing sites this week to see what I could use in my integrated unit. I made some cool stuff in Geogebra to use in precalc since we're working on trig now.
2. Create	This is what I created - insert link here - even if not finished!	https://www.geogebra.org/m/Z26WBQgM https://www.geogebra.org/m/SmGkg6PG
3. Action	This is how it went or here’s how it fits into the big picture i.e., the unit plan	My kids always struggle with graphing trig functions so I wanted them to see a digital representation. They did great with it!

Post-Due Post

I love that Ted Talk.  I've seen it many times.  I'm such a proponent of curiosity in the classroom and I do whatever I can to cultivate it.  I understand that the world is truly the math classroom, and what I teach my students from a book will only be a tiny fraction of what the world of math can unfold.  That's why I offer my students an extra credit opportunity that is year-long.  Find anything that excites you related to math and see what happens.  Amazing things happen.  From lego creations of difficult volumes and shapes to amazing graphical creations in Desmos, the kids really take off when I give them some freedom and the prospect of a few bonus quiz points.

My journey with workflow this week involved a lot of stuff I've seen before.  I use google forms often, here are a couple I've created.  The first is a survey I give to all my students after the first quarter.  The second is the form we use for students to select meet events for our EHS Math Team.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdqmVkvnju09VhtHjdqrwLbIR3z-Mn4T5IgJVMaf1LkUvM7KQ/viewform?usp=send_form

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_WhnZxhZoYT5oFZZ9x7btFCAWHTA1hZP_7N0j9MQdcp5H0Q/viewform

Screencasts I'm also familiar with.  My issue is that I want to teach via video the same way I do in class and they get really long.  I would love to learn some strategies to get them trimmed down!

Reflection Parts	Description	My Notes
1. Resources	This is what I looked at, this is what I learned about, “this is what I found out”	Having a viable method for handing out and collecting student work is essential. I played around with some resources that I use consistently and looked at some others that are less familiar.
2. Create	This is what I created - insert link here - even if not finished!	Check out my screencasts I made this week for my sub plans! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1NQBhneZyk&t=896s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSoawBFfUVQ&t=8s
3. Action	This is how it went or here’s how it fits into the big picture i.e., the unit plan	I did this because times are changing! Days of killing hundreds of trees to get students worksheets are gone. It's so nice to use schoology and google docs to see student work!

Post-Break Post

Week 4 for Curriculum in the Cloud

TED Talk

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Kids have incredible capacity to learn and be creative.  Why don’t we encourage their creativity and talents?

Kids will try anything.  They’ll take a chance.  They aren’t frightened of being wrong.

If you aren’t prepared to be wrong, you won’t come up with anything original.

By adulthood, most kids have become scared of being wrong.  We need to praise mistakes!

Arts are on the bottom of every education system.  There is even a hierarchy within the arts, putting dance and theater below music.

We steer kids away from things they like because we tell them there’s no way they’ll get a job doing that.

Intelligence is variable and dynamic.  We need to teach all manners, and feed creativity.

We suppress students’ creativity because they aren’t “normal”.  Thinking ADHD.

Some people need to move to think.  That isn’t how our system is set up.

I want to make is my goal to foster students’ creativity instead of stifling it.  That’s a cool idea!

My Creation Exploration:

Students often create really cool things in Desmos.  The bummer is that they show it to their peers who say “Wow, that’s really cool!  I couldn’t ever do that”.  They never really pass the knowledge on to their fellow students.  I want to change that.  I want students to use a story telling tool to be able to display how they created their masterpiece!

Screencast-o-matic is one that I’m comfortable using.  It’s a great interface and easy to use.  Students would definitely be able to use my account to create their own screencasts of their Desmos creations.

Link to my sample screencast: http://somup.com/cbV6hLsYh        

PowToon is something I’ve always wanted to use but have been intimidated by it.  I don’t think it’s ideal for this kind of thing since you really need to see the screen, but I played around with it and it’s so fun!

Prezi is another tool I’ve seen used lots but have never had any experience using it.  I spent some time trying to transfer a presentation I made for my FST class and got caught up in all the creative tools you can use.  I barely got past my first slide.  I definitely want to learn more because this is a really cool tool!

Reflection Parts	Description	My Notes
1. Resources	I dug into Screencast-o-Matic, PowToon, and Prezi.	See above for what I learned!
2. Create	I made a cool screencast of the track race I made in Desmos!	http://somup.com/cbV6hLsYh
3. Action	I'm looking forward to having students make their own screencasts of their cool Desmos stuff.	Students are often amazed at my Desmos creations or those of their peers. I want them to show off their work and encourage others to try to make cool things too!