How to Thoroughly Frustrate Teachers

Step 1: Assign teachers to work on solving a problem related to the field of education

Step 2: Tell them that their problem needs to be solved from an overall policy view versus on a small scale in our individual classrooms

Step 3: Say that this problem is actually impossible to solve, there are only good bad solutions

Geometry City

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One of the best ways for students to learn is to learn by doing. This is the whole rationale behind the maker movement. This project was designed by me to allow my 4th grade students to explore shapes and understand their properties. Additionally, they are working on mapping skills and parallel and perpendicular lines. Through the design of this project, I used the TPACK framework to guide my thinking. TPACK is the use of technology, pedagogy and content knowledge within a lesson. Though my lesson is not using technology as most people think of (mine doesn’t use digital technology), it uses technology as defined by Mishra and Koehler. They say “that almost everything that is artificial—the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the pencils we use to scribble notes, and the computers we use to browse the Web—is technology.” In this case, I am using typical art supplies.

Sketchnoting & Blended Learning

At the GREAT 16 Conference, not only did I present my poster, but I also attended two sessions put on by the year 2 students. The first was on sketchnoting, the second on blended learning. From those sessions, I gained a couple of ideas about what I want to do for next year in my classroom.

Quickfires Week 3

Monday, July 11, 2016 – Today’s Quickfire was not one in which we produced something.  We spent some time playing with Google Cardboard.  Google Cardboard sounds pretty boring just reading the name, but does, in fact, allow for you to play with some fun virtual reality games/explorations.  I had never experienced virtual reality before today, and I found the whole experience fascinating.

#GREAT16 Conference Presentation

Logo Design by Alyssa Kaye Parker, Author of Flora and the Fern

I have never presented at a conference before. Until Thursday, July 14, 2016. This was the day of the GREAT 16 Conference put on by the year two MAET (Master’s of Arts in Educational Technology) students. I have to say, I was quite nervous. I’ve never enjoyed presenting in front of my peers. A group of 10 year olds? Sure, no problem! But my peers? No thanks!

How the Internet is Changing the Way I Think

In 2010, The Edge posed a question, “How is the Internet Changing the Way You Think?” In class we were divided into groups, and were assigned to read one of the responses.  Our next step was to present to our classmates on our assigned response, sharing the different ways that each of the authors believed the internet was changing the way they thought, and come up with implications for education. While this was a valuable experience, we we never truly talked about  how the internet was changing us, as people, beyond the teaching implications. Here is how the internet has changed the way I think.

Maker Journal Part 3: Feedback & Improvements

My initial idea is to have students create a city based around our geometry unit. In order to create this city, I plan to have students use paper to create buildings. From there, students will describe the shapes found in the buildings based on the lines and angles present. They will also need to understand parallel and perpendicular lines in order to create the system of roads. This project will be completed in groups-this allows for more collaboration and discussion between students. Verbalizing their thoughts allows for a deeper understanding of the content.

Maker Journal Part 2: Coming Up with the Project

My question: How can I help my students improve their performance on the geometry based math standards through creation?

Makers Journal Part 1: What is Maker Ed?

New Class Challenge: Make something

Sounds easy, right?  Well it kinda is.  But not only do I have to make something, BUT it also needs to be something that I could create a lesson or unit around for my classroom.  My goal is to create something low-tech that I can do in my classroom.  At the beginning of this project, we spent time exploring things that could be used in our maker projects  (Makey-Makey, mip for example). While I enjoyed playing and exploring with these different kits, I felt that they were impractical to use in my classroom currently. My school does not have the supplies, and right now, neither do I.

Week 2 Quickfires & Assignments

Tuesday, July 5, 2016 Quickfire: Demo Slam the Readings