Week 6: Summing it all up

This week our Webinars took over class, so I thought I would take this week's post to sum up my observations and reflect upon the presentations this week. But first of all, congrats to us for another semester down!

Just one more left.....

We began the presentations with implementing technology in the classroom. We went through the app "Explain Everything." I found this app to have incredible potential in the classroom, especially the way Group A presented their activity. We were given a handout of questions to answer through the app such as "what is a square root?" and kept adding new slides for each question, where we could draw and record ourselves explaining our process. I could see this being done in the classroom, or even, as suggested, the teacher using the app to post additional help for concepts. This type of app offers redefinition in the classroom. Teachers can use this to their benefit to keep track of student understanding. This also gives students a chance to prove their understanding in a new multimodal way. 

Our next presentation focused on teaching strategies with visual tools/aids. What I thought was an important feature this group honed in on was how visualization can help to improve student's understanding in math. A concept we watched Jo Boaler comment on in Lesson 5b, which emphasized that visualization (drawings, representations) help to enhance the way we understand ideas and retain ideas. Furthermore, Group B's implementation of the book Counting On Frank not only highlights the resources available in the IRC, but was an excellent way to make math applicable in new contexts. By engaging the class in a story and presenting new questions along the way, students will become invested in the problem, because they are invested in the book.

Clement, Rod. Counting on Frank.
Retrieved from: https://www.amazon.ca/Counting-Frank-Rod-Clement/dp/0836803582

Group C focused on Financial Literacy, it was very practical to go through other documents to find connections of how to directly relate financial literacy in other topics. This is a great way to make math cross curricular as well in some instances. For example, my partner and I made connections to the effects of smoking in grade four. Financial Literacy can be integrated by investigating the financial implications of being a smoker. You could ask questions such as "If someone smokes 2 packs a day worth $11.00 a pack, how much many are they spending a week, a year, over 5 years?" "If minimum wage is $11.40 an hour, how much of someone's work pay in a month goes into their amount of cigarettes bought in a month?" "What other items are of equal value and could be a better choice for your money?"

Group D discussed Differentiated Instruction and strategies for differentiating content, process, product and learning environment for students. Allowing students to have a lot of choice in the classroom is important, while also making sure to invest a lot of time in growth mindset, so that students are able to self-regulate and make the choices appropriate to them.

And the last group discussed how to implement technology in math and provided multiple apps and websites to explore that would be useful for students and teachers.

What I found common about the Webinar topics is that this information sets us up for 21st century learning. One of the articles from this week's reading, 21st Century Learning, 20th Century Learning by Zoe Branigan-Pipe, speaks towards how we as teaching professionals can better connect the concepts and practices of 21st century learning into our environment. She states, "In almost every country that values literacy for all its citizens, recognition has grown that students learn in different ways and at different paces, and as information and tools have become more accessible and equitable, we welcome and support a variety of media and strategies." As prospective teachers learning in the context of 21st century teaching practices we are at an advantage that we are able to delve into topics such as these, synthesize the information, and share with our peers. The purpose of the Webinar is to do exactly what Branigan-Pipe asks us in her article: How are we making connections between the concepts of 21st century learning to the classroom?

Resources:

Branigan-Pipe, Zoe. (2016) 21st Century Learning, 20th Century Learning. Education Canada. Retrieved from: http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/21st-century-learning-20th-century-classroom

Week 5: Evaluating the Uses of Technology in the Classroom

This week in class we discussed blended learning and the benefits of implementing web tools as support for learning in the classroom. When selecting the appropriate tool for a class it is important to evaluate that tool and its usages. How will your students use this tool? Does this tool support students? How does this tool aid in problem solving? When assessing the properties of online tools and apps, one can refer to the SAMR Model developed by Dr. Reuben Peuntedura. SAMR (substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition) model offers a method of seeing how computer technology might impact teaching and learning. The model also offers a progression that adopters of technology might follow as they progress through teaching and learning with technology (Technology is Learning).

Image from: The 4 Stages of EdTech - The SAMR Model for Technology Integration, 2015.

The above illustration demonstrates the continuum between the stages of SAMR. What I would like to highlight in the stages is the functional change that happens:

1. Substitution: 

Math playground offers a virtual Geoboard for students to use that helps them to calculate area and perimeter.

There is no real functional change in teaching and learning. There is no real gain in using computer technology, rather it substitutes the use of using a real Geoboard. This stage is usually teacher directed.

2. Augmentation

Arcademics Skiller Builders provides online games for all subjects, which you can narrow down to grade and also strand of mathematics.

This tool takes problem solving and transforms it into a game. This tool acts with functional improvement because students are problem solving but they are engaged because of they are playing a game. Students also receive immediate feedback from the game. This stages moves into teacher/student focus.

3. Modification

Kahoot! is a way to create online quizzes, which students can join using an electronic device. I used Kahoot! in my placement and the feedback was incredible. For math I used Kahoot! to create unit reviews, the students wanted to play again and again because of how fun they found the experience.

This tool acts as significant task redesign for what could have been a paper-pencil review. Students are able to receive immediate feedback as well as the teacher is able to view students' answers and see where students are at and where areas of need are. Students are also more engaged in learning. Students reflect on own learning.

4. Redefinition

Educreations is an interactive whiteboard app with a screen casting tool. Students can draw or write out their concept, problem or solution and annotate, animate or narrate along and share their screen cast with the class.

This tool allows for creation of new tasks that were, before, inconceivable. Every student is able to screen cast their problem and share with the class, and the teacher is able to have a recording of each students' screen cast to assess learning. When using whiteboards in the classroom, sometimes only a few students get to share their ideas, and ideas get to be erased later on. With Educreations, sharing is immediate, long lasting, and each student is accountable. The benefit is that now the teacher is able to gather more valuable evidence of learning.


The SAMR Model is extremely helpful when it comes to assessing the value of apps, tools and implementing technology into your classrooms. The model provides a basis of evaluation for teachers to follow to assess the benefits of the choices they will make when planning for blended learning.


Resources:

SAMR Model - Technology Is Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2016, from https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model 

 (2015). The 4 Stages of EdTech – The SAMR Model for Technology Integration. Retrieved October 15, 2016, from http://lingomedia.com/stages-of-edtech-the-samr-model-for-technology-integration/ 

Week 4: Interleaved Practice

This week was all about learning how to implement rich tasks for mathematics. First, we discussed interleaved vs blocked practice. Blocked practice/study (or block learning) is an accustomed practice. This is where concepts or skills are introduced and taught explicitly until they become mastered, once mastered, the next concept or skill is taught. In interleaved learning, new material is taught while at the same time reviewing past material, this style proves that students hold on to information for a longer period of time. The diagram below shows the differences between the two methods:

Chamberlain, 2016. [Information from lecture]

In blocked study concepts are taught in blocks, as shown as above, and not reviewed through out, but are completed when mastered. In interleaved learning concepts are shown to be revisited. For example, a teacher would spend quite some time with Concept A, since that is where fundamental skills would be developed. The teacher would transition to Concept B, but continue with Concept B while equally reviewing Concept A. Afterwards, Concept C would be introduced, and at the end of the unit the teacher would spend a little amount of time with Concept A, some time with Concept B, and most time with Concept C. This type of balance between concepts allows for students to see the relevance of concepts throughout the unit. It also allows students to go back and review skills that they have already mastered and put them to new usage as they engage in further tasks. As stated in the Concepts video in this weeks forum, all math concepts are connected to each other, and the curriculum scaffolds information in a way that builds a basis for the next subject to be taught. Seeing how concepts are connected builds a new respect for each respective concept. It makes the concepts more relevant and more applicable, knowing that they will be needed to build towards another.

Dr. Doug Rohrer in his video The Benefits of Interleaved Practice provides a relevant analogy between blocked practice and interleaved practice. He compares the two to a baseball study, where batters were given types of pitches in blocks of 15, in this the batters knew what to expect when at bat because of the repetition. In interleaved practice, batters were given different pitches mixed up, not knowing what was coming next. Later they took a test, which was like an actual baseball game where the batters did not know what to expect, and the batters that received interleaved practice did far better than those who received blocked practice. Interleaved practice gives opportunity to do exactly what would need to be done during a test.

Another benefit of interleaved practice is that it provides further support for students to develop reasoning. Since skills are introduced and revisited, interleaved practice allows for relevance of older concepts to be used in new problems. It is a way of making concepts applicable to one another and students can make decisions and justify problem solving pathways by seeing relevance of the fundamental skills taught at the beginning of the unit.

Resources:
Flick, Michael Harry. Learn Better: Interleaved vs Blocked Learning. September 4, 2013. URL: http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/siowfa13/2013/09/learn-better-interleaved-vs-blocked-learning.html

Lasting Learning. The Benefits of Interleaved Practice, Dr. Doug Rohrer. December 31, 2015. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=88&v=4wJEB0cEUok

Lesson 4f. June 12, 2014. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hzzv4a_8Y&feature=youtu.be