Last day of Classes

For the last day of classes I decided to do a Wii Review game with each of my classes. Most students enjoy having an opportunity to play a video game even if it is only for less than a minute. It helps spark that competitive nature. I have tried to give my students the tools that they need to pass this regents on Thursday. I have given them certain sites like regentsprep.org and castlelearning.com that can help them practice their skills and give them instant feedback. I have also opened all prior review assignments so that students could go back and review all questions from assignments I have given them in the past.

Beyond that I told my students to contact me on facebook if they have any last minute questions about the Regents material. Hopefully, all of them use this ability to prepare.

I feel that the year overall has gone pretty well. I do wish I had an opportunity to get all my equipment sooner, because I think that it would have given me a chance to integrate technology more fully into my lesson plans. I think all my students benefited from the tech grant because it gave me the opportunity to try new things that many of them enjoyed doing. If I had to grade my own teaching ability and how I think I did this year, I would probably award myself with a grade of a B. I think I really improved my craft this year, but I think I still have lots of potential to unlock.

Final Week

I have been working on gearing up the students for the Algebra Regents which is in less than a week. For technology I have been making Castle Learning assignments that need to be completed. These assignments are given to students once a week and take about an hour. I have spent a great deal of time also showing students the regentsprep.org website. This website is great because it has many interactive features that allow students to practice and check their work.

This week my students have taken a final along with working on a Menus project in class. Some new things I added to this menus project were a section that included statistics and probability. Students could be required to create a box and whisker plot from data they collect off the internet. For probability, they would have to conduct an experiment and discuss the differences between experimental and theoretical data. I will keep everyone updated on the Menus Project and how it turns out.

Final Results: 22 out of 45 passed.... a little less than half, but a gigantic improvement.

Plans for the upcoming Weeks and Months

With the end of the year fast approaching and summer upon us, the students have been getting just a little bit more antsy then usual. Review is starting to become the name of the game, however I have 1.5 units left to cover, so I have been doing a combo of review and new material. This week I will be using my computer pod in a set of stations activity to review certain topics that will be on the Regents.

In other plans I proposed for the tech grant that I would like to create a set of video lessons for the whole Integrated Algebra Curriculum. I think those 10 hours could be well spent on starting me on my way. I would love for it to be a tool that every student in the district could use to help them prepare for the Regents. I have a few started already and have been able to use them for students who have been absent for a lesson in prior class periods.

The Home Stretch

With only a few weeks left in school before all my students take the regents, we still have a lot of review to do. Statistics and Probabililty is 1 of 2 quick units left to cover. My plan is to finish these in the next 2 weeks. Tomorrow we will be doing a Stats lab that I will be recording on video. Students will be collecting data from sprinting a short distance. Bonus points can be awarded if you participate in the sprinting part.

Another thing that my students are doing on a weekly basis will be practice Multiple Choice questions from previous Regents Exams. Each week students will be required to complete 30 MC questions with credit being given for getting a certain amount correct.

I am at a bit of a lost for how I can incorporate students portfolios into preparing them for the regents. I have had so many things going on that it is been hard to get use out of them, plus many of my students managed to forget their passwords already. A quick reminder next year will be to have students write their usernames and passwords down on a paper for my records.

Video Lessons on Demand

After taking a training on SmartBoards for math class. I discovered a new tool to help students prepare for the regents exams. I started using the Smart Recorder to record video lessons on topics specific to class. So far I have created three of them that are specific to HW assignments that I have assigned in class. I would like to eventually make a whole series of them that can be used to help students with crucial review for the Integrated Algebra Regents. So far, a few of my students have used them and it has helped all but one with completing their assignments. I hope to get some other people on board with the idea to create a set that could be available to all students in the district.

xpmath.com and Stations

Trying to find new and inventive ways to use my technology, I stumbled upon xpmath.com. I found some great games that help students reinforce their basic skills with Algebra. I decided to create a competition during a stations review for two games called "Inequality Wars" and "Halo: Slope". Each game dealt with concepts for Integrated Algebra. I offered students in my 3 classes bonus points or a candy bar if they finished in the top 3 in either game. The stations post review will be completed tomorrow and hopefully this will be the first of many competitions I hope to have during the rest of the year.

Games on the Smartboard

I have spent the last week or so trying to find games and review activities on the Smartboard. I have found some great games, including hangman, jeopardy, wheel of fortune, and whack-a-mole. Each of these games is a template that allows you to place in regents based questions into them and makes it interactive with the smartboard. I plan on using some of these in the upcoming months to help my students prepare for the regents exam in Algebra.

My portfolios are now on my website, most of the students have done them, some are still in the works. They came out fairly well. The major issue students had with creating the website was that when they made a mistake they didn't bother to read the text to find out what the mistake was. Instead, they just got frustrated because they didn't follow directions. This seems to happen a lot when my students use the computers.

Stations Review and Xtranormal

It seems like the xtranormals are sweeping through Corcoran at a alarming rate. I've heard many teachers have been doing them with their classes. I did mine a little differently and let each of my students choose a topic. Well they didn't really know what they were choosing. I did a screen capture with the smartboard and used the highlighting tool to cover up the choices. Then students used the eraser to erase away the writing. I had my students write the dialogue first for the xtranormal. For this I gave them 2 class days and a total of 45 minutes. Some students used the time wisely, some didn't.

Next, we did a stations review for a Trig test. One station was to complete the Xtranormal with the dialogue. Some of the issues students had were they used an e-mail that they didn't have access to, which caused them to not be able to finish their work and access their account. Other issues students had when choosing a username. Some chose a username that was so common that it would not let them use it. Some students didn't know that choosing JoeSmith might already be taken.

I am going to have students email me their link for the xtranormal with the hope of creating a web page with the whole collection of them. Hope it works out.

Quadratics Menus Reflection

As a class we have had several days to create a menu out of particular items that pertain to properties and applications of quadratic functions. This project had many options that pertained to technology. One option was to create a song or poem about quadratic functions with an optional five point bonus to record the performance. Some groups have decided to do this task and record. So hopefully, these will be done tomorrow or Monday.

Another option was to create a short story where the main character would have to deal or find a situation that dealt with quadratic functions. Students were able to use the computer and create a short story by using photos from the internet and microsoft word with the new pod of computers.

While the project was going on students were given an assignment on Castle Learning. This assignment allowed students to review sections of a Algebra Regents exam that were covered this year in class. This assignment was set up so students would have 2 guesses with each questions, if the answer was incorrect the first time another chance was given with a hint to help the students solve each question.

Overall, this week with the technology went well. Having the option to include some new innovative ideas has given me an open door to develop unique lessons.

Technology has arrived

Over the last couple days the tech guys have been installing the computers, software, and smartboard in my classroom. I just had today to use my new tools in the classroom. A lot of my students were interested and intrigued by the new technology in my room. Everyone was ready and willing to offer answers to questions when I allowed them to write it on the board. Twice today however I had issues with the smartboard. Each time the markers lost signal and the board was unable to use the writing and capture function. When the computer was restarted the problem was resolved.

I plan on using my computers on Friday to prepare a brief castle learning assignment in class that my students can complete for a stations review activity.

Binders and Technology

Our academy has started requiring binders to be carried by all students throughout the course of the class day. If a students does come unprepared they will have a lunch detention. So far every student today has brought their binder with them. On top of that homework grades have improved. In one of my classes the average grade has increased from a 32 to a 56. All classes have shown some increase.

Today the IT guys came to my class and began the process of installing my smartboard and my computers. They said that next week they will have my 5 computers and smartboard installed. Hopefully the netbook will soon follow. This will be great for my classroom because I will be able to assign castelearning assignments and let my students have access to the internet for projects. For the first time in a while things are looking up.

Improving Test Grades

I am trying to use castlelearning.com to help improve my test grades in class. I decided for this next unit I would give students a review assignment for the test a week in advance and spend some class time giving them a chance to start it. So, I am giving my class 30 minutes today in the library to work on the Quadratic review assignment. Hopefully this works because I only had 10 students pass the 2nd marking period, down from 19 in the first marking period.

End of the 2nd Semester

Some things working well this semester...

1.) In class I regularly use a online timer to give students structure and pacing during all lessons. This allows students to monitor their progress.
2.) The document camera in my class is great for giving students directions for using graphing calculators. Students struggle with using graphing calculator functions and this allows them to follow along to use different attributes that the calculator can offer.
3.) Castle Learning has been a helpful way for students to prepare for tests. I was able to allow students access to midterm practice by the use of a computer. I only had 12 students pass the midterm, but the students that did the practice, did better than the others.

Some things NOT working well this semester...

1.) Motivation is low, many students will not even use my website, facebook, and castlelearning.com at home or during a study hall. This hasn't improved their achievement level. I actually have less students passing this marking period, than I did last marking period.
2.) It is extremely hard to gain computer access in my school, so I haven't been able to start the e-portfolios.
3.) The constraints of the algebra curriculum drive my ability to try new and inventive projects that would take longer than a guided practice that would normally be done in class.

Overall, a lot of positives and negatives, however being able to try new things does give me a new found hope that students will find different lessons that integrate technology more interesting than the usual lessons they run into in every class each day.



P.S - The netbook fairy has NOT DROPPED a netbook under my pillow.

Castle Learning part 2

I gave students a castle learning assignment that was assigned to help students prepare for the midterm. We started the assignment in class and all students had about 45 minutes to work on the assignment, after that the rest needed to be finished at home or in the library. Students had 2 class days and the weekend to finish the assignment, and only 11 students out of 65 managed to complete it. I was not too surprised when only 12 students passed the midterm exam when it was given. So, the question is, how do I get my students to complete an online assignment out of class.


P.S. As of today, still no netbook, work station, or smartboard.

Unreliable Technology

Two days ago I had the bulb on my 2nd Projector of the year stop working. The main issue is that there are no replacement bulbs available in the building, and IT won't service it because it is an older model. So, what does that do for the teacher that uses technology constantly? Luckily, another teacher gave me a projector that they were not using. Hopefully, this one holds up until I get my Tech Grant materials.

Castle Learning

Today my students are using the computer lab in the library to go on Castle Learning. Castle Learning is a software that gives students instant feedback on Integrated Algebra questions. Most students did very well with taking their time to solve questions and get correct answers. Three students spent no time on their questions, and rushed through and ended up getting only 5 or 6 right out of thirty. However, it was good to give them instant feedback as to why they were getting them wrong. I will be going in the lab 3rd and 5th block as well.