Desmos-Not Just An Online Graphing Calculator!

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When I first checked out Desmos, I thought it was just an online graphing calculator (you can get it as an app too). Our school has graphing calculators for the students to use, but they are very old (TI-82's) and half of those don't even work, even after changing the batteries! So, I've relied heavily on the online graphing calculators like Desmos for students to use when we get to the graphing units in each course.  However, I've just recently discovered, through conversations in Twitter and chatting with a colleague, that there is another wonderful part of Desmos that I didn't even know existed! If you click on the "Classroom Activities" link at the top of the page, it provides you with different activities that the students can do on the online graphing calculator that are already made! (I love that part!)

I chose to try this out with my Advanced Math class since they are a little older and can handle some of the directions better than maybe an Algebra 1 class could. I ended up doing the Marbleslides: Exponentials activity, and they loved it! It was something different from the usual notes/lecutre/assignment structure that is normally done in that class. I loved it too because they were engaged, and it got them thinking! They had to problem solve to figure out the equation, the had figure out how to type in the equation to make it do what they wanted. This YouTube video demonstrates what they needed to do in the activity (the video shows the Marbleslides: Lines activity, but it's the same concept as the exponentials activity).

I can't wait to try this with my other classes and do different activities! I could even see them creating one of their own activities as part of a coding lesson or possibly a review for test type thing! You all definitely have to check it out! What other online tools or apps have you used to get your students engaged?

My Take on Social Media in the Classroom

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Hey again, everyone! Today I want to talk about using social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) in the classroom.  As a school, we actually have a Facebook page for different activities at the school (we have one for just general West Hancock information, one for track, one for basketball, etc).  The principal and/or coach is in charge of these pages, but teachers are encouraged to use the general page to display what is happening in our classes.  This is actually one of our Board Goals this year and last year.  A lot of students open enroll in our area, and sites like Facebook and Twitter are great ways to "show off" everything that is awesome about our district and to encourage people to come to West Hancock!  Here's one that I posted last year about Pi Day!

As for using social media specifically in a math class, I have struggled with this concept.  I want to be able to see their work, and typing mathematically is a lot more difficult than writing it out.  However, I think it would be great to use for having students explain answers, or discuss a certain topic with each other.  I also found this awesome idea of a teacher who uses Instagram!  This would be so cool!  It brings in that real world application that a lot of students need in order to understand the math concept.

In chapter 2 of Social Media for Educators: Strategies and Best Practices by Tanya Joosten, the book that we are reading for my Using Digital and Social Media in Education class, Joosten says that "any emerging technology should not be implemented simply because it is cool or the latest thing." (location 825 of 2723 on my Kindle Fire).  I totally agree with this!  I think a lot of teachers, myself included, get lost in the "implementing technology" part that is somewhat pushed on us by administration, that we sometimes lose sight of the actual learning that should be happening by using this technology.  Have you ever had a great lesson planned using technology, but then after reflecting on it, the students didn't actually learn anything about the content because they were too focused on the technology?  I know that's happened to me!  We need to identify what the learning outcomes should be first, then find the technology (social media, apps, etc) that facilitates this. The teacher who used Instagram wanted to use it to "provide experiential learning opportunities" (table 2.2 in Social Media for Educators, location 835 of 2723 on my Kindle Fire) by using it as a way for students to apply the mathematics concepts to a real world situation.  I could also see Snapchat used in a similar way.  This would definitely get the students' interest!

Does anybody else know of ways to use social media in a math class? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Bad at math? There's no such thing!

Hello, fellow teachers! This is my first blog, other than the one or two posts I had to do for an undergrad class, so I'm excited to be back in the blogosphere!  I am doing this blog as part of my Instructional Technology Masters cohort, but I am planning on keeping this one up after this class and my program is finished. I think it is a great way to gain some knowledge from other teachers by reading their blogs and having them comment on mine as well!

Anyway, I was looking at Sam Shah's "Continuous Everywhere but Differentiable Nowhere" blog and loved his beginning of the year post.  He posted this Youtube video from Mathematigal, which goes right along with what I am trying to express to my students more this year:

I made a new bulletin board this year, getting the idea from "ELA Teacher" in her blog "ELA in the Middle" via Pinterest (Source), to discuss the same themes!

I've also put up a poster similar to this in my room, an inspiration from Mike Holtzen in his blog "Milk Jug," again via Pinterest (Source):

 
I'm trying to get my students out of the mindset of "I can't do math," or "I'm bad at math," and instead, getting them into that growth mindset of "I may not get this now, but I will with a little work."  When I was going through my undergrad and explained to people that I was a math major, I had very similar reactions to what Mathematigal experienced.  I pretty much had the "I love math!" reaction, or the "Wow, you're crazy. I can't do math." reaction.  I think a lot of our students perceptions of their math abilities come from their parents like this, who have the "I can't do math" attitude. That attitude is then passed on to their children, so then without even trying, they have the mindset that they are bad at math.  I'm trying to undo some of that with encouragement that with a little work, anything is possible!

One way I'm trying to do that is through my daily warm-ups with my Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 classes.  I'm doing this a different way than I have in the past, and it seems to be working well so far.  I'm having students write down their answers on their individual whiteboards, then I choose 2 people to present at the big board.  These two people either have different answers, or may have the same answer, but did it different ways.  Next is the discussion, where the majority of the learning happens. They have to justify their answers and explain their reasoning, and through their explanations, we have some great discussion!  I'm trying to show them that it's ok to not get the right answer, or maybe get the right answer but in a different way, and that failing is where you actually learn the most! Failure should not be thought of as such a bad thing, as long as you learn from your failures. I'm also trying to show them that math isn't just about getting the right answer, it's the process that you go through to get to the answer.  This article from Education Week describes a similar warm-up process called, "My Favorite 'No.'" I like how they have the added element of specifically looking for things the person who got the wrong answer did right before going in to what they did wrong.  I try to do this during the conversation part, but it's sometimes difficult to steer the conversation in that direction when students are first starting this process.

Does anyone else have any suggestions of other ways to continue to build/encourage that growth mindset in my math students?