I Speak Math

My Students were Published in Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School!

I Speak Math — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:27:35 +0000

We are so excited! My students’ answers to a “Solve It!” were published in the November edition of Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. This is a national publication produced by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The students collected data about the number of jeans owned by every student in their class. Working in groups of three or four, they used Google Spreadsheets to compare their class average to the national average and to do further analysis of the data. They created graphs to visually present their findings. They also worked collaboratively on a Google word document to write their analysis of the data. After they came up with conclusions, they created wiki pages to present their findings. Their wiki pages were creative and beautifully formatted. They contained uploaded graphs of their data, detailed analyses, and even some pictures they took with their cameras or computers.

We had already covered the unit on averages when the “Solve It!” question came about. Therefore, I gave few instructions to the students for this project. I showed them the question in the article and let them work independently in their groups. I encouraged them to be creative. They loved this project and they reported that much of their enthusiasm was due to the freedom they were given.

Check out the wiki pages they created and read the Solve It! Article.

Jeans Solve It Published

I Let Them Grade Their Own Tests – And They Loved It

I Speak Math — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 12:56:43 +0000

Well, most of them loved it. A few did not. I got this nifty idea from my great peeps on Twitter (thanks @pamLpatterson and @park_star). I make them do quiz corrections now, but I noticed they don’t do a very good job. Often, they have a difficult time correcting the problem. I offer Work Time and after school help to work on quiz corrections, but not everyone takes me up on that or they are the students that need help with the new material that we are covering.

Enter, Grade Your Own Tests day. I had them take a test like they usually do, but also had them transpose their final answer (with no work show) onto an answer sheet. After I took everything up, I graded just the answer sheet right or wrong with no partial credit.

The fun part was when I then handed back ONLY their tests with not a mark on them. They were confused. I explained that I had already graded their answer sheets but I only graded them right or wrong, with no partial credit. They were to grade their own tests in order to earn their partial credit. I gave them each a colored pencil and a copy of the key with all of the solutions worked out and the possible points for each problem. They had to check each step against the steps on the key. For each step they missed, they had to write the correct step in colored pencil. Then, using a few guidelines I created, they had to decide how many points they missed on each question. (My guidelines were -1 for losing a negative or making an arithmetic error, and +1 for writing the correct equation but missing the answer). We worked on it for about 15 minutes in class so I could help guide them and answer questions. They were to finish grading for their homework that night.

Once they turned their graded papers back in I re-graded every one to make sure they gave themselves the correct credit (and to compare it with their original answer sheet to make sure they stayed honest). I was very impressed that most of my students did an excellent job of grading their own papers. I only had to correct a few papers. A couple of students turned their papers in with just the answers marked wrong and no corrections. I gave them back and told them they had to earn their partial credit back by showing all of the corrections.

This was actually a lot more work for me as I had to grade their answer sheets, then guide them through grading their own papers, then check their grading. But, it seemed like a very valuable exercise. The funny thing was that a few students thought they were saving me work by grading their own paper for me. I surveyed the students and an overwhelming majority liked it and wanted to grade their own papers again. The few that did not enjoy this seemed to be the ones that had a difficult time understanding how to give themselves partial credit or still didn’t understand how to do the problem, even with the key. If I do this again, I will work more closely with those students at first and offer extra help time to work on the corrections individually with me.

We recently took another equation quiz, and overall their equation solving skills dramatically improved so I feel like they learned from this activity. I would love to do this again, but would like to know if there is a better way (that is less work for me). So, if you are doing something similar but better – please share!

Here are the students comments from the survey:

What did you like about grading your own test?

that you could go back and see your mistakes and know where you need to improve.
that I got to see what and where I went wrong
that you could go back and see your mistakes and know where you need to improve.
That i could go back with the answers, see what i did wrong and see how to actually do it the day after the test/quiz
I got to see clear mistakes that i had and wall able to correct them.
What i liked about grading my paper is that i got to learn from my mistakes and get better at what i got wrong because if we got the problem wrong when we are correcting it we are supposed write out and explain what we got wrong. That helps.
“knowing exactly what i did and seeing my score
“I liked it because you can defiantly see your mistakes.
i liked it because u could see what u were doing wrong
I liked trying to be A Teacher for the first time
I like that i kinda fell better if i get a good grade and i grade it myself i do not know why though.
I liked grading my own paper because we got to see what we got and how we were supposed to get it if we didn’t get a problem correct.
being able to give myself at least some credit
I like to see what kinds of things that i messed up on.
I liked being able to see what I messed up on. I looked at it more and got a good understanding of what I got wrong.
It was easier to see what mistakes I did make and how to correct them. I thought it was a good way to understand the material better – reworking the problems.
It was fun because you could really understand what you did wrong and understand what you needed to do to help fix it.
I like that you can see your mistakes and understand completely what and why you got a problem incorrect.
I liked it because i could redo what i was missing and look over my paper more.
I like being able to see what I did wrong. Seeing my own mistakes helps me learn what to do a little better. If I just got everything right whats the point? You wouldn’t learn anything!
I liked being able to correct my own mistakes. Interacting with what you did wrong helps you learn it for the next time. Usually you just see what was wrong and you go ok but you never really learn how to fix it unless you do it yourself.
I liked getting an idea of what you did wrong when grading it and getting an idea what my grade will be ahead of time before the teacher grades it.

What did you NOT like about grading your own test?

knowing how many mistakes you got.
Having to face my mistakes
seeing how many mistakes you made.
???
All the mistakes that i had to correct was embarrassing
What i did not like is that i felt bad when i got a answer wrong because of a silly mistake that i made.
nada
It takes some time to finish grading the paper.
i didn’t like that it was a little confusing for some people like me to understand how to do it at first
I did not like that i had to see my grade i think i got wait another day and get my real grade.
I didn’t like grading my own paper because it was extra work when instead we could’ve been learning.
it was hard and very confusing i didnt understand most of what i was supposed to do. It was easier when you just graded my tests.
I don’t like grading my paper because it makes me really nervous.
I wasn’t exactly sure how to grade it, and how many points to take off, but I got it eventually.
I wasn’t always 100% how to rework them – even with the answer key. I really liked grading my own paper overall.
Nothing.
I kind of like that moment when you get your paper back with a grade on it; it’s really exciting and sort of scary. Like a rollercoaster, a little? But a math rollercoaster? I don’t know, it’s just fun.
I also thought it was a little harder because I had to find exactly where I got it wrong and felt like it was a little hard.
What I didn’t like was how it can tempt you to break the honor code by correcting an answer that you got wrong just to boost your grade.
The only thing i didn’t like about grading my own paper was that as i went through the problems it was more pressure because i did not want to have one wrong or correct one wrong.
I did not like grading my own paper because I’d rather just get the teachers grade. I get a little aggravated when I’m not sure if this is the grade that I will really get when it is graded by the teacher.

FINALLY – ExamView works on Lion OS X

I Speak Math — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 03:19:50 +0000

After serious trauma trying to run ExamView on Lion OSX as I blogged about here and here, it is finally fixed! I received an email from eInstruction on Friday stating that “ExamView Assessment Suite v.7.5.1 COMPATIBLE with Mac 10.7″. Included was a link for a FREE copy of the new ExamView that promised to expire in 10 days. Of course, I get this email on the way to the BEACH, while I was in the car with no wi-fi to be found anywhere. Since them I have been too busy hustling around to soccer games and having fun at the beach. But, I was finally able to steal a bit of time tonight to install the program and see if it worked. I could just no longer stand it! And guess what?? It works! It works! It works!

If you want to try it out on your Lion OSX Mac then here is the link – but it expires in ten days (ack – 8 days)!

https://einstruction.sharefile.com/d/s64687cba8a441c6a
(If you have any questions, please contact eInstruction technical support at 888-333-4988).

Good luck! : )

Let’s Get W.I.L.D. – Wiki Independent Learning Day

I Speak Math — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:58:21 +0000

Yes, apparently I am obsessed with acronyms this summer. But, when you can make them fun (WILD) and mean something great I just cannot help myself!

I teach 6th and 7th graders. Middle school is their transition time. It is when they begin to grow up and become independent learners. Becoming an independent learner is a corner stone of our school philosophy. I know that this takes time and can even be difficult at first, especially for students coming fresh out of elementary school. My goal is for all of my students to move from being dependent upon me for all of their learning, to becoming independent learners.

To help my students achieve independence in their learning, I am going to have designated WILD days this year. On these days I will have students start on our student created wiki help pages to access websites to work on different concepts. They can start with concepts in which they are not proficient. Students that are proficient in most concepts can work ahead so that they will not be bored reviewing concepts they have already mastered. They will keep an online WILD Log that they create using a Google Doc spreadsheet. This GDoc will be shared with me so that I can monitor their progress.

I expect that helping students target what they need to work on and finding the best resources will be high maintenance at first. Eventually however, I would like the students to learn to tailor their own learning. I want WILD to be interesting and challenging for students of varying ability levels.

Here is what I have for the GDocs WILD Log, but I would love more ideas on how to make the Log (or anything else) better.

If The Earth Contained 100 People

I Speak Math — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 14:13:27 +0000

I discovered the books, “If the World Were A Village” by David Smith at a local math conference two years ago. I would love to explore the math in this books with my class but have not come up with a good lesson for it yet. I am posting about this now to get my links together, inspire myself, and maybe get some ideas from the amazing math teachers that read my blog.

If you have lessons or activities surrounding this concept, please share them in the comments with me! Once I get something together, I will tell you all about it.

Links I like about 100:

Please share links if you have any.

FLAG – Fix Learning And Grow

I Speak Math — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 18:28:37 +0000

Addressing the needs of students when they struggle haunts me. I am not only talking about students who may be working below grade, but any student who begins to stumble on a concept. At times even my best students have trouble on new topics. Currently, I use a Concepts Checklist, which is an altered version of SBG (Standards Based Grading) to identify this. However, I would ideally like to give additional support to students when they FIRST begin to have trouble, instead of trying to remediate when they are already behind or completely lost.

I read about using “red flags” in Robyn Jackson’s book “How To Support Struggling Students” while doing a book study with my amazing PLN (Professional Learning Network) of mathematics educators on Twitter. I immediately loved the idea of the red flag, but was worried about the negative connotation of a student receiving a “red flag”. I do not want the flag to be seen as a negative, a sign that a student is “not good” at math or “in trouble”. To give the flag a positive connotation, I decided to come up with a positive acronym for FLAG. Thanks to @fourkatie via Twitter, Fix Learning And Grow was born.

I do not plan to use FLAGs for purely academic reasons. I would like to give students a FLAG in any area where they can “Fix and Grow”. I plan on handing out flags for incomplete or missing homework, recurring misunderstandings in class, sloppy/incomplete notebooks, and excessive absences and tardies if they are having trouble making up the work.

UPDATE: I originally included disruptive behavior, but after some insightful comments, I rethought that and will NOT be including disruptive behavior in the FLAG system. I want to FLAG to focus on academics.

As teachers we do not have much time to implement an exhaustive new program. It must require low maintenance from me in order for it to be long-lasting. Thus, I am organizing the FLAG program to encourage independent learning. When I identify a need, I will place a flag on a students paper (or notebook). I will write the name of the FLAG on the flag. It is then the students responsibility to address their FLAG. The student will visit the FLAG page on our Wiki to read about their FLAG and see the steps they need to follow. The FLAGs are only temporary, and once they have addressed their need, their FLAG can be “waived”.

I think that this will save me time because a FLAG is quick and easy to write and hand out (post-it flags). I do not have to worry if an issue is serious enough to warrant a “talk” with a student or initiate a parent contact. I do not have to come up with “fixes” for the problem each time I do talk to a student. FLAG is a system that is already in place and ready to address many student needs, from the minor to the major.

I am still developing this idea and the overall FLAG system so I would LOVE any thoughts and feedback. Read more on my FLAG page on the wiki. Please help me make FLAGs better!

Mac Teachers: Killing the Lion to use ExamView

I Speak Math — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 15:28:09 +0000

Oops – you goofed like I did. You installed Lion before realizing that it would NOT run ExamView (or your other essential or favorite PowerPC/Rosetta programs). From the number of hits that my post ExamView will NOT work on OS X Lion is getting from the search terms “ExamView Lion” I know this is a big issue. And, just so we are clear…

THERE IS NO EXISTING VERSION OF EXAMVIEW THAT WILL RUN ON AN OS X LION MAC.

As you can see for yourself above, I’ve looked it up, I’ve downloaded it, I’ve contacted ExamView (einstruction actually) and this has been verified. And yes, I am talking about the most current version of ExamView for Mac. So, you are in one of two situations:

1) You have a current Mac that you prematurely upgraded to Lion. At this point, accept it. There is no upgrade for ExamView and no workaround. You HAVE to go back to Snow Leopard if you have to run ExamView.

If you have a Time Machine back up from your Snow Leopard days, you are set! You can go back to Snow Leopard, no hard feelings.
If you do NOT have a Time Machine back-up, you will have to back up all your data (I recommend an external hard drive), erase your hard drive, re-install Snow Leopard (and all of your applications and settings and stuff) and then you are good to go.

2) You have a beautiful, brand new Mac with Lion installed. NO, you cannot put Snow Leopard onto it and NO you cannot run your ExamView. Today I was told however, that Windows 7 would run on the new Mac. So, now all you have to do is buy Windows 7, partition your new hard drive, install Windows 7 to run in addition to Lion and you are all set! What a pain! Plus, I hate all things “Windows” so this was not a viable option for me.

EDITED/UPDATED
3) Parallels Software – Thanks to two people, a great friend on FB and an amazing educator on Twitter, I found out that you can purchase a program called Parallels that allows you to run Windows programs on your Mac. The only expense here is the program ($80) and the time. Most ExamView CD’s that come with the book include the Mac and PC installers so you should not have to purchase a new version of ExamView. This is still not an ideal option for me because I am not a Windows fan. Since ExamView is the ONLY software I need this for and an eventual fix is coming I’m willing to wait it out. However, if you have a new Mac and no other options then this may be a great fix for you.

In all cases, if you have AppleCare then you are in luck, CALL THEM at (800) MYAPPLE. They will help you with software issues. The great people at AppleCare patiently walked me right through every step I needed to back up my data, erase my hard drive, and then re-install Snow Leopard. (I had no Time Machine back-up.) They also gave me options of partitioning my hard drive so that I could run Lion or Windows 7 along side of Snow Leopard. However, I decided not to do that. I am just going to run Snow Leopard until ExamView gets their act together and puts out an updated ExamView. At that time, I can just re-download Lion from the App store and then re-install. I was told that I will not be charged again as Apple has a record that I already bought it. ExamView emailed (someone more important than me) that it would be about 90 days. Right. I’ll believe that when I (don’t) see it.

Whatever you decide to do, PLEASE contact einstruction. Hopefully the more people that contact them the more pressing of an issue they will realize this is. And please let them know that this is not simply an “inconvenience”. It is an unacceptable failure on their part to upgrade their outdated software. We haven’t been “inconvenienced”, we have been completely put out of service.

e-instruction contacts:

http://www.einstruction.com/support/technical-support
You can also call: 888-333-4988 to speak with a technical support representative.

Good luck with the fix, at least it happened durning the summer when this only made me mad, not stressed to tears as it would have if it had happened during the school year.

Warning for Mac Users: ExamView will NOT work on OS X Lion

I Speak Math — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:26:34 +0000

I love technology and (until recently) all things Apple. I have been eagerly awaiting the release of Apple’s new OS X Lion. So as soon as OS X Lion came out I updated. Now, I am seriously regretting this hasty move because I can no longer use ExamView on my Lion inflicted laptop. If you have a Mac and use ExamView DO NOT upgrade your OS to Lion. You will NOT be able to use ExamView, at all, even a little bit. Instead, all you will see is this.

Why is this? What has happened? Well, Apple has decided to no longer support PowerPC programs.

From a Mac OS X Lion Review via http://www.macintouch.com/specialreports/lion/review.html

“Rosetta

Also gone is “Rosetta”, the brilliant little code translator that allowed existing Mac applications to keep running when Apple switched its Mac products from PowerPC to Intel processors just five years ago. Considering that many widely-used applications, such as Quicken 2007, still haven’t been ported to Intel, this is a serious problem. If you depend on PowerPC-based software of any kind — from older versions of mainstream applications sold by companies like Microsoft, FileMaker and Adobe, to Apple’s own USB modem, to PowerPC-based drivers for scanners and printers, Lion is not an option.

Worse, Apple hasn’t breathed a word about any of this to customers other than developers. Not on the marketing website, not in its support pages, not even buried in a tiny footnote somewhere. Any Mac user with older applications who upgrades to Lion may be in for a nasty shock when their tools suddenly stop working.

There are many thousands of older, specialized applications which are still critically useful to Mac owners today, even though they have not been converted by their developers to Intel-based code. Similarly, there are untold numbers of Mac documents that are readable only by software incompatible with Lion. While Apple may recognize no duty to support these older Mac technologies, it absolutely has the duty to tell its customers that its removal of an existing Mac technology will suddenly disable their software and documents. Apple’s silence on this change is unconscionable.”

You can also read “OS X Lion Drops PowerPC Support” from the Washington Post.

And, this is bigger than just uploading the new OS X Lion onto your current computer. ALL new Mac computers have Lion on it. So, if you buy a new Mac, it has Lion and you will NOT be able to use ExamView. I called Apple, and they said that you cannot even buy a new Mac with Lion on it and delete Lion to install Snow Leopard onto it. I don’t know why. This makes no sense to me. But I was told that there was “No way” that I could install Snow Leopard onto a brand new Lion-installed Mac. I really don’t believe them, and am going to do more research on this. Still, what a painful process to have to go through.

I know, I know, excitement got the best of me and I leaped before I looked. But I am still irritated at Apple for not supporting PowerPC and at antiquated education software like ExamView (and many other book publishers software like the “One Stop” from Houghton Mifflin). I emailed ExamView to see when I could expect the newest version and the fix, as I am sure that I’m not the only educator out there using ExamView and a Mac. My answer?

“Hello,

Thank you for contacting eInstruction Technical Support. I am replying to your question about Examview compatibility with Mac OS 10.7. Unfortunately, as of this time we do not have a version of Examview that will run correctly in Mac OS 10.7. We are hoping to have an update to our latest version, Examview 7.5, that will allow it to install and run correctly on the new Mac OS but I do not have any information about when that update will be completed.

I apologize for the inconvenience,

Max Schneiter, max.schneiter@einstruction.com

Technical Support Specialist, einstruction.com”

I was never a giant fan of ExamView in the first place. The software is clunky and cumbersome. But, I haven’t found a better alternative either. If you know of one, please let me know. If they can’t get their act together, I will find a new software that is Mac friendly.

In the meantime, I am trying to get Lion off and Snow Leopard back onto my MacBook. I called Applecare and was told that to get Snow Leopard back onto my computer, I have to ERASE MY HARD DRIVE. Yes, that is correct. I have to back up my entire computer, wipe it clean, re-install Snow Leopard, and then re-install all of my files. I guess I will do this, as otherwise I cannot use the hundreds of pre-assessments, quizzes, tests, and worksheets that I painstaking created this past year. So much work. It is the opposite of being productive this summer. I just want to ask WHY?

So, how do you find out which applications on your computer are using PowerPC? Read “How To Check if Applications are Incompatible with Mac OS X Lion”. You can also just follow these steps on your Mac to see which programs will be null set or “tombstoned” as some are calling it.

Applications
Utilities
System Information
Software (at the bottom)
Applications – wait for a minute for the list to populate, then you can sort to group all of your PowerPC applications.

Or you can

Click on the apple in the upper left corner
Select About This Mac
More Info…
System Report
Software (at the bottom)
Applications – wait…

Good luck, be smart, and be cautious before you upgrade.

Google Docs Spreadsheet “Word Cloud” to Analyze Student Survey

I Speak Math — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 23:10:29 +0000

I have always thought that Wordles (or word clouds) were fun and interesting. However, I have never thought of them as “useful” until today when I read Becky’s Wordle Post. Inspired, I scoured the net and found out from Free Technology For Teachers that you can create Wordle-like word clouds inside Google Document Spreadsheets! Google Documents has a “Word Cloud Gadget” that will turn your entire page, or even just select cells, into a word cloud. You can pick any words that you want to exclude and even chose the number of word that you want to use for your word cloud.

I instantly thought of the anonymous student survey that I gave to my 6th grade class. I loved reading their thoughts and meant to summarize their answers but did not get around to it. The Word Cloud was a perfect visual summary of how my students felt about their math class.

Since you can pick any cell in your Google Spreadsheet, I decided to focus on one question, “Please tell me something (or things) that you enjoy that we do in this math class.” Here is the Word Cloud generated from that question.

I enjoyed seeing the words love, math, and projects. The projects jumped right out at me! This is my first time teaching in a project intensive school. This Word Cloud zeros in the fact that students are feeing a love of math in my class, and it is because of the projects that I have created. Since my goal is for all students to love math, I obviously need to get busy and create more projects.

My goal for this summer has been to create interesting projects for each unit. It has been a hectic summer, and I haven’t gotten as far as I would have hoped. However, I am determined to develop at least one interesting project per unit. If you have any great projects from 6th grade – algebra I, please include the link in the comments or email me. After this word cloud, projects are my new number one summer priority.

Google+ (Google Plus) for the Classroom

I Speak Math — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 03:39:52 +0000

Last week Twitter was a flutter with talk of Google+. Via invite (thanks Kate!) math tweeps from around the country were able to sign-up, add circles, and connect.

I am a technology junkie, so I love exploring new technology as soon as I can get my hands on it! Google+ has potential. The two things that appealed to me the most were the circles and the “Hangout” features.

The circles allow you to categorize your GooglePlus friends. This solves the problem of friending your students. Friend away, because with circles you can specify exactly who will (and who will NOT) see every post that you share. You can pick a circle to send a message to, or even just one person. This is similar to the private messaging in Facebook, but it is rolled into the front page. You don’t have to go to a separate place to send a message, you just type it right into your stream (status) and then pick who you want to see it.

The Google Hangout is Skype-like as it uses your webcam and mic for interaction. You see who you are talking to on a large center image. However you can also see all of the people “hanging out” in your room at the bottom of the screen. The neatest feature is that when a person talks, the large image automatically shifts to the person talking. It does this via sound. So, even when no one was talking, the screen would shift to the person making any noise (like a dog barking in the background). Reportedly, up to 10 people can “Hangout” at a time. We had 6 or 7 last week so I haven’t tested this limit yet. In Hangouts you can also chat and watch YouTube’s together. I pushed every button in every box to try it all out.

An advantage of using Google+ in my classroom is that my students will not have to sign up for another new account. Since I use Google Docs daily in my classroom, all of my students already have Google accounts. My students currently sign up for my MathReuls wiki, Google Docs, and use an online book. I like that they will not have to sign up for any additional accounts.

Once Google+ opens up and allows everyone to join, I can envision this as my new “Homework Hotline” in the evenings. I use a Google Document for my current “Homework Hotline”, but it is cumbersome explaining problems to students by just typing. Too much gets lost in translation. It is confusing. I tried Scribblar, ~~but my students had to create new accounts to use it so I decided against it~~ (update below). I like that I can talk, Skype-like, to students. Each student can talk and it will switch to their face so I can see who is asking the question. We can also type in the chat as we talk. A disadvantage of Google+ as a Homework Hotline is that currently there is no “interactive whiteboard” feature to draw or upload images into yet. However, you can just write something on paper and hold it up to your webcam for students to see. Think old school meets new technology. I actually may like this better for now as every student you are working with online will need to write down the problem and work on it for you to see instead of all drawing on the same interactive whiteboard page.

Until Google+ becomes readily available for all, I will continue to search for an easy to use, feature rich site for my Homework Hotline for the fall. I am currently experimenting with Dabbleboard with my fabulous math teachers Tweeps. There is no required sign-up, so my students can just click the link and join right in. It has an interactive whiteboard, image uploading, and a chat feature with webcam. However, the webcam was unreliable at best. We could either hear voices and see no picture, or see the picture and hear no voices. And then, the voices kept freezing. Frustrating. So, this only be useful as an interactive whiteboard, sans voice. So I will keep searching this summer! If you have something great that you use, I would love to know about it.

UPDATE:

It turns out that students do NOT need to create an account to join a room on Scribblar. They do need to “sign in” but they do this as a guest so they do not need to create an account or a password, they simply type their name. Their name shows up inside the room so I will know who I am talking to. Scribblar has more features than Dabbleboard and uses Latex so I will be using that for my students until we are all on G+.