Saturday, October 7, 2017

An old dog can learn new tricks

I am currently piloting an Algebra 1 textbook from Big Ideas. I've been teaching math for 12 years (or so) and I spent a couple of decades before that reinforcing the idea that I know everything. So, when I started the year, I used the textbook the same way I always had. I teach the way I feel most comfortable and then use the book for problem sets. This week I decided to learn something new.

I read the suggested methodology in the book and took the kids through an exploration in the prescribed manner. The lesson was regarding graphing linear equations using intercepts. I started the kids off with a warm up: How many pairs of numbers have a sum of 7?  I was surprised and delighted to see the responses.

First of all, all 30 freshmen were immediately engaged. I didn't see anyone not discussing the problem. Clearly they were intrigued. This was 8am Friday morning! 

Then I started wandering around the class to see and hear what they were discussing.  I noticed one student had simply written infinaty on his paper (the well known alternative spelling to infinity).  At first I was not sure what he meant. Then another student called me over and asked whether he could use negative numbers as well as positive numbers. The light bulb started to illuminate over my head. I hadn't specified that you could only use whole numbers. With no restrictions, some of the kids became quite innovative.

Another student asked whether they could use fractions and yet another asked about decimals. I was so excited. In my classroom, kids are seated in groups of 4, so no matter who had the idea, others became aware of the possibilities very quickly.

I got the attention of the whole class and took some time to discuss the idea that based on my loosely worded question,you could have an infinite number of pairs. Then I asked students to limit themselves to non-fraction and non-decimal positive numbers.

I asked how many pairs again.  Several students volunteered that you could have 4 pairs, 0+7, 1+6, 2+5 and 3+4.  So then I asked the class whether 4+3 would be considered another pair. One girl loudly exclaimed, "mind blown."

After this warm up activity, we proceeded with the Exploration in the Student Journal where we guessed what pairs of numbers would satisfy the equation 3x + 2y = 6?  Eventually one girl figured out that you could easily find a pair if you set x or y to zero. 

All in all it was a very satisfying lesson. Thanks, Big Ideas!

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Video in the classrom: Flipgrid vs Seesaw

Several years ago, I flipped my classroom so that kids watch my lectures via video at home at night.  I've stuck to the flipped classroom because I believe in the power of video.   So, I have also been interested in getting my students to make their own videos.   I've experimented with software like Explain Everything and Showme, but I've been reading about Seesaw and Flipgrid and so, today I tried them both.

Here is a video that I made- as though I was a student- using Flipgrid and my smartphone:
https://flipgrid.com/82451d

Here is a video that I made- as though I was a student- using Seesaw and my smartphone:
https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.ccd3a629-d249-4765-b44b-93eadb288e74&share_token=ZcIZ51oBQo2bUW4mvdMnWg&mode=share

If you compare the two videos, you'll notice that the Seesaw video was fuzzier.  The Flipgrid app gave me the ability to use the flashlight feature on my phone to brighten up the image and the app also allowed me to touch the screen and reset the focus.   The Seesaw app did not seem to have these features.  Also, you'll notice that when I get the "share" link from each app, the Flipgrid app provides a much shorter, easier to read link.  This will make a big difference when I'm trying to share videos with students via Twitter, remind.com or even by writing on the whiteboard.

Of course there are many more features that Seesaw has in their web application and so this is not meant to be an overall comparison of the two products.  But for this one application, quick sharing of student videos, I'm liking what Flipgrid has to offer.