Reflection: Document Formatting

Today's observed lesson (the last in a series of four) was simply a technological enhancement to support support a previous lesson.  My class had recently constructed some I Am poems to incorporate into some art self portraits.  The I Am poem quickly and easily identifies with various characteristics of students and can be surprisingly deep.  The poem above is a sample, but my students' works were actually quite meaningful.  I had hoped they would start thinking about the steps they would have to take to ready their poems for print publication.  Due to the personal nature of these poems, they will not be published online.

The lesson was multi-faceted as (1) students were at various stages of completion and (2) they work through technical issues at different rates.  Because of these differences, the class felt a little chaotic as some were completing the text from the poem while others were completing the end stages of the process.  This is one of those unlikeable realities for which I always have to account.  Fortunately the 'free time' concept is a nice finishing reward!

The overall goal was to turn plain text into something unique.  Today's concepts were these:

• setting margins
• adding borders
• adjusting fonts
• adding watermarks

While I expected the different paces of my students, the printed poems revealed some areas I had to focus on for next class:

• fine tuning of the watermarking process--some watermarks printed too faintly to be seen
• teaching image size and resolution--because students used small images, there was evidence of gross pixelation

Other than the poor quality of the watermarks, I was pleased with the quality of the formatting shown by my students.  I shall look ahead with great interest to see their ideas incorporated into their final art works.  Check out a sample!

Summary: LA I Am poem > Computer formatting > Art self-portrait 

Reflection: Mat Handball

A week previous to today's observed lesson I introduced a new game to my 5/6 class.  The response was negative.  I'm not sure whether it was that the game was new or if my students really didn't like the game.  Unswayed, I decided to give it another chance based on some observations I made of the first game:

• teams should be smaller to allow for greater, on court play
• periods should be shorter to allow for a faster on court turnover
• only the goalie should be permitted within the crease area
• body contact should be disallowed to minimize personal injury
• schedule kept to ensure teams didn't become stacked
• a brilliant team selection strategy was employed to ensure team fairness (though I don't think I shall ever truly achieve this)

The game's second iteration was a success.  For some reason, the energy level was higher and the engagement more intense.

To ensure greater success, there are some things I'd like to try for future games:

• run two simultaneous games each playing a half court of the gym
• trying new time lengths on the mat
• introducing the real game of handball

Check out footage from today's action!

Reflection: Decimal Review

I have a love-hate relationship with formal observations.  I see the benefit with an external observer in that this person often pushes me towards growth.  But I just really just hate being watched.  Maybe I'm over self-conscious and I do not like the idea that someone could tell me that I'm doing a poor job.  That noted, however, observations usually tend to go well and I'm usually pleased with the process (once it's completed).

My principal observation--the first one of four--happened today and it was a generally positive experience.  While I feel I babbled a little too much at the beginning, the students had a generally positive experience I feel their learning was enhanced on what otherwise could have been a rather tedious textbook review page.  Today's topic was decimal review and both the grade 5 and 6 classes had to review the same concept; this was a bonus.  Essentially, I could review the concept for both levels at the same time while giving each grade appropriate exercises.

The lesson followed this outline: 

1. Introduce project
2. Model example
3. Debrief example and group assess
4. Make groups and distribute sheets
5. Allow time for presentations
6. Presentations and assessment
7. Post: photograph and distribution of examples

The students were fantastic.  Ironically, what I learned from them may have been greater than what they learned from me.  Some of the points of discussion I hope to follow up with in tomorrow's class are these:

• Language: the language of mathematics continues to be a weakness.  Too often they're using words like 'plussing' and 'minusing' when 'addition' and 'subtraction' would be much more suited to the mathematical domain.  I also learned that the simple letter 'm' could be interpreted as metre or mile.
• Mistakes: it's OK to make and to model mistakes.  Much has been written about this idea and I want to ensure my students are not afraid to make mistakes.  From this I hope they learn to become greater risk takers.
• Worked out answers: seeing other students present their worked out answers it beneficial.  In some cases, one student was narrating a process while another was constructing it on the whiteboard in the background.
• Misconceptions: I was quickly alerted to some mathematical misconceptions.  Specific elements like the omission of units (e.g. metres) were quickly addressed.
• Strategies: I was particularly impressed when a single group introduced multiple strategies to arrive at a correct solution.
• Ambiguity: sometimes questions present higher degrees of ambiguity resulting in multiple solutions. 

I was also able to ask some pretty great questions which shed light on the learning process of my students:

• Do you learn better while listening by listening or doing?
• Why do you think teachers don't stray from the exercises in the textbook more often?

7 Habits

http://www.angelamaiers.com/2012/11/7-habits-of-highly-effective-teachers-who-use-technology.html

Storyboarding: les sports

Collaborative Storyboard

Giving new life to older activities is an ongoing struggle in my practice.  Today I think I was able to re-imagine some concepts through the processes of storyboards and filming.  Previously, I provided my students with some French notes on pronouns and the verbs, jouer and faire.  To get them into the French language straight away, I had them create short sequences to act out (charades style) various activities in groups of three.  One student would be the actor, one the recorder, and the third would be the voice-over speaker.  They kept to this format for the most part, but they brought in some ideas of their own.

Admittedly, this is a much slower process but I think the overall experience is much richer.  For two classes they conceived the ideas then put them into practice.  The final result, in some cases, lasted no more than thirty seconds, but I think the richness was in the process.  Hopefully that is evidence.  I think the next step might be adding English subtitles.  See the videos below.

App Review - Three Ring Tutorial

Problem of the Week: Re-imagined

Lately I've been rethinking the way I conduct my math problem of the weeks (POW).  I find them valuable in that they best simulate math in the real work, they incorporate multiple skills and they provide an avenue for student creativity.  At the end of a unit on geometric solids, I found inspiration on a pixelated image I found on a late night Google search (see above) and thought it would be interesting to have them replicate the scene given minimal information.  Of course, there were some students who took the challenge and ran with it while others required more support.  I was actually a good experience for me to sit alongside my students and create the project myself.  I was slightly disheartened, however, when I had to give up my work to a student who damaged his.  And with many projects, a two block project quickly escalated into a four block one, but I was encourage by my students' level of engagement and their tenacity.

The other big discovery from today from today was with learning a bit with Three Ring.  This app is great for documenting formative assessment and is well suited for projects such as this one.  It affords the ability to collect images, notes and audio and attach them to individual students.  These artifacts can be shared with students.

Future refinements:

• planimetric map of neighbourhood layout
• different colours
• extended
• incorporate with art
• spell out which elements (geometric shapes, trees, streets, etc.) should be incorporated

Students started this project from scratch.  They had previously built paper cubes.

There was an option to decorate the houses but this was not essential.

A second shape, a triangular prism, was used for the roof.

The prism and the cube formed the house.

In addition to the house, students created a tree, a street and other features (e.g. streetlight).