Teach Em? Teach CHEM!
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Missed the MACUL, but I can talk about one of our alum from last week...
Last week we heard from one of the MAC alum's, Adam, who using gaming and simulations in the classroom; specifically Minecraft. Adam explained that students created their own simulations and interacted with each other. For every big era, students were "plopped" into appropriate biomes. Examples of such biomes include forests, tundras and savannahs and they were based on what the students had studied and they had to learn how to live in such biomes.
In creating simulations, students also had to provide justification for their building. In doing this, students were motivated to write and negotiate more. Students also learned that the environment had shaped who they were and they had to do research to figure out what to do in tough situations. For example, students in a dessert built an aqueduct to serve as a water source--and they supported this creation because the peoples of that era had the technology to do this.
For these simulations, the teacher (being Adam) played the role of nature and counteracted whatever creations students had built. For example, students had built a dam by the river in one simulation and left it that way overnight. The teacher, being nature, caused a flood and explained that when you cause a dam, that water needs to flow somewhere or you'll cause flooding. Students learned first-hand what it would be like to live in the specific biomes and eras.
I thought the use of gaming in the classroom is an excellent idea! I know most students around the junior high and high school age play Minecraft. Although Minecraft is a bit too new for me, I would consider trying to learn how to play it to benefit my students. However, I wanted to think about something that is gaming and simulations that relates to science. A game that I grew up with was Resident Evil, and I can having a zombie themed chemistry classroom around playing Resident Evil, but I am not sure how I can align that with state standards.
Any other ideas on how to include Zombies and Resident Evil into my chemistry classroom??
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Return from a Hiatus---Observe Socratic or Enact Twitter?
So I Need Some Help Making a Decision...
I had the opportunity to observe Tahani (Maize-Chemistry) enact a lesson using Socrative. To remind some of you, Socrative is an online tool that allows students, or teams of students, to answer a range of questions (multiple choice, short answer, true or false) that you create, as the teacher. This online tool can be used as a game, as well, in the form of a "Space Race" where students answer questions, and depending on the speed and accuracy of their questions, they move ahead in a race and a student or team of students wins when they complete the most questions in the least time. This tool would be incredibly useful as a formative or summative assessment to check for students understanding of material.
Tahani used this tool (Socrative) to help students review material about chemical bonding. Students were able to use their cell phones or computers to log into Socrative and answer a range of questions about chemical bonding. Tahani used this as an opening activity for the class that day so that they can review the content. Tahani also enacted this lesson the first day back from Finals--so this was a new semester and the last topic students learned was chemical bonding. This was an excellent way to engage students in recalling and remembering factual knowledge. Tahani also has access to student results of the questions so if there was a particular question that students messed up on, she could review it. Excellent!
As I was observing the lesson, students could not wait to start. This was evident by students exclaiming "Can we start?" "Is it ready?" Also, as students were playing the game they appeared "hooked" into the game because they were very anxious (in a happy anxious kind of way) to answer the questions and wanted to see how far they were in the space race. Although I also participated in this space race, I gave the students a chance by purposefully taking longer to answer questions and getting three wrong.(Ha) By the end of the activity, Tahani was able to see which set of students were "ahead" in the space race (and could assess that they, as a whole, understood the content) and which students were behind. Amazing!
I think my chemistry class would love the competitive part of answering questions and being in a race. Also, it would be a great and efficient way to assess how my students are understanding the content, and which topics or ideas are confusing to many.
Now here's my issue.....
There are two options for the Teach Tech assignment. The second option is exactly what I did with Tahani's class---observe a tool being used for a lesson.
The first option is to teach a lesson.
I did have an idea, that I thought would be fun and effectively utilize the piece of technology that is glued to every one of my students hands--the cellphone. As I walk around my classroom (circulate according to Lemov) every single one of my students (no, seriously EVERY SINGLE STUDENT--I'll get a bible and take pictures if you don't believe me) owns a cell phone. It is a distraction to them most of the class time. I wanted to use something that, some tool, or some application that students can use that cellphone and divert their distraction. This is where I thought about twitter.
Twitter is a popular application where students can jump on, see other peoples posts or pictures, an d leave a comment. I know it has been used as a popular social media tool, but I would ask students to focus on several tasks.
I created a "Teacher" twitter account. I posted several links on there, related to chemistry.
What I was thinking of doing is, one day, students would have to log on to twitter--or get a student twitter account, follow me or find my twitter, look at some of my posts and follow whichever link they feel is most interesting, and do an activity (or something like that) with that link. Then, their final task is to post a comment on that link, on my twitter, summarizing what they did or learned or how it relates to class--as an exit ticket.
Since students can continue to have my twitter account, I can assign them tasks outside of class for them to continue to do.
I ran the beginning part of this idea with my mentor teacher and she was not too thrilled because of the social media aspect of it. With this shut down, I settled for option 2 of this assignment. I think if anyone thinks its worthwhile to pursue, I can approach my mentor teacher again with evidence and examples and she might be more willing to use it.
Anyone want to share their thoughts? Help!
Friday, November 7, 2014
Undercover DeTECHtive.
So...intentionally I left this blog for the end. I have definitely posted "enough" blogs for EDUC 504 for the semester...well...at least in time for next weeks due date (November 13th!) but I am feeling paranoid that I don't have the topics that match the requirements.
ANYWAYS
So in the beginning of the Fall semester we were given a Tech Survey. The survey had a large array of choices to think of....NONE which match what Ypsilanti High School contained/used. I mean, why didn't they just ask the simple questions of "Does your school have a board? Does your school have a computer?" I felt like the questions asked I had no choice to say "No." I felt a bit concerned for my school because I couldn't answer the questions. But Ypsilanti High is not THAT bad. There are ELMOS and MAC labs and large MAC desktops for teachers and overhead projectors and portable projectors....thats a lot of tech!
My mentor teacher is a big fan of using the ELMO or Projector to make students copy guided notes or the answers to worksheets. I really think she likes this because the lights get turned off,the students are too busy and focused copying what she is writing and everything is quiet. My mentor teacher likes it quiet, as opposed to heavy chatter...but who doesn't?
HOWEVER, although this is nice...I grow concerned for its effectiveness. I mean, yes, students mostly do what they're told, and when they copy down notes they copy down the notes. But does the information stick? Their quizzes and tests show that they stick only an average of 70% of the time (the approximate grade average in chemistry).
I think in the next year I'll try to get STUDENTS using the tech. I really hope I can push for students to use their cellphones for Polls. I love love love the polls that you can text, and I think students would love it too. Like students walk into the classroom on their phones anyways...maybe we can use them for Bell work!
We shall see!
ANYWAYS
So in the beginning of the Fall semester we were given a Tech Survey. The survey had a large array of choices to think of....NONE which match what Ypsilanti High School contained/used. I mean, why didn't they just ask the simple questions of "Does your school have a board? Does your school have a computer?" I felt like the questions asked I had no choice to say "No." I felt a bit concerned for my school because I couldn't answer the questions. But Ypsilanti High is not THAT bad. There are ELMOS and MAC labs and large MAC desktops for teachers and overhead projectors and portable projectors....thats a lot of tech!
My mentor teacher is a big fan of using the ELMO or Projector to make students copy guided notes or the answers to worksheets. I really think she likes this because the lights get turned off,the students are too busy and focused copying what she is writing and everything is quiet. My mentor teacher likes it quiet, as opposed to heavy chatter...but who doesn't?
HOWEVER, although this is nice...I grow concerned for its effectiveness. I mean, yes, students mostly do what they're told, and when they copy down notes they copy down the notes. But does the information stick? Their quizzes and tests show that they stick only an average of 70% of the time (the approximate grade average in chemistry).
I think in the next year I'll try to get STUDENTS using the tech. I really hope I can push for students to use their cellphones for Polls. I love love love the polls that you can text, and I think students would love it too. Like students walk into the classroom on their phones anyways...maybe we can use them for Bell work!
We shall see!
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Ms. Bethea and her Wise Words
http://blog.msbethea.com/
I had the opportunity to venture out to another Edublogger. I came across a fellow chemistry teacher, Ms. Bethea. In the blog posted above, she is discussing about going to another AP Chemistry PD. She offered amazing tips on textbooks to consider, some I hope to be purchasing or acquiring. Ms. Bethea makes a valid point that she doesn't even realize. Sometimes teachers need books FOR THEMSELVES so they can learn, grow and strengthen their knowledge. You know it's not ALWAYS about the students. I mean...it is....but #selfcare, My response to Ms. Bethea was the following:
Anthony on October 26, 2014 at 4:13 pm.
Posted to Ellena Bethea’s “Teaching/Chemistry” blog
Thanks
for the advice on books for chemistry teachers! It may be obvious to think
about “considerate texts” for the students, but once in a while it’s important
that there’s reading material for the teacher. Teachers will be forever
learning. Well, an effective teacher that is. I hope I can learn how to get 500
lbs of free textbooks! Please share the details on that.
I thanked her for her advice and tried to make her realize that her blogging advice had been very meaningful. The book that she recommended, "Principles of Chemistry" (shown below) is a text that I am seriously considering purchasing. Ms. Bethea claims that this text might not be appropriate for high school classes, but it is definitely helpful in helping the chemistry teacher think about chemistry in different ways in order to help students understand. I am trying to think of the content, so I can teach effectively.
(Principles of Chemistry text)
Sunday, October 19, 2014
So Some Dude Came to Our EDUC 504 Class the other night and all I took away was TweetDeck...
https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/
So the other night, in our EDUC 504 class we had a guest speaker, Tom Ward, who had a lot to say about technology in the classroom. He showed us some awesome ways Vine can be used in the classroom. Students would only have 6 seconds to make a video to support a prompt. I really like that idea because it helps students become concise. I also recalled on an idea that I stole from an English teacher about using twitter to post summaries to text because twitter only allows a certain numbers of characters. This word limit is great discipline to help students learn to be concise.
However, the moment Tom Ward mentioned this thing called TweetDeck...I was lost. I bet Naomi, who was sitting next to me, thought I was being extremely rude- but I was fascinated at this twitter organization idea that Tom Ward shared. My BIGGESt issue with Twitter was that all these tweets were ALL OVER the place....and I literally had to SURF through tweets to find something "cool" or "interesting" related to education; that's because I just started following the NSTA, Edutopia, NGSS and the Common Core Michigan. As Tom went on with his presentation, I immediately went to TweetDeck and organized my tweets, shown in the picture above. It REALLY makes the twitter experience a lot more bearable! As you can see in the picture, I can look through, say the NGSS tweets simultaneously as NSTA tweets are posted. THIS IS AMAZING. Thanks so much Tom for introducing this to us/me! I also think my energy drink might have given me extra enthusiasm for the TweetDeck, but I still find it awesome!
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Any questions? Good- Response to a Blog by the NSTA
I had the opportunity to read a blog posted by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). It was so simple, yet effective. It's nice that a source as prestigious as the NSTA does not overwhelm the user with complex professional vocabulary and syntax.
This article addressed the concern for how to properly assess students after instruction. In simpler terms, this question was addressed:
I need suggestions on encouraging students to tell me when they don’t understand something. I ask my classes if they need any help, but no one seems to have any questions. The next day, it’s as if they never heard of the topic before! —A. from Nevada
This is a very simple concern, but speaks volumes to most of us soon to be in the teaching world. What is going to happen if we go through a whole lesson and we ask- "Do you get it? Any questions?" Will we actually get questions? Will we believe when all students say they understand it? Here's how the blog presented some solutions:
You could rephrase your questions to provide a context or focus, such as, “Any questions about the difference between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells?” Give the class a few seconds of wait time to think about their learning and formulate their questions. Model the type of questions the students could ask or how they could check their understanding: “When I was first learning this, I didn’t understand that…” “Tell me one thing you learned and one thing you’re still confused about.”
Is your classroom a “safe” place for them to ask questions? Do students know how to ask for assistance? Is asking considered a sign of weakness? Are students embarrassed to ask questions? No matter how trivial the question or comment, never belittle it, reply with sarcasm, or allow other students to laugh at it. I had a student who thought she would hurtmy feelings if she didn’t understand something right away! (I told her that I liked questions —they helped me become a better teacher.) Having a way to submit questions anonymously may help (a slip of paper, a tweet, or an e-mail note).
Don’t wait until the end of the lesson or test time to discover what students are struggling with. Frequent formative assessments—bellringers, tickets out the door, brief quizzes, responses via clickers or white boards, and thumbs up—may also help students reflect on what they know or don’t know and give you some concrete feedback on their understanding during each lesson.
These are very accessible answers for all of us as teachers to think about and use. Soon in our EDUC 422 class we will delve into assessment strategies. This is a nice prequel to that content.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Focusing on the implementation of voice recording? The Audacity!
Last week in EDUC 504, some of our classmates presented to us how to use Audacity. I've never really been good with using audio technologies, but the way my classmates presented it were very efficient. It's a shame it comes on a Thursday afternoon, after a long day of student-teaching, where little attention is readily available from me. I did participate in making an audio file- which was interesting, and still somewhat difficult, but I couldn't see how I would use this in the future.
I know in our EDUC 511- Records of Practices class we will have to take videos and make audio recordings, but I think I would take the simple approach and use a voice recording app on my phone. I just feel like the buttons and operations are too complicated for what is required of us in EDUC 511. I also do not think I'll need to use audio recordings in my future as a teacher.
I claimed that Audacity is complicated, but I am really comparing it to the simplicity of Padlet. I am waiting until another group wows me with another technology to use that is better than Padlet.
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