Patty Papers

How to Teach Using Classroom Clickers is an article with some great tips for introducing and utilizing this technology in your classroom. It is written for university professors but still offers tips and suggestions that apply to elementary and secondary classrooms as well.

I had the opportunity on May 27th to talk with Jeff Patterson, IT Director for Great Falls Public Schools, and teachers in that district about the ways I use Moodle in my math classes. Using Adobe ConnectNow, I was able to take them on a virtual tour of my Moodle sites and show the activities my students have participated in this year such as our choices activities, glossary, Hot Potatoes quizzes, ExamView assessments, and other tasks.

As I look at ways to improve my use of Moodle next year, I’m inspired by this article at the New York Times. Here’s an excerpt:

• Math students in this high-performing school district used to rush through their Algebra I textbooks only to spend the first few months of Algebra II relearning everything they forgot or failed to grasp the first time. So the district’s frustrated math teachers decided to rewrite the algebra curriculum, limiting it to about half of the 90 concepts typically covered in a high school course in hopes of developing a deeper understanding of key topics. Last year, they began replacing 1,000-plus-page math textbooks with their own custom-designed online curriculum…

I will be teaching three sections of Algebra-Geometry 2 next year and think this may be perfect! I guess now I have my summer project.

This has been quite a year, but I submitted my portfolio during spring break and took my AYA-Math exam last Friday. Now it’s out of my hands!

This eCampus News article by Dennis Carter reports that Web site CollegeNET has given more than $500,000 to college students to pay for classes.

Excerpt:

Karissa Snow won $5,000 in scholarship money just by blogging and winning her peers’ approval. She’s among 40,000 students vying for tuition cash every week on CollegeNET, a web site that lets current and prospective college students post blog entries on a myriad of topics. The student who receives the most votes from CollegeNET members every week wins thousands for college.

Click here to view the full article.

Eleven-year-old published author and seasoned teacher Adora Svitak gives teachers “a kid’s eye view of the innovative classroom” in this Elluminate presentation. Using examples, anecdotes, and engaging activities, Adora humorously and honestly shares strategies educators can use in their classrooms to get kids excited and passionate about learning. She encourages the use of interactive writing activities and demonstrates use of innovative strategies in learning and teaching. Her goal is to encourage other students to become passionate and serious about learning, and in this session she works with teachers to reach that goal.

You will learn:

Because Adora is both a teacher and a student, she has a uniquely comprehensive grasp of today’s educational landscape- her vision for the future is innovative yet realistic. She advocates for technology and inquiry-based learning while simultaneously emphasizing the importance of delivering classical knowledge in a captivating context.

For more info about Adora, please visit her website and interviews from UK Telegraph, Chicago Tribune and CNN news.
Adlora Svitak’s Website:www.adorasvitak.com
UK Telegraph: http://tinyurl.com/9setz6
Chicago Tribune:http://tinyurl.com/dlr3yp
CNN News:http://tinyurl.com/dyn7fu

Yesterday I spent the day at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR where I attended a one-day workshop featuring research-based best practices for creating math and science classrooms that are engaging and motivating for girls. Based on the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) practice guide, Encouraging Girls in Math and Science, we explored strategies for implementing a more relevant math and science curriculum, engaging students in real-world problems, and recognizing the diverse needs of students when it comes to math and science learning and motivation. It was a very interesting day where I met some great people and hopefully will be able to follow up with this new network to bring some new and exciting ideas into my classroom.

The day began with a keynote by Dr. Diane Halpern, a professor of psychology at Claremont McKenna College and lead author of the Institute of Education Sciences practice guide Encouraging Girls in Math and Science. She discussed what research says about supporting girls in science and math classrooms through strategies such as project-based learning, use of technology, and group work on real-world problems. After Halpern’s address, I attended a panel discussion by teachers that focused on applying the research findings to support girls’ pursuit of STEM (science-technology-engineering-mathematics) careers. After lunch, I had time to work on action steps for my classroom and to learn more about the mini-grants offered by the Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Girls Collaborative Project. The afternoon concluded with a panel of women working in STEM professions, reflecting on what motivated them to follow this career path. The event was sponsored by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Institute of Education Sciences, Pacific Northwest Girls Collaborative Project, and the Lewis & Clark College Graduate School of Education and Counseling.

Overall, great day! As a teacher, it’s hard to leave your classroom sometimes but this was a very worthwhile day. Follow this link if you’d like to download the practice guide, What Does Research Tell Us About How to Encourage Girls in Math and Science.

…it would have looked like Edmodo. Like Twitter, it’s a microblogging site, but it builds in significant additional functionality to support classroom interactions. Edmodo allows teachers to create groups that students join and then send messages, files, links, and assignments to the entire group. AWESOME !!

Check out Chris Dawson’s review of Edmodo for more info.

With auburn hair and a name like Patty O’Flynn, I tend to think of St. Patty’s Day as my own personal holiday, although I must admit I’m not exactly a saint.

And now, to appeal to your techy side, here are 8 iPhone apps for St. Patrick’s Day. My fav? I like iRish where instead of wearing a blinking “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” button, you can flash this interactive version on your phone.

This is the cutest little webcam I’ve ever seen, and I want one.

Thanks to all who attended my NCCE session, Moodling in Math. For those who would like more information, here is a link to our session’s Moodle site.

Session Highlights:

• Creating a Course Glossary

If I could suggest one way to begin using Moodle with your students, would be to begin creating a class glossary.

• Using Forums

Forums are a great way to continue class discussions beyond the classroom. They help teachers to assess student learning and get students to talk math!

• Hot Potatoes!

The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web.

• Assessments including Moodle Quizzes and ExamView

Students regularly complete a variety of formative and summative assessments via the web including formative quizzes, “tickets to retake”, and summative assessments.

• Using Video to Support Learning

As the instructor, I regularly provide video tutorials of class lessons/topics to support student learning in the classroom. In addition, students typically create several video projects throughout the year including screen recordings of their work, math music videos, and an end-of-year movie.

• Non-Traditional Assignments delivered, collected and graded using Moodle

I use Moodle to deliver projects and assignments other than the typical “book work”.. This allows students to access class presentations, handouts, and templates, and assignments are typically uploaded and graded through Moodle.