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.
I will be presenting this summer at the Summer Institute in Olympia, WA. During my session, Math & Technology in Today’s Classroom, I’ll show how I use technology such as the electronic whiteboard, student response systems, software, mathcasts and video projects to promote student learning and achievement and for assessment (both formative and summative).
I use Examview to create practice quizzes for my students. Here is Practice Test 7.1-7.4 that works with ExamView Test Player; I’ve used dynamic questions so that students get a new version of each question every time. ExamView Test Player is available as a free download so students can take practice tests at home.
Here’s the info you will need to access the practice quiz:
Password: imamathwiz
Name: Please just use your own name. If you are not one of my math students and want to take the quiz just for fun (and let’s face it, who wouldn’t?), just enter “guest”.
ID: not necessary
If you are a student in my Advanced Algebra class and wish to retake Quiz 7.1-7.4, you must take this practice quiz and score at least 80% before you can schedule your retake. You are able to take this practice quiz multiple times (it’ll change the numbers in the problems each time you open it). When you are finished, please print your results when you finish the practice quiz and bring it to me along with your original quiz corrections.
For those who want to learn more about mathcasts, I’m pleased to announce that Tim Fahlberg along with a wonderful team of partners (including yours truly 
) will be conducting a session at NECC entitled Mathcast Spaces: Thinking, Doing, and Sharing Mathematics Out Loud.
Pre Calculus students have finished their mathcasts of trigonometry involving right triangles.
Projects are now posted at Mathematics with Mrs. O’Flynn: Mathcasts under Pre Calculus, Periods 2 and 5, Ch 6 Triangle Trigonometry. Their next task is to evaluate their own movie using this checklist and feedback form and to get at least one other person (adult or student who is not a group member) to give them feedback.
My students would appreciate your feedback! Please send feedback to 
Students were randomly placed in groups using the “pick a student” feature in CPS and were then given a problem having to do with polynomials from an ExamView problem bank. Each group or pair then created a mathcast of their solution and their reasoning. Some groups still have to finish up tomorrow but several are now posted at Mathematics with Mrs. O’Flynn: Mathcasts under Periods 1 and 6, Ch 6 Polynomials. Their next task is to evaluate their own movie using this checklist and feedback form and to get at least one other person (adult or student who is not a group member) to give them feedback.
My students would appreciate your feedback! Please send feedback to
After our study of composition of ordinates and harmonic analysis, my Pre Calculus students were given the task of creating a picture drawn completely with equations. Their project had to include at least one sinusoid with a variable axis and at least one with a variable amplitude, and they had to include any necessary domain restrictions. Here are some of this year’s projects:
They used TI Connect software to download their graphs from their graphing calculators and then edited/colored them in Paint.
Another student used WinPlot software (a free download) to create his project:
Here are some more projects from previous years:
Next year I will have the opportunity to teach one section of mathematics as an online course. I’m working with one of our English teachers right now to develop our “wish list” if features that we would like to have for our online class. Here are some things I am considering:
- I plan to create mathcasts of daily lessons using my Hitachi Starboard so that students still have the experience of seeing and hearing mathematics. Using Camtasia Studio, some of these mathcasts will have embedded assessments within them and results will collected.
- I want a forum where students can post questions to me or other students.
- I want students to have access to assignments and assessments online.
- I want a way to engage in live group chat with audio and with shared access to my Hitachi Starboard.
The mathcasts, forum and assignments/assessments will be easy enough since I’m already using these with my regular classes, but I’m not sure how exactly to accomplish the chat. However, I have the privilege of working with a fantastic tech department here in Woodland School District that has worked very hard in the past to make my wish lists become reality, so I’m sure they’ll find a way to pull it off. However, I am taking over some homemade chocolate chip cookies today; never hurts to sweeten the deal. 
I’ve been using Hot Potatoes from Half-Baked Software to create whiteboard activities for my students. We are currently learning about trigonometric properties and identities (proofs) in Pre Calculus, and students need to memorize these properties. To help with this, we practice using Hot Potatoes drag-and-drop quizzes or electronic flash cards on our Hitachi Starboard. Here are two examples:
Trig Properties Matching Activity is a great class activity for the electronic whiteboard
Trig Properties Flashcards allow students to quiz themselves on the computer
My quizzes are hosted on our school server so that students can access them from home as well as school, but you could simply run them from your harddrive. You can also upload and host 5 quizzes at a time for free directly through the Hot Potatoes software. If you’ve never used Hot Potatoes, check it out – it’s awesome and FREE.
My students have published their first round of mathcasts this year. My Algebra 2 classes recorded portions of their cup lab in which they find a linear function that approximates the height of stacked cups, and our Pre Calculus mathcasts show and explain how to graph a sinusoid. You can view these projects at our school site under Mathcasts at http://www.woodlandschools.org/index.php?q=node/741 .
