Putting it all together
Image by Punya Mishra
The concept of the flipped classroom will afford me the time to use various technologies in new and creative ways to support the highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy; analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Here I will outline four ways in which I will be able to pull other technologies into the classroom to support high levels of intellectual engagement and tap into student creativity while demonstrating knowledge of mathematics.
Congruence Photos
The Common Core State Standards state that students should be able to
1) Experiment with transformations in the plane. 2) Understand congruence in terms of rigid motions. To explore this concept, I would use the concept of the flipped classroom and digital cameras. Here's how it would play out. The students' homework the evening before would be focused on the background definitions of reflection, rotation, translation, and dilation. Many students are already familiar with the concepts. Secondly, they'd watch a short video introducing them to the concept of cloning using layers in Pixlr (free online photo editing software) as shown in the photo on the right. If students have digital cameras, I will ask them to bring them to class the next day and the day's activity will be sending them out in groups to create cloning photos that demonstrate a reflection, translation, and rotation. Technology in use: Pixlr Photo Editing program, digital cameras, computers, tripods |
Geometry Wikis
Throughout the course of the semester, each group will be creating their own study wikis of the concepts that they are learning. This will call on students to take a look at the mathematics, decide what's important, what's fluff, what's connected, and how it all fits together. Students will work in groups of 3 - 5 and be responsible for building the wiki as we progress through the material in the class. They may choose to start by using a Google doc as there is less of a need to worry about saving over another group members additions/changes. Then they could import everything into a wiki that will be graded using a rubric.
I have tried this with students in the past in an Algebra 2 Honors course, but with teams of 3 - 4 students creating a chapter at a time. Also, we did not use a Google doc so students found themselves sharing over one another. You can take a look at the wiki created in Algebra 2 Honors here. A second reason for changing the format is that, in the old format, a team of 3 students would create the Chapter 7 wiki page and then wouldn't participate for the remainder of the semester as a different team was assigned . With the revised format, students are actively engaged in the creation in every unit and the flipped classroom actually ALLOWS time for the creation in class. Students could create their own instructional videos and include them as part of the wikis as well. The rubric that I used may also undergo some revisions, but I will share what I currently have. Technology in use: Laptops/Computers, Wikispaces, Jing, Camtasia
|
Math song creation
If you are at all interested in high school math and haven't seen the Mathmaticious video, then you're really missing out. I first watched this video 3 years ago and was immediately smitten with his creativity and clear knowledge of the mathematics that he'd learned. Not to mention, his editing is magnificent. I immediately started to think of how I could do this with my students in a way that would allow them to creatively express what they know and how it all relates. I first wanted to see if it was possible to do with relative ease so I decided to make my own song using the track from Kanye West's Good Life. It took me several days to create the lyrics and record the song using GarageBand and a USB microphone, but I was able to do it even though it was my first time using GarageBand. Here is the song that I created. ENJOY! |
Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas. -Donatella Versace
|
|
During the course of the school year, students will work in their collaborative groups to create a song of their own. Each will be assigned a unit of study. While creativity is encouraged, the key to the creation of a successful song will be that it demonstrates knowledge of the concepts in the units. Should be loads of fun.
Technology in use: Computer, headphones with microphone, Audacity/GarageBand |
Calculator Programming
Logic and proof is always an integral part of any high school geometry course and this one is no different. It is the lens through which most of the topics of study will be viewed. Geometry also has a number of formulas that many students just memorize and use, but do not really understand the origin of.
Calculator programming is one way to get students to think more deeply about formulas, proof, and logic. It takes a certain amount of strategic planning and understanding of the mathematics to make a program do what the programmer wants it to do in a variety of circumstances. The programmer must also think about the user interface and work with the constraints of the calculator programming constructs; which calls for a level of creativity. In my teaching, I've found calculator programming to be a very rich way of marrying technology, content, and creativity. Students can be introduced to the simple programming constructs through mini-video lectures and can work on short programs with their collaborative groups in class building up to a more dynamic programming project of assessment of both the logic piece and content. Boris Cherny created a beginner's guide to calculator programming which I have used in class and that works well for an initial introduction. I plan to take what he's done and tweak it to fit what we're doing in class. View his guide here.
Technology in use: Mini video lectures, TI 84 graphing calculators, TI Smartview, Document Camera
Calculator programming is one way to get students to think more deeply about formulas, proof, and logic. It takes a certain amount of strategic planning and understanding of the mathematics to make a program do what the programmer wants it to do in a variety of circumstances. The programmer must also think about the user interface and work with the constraints of the calculator programming constructs; which calls for a level of creativity. In my teaching, I've found calculator programming to be a very rich way of marrying technology, content, and creativity. Students can be introduced to the simple programming constructs through mini-video lectures and can work on short programs with their collaborative groups in class building up to a more dynamic programming project of assessment of both the logic piece and content. Boris Cherny created a beginner's guide to calculator programming which I have used in class and that works well for an initial introduction. I plan to take what he's done and tweak it to fit what we're doing in class. View his guide here.
Technology in use: Mini video lectures, TI 84 graphing calculators, TI Smartview, Document Camera