Monday, February 15, 2010
Math Applet Blog: 3 - 5
http://standards.nctm.org/document/eexamples/chap5/5.1/index.htm
Math Applet Blog: Pre K-2
http://standards.nctm.org/document/eexamples/chap4/4.4/index.htm
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
MTMS Article Summary
This information would be very helpful to me since I want to teach students in late elementary. I could help the students get ready for what they are going to encounter in both the middle school and high school. Getting students eager and excited to learn about higher levels of mathematics could help them in the long run as they travel through their educational endeavors. The article has some good ideas in it, but overall didn’t really jump out at me. I am more so a social studies guy, but the information and ideas expressed are things that I can see myself making use of in the future when teaching.
TCM Article Summary
This would be very helpful as the students would be very familiar with what will be expected of them in at the junior high level. By having teachers that are prepared to help guide students through their transitions into the upper grade levels then they will have a greater possibility of success. The article stated many good points that I can see myself implementing in my classroom, but the main concept of preparing students for their transition really hit me at home. As a teacher I will want to see my students go on to do great things so it is important to myself that I do all I can to help the students grow.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
PBL Blog - Third Step
Example PBL: Hawaiian School Carnival #2
The students in this PBL are trying to raise the money to fund a technology center for their elementary school. The grade level was chosen for the 6th and 7th grade students and fulfills the want and need for some prior knowledge. The strengths of this PBL outweigh the negatives I feel because they focus so much on the process standards. The grade level is appropriate and they are doing something that will affect them directly which fulfills the real life connection. The problem also covers allot of the curriculum that they have either learned are pretty familiar with.
Example PBL: Mall Madness
Through the PBL the students are attempting to build a child based learning area in a local mall. They are given the opportunity to do something that will affect their community directly and perhaps even affect themselves; depending how often they make use of the mall. They will be learning how this problem will affect them personally and relate back to the real life. This type of activity/problem gives the students independence while giving them something challenging. Group work will help the students become better communicators and work better with others. This PBL yet again meets my standards of what a PBL should look like. There are many good qualities throughout this PBL.
Both of these Problems are related in multiple ways. The biggest and most important aspect is that they both relate back to the process standards. The process standards can be seen being acted upon in both PBL's which is why I am so positive for the both of them. I really have not had too much experience in PBL's so it is hard for me to tell what these PBL's are doing wrong. I can tell you however that both of these are getting the students engaged and providing them with something challenging and relatable.
The carnival one I really enjoyed because what they were doing was coming directly back to the school in the ways of technology. I cannot say the same for the mall PBL because they are doing it more so for the community and not their school. I would have liked to see both PBL's be associated with the schools instead of something else.
Both groups did a fine job assessing the students work. There are always so many things that you have to take into account when assessing all the students work so it is hard to have the same thing written down every time. Different assignments call for different measures. All in all the assessments look fine to me.
PBL Blog - Second Step
The students in the article were reading a Harry Potter novel and a problem came up that eventually turned into a math problem. The problem connected Literature to Mathematics, made the problem easy to understand for the students, and connected it to daily life. Sounds like the connections standard all over again! The students were to make a budget list of all the supplies that they were have at Hogwarts School. To bring about the idea of budgeting the class had a discussion as a whole and established the basics of what they would need. Once they began on their own they realized that they were not going to be able to get everything that they wanted. All students were excited to help one another out through the problem. At the conclusion of the problem the students and teacher came together again and gained a greater understanding of how this problem could be related to the real world. The teacher enjoyed this process because she likes Harry Potter and she also could see where her students were making errors and struggling.
It was good for the students to have this PBL because it brought about so many of the process standards into play. Communication was expressed through the class forum and group discussions throughout the problem. Connections were made to the real world while bring together both mathematics and literature. This problem was also very beneficial for the students because they were able to relate to it well. Reasoning and Proof came into play when they had to reason and provide proof as to why they chose the things they did to stay under the budget. They also had to use their problem solving skills all throughout the problem when they chose different items to represent their materials list to head off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Overall, I really enjoyed this article and wouldn’t mind doing it in my class too at some point in time. I enjoy Harry Potter too so I don’t have any bad/negative things to say about this lesson.
Beaton, T. (2004). Harry potter in the mathematics classroom. MathematicsTeaching in the Middle School 10(1), 23-25.
PBL Blog - First Step
PBL stands for Problem Based Learning. PBL's are focused upon things relevant to people today. They ought to be problems that are tough for a person/group to come up with an answer for, but not too hard. With that being said, PBL problems must be given to students who are grade appropriate or have a certain level of prior knowledge that will help them in solving the problem. PBL's hardly ever have an uncomplicated answer as all of the answers must be accompanied with the persons/groups reasoning and proof. Numerous resources will be made use of throughout the process. Problem Based Learning should promote a higher level of knowledge and understanding for all who participate.