Collaboration Blog #3

Integrated Unit Reflection

The Pythagorean Theorem integrated unit went really well for the first time teaching it. The students really liked participating in all of the computer related activities and assessments and also thoroughly enjoyed learning the new technological programs. Each individual assessment was completed in class and focused either on the mathematical portion of the Pythagorean Theorem or the historical aspects of the theorem and its creation. I worked closely with an ELL social studies teacher, who taught the same students. Together we created the unit and had it focus on the mathematical part as well as the social studies area. He worked with the students on discussing and researching Pythagoras, and we applied that information in several different ways through assessments done in math class.

Overall, I have no complaints on the unit. The only thing I wish I had more of was time. Unfortunately spending two and a half weeks on the unit is all the time I can spare in order to stay consistent and relatively close with the curriculum that the other Algebra 1 teachers are teaching. Most of the extra time needed relates to the students actually learning the program before applying it to the content. So over time, I think that students will become more familiar with technology through other courses and through everyday activities, that in turn, less time will need to be spent in the classroom showing them how to operate the technology during this unit.

One other issue that I ran into was the fact that I only had consistent PC laptops to use. A few activities that I wanted to try required programs on the Mac laptops, which I did not have access to. Therefore adjustments were made and alternate activities were created.  The students really enjoyed the assessments that I created with the PC laptops, so I do not plan on changing them for next year. The students performed well on all of the assessments, which was a bit of a shock to me. I thought they were going to struggle more with the assessments that required written responses and explanations.

I feel that taking on a leadership role in this integrated unit made things a lot easier. It came natural to me to discuss and direct the social studies teacher in the particular direction that I wanted. Although we worked well together and created a very successful step-by-step plan on teaching the theorem and the life of Pythagoras, it was easy to accomplish the finishing results because I was so direct on what I wanted. Luckily, he was very open to what needed to be done and could easily change his schedule around to accommodate the unit. His reliability, subject expertise, and flexibility played a huge role in unit and allowing it to flow relatively smooth. We also had many conversations about the unit and kept each other updated on what was occurring in our classes. We communicated through email mostly and once in a while we met face to face to talk. Communication was not an issue between us, which made everything a lot easier.

Collaboration Blog#2

Collaboration #2

When I met with my co-worker last week, we had a great conversation and we came up with some ideas as to how to go about teaching this unit and when to teach it. As a reminder, he is planning on integrating the Pythagorean Theorem into his social studies class while I do the math part in mine.  We have decided that it would be fun to teach the unit when we get back from April vacation. We thought that it would be a great way to get the students engaged as the end of the year approaches. With this in mind, I figured that it would be beneficial for the social studies class to introduce Pythagoras first and his background, life, and achievements. I would then take on the mathematical aspects of Pythagoras and how the Theorem was created. Together we would work on the unit over a time frame of 2 ½ weeks. Some of the projects would be continuous between classes and students would be able to work on particular projects in both classes. There would be a lot of overlapping between classes and assignments, therefore benefiting students in both classes.

When sharing and reviewing my Stage 3 design and timeline, it was decided that the order of material and topics was consistent and relevant to the way we wanted to teach it. After a long discussion, we decided that the final assessment of a website, should encompass portions of other assessments given throughout the unit. Students should attach their creations to their websites and a presentation should also be part of the final project. We also decided that their final assessment of a website should be presented in both classes. This way all students can witness and learn about Pythagoras as well as the Theorem.

As far as leadership is concerned, I feel that I took it under my wing to organize and set up projects and topics in the order that I wanted him to teach it. I also designated particular assignments that I wanted him to do and for the students to attain. I think I lucked out that my co-worker was very flexible and willing to try whatever I decided. We had great communication over the unit and we tend to work really well together because of out personality and willingness to try new things. 

TPCK Chapter 11 & 12

TPACK Chapter 11 & 12

Developing TPCK

           

When reading through these two chapters, I think that the quote on page 223 really sums up what is wrong with the current type of teaching as well as what needs to be done to increase the level of knowledge and education in our students. It says, “If we teach today as we taught yesterday, then we rob our children of tomorrow.” I feel that this is absolutely true. If teachers do not look into the future as to what our students should know and be able to do, then we are not serving our students the way we should. Introducing technology is a way to integrate and apply the otherwise unattainable material and content to real life situations and applications and the experience of using technological resources will familiarize students with the real world.

“Tomorrow’s teachers must be prepared to rethink, unlearn and relearn, change, revise, and adapt”  (pg. 225). I feel that all teachers need to display this philosophy in order to be successful. One way to assure this happens is through differentiation of content matter. This will allow teachers to reach all learning styles and abilities. Technology can help to aid this bridge among content gaps and learner abilities.  With teaching ELL students, we are definitely trained and emerged into classrooms, which require us to differentiate in order for our students to understand and be successful. I feel that the area that we lack would be our technological pedagogy. We tend to have a hard time with finding sources that strongly support our teaching and curriculum, that are not either to low or to high for our students. This would be the area that I would need to work on to become a better teacher.

TPCK Art Education Presentation

Placing the magic in the classroom

TPCK in arts education

            Incorporating art into the classroom can come in many forms. Integrating art can consist of visual arts, technology, music, dance, drama, and media. This chapter gave a great deal of information and resources as to how to go about creating lessons and curriculum around the content of art to help your students be more expressive and creative in their personal learning. Introducing and incorporating art into a classroom helps to reach all learners and abilities and requires students to engage in opportunities through self-expression and self-exploration.

Positive Aspects of Integrating Art:

• ·      Every single one of the 21^st century skills can be enhanced through arts education.
• ·      Many felt that the websites provided throughout the chapter were a great resource and helped give ideas as to how to go about incorporating art into their own teaching.
• ·      Technology is a very important part of integrating art into the classroom. The Internet is a great source to allow for students to access material that they would not be able to otherwise.
• ·      Technology can be used to create projects such as I-photo, I-movie, Google Sketch-Up, Comic Strip, Garageband, etc.
• ·      “Technology provides an opportunity to marry the power of ideas with the power of the imagination” (p. 189).

TPCK Chapter 10

TPACK Chapter 10

Physical Education

            When I think of physical education, I seldom think of those teachers using technology. When I was in school, you learned different sports and team building exercises. Nothing we did needed the use of technology at all. I think that this content area is the hardest one to try and integrate technology into. Not so much because of the topics, but simply because of location and space. Classrooms in schools are usually booked and taken, therefore if a physical education teacher wanted to use a lot of technology during class time, it would require them to find space to do so. On another note, although technology is beneficial especially for certain topics, accessing computers would be difficult to obtain.

            Besides the lack of space and computers/projectors, I do think that technology is important to the content. Technology would help students understand specific topics a lot easier, such as the functions of the body and muscles. Explaining these topics would be much easier if the students could actually see inside the body and see how specific muscles move. On the other hand, I do think that teachers at the lower grades would have a harder time integrating technology simply because of the curriculum they have to teach, although it could be done. Also in the lower grades, students may only have P.E. for half of the year. In this situation, teachers are forced to teach as much as they can in a short amount of time. This in turn, eliminates the possibility of large projects as well as time outside of the gym (being in a computer room for a demonstration).

TPCK Chapter 9

TPACK Chapter 9

Science

            The content of science definitely relies heavily on technology for several reasons. One being that science material can be found on the Internet or through programs that otherwise, would not be able to be accessed. A second reason that technology is important to the science content is because new discoveries are made daily and it is important that your students stay informed and up to date. When I was reading through this chapter, I was amazed at how many things can be done using technology in a science classroom that I had never thought of. For example, the book discusses the possibility of having students dissect animals through the use of computers. I was amazed at this possibility and thought it was a great resource. Before reading, I understood that Science is heavily based on the use of technology, but I had no idea that technology could do so much for the students learning and experimentation.

            Although science classes rely heavily on technology and technological tools, it is more important to make sure they are using the technology effectively. If students are studying a topic on cells, then it would be highly beneficial for them to use the computers to find images, background information, and other science based research that discusses and explains the topic in depth. Cells are a hard topic to cover without technology. Therefore technology plays a huge part of the science curriculum in schools especially with the budget cuts and lack of hands on resources that are affecting science classrooms.

TPCK Chapter 8

TPACK Chapter 8

Art Education

            Before I began reading this chapter, I initially thought that incorporating the arts into a mathematics class would be difficult to do. I did not have a clue where to even begin integrating art into my classes. Yet as I continued to read through the chapter, I was amazed to see how many different ideas it gave, as well as different websites it mentioned to help assist teacher. I had no idea that so many resources were available to teachers for assisting with incorporating arts into your everyday curriculum. I feel that in all content areas and classrooms, the only way for students to truly show that they understand the material being taught, is by expressing the knowledge through reflection, evaluation, and/or synthesizing. Incorporating art into a class would allow that to happen and would give students a visual of why and where the content material is being used in everyday life.

            I feel that the quote “learning is a process of self-discovery” (pg. 167) is absolutely true. I definitely think learning happens the best when students can explore and examine material to make it more realistic and applicable to their own lives. The arts help students find their way to that possibility. The arts constantly reinforce the idea of self-exploration and self-expression and it is important that all content classrooms are doing the same thing. Since the arts are being slowly cut more and more out of the curriculum in schools, it is extremely important that teachers try to personally incorporate it into their lessons. This is difficult, however, because teachers are already pressed for time and struggle to teach the required material as it is. Perhaps training teachers in ways to integrate the arts into classrooms would definitely make it easier and more attainable.