Webb of Thoughts

For one of my ECMP mentorships I put together another problem for them to solve.   I put it together for the sixth grade math class in Michigan (you can see their class wiki here).  The class is currently learning about decimals, fractions and percentages.  Mr. Kaechele said he has been trying to explain to the students how the concepts apply to sports.  In a Skype call with him, he told me that he tried to get his students to use the internet to find some sports stats.  He found that this didn’t work as he had planned, and figured it was a little too vague of an assignment.  We came up with the idea to put together a question relating to the sports stats and fractions, decimals and percentages.

I decided to make the problem relating to hockey, mostly because it is my favorite sport and it allows the students to learn something new about me.  I wasn’t able to make a fancy video like I did for my last problem, mostly because I didn’t have the time this week with papers and a midterm piling up.  For this problem, I simply put together a Google Document and posed some questions for the students.   The video is just a screen  recording of the doc (nothing fancy) and me talking about it briefly.

The Google Doc I used can be found here, and is accessible to the students so they don’t have to hear me repeating the questions over and over again (I feel sorry for anyone that would ever have to sit through that).

I wish I would have more time to make a nicer looking video. However, I think the problem will be effective for getting the students to use their new decimal, fractions and percentage skills. I tried to use Dan Meyer‘s recommendation of being less helpful from his comments on my last problem. I think I was less helpful than the last problem and hopefully I can get the students thinking on their own without me guiding them towards the problem. However, I do feel like this could be a problem you find in a text book.

I would love to hear some comments and criticisms on this problem.

So far my mentorships have been going very well.  I’m really enjoying working with all of my mentors and we have been learning alot from one another.

With Mr Kaechele, in Kentwood, Michigan.  I created a math video for his class that went over very well.    You can view it here, and his students’ response here. His class also has blogs, but I’ve honesty struggled trying to keep up with them and comment.  I will be trying to do this more in the next while. I’m not entirely sure what is next for me and this class, but I cannot wait to find out.   Hopefully we can arrange another Skype meeting or I can make another video or problems for his class.

I got overwhelming feedback on the video but I still felt it could  have been better.  I wanted to get the students thinking more outside of the box.  Really, it was just a textbook-type problem put into a video, and I didn’t want it to be a typical math problem.  Then I noticed Dan Meyer had created a post on his blog, dy/dan, regarding my video:Redesigned: Kyle Webb.  He went into some great detail about what I could have done different to make this problem less like a typical textbook problem.  ”The fix is simple but difficult: be less helpful.”  He told our ECMP 355 class this when he presented to us.  His feedback was priceless and something I would have never received had I just presented it to a class.  It’s been awesome having an audience outside of just our class to get some more comments on my work.  So far there have been 366 plays of the video.

Skype with Mr. Poluk

With Mr. Poluk, in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.  I have been having Skype meetings with him and his class.  In the last meeting we did a quick Q & A session where we talked about Bitstrips, a comic site they are using, some science, and about podcasts.  His class had created an awesome podcast, which you can view here.  I also told them about my math problem video, and they are going to use it as well.  I told them about my final project about using iPods in the classroom and Mr. Poluk is planning on having his students do some sort of writing assignment about using them in the classroom, which will be great for giving me a student perspective for the project.  I hope we can do another Skype call again this Friday.

Adobe Connect with Ms. Ionno

With Ms. Ionno, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, I haven’t been doing too much because she has been in the middle of some class restructuring.  However, last weekend we were able to use Adobe Connect and talk one on one for a while and make a plan for what’s coming up.  Last Thursday, I was going to do and Q & A session with her students and their parents, however we encountered some technical sss difficulties and had to reschedule.  You can read more about that here.  We are now meeting on this upcoming Thursday for a Q & A session and I will also do a quick lesson on area and circumferences of circles and present my video for a problem with her students.   I’m a little nervous for it, but at the same time very excited to do it.  It still blows my mind that I’m working with students 4000+ km away from me!

Overall, I’m really happy with how these mentorships have been going.  I just wish I  had more time to dedicate towards them!

One of my mentors, Michael Kaechele,  asked me if I could come up with some sort of problem for his math class.  His math class is currently taking a unit on perimeter, area, and volume.  I wanted to do something a bit more than just a little word problem . I decided to use a video and create a real-life problem, similar to what Dan Meyer does (although nowhere near as good).

I used the University of Regina’s Academic Green as my example and asked how far of a walk it would be to walk around the perimeter of it (assuming it is a perfect circle). I measured in steps, mostly because I didn’t have anything capable of measuring a large distance and partly because I felt it brings a real life aspect to the problem. I then took it further to incorporate an area problem and asked how big of an ice rink could I fit into the green if I wanted to do so.  To close off the video, I ask what is wrong with how I measured for problem, hoping to spark some thoughts that maybe steps isn’t the best or most consistent way to measure.  I also hope they discuss the fact that the green isn’t a perfect circle, and how that could change the problems.

Anyways, this is my final product:

Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for any future videos!

This past Friday I connected with another one of my ECMP Mentorhips!  This one is with Mike Poluk from Sault St. Marie, Ontario.  This is my only mentorship within Canada, but is by no means close to me.  Sault St. Marie is some 1500 kms away from Regina.

I quickly introduced myself to his class before they headed outside for a project.  They were quite surprised that we had snow already!

The class just created a Project Earth Homes (inspired by this blog) where they were split into groups and given half of an hour to gather 25 natural objects and build an earth home (perhaps inspired by earth houses I found on Wikipedia).  Mr. Poluk has created a video of the creations which can be seen here.

This week the class is setting up blogs and learning about blogging etiquette.  I’m excited to see what kind of blogs the students come up with.

I will also be using Skype once again to interact with the class this Friday! I can’t wait!

Two of my student mentorships for ECMP 355 have already begun.

The First Email from a Student!

Over the weekend, I created this video for Ms. Ionno’s class in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida to introduce myself to her students.  I’ve had one student already email me informing me that NASCAR fans are crazier than Saskatchewan Roughrider fans.  (The video is at the bottom of this blog post)

This morning I also got up early and spoke with Michael Kaechele‘s Grade 6 Math Class and his Grade 8 Tech Class later on.  I did this through Skype, which was really neat as the students were all able to ask me questions.  The most interesting question?: “Why don’t you have a Canadian accent?”

These were both scary but exciting experiences.  It boggles my mind that 11 and 12 year olds in Florida were watching a video of me.  And talking to 6th and 8th graders in Michigan over the internet was really neat.

I can’t wait to get deeper into these mentorships and get my other two going!