Category: Technology

Categories
Technology

QR Codes for my Middle School friends

Today, we are having a mini-ed camp at our middle school.  In my sharing session, we are learning about QR codes, where examples are posted all around the room.  As a follow-up, I have made a QR code which links to this post, and hope that my colleagues will scan, visit, and leave a comment.  So, if you attend today, please be sure to leave a comment and share your QR code enthusiasm!

UPDATE – what a great day of sharing, as teachers from all over our building shared their success stories, strategies, and points of pride.  For my session, photos were uploaded to photobucket, then turned into QR code links using qrsuff.  Many attendees installed code readers onto their iPhones, and helped each other work through problems posted on lockers.  In one sample from Social Studies, the printed sheet said “Where was this photo taken, and who is the speaker?”.  Scanning the QR code then produced a photo of the Washington Mall during Dr. King’s “I Have  a Dream” speech.

Thanks to Joe and Sarah for the outstanding leadership in planning this exciting event!

QR1

QR2

QR3

Categories
Technology

Fun with ActivePrompt

The math twitter-verse was abuzz this week with discussion of Riley Eynon-Lynch’s Activeprompt, a simple interface for  student collaboration.  For me, my interest started with a tweet from Dan Meyer, which invited volunteers to click a link and drag a mysterious red dot to a point equidistant from three schools.

Red Dot

While each participant can only see and consider their “red dot” movement, the teacher can see all red dots as they dance across the screen.  Enjoy my first experience with Activeprompt, as I used a colleague’s high school prob/stat class as my “volunteers”:

I appreciate tools like this which leave a lot of room for student and teacher imagination, and the conversations surrounding possible uses have gone in unexpected directions.  Too many math tech tools pigeon-hole users into a pre-determined path, and this tool meets many of the “wants” I have for my students:

  • I want my students to participate
  • I want my students to collaborate
  • I want my students to assess each’s others ideas
  • I want my students to realize similarities and difference between their ideas

The blank canvas is ready for us to fill.  For me, I look forward to using this as a tool for student estimation, or having students contribute points to scatterplots.  One of my favorites so far comes from a teacher who challenged students to work together to form two parallel lines.  The surface has just barely been scratched here.

The order of operations to get up and running is simple to follow:

  • Go to the Activeprompt site:  http://activeprompt.herokuapp.com
  • Load an imagine and write a prompt
  • Provide students the given link
  • View results on a different link, also given

Activeprompt is reported to also work on iPads, though I have not tried this yet. Looking forward to more attempts with this intriguing tool.

Categories
Middle School Technology

ATMOPAV 2012 Presentation

What a great day of math sharing today at the ATMOPAV (Association of Teachers of Mathematics of Philadelphia and Vicinity) conference at Strath Haven High School, near Philly.  First, interesting “function dances” and iPad applications on developing function concepts by Scott Steketee.  Then, insights into the Common Core emphasis on functions, with assessment examples from PARCC, from John Mahoney.

In the afternoon, I enjoyed presenting my session, “Encouraging Perseverance in Problem Solving” to an enthusiastic group.  Hope they all find something of value from the session to take back to their schools!  My speaker slides, and some related videos and handouts, are below.

 

VIDEOS FROM THE PRESENTATION:

Ping-Pong:

 

Shared-work Problem (Mr. L needs an assistant):

 

PROBLEM FILES:

Sharp Turn!

Elvis on the Beach

Paths

Donuts