Calculators, thoughts and a student question.

This morning I explained to my Algebra II class that beginning next week I will be assigning a set of projects for part of their quarter grade.  At the end a student raised his hand and asked if he could do the projects on his own mobile devices rather than on the class iPad set.  This shows me that he would like to be able to work independently and work outside of class.  I said I'd let them know on Monday but I was beaming inside at his question.  I think I am going to allow it.
When I was growing up we learned our math facts and could do them in our sleep.  Now there are all sorts of calculators for students to use including equation solvers.  Even our state tests will allow calculators that they provide as part of the online test.  My concern is that most students accept the answer they get as the correct answer.  They do not take a min to check to see it is reasonable.  Almost like the idea that if they find it on the internet, it is the total truth. 
I am thinking of having students use the equation solvers when we do systems of equations to show their work.  They will show their work but may check the answers for problems that are not in the book.  If they provide answers only, I do not plan on accepting the assignment.

New Quarter and learning menus

I want to start learning menus to provide a quarter or chapter end option to prepare them better for the major tests.  Yesterday's idea with the geoboard and Book Creater apps made me realize, I have all the apps I need to set it up and start doing it.  I am not utilizing the full potential yet and this is one way to increase student knowledge of both Math and the mobile devices.  I have showme, garage band, notebooks, book creator, google earth, an app with a word type creator, a spreadsheet and a power point type app.  These alone can give me a good supply of apps to create a menu to meet the different learning styles of the students.  I could easily give them half the period on Friday's to work towards completing the projects. 
I am going to put Google earth on the iPads this weekend along with garage band and schoology so I can implement activities from Real World Math in my classroom, teach them to make pod casts and have a place to pass out and receive work, information, etc.  By the end of the year, my classroom will be so much more integrated than it was last year.  My goal is to have my teaching so it has technology integrated into it effectively by 2016.
This morning on the warm-up, I gave my students a question on the type of triangle that is the basis for a Nautilus and they promptly pulled up the web browser to find the answer.  They showed enough interest so that Monday, I will be playing a short podcast/video from iTunes university on the topic.  Talk about a learning moment. 

I know what I will be doing this weekend.

Using Free web based tools

I try to read communities on google plus to get more ideas and information.  Someone shared this link: elearningindustry.com/321-free-tools-for-teachers-free-educational-technology  and I promptly headed off to take a look.  The tools are divided up by topic such as infographics, text to speech, etc.
First thing that came to me as I looked at the list was the question "Will these all work on the iPad?"  I found a website that allows you to create cartoons and I think I could use it in my class as part of the end of the unit learning menu but I have to make sure it will work on the iPads, otherwise I have to plan to use the computer lab if I want to use it or I have to find a cartoon app for the iPad so students can do that.  Yes I know there is a paid app to do comics.  I also saw Wordle there and I've played with it myself but if I use it, I have to ask the question of "What is the purpose of having the students use the app or website?" 
So now I am going to spend part of the weekend establish criteria for any apps or websites that I use to see if they have a real educational purpose.  I know that not every educational site or app is actually educational.
I'll report back early next week to share the criteria I have come up with and how I plan to use them in menu learning.

Project based vs menu driven learning?

I was looking at a link to project based learning ideas and realized for as long as I've been teaching and as long as I've heard of project based learning, I still am rather unclear about it.  This is even though I worked in a district with levels, end of level tests and the idea of moving towards project based learning.  From my understanding, you assign a project, have the students work through each part of the project and at the end, they turn in the final project and in the process, they have learned several to apply several math standards.  In menu driven learning, students are taught the material, given the menu to create several small projects based on learning styles to turn in for points. 
Where my thoughts are going with this is are they mutually exclusive.  Can you create the over all project and break the parts down into a menu so each student or groups of students will be able to create the final project using different smaller parts that works best for them.  I realize each project will have to broken down into steps so students are not overwhelmed but could each step have three different choices on how to accomplish it?  Since so many of my students are ESL, I have to do a break down so each student knows the steps they have to follow but not necessarily how to do each step.  For instance, when I assign the "Design your dream bedroom" I have them draw 6 scale drawings to show the 4 walls, floor and ceiling so I know where all the windows, doors, lights, and how the room itself looks.  I then have them create an estimate for the finishing cost of the room including flooring, paint, wall paper, ceiling tiles, etc.  I need to look at being able to combine both projects and menus to give students a better choice and increase their learning.

Reminders

I have recently started using the Reminders app on my iPad and am realizing how great it is going to be to use in the classroom.  Sine I am going to use learning menus and plan to assign the project at the beginning of the unit with a due date of the end of the unit, I think the Reminders app will be great for my students.  With the first menu, I can tell the students what reminders to put in so they know what part should be completed by a certain date.  This will help them learn to set goals so as to complete an assignment over a period of time rather than waiting till the night before.  My students have issues with planning and setting goals and I think this will help them with learning that skill.

Back to learning menus

I've been giving a lot of thought to learning menus and writing.  I've worked hard this year to increase their verbal communications by asking why, how did you come up with that answer, and other questions. I have been projecting warm-up and standardized test questions on the smart board.
Unfortunately, they are not as strong on the written, so I am toying with the idea of having students create pamphlets or jingles/raps or create some sort of digital presentation on showme, iphoto, or make a pod cast. 
In the past when I've had students create digital presentations, they've struggled with the creativity.  Many of these students have grown up in an oral culture and have little if any printed material in their homes.  So if I ask them to create a printed ad, I'll have to show them an ad and discuss the parts.  The nice thing is that I can bring a few magazines along to give them ideas and they can take photos to keep a record for themselves so they have a guide. 
This is something I'm going to be working on over the summer so I set it up properly and introduce it slowly over the year.  Maybe start with a choice of two digital projects and increase the number of choices over the school year.
If anyone has suggestions on setting up and using digital learning menus, I would love to hear from you.

A first

Today the students in my College Prep math class asked me to stop the video I was showing on the properties of logs so they could take notes.  I show the videos using the smart board because I have limited bandwidth and we don't have the serious stuttering problem that often happens if everyone is trying to watch a video at once.
I am going to explore the showme and Educreation apps over the summer.  I am thinking of using the learning menu idea where I give them the menu at the beginning of the unit and let them choose a couple projects that are due at the end of the unit right before the test.  I hope that I can have the students use either of those apps for one of the projects on the menu.
I have so much to do this summer as I plan my units.  I am going to try to have more integrated technology but it also depends on what changes they make over the summer.