Hybrid PD - Online Community Development Pt 3

I am in the third online unit of my hybrid/blended PD so wanted to give some feedback and updates on how things are going online.  For those of you who have been following my hybrid/blended professional development series on integrating technology into math instruction (see a listing of all posts in the series at the bottom of this blog), you will remember that we just finished our third face-to-face meeting a couple weeks ago.

My focus for this third unit (both f2f & online) is relevancy:

Lesson Three: Make the activities and learning relevant to the teachers every-day teaching practice. By providing activities that focus on learning the skills, how to integrate technology appropriately, and also cohere to the specific content and curriculum the teachers must follow, it is more likely that they will begin to change their own practice. If they can see the relevancy to their own daily experience, they are going to be more willing to implement new tools and strategies.

This current online unit is five weeks long, and while there is specific content teachers are assigned to do (watch videos, readings, and Sketchpad math activities) as they continue learning the software, learning and practicing instructional strategies, and learning specific math content and Common Core standards, there is quite a bit of personal choice involved. As in previous units, they must choose at least one lesson, using Sketchpad, to do with their students.  This means creating a lesson plan and providing feedback and student artifacts after the implementation. The difference in this unit is they can choose what lessons to implement rather than being given a specific lesson.  The lessons they choose can be specific to their classroom, their students, their content and their needs. (They find relevant lessons to their needs using Sketchpad Lessonlink, which provides ready-to-use Sketchpad lessons that they are searching for either by content, textbook, or even standard they may be currently teaching).

What I am finding so far this unit is much more excitement and a lot more sharing of activities and how the teachers are working with Sketchpad and their students.  Granted, I still have those participants who are not posting, but those that are seem to be so much more vociferous and energetic in their postings. They are really making connections to how the use of technology makes learning of mathematics engaging and more understandable for their students. Many seem to have reached a turning point, where the software is no longer the 'enemy' they are trying to fit into their teaching, but rather an amazing resource that is expanding their teaching and their students learning.  I think the biggest factor in this enthusiastic embracing of using the technology in their practice is the relevancy of lessons to what they are teaching.  They have found lessons that are making it easier for them to help their students learn what has to be taught right now.

This brings me to a question that came up in an #edchat I participated in this week on Twitter.  Jeffery Heil (@jheil65), in response to my tweet that "think this goes back to showing the direct relevancy to what they teach, how tech is a tool to support/enhance" responded "I agree, but relevant for whom? Tech might be necessary but perhaps not sufficient for student learning".  It was a great question, and if I look at what I wrote above in my Lesson Three, it might seem I am only thinking of the teacher, in terms of relevancy - their curriculum, pacing, standards, students' needs, etc.  But, Jefferey has had me thinking all week on relevancy for the students as well. I am finding, in the responses of the teachers in my online PD, they have focused on relevancy for themselves and their own teaching requirements, but also relevancy for their students as well, by providing opportunities to see, touch, and connect the mathematics to something visual or contextual.

Here are a few example comments from my online teachers which I think exemplify both teacher and student relevancy:

 "{Using the Sketchpad Activity {Graphing Quadratic Equations"} I really like the ability to easily use parameters to influence graphs. I like that there always seems to be several ways to accomplish the same task (like the use of sliders or +/- keys), as that allows us to better adapt to student strengths. I really like the self-correcting aspects of working in Sketchpad. If it is done right, it works the way it should, if not, it won't work and the troubleshooting (often where the real learning occurs) begins. I also like the ability to easily issue programming challenges to the students. This gives valuable insight into the way in which students approach mathematics."

"I like the real life application that was used in {How slope is Measured}. As I did this activity I wondered if students would explore beyond the guidelines. Would they question what it looks like if slope is the same but the coordinates are different. Would they want to explore even more possibilities for different staircases? Would they be able to transfer that knowledge over to the slope game and come up with some strategies to "stump" their partners. How slope is measured is a great activity for building understanding of the concept. This would provide students opportunities to explore and apply their understanding. Another way I might approach these two activities is to use the slope game as an explore activity, use measuring slope as a explore and summarize activity and then revisit the slope game to assess their understanding."

"I love using the lessons from lesson link. They relate so close to what I am currently teaching. I did a lesson on Rotations on paper first because I couldn't get into the computer lab until Thursday. On paper it didn't go so well. Next year, I will save the lesson to do just on Sketchpad. I am so proud of myself!"

"{Using the Sketchpad Activity "Toy Car"} Based on my students' need, I basically had to ask what units of measure would be reasonable. So I ask if is it possible to push a Hot Wheel car two feet and one seconds? I illustrated how far two feet was and count for one second, and they agreed that it was possible if you pushed it fast enough. I then went on to discuss a wind-up toy car. I asked the question, what about a wind-up toy car? What would happen if you wind-up a toy car and then let it roll, would it start off fast and then lose speed as it travels? They all agreed that it would. Based on this information we decided that the numbers on the left were seconds and the numbers on the bottom were probably feet. We then did several practices using the different rates. I believe this type of questioning relates to the Standards of Mathematical Practice because it encourages students to think about what is reasonable. Next we discussed another name for the word rate, and we came up the distance. So we decided that the rate/distance was based on time."

I have probably included too many examples, but it's so exciting and gratifying to me to see the change in these teachers perspectives about using technology to teach mathematics, I just couldn't help myself! Their obvious focus on their students, their students needs and making sure the activities they pick and the questions they ask are relevant to their students learning of math concepts simply solidifies for me the importance of relevancy. When considering new technology and really, any new strategy or innovation, that we want teachers to adopt and use to change their practice, relevancy to what they teach, how they teach, and the students they teach should be a key factor in the decisions made and the support provided.


**If you are interested in reading the Hybrid Professional Development series of posting in their entirety, here are the titles and links:


Planning for Hybrid PD - Comfort Level and Confidence First
Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD - Day 1 
Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD - Day 2
Hybrid PD - Online Community Development Pt 1 
Planning for Hybrid PD (part 2) - Develop Community and Supportive Environment 
Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD (Part 2) - F2F Feedback 
Hybrid PD - Online Community Development Pt. 2 
Planning for Hybrid PD (part 3) - Make it Relevant 
Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD (part 3) - F2F feedback

Follow-up On Planning for Hybrid PD - Day 1

I had my first of two face-to-face 3 hour sessions with teachers yesterday (the high school group).  As I mentioned in my previous post, Planning for Hybrid PD - Comfort Level and Confidence First , the goal was to figure out where the teachers were at and meet them at their comfort zone and give them confidence to start the journey of integrating the technology.

Lesson one was to "Begin a professional development experience assessing the background skills of participants.Ensure they are given the necessary tools, starting points, and resources to feel comfortable with what they are going to be doing, see the purpose behind what they will be doing, and know where and how they can get continued support". I think I accomplished this fairly well, but can I just say, 3 hours goes fast!  I thought I had it mapped out well, but of course, the reality is there are questions and technology issues.  I spent less time on the software introduction than I wanted, but I made the executive decision that since we had the month to continue to play and explore that component, the more important items to focus on were the online ready to use lessons (Sketchpad LessonLink) and the online course itself.  Getting teachers registered and navigating the online course would allow them to get immediate access to me and support as they played more with the software. 

One thing I think was accomplished was that all the participants realized that this first meeting was really that - a first meeting to introduce them to the software, resources, and online environment and that we had time in the online environment to explore more.  It was refreshing for me to be able to offer the time and continued support to them, as usually I only get a day or two.  And, I think that's all most teachers get themselves, so perhaps there was a bit of disbelief that this was actually the reality. These teachers and I are on a journey, and I made sure to emphasize that as often as possible that the feeling of being overwhelmed and things moving too fast in this first meeting was natural and normal, but we had a whole month ahead of us to continue to ask questions, work together and alleviate some of their concerns. From my perspective, it did seem to almost relieve them and allow them to move to the next topic in are quickly passing time!

Overall, I thought it went well and am looking forward to the next step - the online environment.  Tonight I meet with the middle school teachers, and will take lessons learned last night to heart - little different focus on how I introduce the software, more time on the LessonLink as it leads to the software use, and then a little more time making sure the online course registration works and that everyone understands there.  It's always nice when you have a second chance at something - practice makes perfect as they say!

Will keep you posted on how Day 2 goes.

How can I use dynamic technology without an interactive white board?

I just got back from Asilomar, in Monterey, CA, where I was attending the CMC North Math conference.  What a beautiful place!

Had a really great time talking to teachers about integrating technology into their classroom and ways they could use the technology resources they already had.  An interesting thing happened while exhibiting.  We were using an 'interactive white board' using a Styrofoam white board and eBeam to demonstrate our software (The Geometer's Sketchpad, TinkerPlots and Fathom), and so many people immediately assumed that the software only worked with a white board, therefore not of interest to them since they didn't have one.

The purpose of using the interactive white board was merely to show the software better and allow others to interact and draw folks in to play.  What was revealed by talking to many of these teachers was really that they assumed that interactive, dynamic software could not be used unless you had a way for students 'touch it" (as most teachers did not have access to computers for students, but merely a projector and screen). This of course led to my sharing some suggestions, based on things I use to do with my own students, on what to do if you don't have an interactive white board or access to computers and yet you have dynamic software that would really enhance your instruction and student learning. If you have at least a computer, projector and screen, you can still make your lessons interactive. I just wanted to share a few ideas here.

1) Replace lecture/notes with a demonstration and have the STUDENTS come up with their own definitions/understandings.  It is far more engaging and visual to see the effects of changing the variable of m in y=mx + b (using Sketchpad for example), and, through good questioning on the part of the teacher, discovering that variable we call slope determines the direction of the line rather than to have them take notes on the definition of slope and the slope intercept form of a line. It allows students to concretely make a connection to an abstract symbolic representation.
2)   Get a really good wireless mouse. Pass the mouse around and let the students control the action of the software.  Again, guided by good questioning and allowing them to make conjectures and test their thinking.  This gets students involved, and gives the teacher the ability to actually walk around and interact with students.
3) Group students and allow different groups to 'be in control' for the day, again, guided by good questioning.


Just some thoughts.