Pictures of Lunar Eclipse

Even with a partially broken tripod I managed to get some decent pictures of the lunar eclipse tonight.

Chrome OS Netbook is a Throw Back to Mainframes

I was in high school back in the early 80s when personal computers first came out. I knew what a mainframe was and even got to tour the Credit Union Central facility in Regina and see their mainframe set up. The computers hooked to the mainframe were called "dummy" terminals. The terminal did not do much but allow you to enter commands and send them to the mainframe. All of software and data resided on the mainframe.

I have been reflecting on the Google Chrome OS netbook that was announced recently. It runs apps and is more powerful than a dummy terminal but operates on the same principle as a mainframe. All of your data is stored on a server in the clouds. Very much like in the days of the mainframe.

Google seems to have gone back in time and taken the mainframe idea and applied it to todays computers. Google has figured out that what most people want is a cheap computer that allows them to surf the net and access their data anywhere and anytime. How do you achieve this model? Store everything on a server and only access what you need when you want it.

I have to chuckle that we have come full circle. The personal computer allowed us to unchain ourselves from the mainframe mentality. However, it appears that the most cost effective way of computing is the centralized server with a bunch of "dummy" terminals connected to it.

How do you assess "Explaining"?

The Math dept. spent some of our time today, during our "snow day", writing student friendly outcomes for our Math 20-1 course. One of the things we immediately noticed is that MANY of the outcomes ask students to "explain" Mathematical processes.

I experimented with having students videotape explanations of factoring quadratic equations. This worked OK. However, was a bit time consuming.

We discussed having students answer "explain" outcomes on the summative exam. But, I pointed out that we want to know BEFORE the summative assessment if they can explain or not.

Any suggestions of how else we can get students to explain a mathematical process?

Also, I developed a rubric to assess the explanation of the factoring of a quadratic equation. The rubric seems to work well. I gave the students the rubric after I watched their videos BUT they did not get to re-watch their video to compare it to the rubric. This is a downfall.

I DO NOT feel we need to assign a grade to the explain outcomes. I feel that the rubric is more beneficial. However, we have to document the assessment. I guess we can keep a copy of the rubric in our "Marks book" and record the level they achieved on the rubric in the "Mark book" then we have evidence to show parents.

Any feedback on this would be appreciated.

Using Video to Assess "Explaining" in Math

Yesterday, I read a blog post by David Cox. He used a flipcam to videotape some of his students explaining a mathematical concept. As I watched the video a light went off in my head. One of the outcomes that is in the curriculum for my Math 10 C class is "Explain your strategy for factoring a trinomial". I could try to have the students write out an explanation but having them videotape their explanation would be even better.

So, today I took my Kodak zi8 into my class and had my students videotape each other as they explained how to factor a trinomial. What an awesome experience!!! I was able to watch every single one of my students factor a trinomial and explain it. I gained a lot of insight into the skills and the abilities of my students. Way more than just walking around the class and observing.

I just finished watching every single video and grading it using the following rubric.

This was such a success that I will definitely use it again. Video is a very powerful way to assess your students. I would suggest you give it a try. Once you do I do not think you will disagree with me.

Here is one of the videos of one of my students.

Personalized Learning

Today, I tried an experiment in my Pure Math 30 class. I gave the students a photocopy of the notes for the day and asked them to read the notes, add to the notes, discuss the notes amongst their group. (I have my students sitting in groups of 4).

Essentially I was having my students learn the material on their own!!!! Man was this awesome!!! The lesson that normally took me 60 minutes to teach was transformed into a self-paced, personalized learning experience for each and every student. It was amazing!!! The students help each other and clarified their understanding by asking me specific questions while I wondered around the room.

After about 20 minutes every single student was working on their assignment for the day. They now had the opportunity to complete their assignment in class, ask each other for assistance and ask me if they were really stuck.

About half way through the class I asked the students how they liked what we were trying today. Here are some of the responses.

"I could learn like this everyday."
"I like this way better"
"I don't learn like this. I need to hear the explanations."

All in all I can't think of why I did not try this a long time ago. I guess fear had a little bit to do with it. Today I jumped in to the deep end of the pool and did not drown. In fact, because I took a risk my students are having a far better learning experience than I have ever provided to them before. I am really glad I took the risk today.

First Exam - Math 10 Common

Myself and my other dept. members (Lara and Emerson) have spent the last few days creating our first unit exam for our Math 10 Common course. Since we are running this course using a standards based grading model we had to come up with a test creation blueprint. Thanks to Lara, our keener, here is the blueprint we used to create our unit exam.

This blueprint is also what we are going to have our students use to self-assess how they performed on each outcome on the exam. The students will then use this self-assessment to help determine which outcome(s) they wish to reassess on.

I did not post the actual exam for fear that my tech savvy students would locate the exam. That would just be bad news.

If you would like to see the exam just drop me a tweet or e-mail and we will make arrangements for this to happen.

Standards Based Grading - Oberservations

So, today I returned the graded quizzes to my Math 10 common students. Some were happy with their "grade" others were not. Then I had them turn to the self-assessment rubric on the back side of their quiz. I gave them a few minutes to rate themselves on how they performed on each outcome. I was amazed at how serious most of the students took the task. Then they had to explain why they gave themselves the rating they chose. Finally, I asked them to write a sentence or 2 about how they were going to try to improve on the outcomes they did not perform well on.

I had them hand this in so I could read what they wrote. Here are some of their comments:

"I need to do my homework."
"I am going to go back, re-read my notes and do some of the questions in our workbook that were not originally assigned."
"I am going to ask my mom if she can find me a tutor."
"Keep doing what I have been doing because I kicked butt on this quiz!!!"

The students pretty much nailed it on the head. Their reflections and observations were pretty much what I would have told them.

This whole exercise took less than 10 minutes. Getting the students to reflect on their performance in relation to the outcomes of the course was well worth it.

I am glad our entire math dept. has decided to try out standards based grading. Our students will be better for it.