Are you going to participate in #noworksheetweek?
In my last post, I wrote about some ideas for eliminating the unnecessary waste we create with worksheets. I wanted to share some more ideas to help you reduce your consumption of paper and mundane student tasks.
How can you have your students show their learning without paper?
In our class we talked about using GarageBand to have a student record their responses. Even simple responses to reading can be recorded and given to the teacher for review. Or to take it a step further, we could use iMovie and the iPad camera to record their responses like an interview. As a teacher, this is way more fun to grade! This also gives you the opportunity to talk with the students about public speaking skills, eye contact, posture, etc. expanding the activity to more than a simple formative assessment.
Do you have GAFE? If you do, using Google Classroom will help you destroy your worksheets! Scan anything you would normally print, assign it to students, then they turn in their work. It is all digital and no paper required. This could present problems when it comes to a lack of devices, but getting creative about how you get students access is the only way.
There are many more ideas and if you have some, please leave a comment.
Until next time, have a great #noworksheetweek
Showing posts with label edtech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label edtech. Show all posts
Friday, April 10, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
#noworksheetweek
April 13-17th my class will be participating in #noworksheetweek. Our goal will be to survive our normal instruction, without using paper. While I have drastically reduced paper consumption in our class this year, to have no worksheets is honestly, a little frightening.
I thought I would share some ideas I have to eliminate the wasteful practice of handing out worksheets, checking them, giving them back and inevitably they end up in the trash (or recycle I hope...):
Formative assessments are a necessary and extremely beneficial part of any instruction. Simple 2-5 question question quizzes can give a wealth of insight and knowledge about my instruction and the learning of my students. How do I do that without using paper? I have a couple ways. MasteryConnect uses an add-on called "BubbleSheet". All I have to do is create the questions on a doc or pdf, load them into the system under the correct standard and give my kids the test id. They log in to either the app or bubblesheet.masteryconnect.com and go. Data is collected in real time and I can assess my instruction on the spot.
Another tool I plan to use is Plickers. I create the questions, then show them on the board. They hold up their answer using one of the provided cards:
I thought I would share some ideas I have to eliminate the wasteful practice of handing out worksheets, checking them, giving them back and inevitably they end up in the trash (or recycle I hope...):
Formative assessments are a necessary and extremely beneficial part of any instruction. Simple 2-5 question question quizzes can give a wealth of insight and knowledge about my instruction and the learning of my students. How do I do that without using paper? I have a couple ways. MasteryConnect uses an add-on called "BubbleSheet". All I have to do is create the questions on a doc or pdf, load them into the system under the correct standard and give my kids the test id. They log in to either the app or bubblesheet.masteryconnect.com and go. Data is collected in real time and I can assess my instruction on the spot.
Another tool I plan to use is Plickers. I create the questions, then show them on the board. They hold up their answer using one of the provided cards:
Then I use my phone to quickly scan their answer and collect my information. Another nifty part of Plickers is that I can launch a real time results graph that shows the students what everyone else is choosing anonymously. This allows for instant feedback and for the student to reflect on their answer in the moment. Not to mention it is pretty cool!
There are of course the old school methods. I taught my kids A, B, C, and D in sign language and have them hold their choice to their chest. Or there is always thumbs up or thumbs down. While I will always continue to use these methods, the techy versions allow me to collect the data rather than trying to simply remember. We all know we already have more than enough to remember!
These are just two examples, if you have more, feel free to add them to the comments!
This is going to be a challenge for me, but I am not afraid. If we as teachers don't challenge ourselves, we become stagnant and quickly lose our effectiveness. Take the challenge and do something really cool!
I will be posting more ideas up until #noworksheet week, so check back for more!
Friday, December 5, 2014
Burn it Down!
I have not been able to post about Mindcraft in a while because of some major changes in my classroom. In the past weeks, we have gained the glorious opportunity to be 1:1 with Chromebooks and received student Google Accounts. As a result, we have been a little preoccupied with all of that and neglected Mindcraft!
This week, we got the opportunity to continue our experience. The kids have been learning about Ecosystems. They have each chosen one to "specialize" in and have written an informative report and a personal narrative involving their ecosystem of choice. Our learning focus is shifting from knowing about the ecosystem to protecting it. One major factor I wanted my kids to understand is that we must protect the environment now, not later, and not in the next generation.
The plan was to create a new world in Survival Mode and burn down the forest. If you are not familiar, Survival Mode is where the player starts out with nothing and must use the resources around (and under) them to craft objects and survive. For our purposes, we turned off the mobs of zombies since that is not really school appropriate.
The students had to chop down trees in order to gain a pickaxe, then mine until they came across flint and iron to create a tool called "flint and steel". I'm sure you can imagine what that does. The next step was to find a forest and burn it down to nothing. They also were instructed to destroy all the grass and flowers in that area. The final step was to rebuild it.
What the students saw was how long it took to regrow the forest to its original status. Destroying it versus rebuilding it. Now they are looking into ways that their ecosystem is under attack and writing persuasive letters to the EPA imploring them to help us protect that ecosystem.
This week, we got the opportunity to continue our experience. The kids have been learning about Ecosystems. They have each chosen one to "specialize" in and have written an informative report and a personal narrative involving their ecosystem of choice. Our learning focus is shifting from knowing about the ecosystem to protecting it. One major factor I wanted my kids to understand is that we must protect the environment now, not later, and not in the next generation.
The plan was to create a new world in Survival Mode and burn down the forest. If you are not familiar, Survival Mode is where the player starts out with nothing and must use the resources around (and under) them to craft objects and survive. For our purposes, we turned off the mobs of zombies since that is not really school appropriate.
The students had to chop down trees in order to gain a pickaxe, then mine until they came across flint and iron to create a tool called "flint and steel". I'm sure you can imagine what that does. The next step was to find a forest and burn it down to nothing. They also were instructed to destroy all the grass and flowers in that area. The final step was to rebuild it.
What the students saw was how long it took to regrow the forest to its original status. Destroying it versus rebuilding it. Now they are looking into ways that their ecosystem is under attack and writing persuasive letters to the EPA imploring them to help us protect that ecosystem.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Venturing into ELA
Our current ELA unit focuses on healthy foods and good nutrition. How can I incorporate Minecraft with that? I decided that we do some research into what food items in Minecraft restore the most health and then have the kids build a garden that will allow them to produce those food items.
I found some wikis that contained this information specifically for Minecraft PE, through together a Custom Search Engine and let the kids begin researching. Their intention was to figure out the best way to use a garden that 12x12 (I don't know why everything ends up being 12x12), not forgetting to make space for water! The first lovely issue we ran into was the content filter for our district. These sites were considered a "discussion board", thus they are blocked.
One student had the thought that we could download a Minecraft Crafting App and still find the information we needed. I had him find one on Google Play, made sure it was safe (and free), then we worked together to download the app. Inadvertently, the kids learned how to navigate Google Play and download an app. This brought up conversations about permissions that Apps are granted by the user.
Once they had the App, they were off and rolling. Using a graphic organizer to collect information and compare the various food types, then planning the locations of each block in their garden using a Google Sheet. All of this would be simply an excuse to play Minecraft, except that they had an important writing piece to go with it. They have to first discuss what "Good nutrition" is and then compare and contrast some of the food items that are available to them. Finally, they must relate this to the real world and discuss how eating healthy is important for your overall health.
For this activity, we were able to incorporate many different skills. The kids had to do research, cite their information, plan and organize the solution to a problem, and collaborate with others to accomplish a common goal. Due to the always inevitable technology issues, we also had a chance to learn about digital privacy and how app stores work.
We are still in the process of completing this project, but pictures and descriptions will be in the next post! I also recently received a document camera, so I hope to be able to post a video tour of one of these projects soon!
I found some wikis that contained this information specifically for Minecraft PE, through together a Custom Search Engine and let the kids begin researching. Their intention was to figure out the best way to use a garden that 12x12 (I don't know why everything ends up being 12x12), not forgetting to make space for water! The first lovely issue we ran into was the content filter for our district. These sites were considered a "discussion board", thus they are blocked.
One student had the thought that we could download a Minecraft Crafting App and still find the information we needed. I had him find one on Google Play, made sure it was safe (and free), then we worked together to download the app. Inadvertently, the kids learned how to navigate Google Play and download an app. This brought up conversations about permissions that Apps are granted by the user.
Once they had the App, they were off and rolling. Using a graphic organizer to collect information and compare the various food types, then planning the locations of each block in their garden using a Google Sheet. All of this would be simply an excuse to play Minecraft, except that they had an important writing piece to go with it. They have to first discuss what "Good nutrition" is and then compare and contrast some of the food items that are available to them. Finally, they must relate this to the real world and discuss how eating healthy is important for your overall health.
For this activity, we were able to incorporate many different skills. The kids had to do research, cite their information, plan and organize the solution to a problem, and collaborate with others to accomplish a common goal. Due to the always inevitable technology issues, we also had a chance to learn about digital privacy and how app stores work.
We are still in the process of completing this project, but pictures and descriptions will be in the next post! I also recently received a document camera, so I hope to be able to post a video tour of one of these projects soon!
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
How many blocks for a cube home?
I have not been able to post any updates in awhile do to the hustle and bustle of the school year, sickness, and an injury that affected my typing skills...
The kids were (as usual) given objectives and a set of skills that they would need. On this day, they had to figure out how many blocks were needed to create the basic structure of their house (just the outer layer of the cube). We discussed what it meant to develop their own strategies and some of the students already claimed to know how many blocks were needed. I prompted them to be sure and explain to their partner HOW they came to that conclusion.
This particular problem is not a grade level skill. It requires multiple steps and reasoning that I would consider to be advanced. After thoroughly discussing the task and what skills were needed, I set them free.
Within about 10 minutes, I had my first group that claimed to have solved the mystery. "144 blocks". First I asked them to explain how they came to that conclusion. "We multiplied." "What did you multiply?" "The numbers, duh." I was a bit surprised because our regular math curriculum requires daily written explanations of how the student solved a problem. We had discussions on a regular basis where we examined good examples and poor examples. Clearly, we needed more work on this skill. Group after group came with numbers that were un-reasonable. After about half the groups had tried more than once, I decided that this was not going quite the way I planned. I stopped everyone and we came back together. Using our projector, I showed the class what the cube-house looked like, then showed them what just the corners looked like.
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When asked how many blocks were used to build just this portion, the kids were able to make some quick calculations and come up with much more reasonable numbers: 100, 130, 150. Once they realized that the corners could mistakenly be counted twice, the light bulbs went off. I had them complete the rest of the original problem. The kids were able to see what was missing on each side of the cube-home, 6 10 by 10 walls.
After this revelation, the kids were getting much closer to solving the problem at hand.
What did I learn from this? That even though the motivation was there, they still struggled with a multiple step problem. This is something that we have noticed across the curriculum with all of our students. Once they were given some scaffolding and a starting point, they were able to make their way through. I am a bit defeated, but we will carry on!
The kids were (as usual) given objectives and a set of skills that they would need. On this day, they had to figure out how many blocks were needed to create the basic structure of their house (just the outer layer of the cube). We discussed what it meant to develop their own strategies and some of the students already claimed to know how many blocks were needed. I prompted them to be sure and explain to their partner HOW they came to that conclusion.
This particular problem is not a grade level skill. It requires multiple steps and reasoning that I would consider to be advanced. After thoroughly discussing the task and what skills were needed, I set them free.
Within about 10 minutes, I had my first group that claimed to have solved the mystery. "144 blocks". First I asked them to explain how they came to that conclusion. "We multiplied." "What did you multiply?" "The numbers, duh." I was a bit surprised because our regular math curriculum requires daily written explanations of how the student solved a problem. We had discussions on a regular basis where we examined good examples and poor examples. Clearly, we needed more work on this skill. Group after group came with numbers that were un-reasonable. After about half the groups had tried more than once, I decided that this was not going quite the way I planned. I stopped everyone and we came back together. Using our projector, I showed the class what the cube-house looked like, then showed them what just the corners looked like.
What did I learn from this? That even though the motivation was there, they still struggled with a multiple step problem. This is something that we have noticed across the curriculum with all of our students. Once they were given some scaffolding and a starting point, they were able to make their way through. I am a bit defeated, but we will carry on!
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Problem Solving
This week, the kids created their "homes", a 12 by 12 by 12 block structure. They had to decide how many floors they could put in their house and then build them.
Objectives:
Create a house that is 12 blocks tall, 12 blocks wide, and 12 blocks deep.
Use a list to figure out what the maximum number of levels you can have in your home.
Use problem solving skills (compromise) to resolve any issues or disagreements
I observed each group from across the room, so as to not disturb their conversations as they were happening nor have any proximity related influence on their discussions. The first thing I heard was, "How do we get in?" or "How do we get out?" Many of the kids either didn't know about doors, or didn't think to put one in. Easily solved by clearing out two blocks and placing the door in the gap.
Next up, "I can't see anything?". Most kids threw up some torches and moved on, but others brought about more clever ways. Some installed windows, some ripped off their roof and replaced it with glass blocks, other with goldstone. The kids worked together and had to first decide their options, then make the best decision that they could. These are students that are not paired up with students that they would normally work with and typically don't have lengthy discussions that stay on topic, they are after all, 8 year olds. What is interesting about these discussions is that the students really do debate which option to work with. There is a method to their persuasion and the best part is that their partner's rebuttals are just as well constructed.
These students are collaborating on a project and I am amazed at how well they are doing it. I have heard no arguments, no fits of sadness or frustration, just good clean focused fun. They are working together and actually enjoying it. I have not noticed anyone sitting on the sidelines doing nothing. There have not been any bossy players telling others what to do. These are events that are typical in group work, but non-existent in Mindcraft (my name for this time in our class). My students are truly cooperating with each other and accomplishing tasks in peace. To me, this is a major benefit of using Minecraft. My students are being creative, planning, and collaborating on a project together. The way that I have infused our math curriculum into this may not be the best, but it will come with time and practice on my end. In the meantime, my kids are learning to work seamlessly together and I can focus on working with them, not putting out fires.
Objectives:
Create a house that is 12 blocks tall, 12 blocks wide, and 12 blocks deep.
Use a list to figure out what the maximum number of levels you can have in your home.
Use problem solving skills (compromise) to resolve any issues or disagreements
I observed each group from across the room, so as to not disturb their conversations as they were happening nor have any proximity related influence on their discussions. The first thing I heard was, "How do we get in?" or "How do we get out?" Many of the kids either didn't know about doors, or didn't think to put one in. Easily solved by clearing out two blocks and placing the door in the gap.
Next up, "I can't see anything?". Most kids threw up some torches and moved on, but others brought about more clever ways. Some installed windows, some ripped off their roof and replaced it with glass blocks, other with goldstone. The kids worked together and had to first decide their options, then make the best decision that they could. These are students that are not paired up with students that they would normally work with and typically don't have lengthy discussions that stay on topic, they are after all, 8 year olds. What is interesting about these discussions is that the students really do debate which option to work with. There is a method to their persuasion and the best part is that their partner's rebuttals are just as well constructed.
These students are collaborating on a project and I am amazed at how well they are doing it. I have heard no arguments, no fits of sadness or frustration, just good clean focused fun. They are working together and actually enjoying it. I have not noticed anyone sitting on the sidelines doing nothing. There have not been any bossy players telling others what to do. These are events that are typical in group work, but non-existent in Mindcraft (my name for this time in our class). My students are truly cooperating with each other and accomplishing tasks in peace. To me, this is a major benefit of using Minecraft. My students are being creative, planning, and collaborating on a project together. The way that I have infused our math curriculum into this may not be the best, but it will come with time and practice on my end. In the meantime, my kids are learning to work seamlessly together and I can focus on working with them, not putting out fires.
 |
| This is one of the more complex examples that a student created. With the size of the houses, the students had to realize that they could only create 3 floors and have 2 extra block heights to work with.He chose to make the top floor and the first floor taller than the middle floor. You can see how he divided the levels on the first picture. |
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
It continues
This week, the kids have started a new activity that has a little more freedom and a little more realism to it. I instructed them to build a house with their partner that is 12 x 12 x 12. They can use any block type that they'd like and once the basic structure is made, they can fill it and decorate how they wish. This morning, when they walked in I posted the question "How many block are needed to create your house?" on the board and just left it up. As I was greeting the kids coming in, I could hear students discussing it. Several of them were trying to figure it out in there head. My hope is that they start to develop a strategy for solving this on their own. Some might add 12 for each column, some might try to multiply. I just want them to explore the problem in their head so that when we do discuss it, they have some ideas.
These are third graders who are currently learning about adding 2-digit numbers. They do not know how to multiply and they have no experience with volume, perimeter, or area (I am aware of some issues that will be present when discussing the corners and how they relate to overall area and perimeter, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there). However, using Minecraft, they are beginning to develop these ideas and will later be able to connect their own strategies with standard formulas.
These are third graders who are currently learning about adding 2-digit numbers. They do not know how to multiply and they have no experience with volume, perimeter, or area (I am aware of some issues that will be present when discussing the corners and how they relate to overall area and perimeter, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there). However, using Minecraft, they are beginning to develop these ideas and will later be able to connect their own strategies with standard formulas.
Friday, August 22, 2014
Project Mindcraft, Engage!
Today, we started. It was a little bit scary for me, however the room was buzzing with excitement.
I had the students complete 2 tasks, both were review skills from our first Topic in math. Their first task was to create a number line that showed the days in the month of their birth as well as their birthday. This was a review of using a number line to show a number. It was a pretty simple concept and doubled as a way for them to get used to Minecraft's interface.
The second task was more complicated. They were shown 5 different blocks and told to find the number of 2 block combinations that they could make using only 1 of each type. Earlier in the week, we took a formative assessment where the students needed to find the combinations of outfits if a person had 2 shirts and 2 pairs of pants. Most students simply said, that makes 2 outfits. I estimate that probably only 5% had gotten it right at that time, so we needed to try again.
To start we had to discuss the expectations and cover objectives for the day. My objectives were:
We will...
Examples of the Combinations task:
This student created a row of 4 blocks that he stacked the different blocks on top of, thus "listing" out the possibilities. You'll notice that there is one row that has a gap in it. After creating this, he realized that if he used the same type of block on top of itself it was not correct because you only have 1 of each block type.
This was fun for the students and they were more focused than usual. In a typical 40 minute block with this group, I end up redirecting individual students at least 10 times. Today, I only had to give 2-3 redirections. Why? The kids were working on their own and utilizing each other to solve problems. This kept them talking and working. Only about 4 of the 11 groups completed both tasks, however, this was teh first time that we used Minecraft. I think that there was a bit of a learning curve and the students were figuring out each other's strengths in order to make their groups more efficient. Later today, the kids will write about their experiences and I will be able to get a better picture of this at that time.
Things to do differently:
As of right now, I think the only thing we will do differently is increase the number of worlds that students use. Pairing 4 tablets (1 tablet is 2 students) together on one world is creating issues with getting disconnected, slow gameplay, and overall confusion about who belongs where. I'm thinking that unless they are doing a large group activity, we will put 2 tablets on 1 world.
I had the students complete 2 tasks, both were review skills from our first Topic in math. Their first task was to create a number line that showed the days in the month of their birth as well as their birthday. This was a review of using a number line to show a number. It was a pretty simple concept and doubled as a way for them to get used to Minecraft's interface.
The second task was more complicated. They were shown 5 different blocks and told to find the number of 2 block combinations that they could make using only 1 of each type. Earlier in the week, we took a formative assessment where the students needed to find the combinations of outfits if a person had 2 shirts and 2 pairs of pants. Most students simply said, that makes 2 outfits. I estimate that probably only 5% had gotten it right at that time, so we needed to try again.
To start we had to discuss the expectations and cover objectives for the day. My objectives were:
We will...
- Represent numbers on a number line
- Make a list to solve a complex problem
- Solve a problem collaboratively
- Reflect on our activity to improve our future interactions
At the end of the time block, we stopped and the kids took a short survey in Google Forms.
I was hoping to keep this activity to under 40 minutes, but most of the kids were not done. Some problems arose as a result of technology and it slowed our completion.
The results of the survey are found below:
Average rating:
Additionally students were asked what ways they attempted to solve problems. However, they did not realize that they could choose more than one answer and the data was not accurate, we will fix it for the next activity.
| How much motivation do you have to complete the tasks in class using Minecraft? | How much motivation do you have to complete the Practice homework sheets? | How well did you and your partner work together? | How successful were you in completing the tasks? |
| 4.157894737 | 3.526315789 | 4.263157895 | 3.631578947 |
Additionally students were asked what ways they attempted to solve problems. However, they did not realize that they could choose more than one answer and the data was not accurate, we will fix it for the next activity.
Examples of the Number Lines created:
These students created the number lines out of blocks. The first struggle that they had was figuring out how many days were in their month. To do this, one of them remembered that we have a calendar app on the tablet and he used that. Once they figured out the number of days, they had to space the "tick" marks out equally across the top. Most students put a sign in front of their number line to show where their birthday would fall.
These students created the number lines out of blocks. The first struggle that they had was figuring out how many days were in their month. To do this, one of them remembered that we have a calendar app on the tablet and he used that. Once they figured out the number of days, they had to space the "tick" marks out equally across the top. Most students put a sign in front of their number line to show where their birthday would fall.
 |
Two more examples of the combinations task. These two students worked with the same method as the first. You'll notice some minor mistakes in the second one, but they were not able to finish it due to time.
My thoughts:This was fun for the students and they were more focused than usual. In a typical 40 minute block with this group, I end up redirecting individual students at least 10 times. Today, I only had to give 2-3 redirections. Why? The kids were working on their own and utilizing each other to solve problems. This kept them talking and working. Only about 4 of the 11 groups completed both tasks, however, this was teh first time that we used Minecraft. I think that there was a bit of a learning curve and the students were figuring out each other's strengths in order to make their groups more efficient. Later today, the kids will write about their experiences and I will be able to get a better picture of this at that time.
Things to do differently:
As of right now, I think the only thing we will do differently is increase the number of worlds that students use. Pairing 4 tablets (1 tablet is 2 students) together on one world is creating issues with getting disconnected, slow gameplay, and overall confusion about who belongs where. I'm thinking that unless they are doing a large group activity, we will put 2 tablets on 1 world.
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