Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation

In my experience, great teachers that are enthusiastic about their content have inspired me to perform to the best of my ability. 

One particular class that I remember well is high school Psychology. The teacher was witty and funny, but also very knowledgeable. It may be because the content was so new, but I felt I learned so much in that course. The culminating activity for the course was not a test. Instead the class played a game (similar to RISK or Diplomacy), but a little more complicated. The game necessitated group work, individual analyzation, strategy, and manipulation. It was very fun to play for that week, but especially incorporating all we had learned about how humans think and behave. After the game, we had to write a paper about how what we had learned showed up in the playing of the game. It was one of the most enriching educational experiences I can remember.

Like most students, I have also had many discouraging educational experiences that have made me not want to give any effort toward learning. I specifically remember one instance in my freshmen English course. It was so heavy on writing, more than anything I had experienced. Still, I did my best to write the pages each day. Each time I would turn in an assignment, the teacher would not even read it. She simply stamped it and put a checkmark in her grade book. The work was rigorous, but I never got any feedback. I started writing whatever I wanted in the essays and she never ended up reading them anyway.

I have learned a couple lessons from those two specific experiences. First, the project based learning in my Psychology course was extremely motivation. I was a shy and introverted student, but I excelled in the game, gave my best effort, and learned so much! Second, students understand when a teacher gives busy work. As an educator myself, I never want to assign work that I cannot give back to students with meaningful feedback. If I require them to put in the effort, I will do it also.

Field Experience - Day 1 form Unit Plan

I am currently a teacher of the visually impaired at a public high school. I work in a SELPA classroom and have about 12 students on my caseload. I support my students in most every subject and I am their primary teacher for mathematics.

I have taught the Geometry unit on right triangles to some of them, but for the unit plan from week two, I totally revamped the entire process. I practiced the pre-assessment from Day 1 with five of my students. Two of them had already taken geometry, two of them are currently in a geometry class, and one of them has not yet taken geometry and is in an algebra 1 class. After doing the pre-assessment practice with my students, I continued to the Day 1 lesson.

The lesson had to be adapted in major ways for students who are either blind or have low vision. I have taught students who are visually impaired for five years now, so that part was not difficult and the student are all academic students with visual impairment being their only disability. This lesson just took some extra preparation to teach it to my students. I have some tactile examples of acute, obtuse and right triangles that I was able to use to get some points across. So the reflection from this lesson will be as accurate as possible.

We followed my Day 1 lesson plan all the way through. All of the students were already familiar with the idea of the Pythagorean Theorem, but a few of them did not know that it can also be used to classify triangles as acute, obtuse, or right. We went through the interactive lecture and I informally assessed each of the students' understanding with direct and strategic questions. We worked together through some guided practice problems as well. The student centered activity is a group activity, so the five students did it together. I had adapted the application problem to included a tactile representation of a volleyball net. The students who had been exposed to this type lesson before knew exactly what to do and lead the group, sometimes to a point of dominating the students who may not have quite understood the concept of making sure the triangles had right angles. 

Since the students were helping me out with this field test, I reduced the number of practice problems for homework to only 10. They really liked the idea that they only had to correctly answer 7 to get "full credit." (I may start this idea right away in my regular classes.) All of the students actually received full credit. A couple students were confident and only completed 7 problems. The rest completed all the problems and got at least 7 correct. 

REFLECTION
I was very comfortable teaching this lesson. I have taught this content before, but not in this particular way. Fortunately, I already have a rapport with these students. They have been with me for as long as they have been in high school, so it went pretty smoothly. Some things that went well:
- using a video clip as a motivator
- adapting the lesson for special needs students
- making sure to include a real life application
- the new style of homework. assigning more problems that necessary for full credit. Students loved this.

What may need to be re-evaluated:
- the group activity was dominated by two students. The other three did not get to participate very much. In observing and conducting an informal observation, it was impossible to tell if these students were really comprehending how to apply the lesson to a real life situation. In the future, I would consider letting the students work out the problem on their own for a couple minutes and then entering into groups to discuss and compare their solutions.

Field Experience - Pre-Assessment Practice

I am currently a teacher of the visually impaired at a public high school. I work in a SELPA classroom and have about 12 students on my caseload. I support my students in most every subject and I am their primary teacher for mathematics.

I have taught the Geometry unit on right triangles to some of them, but for the unit plan from week two, I totally revamped the entire process. I practiced the pre-assessment from Day 1 with five of my students. Two of them had already taken geometry, two of them are currently in a geometry class, and one of them has not yet taken geometry and is in an algebra 1 class.

Since my students are blind, I had to prep them for the Wizard of Oz clip that I planned to start the unit with. The clip is mostly verbal, so not much was lost on them. The part where the scarecrow "gets his brain" and states the Pythagorean Theorem was clear. Students seemed engaged by the movie clip.

I presented the students with two basic Pythagorean Theorem problems. Three of the students are blind and two have low vision, so I had Braille graphics and large print versions of the problems. The students were not able to complete the problems on 3x5 cards, so I have them complete the problems as normal. I also listed the Pythagorean Theorem formula above the two problems for the ones that had never been exposed to it before.

I collected the answers and was prepared to talk about me "Favorite No's" with the group. The problem was that only one student got an incorrect answer. As a group, we talked about that problem and the mistake that was made. The student made the same mistake with both problems. The formula is leg^2+leg^2=hypotenuse^2. In each instance, the student mixed up a leg with a hypotenuse and got the wrong answer. The other students quickly noticed this and talked about the correction.

I also talked with all the students about always making what I call a "does that make sense" check. When you have a number answer, it should "make sense" when compared to the numbers you started with. In both instances, the incorrect answer was a large amount off of the other two numbers. This would be a signal that something in the calculation was incorrect.

There is not necessarily a rubric for this pre-assessment. It is an informal assessment that can identify specific students that need help with a certain topic. It can also gauge the overall understanding of the class as a whole. The teacher must be able to think quickly on his or her feet to find an incorrect answer that can be talked about that will benefit the entire class and not make a certain student feel inadequate or dumb. The answers are not only informal assessment. The teacher should use the class discussion to assess the class's understanding as well.

The pre-assessment did it's job, but there were some problems in this field test. First, since the group was small, it was obvious in the discussion who had contributed the one incorrect answer. Fortunately this was a group of good friends, so there was no discomfort or embarrassment. In another setting, if it was obvious who made the incorrect answer, it may be disheartening to the student who contributed it. There are two caveats to this problem. In a regular class size of 30 or more, it would not be obvious and there would likely be more incorrect answers to choose from. Also, over the course of a year in a class, the teacher can create an atmosphere in which the students know that an incorrect answer is perfectly okay. They should not be discouraged, but eager to learn. If the teacher fosters this atmosphere, the students won't worry about it.

It was good to see that 4 out of 5 of the students already had a grasp of how to solve a pythagorean theorem problem. The assessment could have been more difficult, but it was meant to be a basic review so that more difficult problems and real life application could be presented in the actual lesson.

Overall, I wouldn't change much about this assessment. I think the problems are things that would be solved by being in a classroom atmosphere all year and by being in a larger setting. It will take practice to use this "Favorite No's" activity well, but I think it is well worth it.

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Nate Slaymaker. I am currently a teacher of the visually impaired. I am trying to earn my single subject credential in the area of mathematics. I want to make a difference int he lives of students and I have chosen the education field as the path to do just that.

My personality type is INFJ. I like helping people. I have an analytical type of brain which seems to fit with teaching math. But math is not really a passion of mine. My passion is actually teaching students. I enjoy math, but I really look forward to using the teaching platform to teach into students lives.

I already know that I connect well with students. I know that many students have an aversion toward math. I hope that the trust that I will build with students will help them to see the uses of math, its importance, and motivate them to become lifelong learners.

I fell within the balanced range of both active/reflective and sensing/intuitive teaching and learning styles. I learn toward visual and sequential learning and teacher. It will be important for me to not only cater to my own preferences in learning, but to remember that I have a diverse population to teach.

Book Review: The Flipped Classroom: Introduction to Technology and Teaching Techniques

The flipped classroom is a relatively new teaching technique that utilizes technology to turn the traditional classroom size upside down. In the traditional classroom, the teacher spends most of his or her time lecturing and giving instruction for new content. In a flipped classroom, the students use technology to receive this instruction at home. This method frees up the teacher for more guided practice, individualized assistance, and student-led learning in the classroom.

There are many resources available on this relatively new teaching method. This particular book is readily available in a Kindle edition and is written by teachers who have successfully implemented the flipped classroom with their own students. The authors propose the flipped classroom so that students can receive in formation at home and apply it in the classroom under the supervision of the teacher.

While other books focus on the application in the classroom of a flipped classroom, this book is mostly filled with ideas of how to create the best presentation of the materials for the students to access on their own. It discusses a variety of presentation methods: blogs, videos, and screencasting. While these are all valid methods, it seems like doing them all separately is to much work when websites such as sophia.com are readily available and have done much of the work for you.

The book also has a small section of assessing students' learning in the classroom. This assessment is vital, since the students do much of the learning independently, but idea should be viewed more as an application of the learning rather than a test/assessment.

Overall the book is a good introduction to the idea of a flipped classroom, but in order to become efficient in this teaching method, other resources would need to be studied.

PBL Geometry Assignment: A House of the Future

This project will address numerous Common Core Standards in geometry and will have crossover value in other content areas as well. It has been adapted from ideas on Curriki, Pintrest, and other Google searches.

The challenge in this project is for students to examine four trends— population growth, urbanization, energy efficiency, and changing tastes in design—that will affect the kind of houses that people live in by 2065. Students will create a floor plan and basic model of a house of the future that reflects these four shifts, and then deliver their design and give evidence of their thinking in the form of a 10 minute presentation about why their house will be necessary and useful in the future. The format for the talk can vary, but it is suggested that the presentation follow the guidelines for a TED-like talk in which presenters give short presentations that focus on the future and innovation. Their model houses must accommodate a family of four. It can be a stand-alone dwelling, be part of a cluster, and use any shapes. Room for a vehicle or outdoor space is optional. The project is designed to encouraged creativity and imagination.

Students will create a floor plan, a basic model sketch, and a 10 minute presentation as their final products. The floor plan and model should convey key geometric concepts and show how geometry was used to construct the floor plan and model. The students will work in teams of three to four to create presentations that should include three elements:
1. The model
2. An explanation and defense of design choices
3. An overview of why the design would help solve housing problems in the future.

The blueprint and model will be the main criteria for the Geometry aspect of the project. Students must create a "to scale" model that will use congruent shapes, reflections, and other transformations . The blueprint and model measurements must be accurate to a house design that would be feasible and mathematically correct. Students will also be graded on their innovation and presentation to the parents and peers.

Students will be motivated by the challenge of innovating designs that will be necessary some 50 years in the future. While this is an exciting challenge, careful attention must be made to the mathematical processes in house design that correlate with the geometry skills that have been taught this semester.

Ideally, the presentation will be given using some form of technology such as Prezi, PowerPoint, Key Note, etc., or something even more innovative as approved by the teacher.

Students can search TED talks for ideas on architecture of the future for inspiration. The parameters are endless, but just as in the real world, there is a time deadline. Students should dream and innovate, but not so much that the project cannot be completed on time.

Confidence in teaching Digital Literacy

What will you have to do to become confident of your 21st Century Skills as a learner and as a teacher in Digital Literacy?

The key to being confident as a teacher is to be confident in the content area yourself. As I became familiar with the websites and took the self-assessment, I am happy to say that I consider myself very literate in the digital world. I know how to manipulate most any Windows, IOS, or Microsoft Office programs and am confident in my internet abilities as well. In my college years, I use to design and manage a website for a small retail bookstore chain. I can read and write basic html. I use Google docs, sheets, etc. in my classroom as well as online game and review sites. I also have recently learn to use a smart board in the classroom. All that being said, I have much to learn!

In the area of technology, there are always new things to learn. Teaching technology is different than understanding it. As Doug Belshaw describes in his TED Talk, pre-literacy concepts with books (like right side up, and opening across form the spine) carry over into digital literacy. As students are thrown into the digital world now at such a young age, we as teachers much given them pre-literacy concepts in this area as well.  Teachers must always be keeping up to date with new ideas and technology being used in education. I have seen one presentation on using a program similar to Skype in order to have a sister class around the world. I know that some classrooms require a lot more assignments done with technology than I do. Fortunately, the administration at my school is very gracious and excited when teachers want to attend staff development conferences in the area of using technology in the classroom. I plan to take classes or attend staff development in this area at least once per year.