Rockstar Math Teacher

Rockstar Math Teacher is always posting about different apps that she is using.  She just posted about a new app that she began using, CueThink.  Students are able to approach problems systematically, engage in productive math discussions, and provide and receive intelligent feedback using this app.  She has only posted one post on the app so I will have to keep following to learn more.  She also posted a link to her blog where she provides all the resources she uses.  She posts links to classroom resources, Socrative team tasks, Classflow Self-Paced lessons, Socrative Self-Paced Lesssons, and Showbie paperless tasks, assessments, and guided practice.  I really enjoyed looking at her different resources and found them all very helpful.  She posts so many different things involving technology and I really enjoy learning about the technology she is using.

Looking at Equations Differently

Dylan Kane posted a blog about having students think differently when solving equations.  Solving equations is taught in a very procedural way.  Students are only taught how to solve equations one way and this limits a student's understanding.  Students should be able to solve equations using inverse operations and looking at a problem thinking, "what value (or values) makes this true?"  This is an important question for students to think.  Dylan also gives examples of problems he would have students solve for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade.  I really enjoyed this concept.  We normally only teach students procedures and how to solve the problem to get the correct answer.  We no longer teach students to think.  We spoon feed students formulas and never have them ask questions.  Students do not ask "why?" anymore. Students should question what they are being taught and should be made to think in different ways.  Students should not be taught just one way.

Dylan Kane Blog

I really like Dylan Kane's way of giving students problems that are not always review problems or practice problems of the material they learned in class.  He gives students worksheets that do not always involve material they had just learned.  He gave his students POPS assignments.  They are assignments based around Pattern, Order of Operations, and Problem Solving.  He used to try to give them for homework, but found that it just wasn't really working out the way he wanted them to so he stopped.  The other day he kind of ran out of things to do so gave his students one the POPS assignments.  He found that the students who were struggling the previous day with the difficult material enjoyed doing something that was a break from the difficult content and were happy to have something they could complete fairly easily.  He also found the students who normally rush through problems had to stop and think about the patterns.  The students had to discuss the different problems.  He really like the positive class reaction to the POPS assignment and will try to use one every week.  I think this is a great way to give students a break from difficult content and have them think in a different way.  Students should be made to think differently than they normally do and assignments that complete this objective are wonderful.

Rockstar MathTeacher Twitter

Rockstar MathTeacher posts a lot on Twitter.  She posts multiple pictures of the activities she has the students working on.  She had the students working on a Socrative team task where the students were using white boards. She also posts multiple pictures of the paperless tasks she uses.  I really liked her one post of one of her students' "ticket out the door."  It was a reflection on how they did in class that day.  The student wrote that they were proud of themselves and will be working even harder tomorrow.  I think it is a great idea to have the students reflect on how they did during class.  It really gets the students thinking.  I also liked how she actually had them write a reflection instead of just rating how they thought they did using a number scale.  When a student had to write out a few sentences, they actually have to think about how they thought they really did.  I also really liked another post of hers.  She said her students needed a mindset boost so she gave them a writing prompt.  She had the students finish the sentence, "I can persevere through struggle when learning is not easy by…"  She gave the students a sticky note and they wrote their answers and then she posted them all on the board.  I thought that this was such a great idea.  Sometimes students need a little boost halfway through the marking period, or towards the end and this is a great way to take a quick break from math and have them reflect and think.

Dan Meyer's Blog

I began following Dan Meyer's blog.  He has so many different posts.  He will post on a certain topic or describing an activity he did during class and then someone will answer with another activity they did during class that was similar to his.  There are so many ideas on his blog about so many different topics.  He posted about an activity that he did with expressions and equations.  It is a very interesting and engaging activity and I think all students would be interested and surprised by it.  Another teacher responded to his post with another activity for expressions and equations that was just as interesting and engaging.  I really find all the different activities that other teachers use very interesting and I will be keeping them all in mind for my own use in the future.  Another thing I like about Dan Meyer's blog is how he does not just blog about activities he does with his students; he also blogs about things teachers are experiencing.  Every blog I have read has referenced Dan Meyer in some way and he seems to be a very influential person in the math education community.  I will definitely continue to follow his blog.

twitter follower

I began following Dylan Kane and he tweeted a link to a description of a new way he was giving homework. He began giving his students a worksheet with 10-15 problems on it.  The problems are completely mixed practice and mostly involves lower skilled problems.  He wants the students to be able to practice all math and not just the stuff they learned that day or are learning in that unit.  I really like this way of giving homework.  When homework is made simple for students, there is normally a better chance that they will complete it.  It is also very important for students to practice math that they have learned and not just the math that they are currently learning.  Another thing I like about it is that students can still complete the homework if they missed class and have no excuse to not do it.  He says that the new way of giving homework has been really successful.  He finds it most important that students are at least completing the homework and this is happening. I really enjoy his twitter because of the links he posts. I finally found a twitter person I really like!

Rockstar Math Teacher Blog

I really like how this teacher uses guided notes.  Not only does she use guided notes, she also color codes them.  The students find this really helpful.  She also uses color coded wall charts.  She color codes the wall charts to match the students' notes.  She also uses paperless tasks using Showbie and these normally take multiple days to complete.  She can look at her students' work every night and give them feedback so that they are not doing it wrong the entire time.  It is a great way to check for understanding.
She also has pictures posted of her classroom and I really like the layout of her classroom.  The desks are set up into partners and they're all tilted so that the desks all are facing towards each other.The class is very bright and I could see how it would make students excited.  This teacher is very exciting and I really enjoy her blog.
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