The world of teaching has found me doing my different things in my spare time. Here are just a few…

• Taking Graduate Courses as I attempt to build up toward my MA+ levels on the pay scale
• Taking and helping with a training on SMART Notebook software, SMART Boards, SMART Senteos, and Tablet PC
• Rearranging my office at my place. I am looking for a cheap solution for an L-shaped desk which fits in the corner of the room.
• Serving on a committee, which is going to integrate a 1-1 tablet solution for several classes at our high school? It seems that we are the only school within about 50 miles in all directions that is even attempting a 1-1 solution.

Now to the fun world of venting through the world of Web 2.0

Computer Science Discussion

1-1 Tablet Solution in AP Computer Science A

I am sure that I am not the first person on the planet to teach AP Computer Science using a 1-1 tablet classroom set. Each of my students is going to have their own tablet for classroom use. I am very excited that I will have the ability to collaborate with the students and supply them notes while dynamically editing and creating programs. I can barely contain my own excitement for the next school year. In the past, I have had a classroom of 5 students in my first year and 3 students in my second year. This next year, I have 9 students signed up for AP Computer Science. It is really a sign of the times and I hope that something exciting like this helps enrollment in the future. Eventually, the plan is that in 5 to 7 years that every student in the high school will have a tablet. Talk about a wireless nightmare!!!

There is NO DISCUSSION AT ALL concerning tablet PC use compared to SmartBoard use. Technology conferences are dominated by the use of the SmartBoard technology; therefore, it makes it awful difficult to find great information on tablet PCs in the classroom when everyone is obsessed with SmartBoards. The ap-compsci listserv barely ever makes any sort of mention about these technologies. The ap-calculus listserv is finally churning out some conversations about a Tablet PC; however, there is very little information at all which details a total 1-1 tablet PC classroom.

General Comments about 1-1 Tablet Solution

We are only allowing students enrolled in three specific AP courses to have the 1-1 tablets during the day. The committee decided that we want to be successful this first time through in hopes that all the bugs will be settled by year two as the “better and smarter” students utilize the technology. Many details will have to be worked out as the school year begins. We are requiring that parents and students attend an initial organizational meeting and a training sessions (students will have about 3 hours total in training). I am very eager, to say the least.

Mathematics Discussion

Honors Algebra II Blog

My implementation of the Honors Algebra II blog was a complete success. My students enjoyed the blogging and student focus process a great deal. There are a few changes that I will make; however, I wanted to share with all of you, my students’ comments about the process. These are snippets from their comments.

Question:

Provide some constructive criticism to our scribe process. Is there anything that needs to change? What did you like? What did you not like? How difficult/easy was it to post using Wordpress?

Responses:

“Wordpress was fine, although there were browser related issues….Only needing to go on this site once every 45 days or so didn’t help build enthusiam for the site. “

“ wish i had this for some of my other classes…text box starts so small but you can change it so its not a big deal. I thought posting was easy”

“As long as I can remember how to log in, make a new post, comment, etc., using Wordpress is relatively easy. Correctly categorizing posts would also make it easier for the reader to benefit from the information. Also, starting sooner next year would give everybody the opportunity to post multiple times…It is a handy reference.”

“Doing the posts was a really good idea….if you were absent the day before, or just needed a little refresher of the notes, they were right there handy at your computer. Number three, and probably the best reason, NO HOMEWORK :] If you were the scribe for the day you didnt have to worry about doing your homework, you just had to go home and get on the computer which 90% of us do everyday anyway”

“The only problem with the posts is when you are the scribe, it takes almost triple the time it would take to do the normal homework.”

“It is fun to create the post. Some of the difficulties were at first it was confusing to learn how to upload pictures and graphs, but now I understand it”

“My first scribe post had a lot of graphs on it and it was easy to make them on fooplot.com”

“I think this is a good idea and wished we would have started it earlier in the year.”

“I think that the scribe posts are a good idea, and they’re alot easier than the homework sometimes.”

I was happy to see that most put time into their responses.

For those of you who are interested, here are the twelve teams that are participating in edublogger fantasy baseball this year (in alphabetical order by manager):

• A Few Good Men, Jon Becker, Educational Insanity
• Wiki Warriors, Eric Bouvier, Auburn High School’s Breaking Ranks Initiative
• Motor City Kitties, Jim Dornberg, EdTech Update
• Frequent Fliers, Scott Elias, Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?
• Mr. Higgins’ Blog, Chris Higgins, Mr. Higgins’ Blog
• Lehmann’s Demons, Chris Lehmann, Practical Theory
• TradedForABagOfBalls, Scott McLeod, Dangerously Irrelevant
• Multi-Colored-Sox, Ted Sakshaug, Nonsense
• Bad Century, Mark Schuldt, What’s Going On at Gunn!
• Harold’s Red Sox, Harold Shaw, HShawJr – My Thoughts
• Great Hambinos, Brian Smith, Streaming Thoughts
• Hartwick Huskies, Matthew Tabor, MatthewKTabor.com

My sincerest apologies to those of you who also expressed interest but e-mailed me after these folks. We didn’t have enough to make a second league or I would have done so. Let’s try for two leagues next year!

Good luck, everyone (and Go Twins!).

This year, I have made a concerted effort to use more videos in my Algebra II and Pre-Calculus classes; however, the best source of videos is blocked at  school.  I have had to download the videos from YouTube using ZamZar.com.  ZamZar is a great service for anyone who is interested in downloading YouTube videos in various formats (I normally choose MPEG).  Here are just a couple of the videos I have used in the classroom…

Whenever the situation of division by zero comes up in a problem during class, I have a saying that I use to help the students remember how "bad" it is to divide by zero.  I say "YOUR HOUSE FALLS IN."  You should realize why I thought this video was AWESOME the first time I came across it.

During the course of the day on Friday, March 14th, 2008, I showed the next video several times during the day.  My Pre-Calculus class and Honors Algebra II class had an appreciation for the video; however, my Algebra II regular classes just kind of gave me dirty looks.  (Not really dirty looks, but all teachers know the looks students give when you do something DIFFERENT and they don’t think it is the COOLEST THING EVER)

The last video I will share is from Abbott and Costello.  It is a very entertaining look at how you could tweak mathematics and convince anyone if you know the right tricks; however, the students of course realize it is a comedy bit.

I hope you enjoy the videos, I know you students did (at these those who care and are engaged)

During this entire school year, I have been adjusting to the fact that I am now being treated as a mathematics teacher, and not a computer teacher.  I have a great comfort with computer courses; however, I have a real passion for mathematics.  Due to my Web 2.0 prowess, I had to find a way to get at least one of my math courses into the action.

So, I created the Honors Algebra II blog.  There are many great topics and posts that are on tap.  Currently the following system to get the students involved in mathematics on the web (Thanks a bunch Darren K).

1. Each night, someone in the class (we call the SCRIBE) is assigned to post notes on the web through the Wordpress interface and their login. 

Here is the full description of what I expect in a post.

Content - 10 Points

The scribe post should contain enough information for other students to understand the concepts and skills. A complete scribe post contains examples used in class. This helps students that were out of class. You should look at the scribe post as a contribution to a class textbook. A grade in this section will be determined by evaluating the mathematics and language used to explain the instructional message.

Creativity & Imagination - 5 Points

Each scribe post is concentrated around the concepts or skills learned in the classroom. However, the use of creativity and imagination is integral to an inspiring scribe post. As part of the internet generation, you understand that text is simply not enough when graphics, videos, and other internet content exist.

Use of Tools for Scribe Post - 5 Points

The appropriate use of tools is important to the overal quality of the scribe post. Make you use tools which match the concepts learned in class. For example, a classroom session on the shifting of graphs will results in a scribe post which uses fooplot.com to create graphs OR scans in images of the different graphs used.

2. The SCRIBE names the next SCRIBE in their post at the bottom of the post.  We have a Scribe List that keeps track of which students have posted during the current cycle.  It really is a great way of progressing through material and getting the students involving in making content.

Here is an example of only a small portion of a student post:

8.3 The Number e

Remember that pi is not just a number, it is a representation.

The Number e

e=2.718281828459…

-e is irrational (never terminates)
-e is created by the following sequence:

3. Every once in a while, which I have not exactly defined, we are going to have something I call a Student Focus.  It is basically the students blogging about blogging or completing a small project or activities via our Web 2.0 portal.

Here is my description to the students:

A student focus, which will be required at least twice during a nine weeks, is a small project that you are to complete through the class blog. These small projects have not been determined at this point. Each project will be math based and most likely will consist of some internet searching.

4. I have setup a Scribe Hall of Fame where posts which separate themselves from the others will be inducted.  If a post lands in the Scribe Hall of Fame, it will include a symbol allowing all visitors of our website to know.

Here is symbol for the Scribe Hall of Fame:

We are in the 2nd week of this experiment currently and I feel so much more motivated in class to show the students some "cool" math stuff that they can share with all on the blog!

After student teaching/graduation from University of Toledo, I began my masters through Boise State University.  I could not have asked for a better experience, especially when it came to my opportunities to learn and get my hands dirty through my official degree title of “Master of Science in Education, emphasis in Educational Technology”.  I highly recommend this program to anyone interested in a masters degree in the area of educational technology.  The professors were always willing to answer questions and seemed to be very knowledgeable, especially my faculty advisor.  Some people seem to have ONE problem with the fact that I went to a highly thought of university where thousands of people earn degrees and move on to fame and fortune (maybe not all have fame).  I accomplished this degree completely ONLINE.

• Why do I receive dirty looks when asked if I have my masters?
• Why do people instantly chuckle when I state that it is from Boise State University.  So what if it is 1,974 miles away and would take 1+ days if I didn’t stop the car?  This is the new global society.
• Why do I have to explain how I accomplished this to every single person?
• Why does everyone think that an ONLINE degree has lost credibility?  I just don’t get it at all.  Obviously, I have had this boiling over a little bit.

Here are some highlights of my experience…

• I received instruction in the topics of Internet, Technology in the Classroom, Quicktime, Instructional Message Design, Evaluation, duties of a Technology Coordinator, Computer Networks, and many other Web 2.0 topics.
• They allowed me to supplement my education with a practicum and transfer credit, which I appreciated A GREAT DEAL.  It seems like many institutions discourage the practice.  I attended the K12 Online Conference 2006 and transferred the credit back to Boise State University.  The practicum was a combination of my instruction at a technology camp for 5th to 8th graders, attendance at a summer institute for computer science, and a full detailed yearly plan for my AP Computer Science A course.  They are time zones away; however, they still allowed my local activities to count for some graduate credit.
• I did not have to go at the pace of my cohort.  It is popular around Ohio to join a cohort and take 2+ years to finish the graduate degree.  I finished my graduate degree in 4 consecutive semesters, all of which were during my first year of teaching.  Obviously I was able to COMPLETELY load up my Summers.
• Believe me, I felt the pressure of assignments and presentations.  In my opinion, it is much more time consuming preparing a presentation online.  You have to adjust the microphone settings, video settings, and then after you have submitted the presentation, make sure it runs smoothly via internet delivery.

This is not a salespitch, this is an explanation and some questions for those out there that give me the dirty/weird looks.  I know there are a great deal of people who believe online education is a complete loss of educational opportunities.  I am one who does not believe in an online HIGH SCHOOL education.  Does this make me a hypocrite, not at all.  I can only imagine how convenient an ONLINE degree would be for people with full families and jobs which put food on the table for all household members.  Feel free to comment on my ramblings (or BLAST me if you think I am a complete fake because my diploma comes via an online education).

GO BRONCOS!!!

Like many fellow AP Computer Science teachers, I like to hammer on concepts and then allow the students to program.  Often, after learning a new concept,  we work through an example as a class.  For example, after learning about arrays, we go through an example of counting the total for each letter in the alphabet.  After that, I like to assign programs which encompass multiple concepts.  Here are the backbone programs I use throughout the course of a year…

ASCII Convert - This program really allows the students to grasp the idea of characters vs String.  I have the students take the number 8 - 256 and print out the integer, double, base 2, base 16, and ASCII character.  It creates an easy to read conversion table.

Base Number Conversion - This program only a user to convert between any two bases.  Some prefer to wait until the students learn about Stacks; however, we go through with loops and conditionals to makes the proper conversions.  Converting 562 Base 7 to Base 16, we would go to base 10 and then use division and the remainder to find the final conversion.

UPC Code - This is explained in a previous blog entry.

Roshambo - This is Rock, Paper, & Scissors.  I love that fact that this is an easy way to utilize random numbers, conditionals, and a while loop.  The students feel this program is “easy”; therefore, I make use of the simplicity of this program to describe larger programs.  If the students understand that programming is basically like building blocks, then they are more likely to succeed.

Tic Tac Toe - I use this program throughout the year; however, not like you would think.  I often say “If you can’t program this, then you can’t handle Tic Tac Toe.”  I use this program to pressure the students, motivate the students, and assign it around Christmas time.  This year, it was the Christmas Break project.  Many teachers out there use this as a major project, but it really does show if the students understand program flow.  I remember, when taking AP Computer Science A via C++, I was really confused until I figured out how to keep the game running.  This was my lightbulb moment and allowed me to be successful from that point.

Gorilla - This is much like the original QBasic game which was called Gorilla. The object is to throw an object that hits a target. Specific details…

1. The target is 2 m wide on a 500m course. The students produce a random number from 2 to 499 which encompasses the entire course.

2. The gorilla throws the object with a user specified velocity and angle. So adjusting the angle and velocity changes how far the object will travel.

3. The distance the object travels is given by…

4. The program continues to tell the user how far away from the target they are until the target has been hit.

This program uses many code practices including user input, while loops, for loops, if-else structures, and math.

Here is a link to my full description.

Galton Board - A Galton Board is much like the famous Price is Right game titled Plinko. You drop a ball at the very top and watch it until it lands in a specific location (I will call them containers). A great animation can be seen here. Depending on the number rows in the Galton Board, the number of containers is always rows + 1 because there is always the outside of the beginning and end post that create the need for an extra container.

Here is a link to my full description.

Deal or No Deal - I have a copy of an episode where the contestant goes through the entire board.  The students get to see the full set of rules and possibilities.  This is a fun program for the students.  Once again, program control flow is a HUGE DEAL.

Audioactive Sequence - Have the students create a program which continues this pattern…

1
11
21
1211
111221
…

Sigma Value of a Number - The Sigma Value of a number is the digit sum of the number.  There are many patterns that occur during the process of going through many different well known sequences.  For example, the Sigma Value of 1927362 is 3.  Because 1+9+2+7+3+6+2 = 30 = 3 + 0 = 3.

According to Matthew Brenner, it is an IDEA. I could not agree anymore. My students were just assigned a TicTacToe program over the Christmas Break. As soon as I introduced all of the requirements, there was a period of silence where no one knew where to start. It helped when I explained that we have an idea, but now have to implement the code. Brenner has created a presentation to describe software, program, objects, classes, methods, variables, etc… I found it very entertaining. There were a couple situations that could be argued as incorrect; however, it is a great representation of these IDEAS.

Link to Presentation: http://compsci.exeter.edu/mbrenner/classes/secret_life.html