Moving in the right direction

I was able to spend most of the institute and school improvement day with teachers and it was an excellent opportunity to spend some quality time elaborating on some of the things that I have been excited about implementing in the classroom. It is important to have some time to get excited and be able to play with new technology. Without the excitement of how fun and engaging technology can be, then we won't have the desire to want to bring it into our classrooms. It is much easier to find solutions to problems when we want to find the answer. I know that sounds simple, but it is true. It is easy to see technology as a pain when you don't want to use it in the first place. We are at a unique point in time with education. The way students are learning is changing. We need to adapt. So let's start adapting.

I know that the last two weeks have been pretty slow with updates here, but that is going to change. I'm attending the ICE (Illinois Computing Educators) Conference tomorrow and I will have plenty of great resources to share with you, so check back for updates.

Let's build some vocabulary

Knoword is a very addicting, fun game that is easy to play.  The concept is simple: you start with 60 seconds and are given the first letter of a word and its definition.  Once you type in the correct word, you will be given the next one and 5 seconds will be added from your time while you are awarded 20 points.  If you don't know the word, then you can skip to the next one, but you are penalized 10 points.  If you have a minute, try to play a quick game, and I bet you play more than one to see how high of a score you can get (so far, my highest score is 655 normal difficulty...top that).  At the top right-hand corner, you can select if you want to play on normal or hard.  Also, the default setting is Canadian English, which you will notice has a slightly differently spelling on a few words.  You can change it to American English by just clicking on the top right hand dropdown menu and switching it.  You could easily get a leaderboard going for your classroom.  When students have downtime - challenge them to see if they can get a high score.

A little more sports to go with your science

Last week I recommended the Science of the NFL videos that were created by NBC Learn.  These are a great way to illustrate a concept that you are learning about in science or math, and it is very engaging for your students.  With the same thought, ESPN has created Sport Science videos that correlate math and science with different sports.  They are very well done, and give great visuals to prove the validity of the concept.  This could even be something that science and math teachers team up with physical education teachers to experiment with and try first-hand.  Below is a sample video that shows the different angles a third baseman needs to take in order to stop the ball. (note: you will need to watch a short commercial before the video starts)

Math starter problems

Maths Starter of the Day is a website that provides a daily warm-up math problem that can easily be displayed on the SmartBoard.  The problems vary with their format, but are very good at challenging students to think critically and logically.  It is a great way to get discussion among students in your class, and truly promotes the problem solving approach that many of our math students have difficulty with.  It also gives students a chance to be creative and understand that there are different ways to come to the same solution.  Working as a team, and testing out different classmates' ideas to come to a solution, is a great way to promote collaboration and fun in the classroom.  Check it out.  Here is an example of one problem:

 place the numbers in the appropriate boxes so that the vertical and horizontal lines add up to the same number