One of the tricks with displays such as these is to make sure they don’t become ‘invisible’ so every now and then have the kids revisit them.
cheers
Adrian
About once a term I like to have a day where we change names to the answers to an algorithm. It is a fun way to focus on ‘See It, Say It’. If this sounds like something you’d like to try check out my tips and tricks for the activity over at my Math Website.
cheers
Adrian
I teach children so I figure my laptop should reflect this fact!
How do you acknowledge ‘kid culture’?
Adrian
Here is my second Roman Numerals poster. This one is going on the fridge for Mr 9 to glance at while he is looking for food 
Tonight I’ve added a roman numerals poster to my Math website as my son currently wants to explore them.
I’ve also added a few activities that point out the real world applications of roman numerals.
cheers
Adrian
A new subtraction game is now ready for downloading over on my website. This game focuses on the subtraction doubles ie 7 + 7 = 14 so 14 - 7 = 7. The awareness and mastery of these facts make for more effiecent mental computations.
The students have a great deal of fun playing this game but it is very important to discuss the strategies involved with being successful in this game.
I also discuss how instant recall of number facts leads to efficient mental computations. Try getting the kids to do the full algorithm with a calculator while you or a group of kids arrive at answers mentally. The kids like seeing that the human mind is quicker than the calculator.
I also tend to demonstrate how counting backwards on fingers is a effective strategy for arriving at an answer but that it is not efficient.
Have fun with Subtraction Doubles.
Adrian
Anyway, my response to the very real fears in some students is to start with a bit of humour. I always bet them $100 that the world won’t end. It is nice to see them mull it over for a while & smile. Funny thing is they never take me up on the bet Once the ice is broken we can get on with the serious business of exciting students about Science and enhancing their ‘crap detectors’ (as our Robin Williams advocates). The media will always go with sensationalism over fact so it our role to help kids dig through the crap.
So let’s light this candle and get the bets happening about another ‘End of Days’! hehehehe
Look I know it sounds a little trite, but you’ll hear it bandied about all over the place… ‘It is our job to teach our students to use software that hasn’t been invented yet’. So how do we do it?
I like the idea of ‘transfer learning’ and ‘problem solving’. I often demonstrate a process in one piece of software and then set the task in another. This way the students have to solve problems based on previous knowledge, guessing & checking and by transfering skills from one interface to another. The easiest way to do this is to demonstrate a task in Word and then set the assignment to be completed in Open Office or Google docs.
When cleaning up some old disks today I found a tutorial for using Excel for creating a graph.
I wonder how you might use this to encourage ‘transfer learning’?
Adrian
With so many math websites out there I like to get the students involved in reviewing & discussing the metacognition behind them. I also like the idea of having students expose me to lots of websites so I can see how they intereract with them and make judgements on the site’s educational worth. Some would say that this is, ‘working smarter not harder’.
Tonight I’ve refined my math website review task. I’ve put together a collection of questions that I get children to reflect on. They then present the website to the class with a demonstration of the site’s features & their opinions. I’ve also added a few Math site collections that should give you a bit of scope when selecting sites to review.
I’ve made the review proforma available as a Word document so you can download it easily and have the kids can type directly into it. Should save everyone a bit of time.
Bring on the Website Review Activity
Cheers
Adrian
A huge thanks to Sharon in Scotland for suggesting stripcreator.com to go with the others free online comic strip generators listed on my site. It certainly has a lot more options than some of my older tools.
As an introductory activity to comic strip creation I have the kids bring in the ‘lamest’ joke they can find. They then have to create a comic strip out of it. It is an excellent way to discuss pun. For the ‘the usual suspects’ that don’t bring you a joke, Yahooligans has a really good lame joke section that they can peruse.
Here are a couple of ideas from my webpage for using sites like these:
- Use the websites provided to produce a short comic strip about something you are passionate about.
- Using the websites above create a comic strip of a joke that will make an adult laugh. NB you will need to use a clever play on words rather than something that will make a child laugh.
- In a group of 4 convert a fable into a comic strip. Hints - You will need to sub-task a lot and be very clear on the design decisions you all make.
