Desmos - Interactive and Engaging Math Tool

 There has been a lot of discussion around the Desmos app this week at my school. Many of the math teachers have been using it for a long time, but, as with many apps, our tech team is unaware so we have to go through the process of having it vetted for regular use. There are so many tools available to educators, but because Desmos is free, interactive, and engaging, a lot of the math teachers I know use it in their classrooms.

Even if you haven't used Desmos activities, you have probably guided students to use their graphing calculator. It's easy to use and creates simple graphs which I've used to build assessment questions for my classes. Last year the Colorado state assessments starting using Desmos as their built-in calculator for testing, and the school encouraged us to expose students to it before testing season.

Desmos activities are a whole other ball of wax. They usually come with some visuals for the teacher to explore and assess before deciding if it's right for their classroom. Topics are arranged by grade-level and at high school level they are arranged by course name (i.e. Algebra 1 or Calculus). Their search bar also makes it easy to browse for a topic and check out various leveled activities. With a teacher guide and a student guide for the activity students can work independently to explore the topic you've chosen on reflect on their learning.

In a school that is spread across the state, where the majority students are virtual, Desmos is a great tool to ensure students have time to explore, create, and reflect on math topics that build foundations for future learning. Would recommend!

New Year New Goals

 It's the start of the 2024-2025 school year and our school has some new goals. It's not to say that we scrapped the old ones, just revamped how we are attacking them - taking a new direction. This year there is more of a focus on integrating all of the methodologies we've been using instead of taking each one as its own entity.

AI generated me

As a school we have been focusing on SIOP - Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol - as a way to support students who are learning English. This method has 8 strategies that are broken down into steps, and as a seasoned teacher the steps are familiar and SIOP gives them a way for me to organize them and be intentional about using them.

Around the same time we started using SIOP the school became involved with Capturing Kid's Hearts (CKH) as a way to build relationships with each other as well as students. CKH started their trainings with us but quickly realized we are not the typical in-person or asynchronous environment and they have done an amazing job tweaking their strategies to fit our model. The basis of CKH is the EXCEL model, where E is Engage, X is eXplore, C is Communicate, E is Empower, and L is Launch.

Over the summer the school coordinator for the curriculum and instruction took her ideas - plus the research of Hattie and Marzano - and melded it into the EXCEL model. She tried to show her work to assistant principals and everyone quickly realized it is a LOT of information, so they backed off and decided to focus on just the Engage part of the model for this year.

So, our goal... How do we get students engaged with our classes? ...with staff? ...with content? The coordinator has done an amazing job breaking down the Engage model into 13 or so smaller pieces of research-based strategies. Each TOSA (Teacher-on-special-assignment, basically instructional coaches at this point) has agreed to facilitate a session on 2 or 3 of these strategies throughout the school year. The coordinator has also taken on 1 or 2.

We are working closely with our new EdTech team to integrate whatever technology will be best to support each strategy as well. It feels like a lot at this point because we are just getting started, but today was my first day to facilitate the first session I chose and it went well. About 25 staff members attended my sessions and left me some good feedback for the next go 'round.

Here we are, new year, new goals, and it's off to a great start!

Effective... no, engaging learning activities for asynchronous education

 Last week when I asked Copilot to generate blog topics, it gave the suggestion of "effective asynchronous learning activities", but as I prepared to write this entry today I thought about the difference between effective and engaging - which is better? or is there a better one? are they the same? Good questions.

Effectiveness leads us to activities where learners are gaining knowledge that educators intend for them to gain; "producing a decided, decisive, or desired effect" (Merriam-Webster).

Engaging on the other hand means that learners want to do the activity and probably complete it in high numbers due to that fact; "tending to draw favorable attention or interest" (Merriam-Webster).

So, are they same? Yes and no. It depends on the activity because it can be effective and engaging at the same time. Educators can also produce effective activities that no one wants to engage with, or vice versa.

What are some effective and engaging activities for asynchronous learners?

• Discussion boards.
• Individual or group research projects.
• Video demonstrations, by the learner or the educator.
• Interactive activities.
• plus many others that maybe we'll talk about some other day...

Discussion boards

In a classroom, discussions are a great way to see what learners know and what knowledge they have gained. It's also an opportunity for others to listen and absorb more information. The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics have research to show the effectiveness of discussions and have included it as a mathematical practice, "construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others." The content can be a reflection or discussion about the current topic, or it can provide open-ended, critical discussions about hot topics or ways to problem solve.

Research Projects

Learners can work in groups or individually to research and present on a topics of their choosing (within the realm of the content). Not only does this provide choice for learners but it also gives them a chance to focus on a topic of interest.

Video Demonstrations

When I was in trigonometry in high school, the teacher assigned each student a topic to learn about and then teach the class. Since my goal was to be a teacher anyway I loved this project. In an asynchronous environment an educator can assign much the same thing, then learners can present their topic through a video demonstration. This is just one example of how this might be used, as an educator or learner you may be able to think up other ways to utilize videos (e.g. assessments or end-of-term portfolios, etc.).

A video I made showing students how to graph a system of equations.

Interactive Activities

In math and science there are websites like Desmos or PhET that offer activities students can interact with and discover a new topic. Many of the activities contain critical thinking questions and guidance to encourage the learner to explore. In many instances, these are a great way to connect the content to the real-world. For finance/social studies there is Next Gen Personal Finance and The Stock Market Game. If you have others you would like to share, please put them in the comments below!

This blog could probably go on and on about all the activities for each of these topics, as well as other was to engage learners and be an effective educator, but I'm going to stop here. There will be plenty of chances to expand this, so please let me know what I missed or what I can write more about in the comments!!

Resources: 

https://you.stonybrook.edu/celt/2021/04/13/engaging-students-in-asynchronous-online-courses/

https://www.vanderbilt.edu/cdr/module-2/interacting-asynchronously/

https://www.rochester.edu/college/teaching/teaching-online/asynchronous-learning-activities.html

Casa Bonita and a Curriculum Audit

 I recently had the opportunity to enjoy an evening at Casa Bonita here in Denver. It was opened in the 1970s in a large pink building and the inside contains a 70 foot waterfall and cliff divers. In 2021 they shut their doors and the Colorado community was devastated, soon after the creators of South Park (the TV show), bought the building and started renovations. It has been a huge process and since June of 2022 it has been invite only. 

Casa Bonita in 2015 - the stage and waterfall in the background.

As you leave the building there is a museum about the history and restoration of Casa Bonita. It's small but contains some treasured memories for many people. There are also pictures of the restoration along with artifacts they found behind bench seats and walls. So, what does this all have to do with education and curriculum audits?!?!?

I was starting to think about the process that was followed to break down the interior of this huge building and re-vamping, fixing, and updating it. This is similar to the process of a curriculum audit, you have to break down the curriculum and look at the structure provided, then dig into what needs to be re-vamped, fixed, or updated. Sometimes you may find old, unused parts that are buried and can be removed.

This process is slow and takes a lot of patience from everyone involved. My school went through a curriculum audit in the fall and now the feedback is being slowly combed through my our administrators. Honestly I was worried they would jump right in and try to make quick and easy fixes, but I am pleasantly surprised by the fact they are taking their time and really digging into the feedback.

The school uses Schoology to build our lessons and assessments. As most of the curriculum was developed, staff used whatever resources they could get their hands on. Specifically the math person who built the curriculum pulled bits and pieces from text books that were previously used in their classroom. Some content after that was pulled from another online curriculum. Schoology has some great features for building and using curriculum within it, and now we are in the process of finding something that can actually work for us as a school and create a smooth transition between courses.

A curriculum audit is hard (just like breaking down an existing building and trying to update it), but with a little time and patience we all can come out the other end with something that benefits teachers and students!