This We Believe (NMSA, 2010).
* Students and teachers are engaged in active, purposeful learning. Active Learning
About a year ago, my colleague Kendra Jarvis and I gave a presentation at the North Carolina Association of Middle Level Education on the use of technology in the classroom. I was the support person. We set up stations that introduced teachers and administrators to different types of technology. We used QR (Quick Response) codes. Teachers rotated around to different stations to hear about and/or see various tools that could be used in the classroom. After teachers had explored different tools, we invited them to choose one to create their own tool for their classroom. The format was a success. Teachers worked together and were able to choose their focus. These three tools also work for students: technology, choice, and grouping flexibility. This week I attempted to use QR codes in my class.
This is the story...
It is Red Ribbon Week in our county. Homeroom classes were invited to create a banner with the theme 'Respect Yourself.' I chose to use the experience as an opportunity for students to use their Chromebooks to research and find images on four prevalent drugs: meth, pot, alcohol, and cigarettes. They also had to brainstorm things to do instead of drugs, and to share ways to help a friend say 'No' to drugs. They could choose which type of drug to research. Students either worked individually, in pairs, or in groups. They had several hours (It was during Benchmark Testing where the entire school could not move until all were finished. Thus our team decided to conduct several activities with our students.) Creating a banner for Red Ribbon Week was one of the projects. As students completed their projects on GoogleDocs or by hand, they shared their documents with me. I printed them so they could "mock up" the banner.
We have been studying 'slope of lines' including identification of the x and y axis, identifying positive and negative slopes of lines, calculating equations of lines, and plotting points using ordered pairs. For this project, I introduced students to the Sine of x which is graphed as a wavy line that roams along the x axis between +1 and -1 on the y-axis and crosses through the origin (0, 0). We talked about ultraviolet waves, radio waves, sound waves, and micro waves. I shared that in their future they would learn how scientists represent these waves in different ways, and a Sine graph is one of them. I also shared that we could use a play on words 'know the sine' (Haha, know the signs... Get it?) I am not sure if they 'got it'...but then I think about cartoons from my childhood that had a lot of adult humor in them and thought it would be okay.)
Even so, we talked about when a line is positive and negative and used our knowledge of slope to decide where to put each piece of the research. We decided that 'side effects' would be negative, 'how to say no' and 'things to do instead of drugs' would be positive, and that information 'what it is' would be on the horizontal line because a zero slope 'levels the playing field.' Using this knowledge, we decided where to place the products on the Sine wave. Each product is now associated with an ordered pair on the Sine (x) graph.
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| This is a "mock up" of their products. |
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| We are having a bit of rain so I took one of the test QR Codes and put it in the rain to see if it would hold up in the rain. It did!! |
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| This is our next step. Every product is now on a QR Code. We will place the QR Codes as ordered pairs on a Sine curve. |
The fabric banner will use psychedelic x- and y-axis with ordered pairs coded in a 'key' (map skills) written by a student who has amazing handwriting. We will also print the images the students found as part of the key for non-readers and place them on a graph of the Sine of X.
I tried to get them to sing a song. They wouldn't do it. (: hahaha... Maybe later. I keep singing it to them.
Advice
1. When activities are presented, such as Red Ribbon Week, consider ways to integrate your subject into the theme of the activity.
2. People on your team and in your school have skills. I have found that teachers are willing to share their expertise and their skills. Other teachers have ideas; you do not have to be the only generator of ideas! The product we created was not just my idea. It was sewn with the help of my team and the librarian.
3. Librarians are amazing. Most were former teachers. All have skills! Use them. I have asked the librarian (media specialist) to teach my students how to use, read, and create QR codes as an extension to this project!
4. Technology is a tool that has many dimensions: research, productivity, ethics, conversations about what is found, and discussions about how technology influences our lives. Do not be afraid of it.
5. Allow students to choose their partners, choose their topics, and choose how they will present their knowledge. I found that those who worked independently and in pairs were more productive.
6. The challenge is how long projects like this take. Carve time out of your day and compact their learning. Give timelines and time limits. If they have fifteen minutes, they are able to produce something in that amount of time. If you do not give time limits, they will never finish.
Keep on singing to them!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great project and integration of "meaning" with the "facts" of slope. And vice versa. Sounds like a lot of learning is going on even with Benchmark Testing effectively locking you down.