JIBJAB FRANKENSTEIN

 Well, I just had to do it.  Put my wife and I into a Jib Jab video.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Video Game Statistics

Source: Online Education

A Day on the Internet

Created by Online Education

Tsunami

So this week I took the students through the events of Sri Lanka in 2004. We watched a few clips of the horror and they asked tons of questions. My students were all around the age 0f 9 or 10 at this time, but they remembered it. We discussed the devastation and what a tsunami was and how they are created.

I then used Google Earth to show them where the earthquake had taken place. Using a "ruler" tool, I was able to connect a line from the coastline of Sri Lanka to the epicenter and measure the distance. I made up another spot of where the wave was after "X" amount of seconds and some times of when this was taking place. I explained to the kids that they are the Homeland Security of the nation of Sri Lanka, and they have to figure out how long the had before the wave hits the coastline. They must evacuate the coastline by a certain time after figuring out the speed of the wave.

After giving them some time, I went ahead and showed them how I would've solved it. A lot of them were very close in solving the problem. They used the tools given to them by previous teachers to solve the problem. I then proceeded to give them some new tools in which we use in algebra formulas. Slope and the Point-Slope Formula in function form was my goal for them that day.

Granted, this kept the students attention and they were all 100% engaged in figuring it out. The entire time that I was giving the lesson, I was thinking, how can I have them do all of this? I think upon reflection, I would give them some coordinates to find on the earth and find the distances on their own. I would show them the tools to use on google earth and they would have to recreate that much. I would provide an XY table for those that I saw subtracting the distance for each second that went by. I also think that I would send them a video of how to create functions from real life problems to see if my brightest students were able to come up with something.

The finale of the day was to have them create their own real life problem given some numbers. I wanted to see if they were able to be creative even though the numbers were just given to them. I did this because we were getting pressed for time. I know in the future that I want them to look up a natural disaster and come up with their own scenario using real data.

A Rumor

Last night I went through our course watching Priscilla link learning to living and living to learning.  We did it through a mystery that she had set up in which we were to sift through data that the class had derived.  The mystery ended up having us play a bit of detective and solve a problem in which Priscilla made up.  As quick and busy as I feel right now, both in class and in my other duties of life, I'm never sure how much is going to stay in me.  The problem is, I want it all.

Knowing that we had class the previous night I was sitting at my desk getting ready to go through a pretty standard day.  Not because I wanted to, but just out of exhaustion.  I got out my favorite worksheets to work with.  They're my favorite because they have a riddle on them.  If you solve the problems, you can decipher the riddle.  So, I was, for whatever reason, reading the answer to the riddle of the worksheet that I was going to give them.  It said, "Did You Hear About...." with a bunch of blank lines on it.  Answers streamed down the sides with words and problems filled the middle of the page.  The answer was "the boy and the girl who went into the revolving door and started going together".  Instantly, I thought of rumors that are spread in our school.  Once that popped in my head, all hell broke loose.

I started thinking about what we've learned.  Come up with an end product for the students to hand in.  Have an entrance and exit strategy on an authentic question.  How can I incorporate software skills?  How can I make a real world problem from this????!!!!!  I quickly wrote a scenario of rumors being spread in the school.  I figured out that I would have the students recreate the same type of problem as I when we get finished.  That way I can assess them.  I figured I can introduce the lesson as a real problem in the school and used a software program that allowed me to have our Security Specialist read my scenario.  Listen to our security specialist.

I then went ahead and explained that our principal had confiscated the new coded words and also found a key on the ladies bathroom floor.  I handed them slips of papers with the same problems from the worksheet, except they were cut up.  I put the kids in groups to solve a few and put someone in charge to put them in order as groups completed them.  The kids totally bought into it!!!  They really wanted to find out what the rumor was.  They worked as hard as I've ever seen them.  After they solved it, I walked them through how it was created.  Discussed with them the technologies used (word processor, cell phone for podcast & pics, podcasting host site) and how I used them.  Then I let them loose in groups.  Again, they worked happily until the bell and some even came in during lunch to finish their projects.  These are my at risk kids.  Now that I've tasted the authentic problem thing and so have the kids, we both are going to crave more.

John Lennon

I couldn't help but put this on my blog.  I love this song and it I love the creativity of people.