Looking at “Hanging out, messing around and geeking out” as a way of learning I find it beneficial for teachers and those working to find things to use in their careers. However, I think that for my level of students at 7th grade and how overwhelmed they get by using new technologies (especially when they are implemented online and not in person) is not quite something I want to have them do. I do not use HOMAGO in my class, but have done a lot of using it in my masters technology classes. I think in my future teaching I could give students a project and allow them to use whatever database or app they wanted in order to do the project. I struggle with math on how to get them to actually create something especially with the set in stone curriculum my school has. In addition having to be on the same pace as the other 7th grade math teacher. I think without the pandemic it may be a tad easier.
Challenge #5
When looking at my image created from the bell work on a google form, which 
is shown below. The students used labels from the graph such as hours or hour more times than many other things. They did the same with time, so they found these labels to be very important. As an educator it is very important especially in math that students know what their numbers represent in terms of the problem, and their labels and use of them across the board show this.
When looking at my lesson I think it represents well what the intended should look like. It shows that students are using a mix of different types of learning in order to complete the entire lesson. I found that the breaking the problem apart did not take as much time as originally thought. The bell work took a bit longer due to not having this as a constant routine daily.
In this lesson I really did like using the google form as a start to the day. It was a great tool to see where the students were at and how well they were understanding the topics. This was the third session on this topic, where students used the same types of problems in the first two. There is one more session on this topic that will be covered and I plan to use more of the forms to see where they are at. 
In looking at all the different blended learning models I was amazed at the video from Edutopia at these students in their math classroom. These kids are working at their own pace to work through the curriculum. I decided to use something similar to this for my own blended plan.
Model: Flex Learning
My plan is to have a flex learning plan for each unit for my 7th grade math class. This would provide all students are within the same unit, but can be at different parts. I would set up times that each lesson should be “Mastered by” but would have to modify this as I work through kinks.
- Problem: Students do not all learn at the same pace. In math some topics will be easier to comprehend for a student, whereas others may take a bit longer to fully grasp. Students need to be able to take the time to master their content before extending it and moving on to others. Some students also may already have the knowledge of the topic and be able to move on much quicker than others. Textbooks do not provide students with relevant and engaging content.
- Goals:
- Students will be more engaged and less anxious learning at their own pace.
- I will be able to help more students individually and monitor what their needs are with video lessons.
- A discussion of the model and methods you are using and how they they fit your context
- The model for flex learning gives students flexibility in the pacing in how they learn. This gives them the chance to take their time and do things how they need to.
- A graphic representation of your model
- https://padlet.com/jlholde95/cluq14gckkdnmspk
- Digital technologies that support your goals
- Padlet was used to show this and allow students to use. Students will also use google classroom to show their progress.
In my class we are currently working on identifying whether a relationship is proportional or not using tables, graphs, and equations. With the app “GeoGebra Augmented Reality” students can type an equation into the app and see the graph in the space around them. They can move it from the screen on their phone and add multiple graphs.
In the readings/viewings I watched the video where students said how they learn more by doing and seeing things and being able to interact with them, than by just listening. This app can let students experiment with that and actually place graphs into their environments. They can see the graph in more than just a blank paper.
Like shown here, this is a messy graph that students could identify the relationship incorrectly by simply curving their line to go through the origin.
This image shows the GeoGebra augmented reality how you can type equations that can be placed into your world.
I plan to use this app to have students experiment with equations to see if the relationship is a proportional one or not. Students may start with tables and use those to write an equation for the relationship. They will then put the equation into the app and see what the graph looks like. They can move the graph to look at it at different angles, and zoom in to see closer.
Notice how the origin is clearly shown by the green line.
When students insert a relationship like the one above they will clearly see that the relationship is not proportional because the blue does not go through the origin. Whereas if it is as shown below they will.
Notice the graph clearly goes through the origin.
This app can open up things for math in so many ways. I think students will be able to see the relationships more with this than they ever have before.
Kami For the win!
The Kami extension is helpful for making notes digital. I think it is easier for many students to type rather than write physically. However, I have read that writing things down helps us remember things more. This could impact student comprehension and recall in a negative way. Due to the current learning situation all over with hybrid, digital, and less in person time I believe this extension to be worth that. Teachers shouldn’t have to deal with paper that their students could cough and sneeze all over and risk infection. Or worse yet quarantine the work for days before looking at it.
This extension will allow students to highlight draw and so many other things without having to have a physical calculator. It allows teachers to be able to read the work without having to try and figure out what number they really wrote. It allows students that struggle to type to speak into their device and it will write for them.
This can transform learning by giving the chance for students not to lose their work! This extension does not really take learning into a new level, however it does make things possible that just were not even a thought with students working in their math textbooks.
I found a teacher that uses Kami for their notes during the pandemic. One thing I had not thought of yet with this app (which I have been thinking about it nonstop and trying it with my students) was to record how to solve problems, and then inserting the video of each problem being solved and explained onto the kami document! This is huge! This will help with the recorded lessons, and they can be broken into just the problems the students are struggling with. The app also works very closely with google classroom and you can actually assign through the app and then grade while on google classroom, without opening it in a separate tab.
I envision using this as the backbone of my notes. One thing I wish it could have is to jump to pages, if it had this then I could have the entire notes lesson on one Kami document.
I found my golden ticket! I was so excited to work with kami. This took everything I have been looking for in an app/extension for students to show work and made it into a reality.
Kami is an extension for Google Chrome. It has a free trial that lasts an extensive amount of time so it is easy to use and then later purchase if found necessary. Kami connects with Google Classroom, and Google Drive, so for teachers already using these this is perfect.
Kami can make any PDF into an editable worksheet. This was different than other apps I tried because it can be many pages. The app makes it very easy to split PDF’s by pages as well using a split and merge tool. You can drag the pages into separate groups, and use those as separate assignments or worksheets. This was very helpful for me because my online resources for my curriculum can be downloaded by session or by lesson. I can easily split the lesson pages the way I want them without having to split the PDF before uploading it.
Some of the fantastic tools that Kami has:
Drawing tool: Like many other of the apps you are able to draw using your mouse after clicking on the drawing tool.
Text box: You can add text boxes anywhere on the document, you can choose color and size all in the tool.
Equation button!!! My savior for this challenge! This amazing tool makes it so easy to use any math symbol imaginable (or at least the ones I have to use have all been there). You can make fractions easily without having to click back on the symbols by just typing the / button. The only downer is when using the text box you cannot do equations in the same box, but it has to be separate, which does not cause many problems.
Shapes: You can use lines, and other shapes and make them your own. I have found this very helpful for making models.
Speech to text: Super helpful for students that struggle with typing!
Dictionary: They can look up words right in the document
Markup: Highlighter tool has two options: To highlight text (which does work with whatever text is on the document already, and text you input as well. There is also a group markup where you can click and drag the highlighter over whatever you want.
Kami is my tool 🙂
This week I wanted to work with Seesaw. With this chrome extension you can take screen shots of the area of work you would like to edit or write on. You can either do the entire screen, or select a captured area. In the online examples this is used for marking text while reading, but I had been told by other teachers that it may be good for math as well.
I started by taking a screen shot from a document my students had to do from this week, I first only did one problem from the page. Once taking the screen shot the extension automatically opens it in a slide type format. There is options to write, and add pages.
Then when looking at the screen shot, it was slightly blurry which is disappointing. At first glance it is very student friendly due to the obvious tools that are given. There are big pens and pencils at the bottom that can be used to write. I started drawing using these tools, and it worked great, but think that would not be the best unless students have a physical mouse instead of the laptop mouse pad.
I then thought to try writing to show work, and unfortunately there are not math symbols that can be entered. However, you can take speech to text, and it will write for you on the document, and take pictures on it as well. I thought this was a nice tool or modification that students may enjoy. I then found the math symbols are actually in the shapes category, which is cool. But would not be very easy to get and enter many when showing the work. You have to resize them and drag them where you want them. There is also not a way to make a fraction easily. You could draw on it, but again not so easy unless every student has a separate mouse. I liked how this one had more chance to write, which some students like, but for the current unit I am in fractions are extremely important, so I think this would be better for the younger grades.
For this challenge I read the book “Uglies” by Scott Westerfeld. In this book our main character is Tally Youngblood. Tally is a few weeks a way from turning 16 which in the city means that she will have her operation to turn from an “ugly” to a “pretty.” This operation changes the way the people look to be more symmetrical and appealing. Tally is ready for this operation until she meets a new friend. This friend shows her outside of the city and shows her views that Tally has not yet considered. In the book the setting has a specific way things are done, but the characters begin to challenge this in the book. In the video below I show things that occur to make this struggle and curiosity for a different way of doing things within Tally’s mind. This text can give children the chance to think about appearances. In a world where everyone is ugly until they are pretty, students can consider that they should value the things about themselves, and look at themselves from the view of others. This could help them to build each other up like Shay does for Tally, instead of tearing each other down like the rest of society. Teachers can use this especially in middle school to show students that as long as they are doing their best and being good people, looks should not change who you are. Being a pretty doesn’t make them better people, but actually makes them less worried, and less serious.
Video: https://animoto.com/play/JjKY0eZdtNofiEN041HhdQ
For this challenge I was so excited to try out something new! With digital learning and hybrid learning for my students I have been beyond overwhelmed with constant computer time, and grading. I decided to try out something that I have never done before with crocheting. I wanted to make a chevron blanket.
I have made small things with crocheting before this, like mask ear-savers to hold mask straps behind the head instead of pulling on ears. I have also made a all one color blanket. However, this was my first pattern that was not the same stitch over and over again. My first attempt ended up getting to be a toy for my cats. I was feeling confident and then all of a sudden realized in the middle that the arching was not what it should be. I had lost count of the stitches and messed it up. Rather than pulling those out I just started over.
After starting again and working for 8 plus hours I have a tiny chevron blanket. It is so soft and I am happy to continue working on it. When connecting to the readings of my new project, I was very surprised at the points given about technology taking over. It made me think of with crochet, you don’t really see people making things by hand much anymore. When making things in front of people I typically get the comment that I am “knitting” or an “old lady” people then are like oh you are a crazy cat lady after all so you have no life. When finding things on the internet I find google has taken over by the click of the button, but for skills like crocheting or other trades it is also an evolutionary thing for crafters. You can find a video on how to make just about anything with crochet needles and yarn.
People use these skills and sell them on etsy for those that may like the end result, but do not take the time to do them themselves.
This week I wanted to focus on one of the methods I found in a video in Homago post 3. One teacher uses drag and drop numbers in her google slides for students to show work. I tried this out using a few different worksheets that I wanted students to use this week.
The first worksheet pictured below, is a practice I wanted students to use to find unit rates with fractions. I started by putting each problem into a slide, and then adding all the symbols and numbers they would need. This took quite a bit of time for the first slide, but then for the others I was able to just duplicate and add the problem. 
After doing this I played with it and found that I really did not like how much time it takes, especially for students that have to use a mouse pad, and not a mouse connected to their computer. I tried different things like making the sizes different, and it just was not a great thing for how much work they needed to show. This method in the end was a no from the get go for me. Hopefully next week I can find something better.