Genius Hour Update 2

Hello world,

Here is my weekly update on my Genius Hour. I watched the documentary I said I was going to watch, which gave me most of the information I need to answer my research question, and I looked at a couple other internet sources as well (see my previous post on birds with teeth as proof). At this point I need to organize my research so that I can answer in a coherent way how Cope and Marsh’s efforts influenced the world.

            I haven’t had too much trouble because I set out a plan beforehand. The most challenging part is going to be doing the storyboard for the movie trailer and figuring out the resources I need for each of the scenes. I also need to decide on music, which hadn’t crossed my mind until I just watched a movie trailer a moment ago. I’m not worried about the TED talk because I like to present things and plan speeches, plus because this is stuff I’m interested in, I remember a lot of specific things from my notes, so it’s easy to talk about.

           

I’m planning on doing the storyboard for my movie trailer tonight, or over the next few days. It’s going to be awesomely ridiculous, so look forward to that. You’re welcome in advance.

Birds with teeth!

Chrisand, E. "Ichthyornis dispar specimen." 1880.
Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ichthyornis_dispar.jpg

My research into my Genius Hour question continues, and I thought it would be interesting to provide a link to one of O.C. Marsh's important papers defining a new sub-class of fossil birds, the Ordontonithes, or birds with teeth! This paper is important because it helps provide the link between reptiles and birds, providing physical proof of Darwin's theory of evolution. It also was used as a way for certain politicians, such as Hilary Herbert to convince Congress to slash funding of scientific projects. "What are we doing financing books about birds with teeth?" he asks on the floor of Congress.

This rallying cry eventually leads to a reduction in funding and an elimination of the federally funded Department of Paleontology (and with it, Marsh as it's Chief Paleontologist). The paper isn't long, but it's fun to get a glimpse of scientific history.

8P29 Week 3 Post

            “It’s elementary, really, once you get the hang of it.”

                        --Shinra, Final Fantasy X-2    

Anonymous. "Sphere Break." Final Fantasy X-2. 
Retrieved from http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Sphere_Break

         One more week gone by. I went out on my first observation day to a grade 4/5 split. During the math portion of the day (review for a Patterning and Algebra test), there wasn’t any technique that came up in class that was any different from when I went to school. A couple patterns were put on the board and students were asked to figure out on their own what type of pattern it was (growing, shrinking, etc.) and what the rule of the pattern was (e.g. subtract by 2 each time). Students had time to work independently, share their work in pairs, and then take up the answers as a class. The previous class though (one I wasn’t there for), they had to solve word problems in groups, first using manipulatives, then trying to solve using T-charts. Students then reflected on what worked and what didn’t the next day, ultimately deciding that T-charts were the preferred method of representation. What this has shown me so far in teaching math is that there is a time and place for everything. Sometimes doing drills and practice problems are helpful, like when you need concepts to be fully lodged in your brain before a test, and there’s also a time to explore and test with games, word problems, group work, etc.

Another resource outside the classroom that reinforces that idea for me is the Jo Boaler video on “brain crossing”, where she states that you need to develop multiple neural pathways to aid in memory retention of a concept. That’s why it’s good to know how say, to represent numbers in different ways, for example to know that 10 is also 5+5 is also 12-2 is also 3+3+3+1, or how to represent 10 as a picture, like a square array of dots. In Making Math Meaningful, Marian Small says that the more flexible students are, the more successful they will be in mathematics (28).  

This is how math games come in handy as well. If students use their math skills in multiple contexts, those concepts are just in one part of their brain associated with school, but are associated with other activities. And besides that, sometimes you have to “trick” kids into learning. If they think they’re doing something just for fun all of a sudden it’s appealing, even if there are valuable skills they’re developing through their gameplay.

One such game I played a lot as a child that I never really thought was helping me with my mental math was the mini-game Sphere Break from Final Fantasy X-2. Admittedly one of the weaker games of the Final Fantasy franchise (I still liked it), but Sphere Break, which you play in tournaments to unlock items and dresspheres, involves quick addition and multiplication, as you race against a timer to make multiples of a core sphere based on randomized coins with number values on them. The Google Play store has an app of Sphere Break. It definitely doesn’t look as cool as in X-2, but the math skills still apply, and it is still as addicting. This game is appropriate for students in grades 4 and up, as the curriculum states that by grade 4 students can multiply and divide two-digit whole numbers by one-digit whole numbers (64), therefore, there would be enough basic knowledge of factors to play some levels. You may even be able to get away with playing earlier since most of the math work in the game is based on addition.

I investigated some other cool games this week, but because in class we were looking at number sense and numeration, I’ll stick to sharing Sphere Break for now. Let me know if you like the game, or think younger or older grades could play it!  

Anonymous. "Gullwing Airship Paine Dialogue." Final Fantasy X-2. 
Retrieved from http://lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-X-2/Update%2007/"

First Genius Hour Reflection

Hello world,

Welcome to the first reflection for my Bone Wars Genius Hour. As a refresher for those of you who haven't checked out my Genius Hour proposal, my research question is "how did the Bone Wars (aka The Great Dinosaur Rush or the Dinosaur Wars) influence/contribute to the fields of archeology and paleontology?"

This post is going to be a very brief one because so far I haven't started much of my Genius Hour research. The biggest update in my progress is I found the perfect documentary to watch that I think will provide me with the majority of the information I need to complete this adequately. It's the Dinosaur Wars PBS documentary. You can watch the preview here:

I'm very excited to gather my information and even more excited to make the movie trailer. My plan is to get a ton of puppets from the IRC and make something that will blow your mind. Apart from that, I've been searching for interesting pictures I can share about the fossils and the expeditions, all will be revealed soon.

8P29 Week 2 Post

I loved this game as a kid! Go-to game during computer lab free time
Anonymous. "Math Circus Start Menu." Retrieved from
http://www.myabandonware.com/game/m-a-t-h-s-circus-1gg

This marks the first official week of class for 8P29 (introduction classes never really count the same). Most of class was devoted to working on “The Handshake Problem” and how you could use this problem for multiple grade levels, depending on what you focus on and what tools you use e.g. do you use manipulatives, do you have an algorithm, etc. I actually really enjoyed the underlying point of the exercise, because it showed how fluid some math problems are. The only limit is the creativity of the math teacher. I like that math problems are versatile; it makes my job as an educator easier because resources or problems may work regardless of what grade I end up teaching.  

            I think what makes an excellent mathematics teacher is a person who is a creative and easygoing. Every student has a story about losing marks on a test because they didn’t solve the problem in the way the teacher wanted them to. Knowing and allowing for the fact that there is more than one way to do things will hopefully keep students creative and open-minded too, rather than hunting immediately for the magic formula they can plug in without any further thought. These types of teachers are something math really needs considering the bad rap it gets.

            Carolyn Y. Johnson’s article and the montage she posted really reminded me how anti-math we are as a society. I would argue that North American culture is increasingly anti-intellectual in general, but that is a rant for another day. Many people, myself included, are still infected with some of the older, ineffective ways of teaching math, through drills, and boring problems that seemed to have no bearing on real life and mainly just through working through questions in a textbook and calling it a day. I don’t feel the same as my younger self did about math; now I’m envious of people who are naturally good at it, and wish that I had continued with it past grade 11.

            I know very little of mathematics education; I’ve tutored students grade 6 and younger that had some math questions/difficulties, but in terms of teaching it in a classroom setting, I know pretty much nothing. That can be a good and bad thing. Bad in the sense that obviously you need to know what you’re talking about it you want to be an effective teacher. Good in that because I have no preconceived notions on what I want to do in a math classroom, I can be built from scratch into something interesting and useful.

            I do have some strategies I’d like to use in a J/I classroom though. First, I’d like to be very visual. Using manipulatives or technology, I’d like to help students visualize what’s happening in a math problem, which helps with memory retention because now they have a visual and a written example of a problem, and if we’ve done an activity in class, there’s kinetic memory thrown in there as well. I’d also like to make use of the many apps and math-related games that are out there, or even try to make math more game-like in general. If students think of things more as a puzzle to solve than a homework question to do, it makes the experience much more satisfying.

The sections of the mathematics curriculum I’d like to focus the most on in this course is well, all of them, but if I have to pick, Number Sense and Numeration, Patterning and Algebra, and Data Management and Probability. Many students seem to have trouble with fractions, decimals, and percent, so I’d like to make sure I have good resources to be able to teach those concepts well. Patterning and Algebra is something that is incredibly important as you get into the higher grades, so I want to make sure I know how to prepare students well for more abstract math. Data Management will probably be pretty fun to teach because it is relevant to everyday life. I want to make sure I have some strong strategies for bringing the real world into the classroom with Data Management.

Anyways, that’s enough musing for one week. Stay posted for more fun updates on my journey through mathmagic land. 

Anonymous. "Math Circus Screenshot." Retrieved from
http://www.old-games.com/download/3310/m-a-t-h-s

Genius Hour Post 1: The Dinosaur Wars!

Hello world!

Welcome to my Genius Hour Blog. This blog also doubles as a blog documenting my experiences at Brock Teacher’s College, and I may use it into the beyond when I enter the real world of teaching.

Every Genius Hour has to have a question, and here is my (awesome) question:

How did the Bone Wars influence/contribute to the fields of archeology and paleontology?

On this blog you will witness the journey as I discover how E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh proceeded to wreak havoc on the scientific world in the effort to be the best.

My goals for this project, in addition to learning for learning’s sake is to have something interesting to tell my kid when he/she goes through their inevitable dino craze.

Progress is a little difficult to measure with this sort of project, as it is not something like preparing for a 10 KM run, where you can watch the progress of your running times go down. My goal is to complete a major component of the Genius Hour each week.

That’s all for now.

Pictured below: Dinosaurs being awesome

Meyer-Rassow, Steven. "Cool Dinosaur Art." (2015)
Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/316166836315894477/

Welcome to Mathmagic Land

Durer, Albrecht. "Melancholia I." (1514)
[Copper Plate Engraving] Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_and_art

Hello everyone!

            This section of my blog is devoted to the wonderful world of math, specifically my reflections and experiences relating to the course 8P29. Although my background is wholly in English and the Humanities (I have an Hon B.A. in English and an M.A. in English, both from McMaster University), I am eager to expand my skill set and while I’m doing so brush up on some of the math I’ve forgotten over the years.

            We live in interesting times in general, and especially as educators. The role of teacher and student is changing, and the educational resources we have at our disposal are more varied and diverse than ever. With SmartBoards, educational apps, games, and other mathematical modelling tools being developed, teachers don’t have to look very far to make their math classrooms interesting. I’m hoping with the guidance of my instructor and my peers, I can gain the skills and resources to make my classroom interactive, fun, and most importantly, educational. I want my students to come away from my classroom having learned some math skills they can hopefully retain the rest of their lives.

  

          Before I end this post, I’d like to give a little explanation for the title of this section of the blog. “Mathmagic Land” is actually a reference to a 1959 Walt Disney educational video entitled Donald in Mathmagic Land, where Donald Duck learns about all the way math influences our lives, from its relationship to music, architecture, art, and even how it can help you be better at billiards! I watched that video in my grade 10 math class, and you can actually find it all on YouTube here. The teacher, Mr. Turingia, was my favourite math teacher because although he was soft-spoken, he had an incredible ability to help me understand mathematical concepts. I hope I can even be half as good as he is at making math approachable to students.

            Well, that’s all for now. I’m sure I’ll have much more to say in the upcoming posts, so stay tuned!  

Copyrighting, Creative Commons, and the Classroom

Sarony, Napoleon. (1882). "Oscar Wilde"
Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_Wilde_time_3.jpg

“Talent borrows, genius steals”                        --Oscar Wilde

            Oscar Wilde may be everyone’s favourite aesthete, but when it comes to using ideas from the Internet, he is dead WRONG! When you create something, let’s say you take a photo, that image is protected by copyright laws, even if you don’t have that cute little copyright notice hanging around the bottom of the image. Copying, distributing, or using someone’s material you find on the internet, be it a picture, film, or story without the proper permission is an infringement of copyright. There is an exception for fair use (US) or fair dealing (Canada) which means that you can use someone’s material if it is for private study, research, or entertainment.

            So what does this mean for students and educators who want to obey the laws? Should we all take art classes so every time we need an image for an assignment we can make our own? You can if you want, but there’s actually an easier way thanks to something called Creative Commons. Founded by the Centre for the Public Domain, the Creative Commons has six licenses that let authors decide how their work is shared, allowing permission for others to share material, create derivative works based on it, or only use the material for non-commercial purposes. Check out http://creativecommons.org for more information. 

            It is important as ethical educators to be aware of copyright and to model for students the proper way to borrow materials to enhance the classroom experience. That way, you make the classroom fun and legal!

Jamie. (November-December 1982). "Vintage
Ad: Learn to Brave New Worlds." Retrieved from
http://bit.do/bjWgx