Lesson Plan Supplemental Materials

In my previous post, I created a lesson plan for a high school algebra class on Functions. The lesson plan covers two 55-minute class periods and incorporates technology to engage the students and enhance their comprehension. Two common core standards are addressed in the lesson plan, F-IF-1 (Interpreting Functions) and F-BF-1 (Building Functions). After being introduced to functions earlier in the unit, students are expected to review the concept of functions and associated vocabulary in this lesson. They also study different types of functions and examine their corresponding graphs. Finally, students explore a real world application of functions by studying the relationship between the pizza one orders at Pizza Hut and the cost of that pizza. Throughout the lesson, students will play online games, watch videos, utilize a class chatroom to communicate with the teacher, experiment with the Pizza Hut App, graph a function using ChartGo, and record several entries in their math journals along the way.  

Below is a snapshot of some of the materials used in this lesson plan! 


** In order for the students to communicate with the teacher, I created a private chat for my algebra class using Chatzy. The conversation is free and secure - students must enter a password to enter the room.

Chatzy also allows users to post surveys in the chatroom. I created a generic survey to gauge how well students are grasping the material we covered in class. Their results are anonymous, but I can adjust my lesson as needed based on how many (or how few) students report feeling confident about the material!

You can visit the room I created for this assignment by following this link:
http://www.chatzy.com/28224546511540


**Another piece of technology the students used during class was the ChartGo website. On this site, students can create a graph of the relationship between a pizza order and the cost of that pizza.

Once the graph is finished, students have the opportunity to save their graph, print it, or even get an embed code for a blog. (See my example graph embedded below!)

Graphing


** A third piece of technology used for this lesson plan was Google Forms, which is a great resource for creating assessments. At the end of the unit, students will take the following exam:

My Technology Lesson Plan

EDUC2220LessonPlan SF on Scribd

Check out https://www.scribd.com/ if you like what you see!

QR Code

This is my QR code for my blog! I was able to create and 

download my code for free from http://goqr.me/ - check 

out their website! Using the QR code, anyone with 

access to a scanner can link directly to my blog! 

Growing Up Online

"Growing Up Online" is a Frontline documentary that studies the cyber world and its effects on educators, parents and teens in our new digital age. Focusing on a community of secondary students in New Jersey, in-depth interviews provide an interesting and revealing look into the various uses, benefits and dangers of engaging with the online world. Educators discuss the trials they face in teaching students who have grown up immersed in technology, and the work they put in to adapt their classroom content to the next generation. Parents describe their fears about technology and the trouble they have monitoring their children's use of it. Students reveal various kinds of activities they are engaging in online, and they also describe their perceptions of social media and the necessity of having an online presence to keep up with peers. I thought the documentary was excellent and thought-provoking, and I would definitely recommend it to fellow educators and anyone else who plans to work with students of future generations.

1. A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that in 2004, 67 percent of parents said the Internet has been a good thing for their children. However, this number decreased to 59 percent in 2006. In 2012, 69% of parents of online teens said they were concerned about how their child’s online activity might affect their future academic or employment opportunities, with some 44% being “very” concerned. Cite some reasons why parental support for their children’s independent internet use is decreasing. Why do you think the number of parents who reported the Internet being a good thing for their children has decreased?   A vast majority of teenagers have an online presence, and parents have some good reasons for being concerned about their online activity. One concern that has received media coverage is the threat of online predators, people who pretend to be someone else in order to meet children and teens and lure them into harmful situations. Another problem receiving growing media attention is cyber bullying, where students take their bullying online and can humiliate a peer in a world that parents and teachers may not even see. Several cases of cyber bullying have led to suicide. With these threats, parents view the internet as a danger instead of a good thing for their children. In general, parents worry about their children using the internet because there are few ways to monitor and control their activity, and they fear that children will make bad decisions with severe consequences. Even if their children do know who they are interacting with online, the pictures they post and the social media profiles they create may adversely affect their future academic or employment opportunities. 

2. More teachers are using tools to try to detect cheating or deter students’ inclination to cheat. In the program, we see the use of plagiarism-detection tools like Turnitin.com and writing assignments completed during class time to make sure students do their own work and generate their own ideas.  // How can we as educators stop students from using material they found online as their own work? Should that be considered cheating, in your opinion?   As educators of children who have grown up immersed in technology, our students will naturally turn to the internet as a resource for schoolwork. One of the first tasks we need to accomplish to stop students from using material found online as their own work is to educate them about plagiarism. We need to ensure they understand that using someone else's work as their own IS cheating, and encourage them to avoid this pitfall. We hope to see our students succeed in higher education, and academic dishonesty is not tolerated in college courses. In order to prepare our students to succeed, we must be on the same page as these colleges. Assigning in class writing assignments where students must generate their own ideas is a great way for them to practice completing their own work. Later on, when students do complete work outside of class and have access to online sources, it is important to communicate that there will be consequences for cheating, and enforce those consequences if students attempt to use someone else's work as their own. 

3. One student claims he "never reads books" but relies on summaries and annotated notes he finds on Web sites. He confesses that he feels guilty about this, stating, "I feel like I kind of cheated it." // In your opinion, should he feel guilty? Why or why not?  Although it is all too common to find this type of behavior among today's students, I do believe he should feel guilty. Relying on someone else's study and summary of a book is within the definition of cheating. The intent of the assignments are for students to read an author's work themselves and complete any accompanying work, and if a student never reads the book themselves, they are skipping the majority of the assignment. Using online summaries and notes also goes against the intent of those resources - they are meant to be used for review and were never intended to replace the actual reading of the content they summarize. More importantly, the student is stunting their own education by relying on outside sources instead of doing the work themselves, and this could have devastating long-term consequences for their education.  

4. Before the Internet, in order to be seen by the world, you had to be portrayed in some form of mass media, and you had to be famous in some respect -- in the news, in politics or as a celebrity. Now anyone can be seen online by anyone else in the world. Some people have become famous for videos or photos they’ve posted (such as Autumn Edows). // In your opinion, should people like Edows, or others who become “ famous” through their online presence, be considered “celebrities?” Has the ability to create an online persona, and receive worldwide attention for it, affected our cultural values?   I do not think people who become "famous" from online pictures or videos should be considered celebrities. While there are a variety of ways to become famous, a true celebrity is someone that many people can look up to or admire, someone with a contribution to society worth celebrating. It is common for a good president or political leader to become a celebrity, or a talented actress or singer. Many people admire the accomplishments of these people, and their growing popularity leads them to become celebrities in that sense. With online attention, anyone can become "famous", whether or not their accomplishment or contribution is worth much value. I do believe this new ability to receive worldwide attention for an online persona has affected our cultural values. Instead of promoting those whose accomplishments are worth our attention and affection, we promote anyone that seeks attention. Our culture is more interested in something that entertains us, even if only for a moment, instead of valuing long-term contributions to society around us. This type of culture encourages people to pursue attention however they can instead of encouraging people to seek out more reputable accomplishments.

5. Shows like "To Catch a Predator" on Dateline NBC contribute to parental anxiety about online media. It is obvious that certain elements of programs like “To Catch a Predator,” and even this documentary, will likely increase parents’ fears. // Cite one current event from the past year where a young person has been affected (positively or negatively) by being active online. (find a link to a news story, describe it in your answer to this question, and provide the link as well).    A recent trend among students that has led to several deaths is the "extreme selfie" challenge, where teenagers attempt to take photos of themselves in extreme situations. The trend is promoted online as teens hope to gain likes on social media. This trend has had a negative influence on young people by encouraging them to put themselves in danger. An article by Rolling Stone gives ten recent examples of young people who died while trying to take selfies. 
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/pictures/death-by-selfie-10-disturbing-stories-of-social-media-pics-gone-wrong-20160714/accidental-cliff-dive-20160713

6. Teasing, lying, gossiping, threatening, spreading rumors or harassing online (and offline) can severely affect people’s self-concept and self-esteem and have an impact on their emotional state. In the program, we see one girl who describes flirting with boys and then revealing she was just kidding. She explains: "You wouldn’t do that to someone’s face, but online is completely different. ... No one can do anything. You’re at your house, they’re at their house." // In her quote, this teen is describing Suler’s disinhibition effects. Which one do you think it is, and why?    This quote is an example of Suler's Effect called dissociative imagination, "It's Just a Game."  Under this effect, the girl is separating her online presence from her reality offline, and she views her online activity as a game. She doesn't believe that "rules" apply online, and she believes she can leave all of her flirting and games behind once she leaves her computer. In her quote, she expresses that she believes online games have different rules than reality when she states "You wouldn't do that to someone's face, but online is completely different... No one can do anything." 

7. At the end of the program, Greg decides it’s time for him to "disconnect" by going to the Coast Guard Academy, where he will spend seven weeks without cell phones or the Internet. // 
Have you ever thought about "disconnecting" from it all? Do you think it would be easy or difficult for you personally? What would you enjoy or dislike about disconnecting?

I have "disconnected" from social media before by deactivating my facebook account, and I would definitely consider doing it again. I found that it was more enjoyable to learn things from my friends by talking to them and hearing about exciting events directly from them, instead of learning about their life from social media, even if I hadn't seen them in a while. I also felt less distracted when I was working, studying, hanging out with people, and other daily tasks because I never needed to check my facebook. That being said, there were some drawbacks to removing myself from social media, such as missing out on an opportunity to connect with friends who live further away and missing some invitations to events that were only posted online. If I were to disconnect again, I would miss these opportunities again. Although I would love to free myself of the distractions once more, I think it would be more difficult this time around since most people my age rely heavily on social media for a lot of communication. 

Pinterest in the Classroom

I am familiar with the idea of Pinterest and have many friends who use it, but I have never considered using it to collect ideas for my future classroom. I have never created different boards either, but I enjoyed learning how to categorize different pins in this activity. I think I will definitely use my account as a teacher to collect ideas for lesson plans, student activities, and even just cute design ideas for my classroom decorations. One huge strength of Pinterest is the variety of materials available. Since users from all over the world can post, Pinterest is a great location to share ideas and collect resources. Another strength of Pinterest is the search bar - you can search any topic and find numerous pins, and the results are surprisingly accurate. I also like how it shows other similar posts once you choose to pin something. One challenge of using Pinterest is that the links do not always work. A pin will have an awesome looking picture of an activity, but the link does not lead anywhere. This is frustrating when I was really curious about the idea. Another challenge is that Pinterest sends a ton of email spam. I am going to update my settings to receive less of these, but no social media site should ever need to send that many emails, regardless of how much users like them! In general, I really enjoyed setting up Pinterest boards! I am glad to have the resources collected and plan to continue searching for my future classroom activities. I think Pinterest is a great asset for any serious educator!

Khan/Koller Review

     Sal Khan created Khan Academy, an educational organization which offers online lectures for anyone. I have actually used Khan Academy myself to supplement my learning in higher education math and science courses. It's incredibly useful, easy to use, and best of all, free. The videos are short but clear, and they include examples in each one. I would love to use Khan Academy in my future classroom as well. I may just suggest the website to my students for personal use, or I may include it in my curriculum. It would be extremely beneficial for a high school math class if students could watch videos of the material at home on their own time, reviewing it as much as necessary, as this would free up class time to work on example problems together. Being available to help students during the problem solving process is critical if teachers are to correct misconceptions and answer questions along the way. 

     Sal Khan also believes that future generations will rely more on "credentialing" from online courses rather than traditional university degrees. This would be beneficial in that it allows for very specialized instruction, and it would be more accessible for students who do not have the financial means for higher education or those students who don't want to relocate. It also allows incredible flexibility with scheduling since online coursework can be done anytime when a student has access to a computer and the internet. 

     Daphne Koller created Coursera, another online program that offers lectures and courses to students anywhere. Koller's website uses videos recorded by professors from top universities, and offers a large variety of subject areas. I used Coursera in the past to review Calculus from an Ohio State professor, and it was very easy to navigate and helpful for covering content I haven't studied for several years. I think I would also enjoy taking a course on social media marketing, as this is sure to be a necessary skill for future generations. For now, courses are not eligible for transfer credit at Columbus State or Ohio State, but they still offer a great opportunity to supplement university coursework. As far as level of difficulty, Coursera courses seem to offer the same challenge that a normal course would. They do carry the name of top universities in the country, but I still believe the curriculum is the same. These so called MOOCs, massive open online courses, may be the wave of the future since they can reach large numbers of students from anywhere in the world in a very efficient manner. This is incredibly cost effective for the student, and can also allow for greater flexibility for students who have to work a job along with college courses. I hope to see this greater scheduling flexibility and increased access to a variety of courses and universities be accepted as commonplace in the years to come. 

Exploring Standards-Based Lesson Plans

     For this week's assignment, I explored several mathematics lesson plans based on Ohio state standards. In the future, I hope to be licensed to teach students in grades 7-12. One class I may teach in this age range is Algebra, and I found an interesting lesson plan for Algebra students. This particular lesson plan will probably work best for students in grades 7 or 8.