Week 2 Live meeting (January 23-29)

Task Discussion

• 
  Keisha   April 30, 2012, 4:34 a.m.

  I really like the conversation in the in meeting!  I like the fact that Kathy let the students lead a lesson in home school. I find it beneficial to sometimes let the students be the teachers. It's surprising what students can teach you. Kathy also brought up a good point that "the teacher has everything to do with sparking the interest in students." If students aren't interested in what we're teaching they won't want to learn. We need to be mindful of every student's interest and cater to it while making our way of teaching our own and making it engaging. I never heard of First in Math. It seems really cool and a good way to keep students motivated to working hard in Math.

• 
  Carolyn   April 22, 2012, 7:23 p.m.

  I am kind of bummed I am just listening to this meeting now, but First in Math is something I have seen throughout many eleemntary schools but not something I have ever experienced. I have done observations in different schools within the school district I grew up in and they all do First in Math. HOwever I was interested in the program becasue the game 24 is the basis of it. I LOVE this game, it was one of my favorites in elementary school partially becasue there were so mnay different ways to find 24 and so many options. I think First in Math is interesting because it uses the internet and technology to teach math, it is definitely connected to this class and how much we talk about technology in this course. I have seen the game first handed and agree with Sandy that it really keeps the kids intersted and gives flexibility with what you can do. There was one game tat was like Suduko that one of the fifth graders was playing the other day and I even got really into it. It used patterns! something that I guess First in Math does not have a problem with!

• 
  Kathy Cianciola   Jan. 29, 2012, 11:48 p.m.

  Carolyn,

  I remember having the times tables on a chart in the back of my text book, but putting them on the desks is a great idea!  How were they attached to the desk? Were they decals?  I find it interesting that my son is only 6 and he wants to learn them.  He does the multiplication games on First In Math. Perhaps learning the times tables at an earlier age is a good idea, teaching according to the child's desire to learn.  I asked my son why he was so interested in learning his times tables, but I can't remember what he said.  I will have to ask him again.  Does anyone else find that their child wanted to learn them at a young age?  How about when you were a child, did you want to learn them early?   I still have trouble with the 8 and 7 times tables.

  I was just doing an internet search for some multiplication games that would work for younger children, and I found a real cute one called "Minko's Milk Shake Shoppe."  I bookmarked it immediately, and can't wait to share it with my son...and with you.  I played what I think is the easy level of the game and it's pretty basic.  There is a multiplication problem displayed at the bottom of the screen, and 5 answers accross the top.  When you think you know the answer click on it, hold the mouse down and the glass will fill up while you're pressing on the correct answer.  It makes a cool sound too! This is a little reward for getting the answer correct.

  http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/minkos-milkshake-shoppe

• 
  Carolyn Lesser   Jan. 29, 2012, 9:08 p.m.

   I found this conversation very interesting! The part about multiplication tables was the most interesting to me. I think it is a great idea to pose a question about it and find out what others experiences and comments are about it. In school I learned by times tables and it is something I haven't forgotten to this day. It helped out greatly in school and continues to. In a classroom I observed in the Fall I noticed that the students had times tables right on their desks. When I would go around helping them it was very easy for me to explain things or give clues by using the table. I was wondering if others had similar experiences with times tables or if a lot of people never really learned them?

• 
  Kathy Cianciola   Jan. 28, 2012, 10:50 p.m.

  Tuesdays and Thursdays are best for me, however if Wednesday is better for others I can be available on Wednesday.

• 
  SandyG   Jan. 27, 2012, 5:22 p.m.

  It was an interesting conversation between Kathy and Professor D.  I appreciated how Kathy talked about finding learning experiences in everyday activities like going to the grocery store, but  I really agreed with the idea of bringing the arts into the classroom.  One of the questions posed was who do we think of when we think of modern education.  Keeping with the art theme, Elliot Eisner comes to mind.He is a very strong proponent of arts in education. He has ten ideas about what we learn from arts.  They're very interesting.  A nice printable list can be found at http://www.oregonfoto.org/subroutines/eisner.html.  I've copied the list below, but bringing it back to math, I think the arts and math are connected  and there have been many studies of how arts in school improve a student's overall achievement.  Kathy, if you would ever like to talk about special education from a parent's perspective, I would be happy to talk with you. Additionally, I am 2 classes away from my master's and cert in special ed. On a side  note, my daughter uses an iPad at school. It's a great tool for her, and we fought to get it for her because she has one at home and does so well with it.

   

  Here are the "Ten Lessons the Arts Teach" compiled by Elliot Eisner, one of the country's leading art educators.

  The arts teach children to make good judgements about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts it is judgment rather than rules that prevail

  The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.

  The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

  The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving, purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstances and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

  The arts make vivid the fact that words do not, in their literal form or number, exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

  The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtlety.

  The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

  The arts help children to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

  The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

  The arts' important position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.

  Einser, E. (2012). Ten lessons the arts teach. Retrieved January 2012, from Oregon Friends of the Orchestra: http://www.oregonfoto.org/subroutines/eisner.html

• 
  Kathy Cianciola   Jan. 28, 2012, 11:34 p.m.
  In Reply To:   SandyG   Jan. 27, 2012, 5:22 p.m.

  Sandy,

  I agree with what this has to say about the arts giving new life to one's expressions, however, some of the characteristics sited here are aspects of art which would be difficult to apply to mathematics. I see art and math like yin and yang.  They can fit together, yet they are very different.  For instance the idea that in art, "questions can have more than one answer"...I don't really see that in math, usually there is one answer.  The idea that "the arts help children feel, reaching into their poetic capacities"...Yes, that is art, however I don't see a way of connecting that to mathematics. You might find that in an activity such as making snowflakes, but most math activities are not going to reach into the poetic realm.  I have always enjoyed the beauty of creating art, and I have also learned to experience the beauty in math, but, again, they are very different. I see the beauty of math in it's balance and predictabilty.  Yes math might be used to create some art forms, but if art alone were used to teach math I believe the curriculum would be seriously lacking.  That being said, perhaps you can prove me wrong.

• 
  SandyG   Jan. 29, 2012, 12:12 a.m.
  In Reply To:   Kathy Cianciola   Jan. 28, 2012, 11:34 p.m.

  I think you misunderstood  that I was discussing the specific subject of art; rather, I was referring to the arts, as in the visual, literary, and performing arts such as architecture, sculpture, paining, music, poetry, dance, theater/cinema, and the modern, non-traditional arts of photography and comics.

   The list I included was titled, "Ten Lessons the Arts Teach". The particular quote you picked, "the arts help children feel, reaching into their poetic capacities"...  really must be looked at from the perspective of the ARTS (vs. art), and that particular quote maybe applies more to a verbal skill as it begins, "The arts help children to say what cannot be said." 

  I wasn't at all saying that the subject of art should be used to teach math. I was saying that the arts should be taught as there have been many studies which show that the arts increase student performance in all subjects. That being said, I do think connections can be found between math and the arts of music and art.

  Though I'm not a big fan of Wikipedia, and often doubt its legitimacy, they do have an interesting  page about the connection between math and music: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_and_mathematics .  There is also a page about art and math: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics_and_art.  Here is another article (perhaps more credible than Wiki) about how art and math are both similar and different:    http://staff.washington.edu/rockne/math-art.pdf. 

  Back to what I was originally saying in my response to the recording, though, proponents of the arts in school have long cited the positive effect the arts have on student achievement. "Multiple independent studies have shown increased years of enrollement in arts courses are positively correlated with higher SAT verbal and math scores. High school students who take arts classes have higher math and verbal SAT scores than students who take no arts classes" (Critical evidence how the arts benefit student achievement, 2006) .

  So, no, I don't think there's any need to "prove you wrong" as I agree that you can't use art (the subject) to teach all concepts in math any more than I think you should sing all of your lessons! I was merely discussing the skills gained from the arts and the impact the arts have on student achievement in all subject areas, including math.

   

  Critical evidence how the arts benefit student achievement. (2006). Retrieved January 2012, from National Assembly of State Arts Agencies: http://www.nasaa-arts.org/Publications/critical-evidence.pdf

• 
  Anonym   Jan. 26, 2012, 4:10 p.m.

  I, also, will be at work and unable to attend the meeting, but I will watch the recordings. Maybe a group of us can decide on a different meeting time?

• 
  Laura Haeberle   Jan. 24, 2012, 12:59 a.m.

  Hi everyone, does anyone else need a different meeting time? I work Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-10pm, but I'm free most other nights, so I'm wondering if anyone else has similar availabilities. Thanks!

• 
  Bon Crowder   Jan. 24, 2012, 10:26 a.m.
  In Reply To:   Laura Haeberle   Jan. 24, 2012, 12:59 a.m.

  I don't like the timing either, but if it sticks, I'll just watch the recording later. 

  That's right before #mathchat and during family time. Plus Judson is out of town for the next 7 weeks, so it's even worse.

  I'll manage on whatever is decided though.

• 
  Carolyn   Jan. 25, 2012, 8:34 p.m.
  In Reply To:   Laura Haeberle   Jan. 24, 2012, 12:59 a.m.

  I work some thursdays too so I won't be able to attend all meetings. What time were you thinking of doing a different one?