Jill, Felice and I decided to do our project on measurement because all of our students were studying it in some capacity.

http://www.ancient-origins.net

Script: As many of you may know measurement as been around for a long time. This is because of things like agriculture, construction and trade.

http://www.ancient-origins.net

Script: When looking back to history, the earliest recorded systems of weights and measures originate in the 3rd or 4th millennium BC.

http://www.crazyskates.com

Script: Interestingly enough, history believes that the foot was given its name from the human body part. The length of the human foot was measured from the heel to the tip of the big toe.

 www.shareslide.net

Script:  This is because of the King. In ancient times, he ruled the body to be an appropriate form of measure.

http://www.pintrest.com

Script: Such as the length of a foot, the width of a finger, and the distance of a step were all accepted measurements. In the 14th century, King Edward II of England ruled that 1 inch equal 3 grains of barley placed end to end lengthwise.

 www.topendsports.com

Script: At first an inch was the width of a man’s thumb. 

http://www.pintrest.com

Script: A hand was approximately 5 inches or 5 digits (fingers) across. Today, a hand is 4 inches and is used to measure horses (from the ground to the horse’s withers, or shoulder).

 www.topendsports.com

Script: A span was the length of the hand stretched out, about 9 inches.

 https://askpari.wordpress.com

Script: In ancient times, the foot was 11.42 inches. Today it is 12 inches, the length of the average man’s foot.

 http://study.com

Script: Unfortunately, these creative measuring devices allowed for different measurements to be obtained when different people measured the same items. Eventually, a standard was set so that all measurements represented the same amount for everyone.

http://www.redit.com

Script: The standard system that was agreed upon by many places outside is the metric system. ******

Script: It has prefix modifiers that are multiples of 10. The metric system consists of meters and grams instead of the familiar yards and pounds.

http://sassybagel.blogspot.com

Script: Examples of length include the inch, the foot, and the yard. Knowing how to measure length is quite useful for measuring area and perimeter. Length represents the distance between two points.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com

Script: Weight isn’t as simple to measure as length. Weights and scales are still essential to finding the accuracy of measuring weight. Some examples of weight are ounces, pounds, and tons.
http://www.shutterstock.com

Script: Volume is one of the most difficult to measure. Some units of volume are liters, cups, quarts, and gallons. Volume measures how much liquid is in a space.

https://gsdrugcourtfoundation.org

Script: Measurement is a very important skill to have because without measuring, we wouldn’t be able to make clothes, bake, furnish rooms properly, build stable houses, or accomplish many other daily tasks.

 

This spring I was placed in a third grade classroom at Gesu Perish School. This is a private catholic school that is very different then most of my other shadowing experiences. There are twenty-one students in my classroom and they all seem semi friendly to each other. I have however found that they do have cliques and are pretty territorial over their “group” especially if my corroborating teacher allows partner work. They can become pretty sassy and snappy with one another if someone tries to enter their “group” or if a member of their “group” goes to work with someone outside of the “group”. However, if my corroborating teacher assigns groups they can work with each other with very little conflict. I believe that the choice of partners stresses them a little bit and that’s why they become territorial, possibly worrying that no one will want to work with them. Every student is extremely comfortable around their teacher though. They constantly ask her many, many questions and feel very comfortable sharing their lives with her.

My students work pretty well in small groups, as stated above. Their desks are in clumps so they have automatic groups for everything they do at their desks. Also, every Monday they do an activity called Monday Madness which is science based projects. For this my cooperating teacher tries to mix up the groups each time and make sure all the students have the chance to work with each other. Last week they built marble runs with paper towel rolls and tape and this week they worked on a plan to design bridges out of popsicle sticks and glue. During these activities I was very impressed with the group collaboration, everyone chimed in with their ideas and the group always at least tried it out.

Regarding technology in the classroom, they seem to be transitioning from using just notebooks to write their assignments to typing them digitally. My corroborating teacher explained to me that they have one class set of iPads for all three of the third grade rooms to share. This makes it difficult to use them at all times however, they stay in my corroborating teachers classroom and from my observations her class uses them the most. They use the iPads quite often, they do their weekly word work sorts on them, in which they get a document sent to them through Google Classroom and open it in order to click and drag their spelling words for that week into different categories. My corroborating teacher also allows the students to type up anything they’re working on instead of writing it in their notebooks. For example she was having them write a paragraph on the person that they had just read a biography on, some students hand wrote it while others typed it. There is also a computer in the corner of the room that is technically my corroborating teachers, however, the students go up to it and use it all the time to do research if they have a question about something, or to check out library books. An example of this is that some of the students were not sure if the person they were reading about had died in the time the book was written to now or not, so they would go to her computer and look it up. My corroborating teacher also has a projector that projects onto a white board that she uses as a screen in order to write on activities so her students can follow along.

When I asked my students to tell me about their use of technology at home I received a wide variety of answers. Some of them told me that they could only use technology for an hour a day, others said only after they completed their homework, and a few said that their parents didn’t care how long they spent using technology. When they do get the chance to use technology however, most of what each student told me they spent their time on was similar. Regrading the computer most of them told me they enjoy using it to go on youtube, listen to music,  or play mind craft. Many of them also play video games on their Ps4’s or X-box’s like fortnight. Finally, many of them told me that they have iPads at home in which they like to play apps like candy crush. From asking my students about their technology use at home I have discovered that all of the students seem to enjoy similar things but that it really depends on the parents and how much they monitor their children.

I feel that a digital storytelling unit could be very beneficial for my classroom due to their advantages. We read many articles in class about the advantages of having a project of digital story telling, one of the articles, The Effect of Digital Storytelling in Improving the Third Graders’ Writing Skills greatly focused on the specific benefits. The articles studies found that “Digital storytelling enriches the learning environment, curriculum and learning experiences, develops the technical, presentation, research, organization and writing skills, enhances learning motivation and problem-solving capacities, develops academic achievement, attitude, motivation and learning strategies , makes students gain self-confidence, and strengthens the sense of voice, story organization, multimedia literacy skills and writing skills” (YAMAC & ULUSOY, 61). All of these are crucial skills that every students needs constant advancement in. I particularly believe that the students in my class could really increase their problem-solving skills and self-confidence. My students also get so excited when they get the opportunity to work with the iPads, and by having a project like this it would really spark their interests and let them become really creative!

Lindsay, Chloe, Ellie, Betsy

After completing the first 20 levels you move on from the green levels to the blue levels. In the blue levels you are introduced to an added twist, along with the levels being increasingly challenging. The twist is that you are introduced to boxes that have normal numbers (like normal from the green levels) but, one of the boxes will also have a +/- *insert number here* (usually 2) in the bottom left corner. This means that when you select that number it will decrease by that number or increase by that number. So for example if you had four number 4 boxes in a row with one that had the +/- 2 on the bottom left corner and selected them to decrease them once, three of the boxes would become 3 and the special box would become 2. If you wanted to increase them once three of them would be 5 and the special box would be 6. Now, if you were to decrease the boxes twice, you would get all four boxes to 2 because the special box cannot decrease by any more than that because, if it were to decrease again the box would be at 0 which is not a number it can be in the game. If you were to increase twice you would get three of the boxes to be 6 and the special box to be 8. And, if you were to increase the boxes three times you would get three of the boxes to be 7 but the special box would stay at 8 because it cannot be increased by 2 more than that because you would then be at 10, which is not a number a box in this game can be. You can see this more clearly in the pictures below! This adds in another extra challenge into the mix because you have to be very cautious as to which boxes you should be selecting with the special box in order to get the results you need. Also, as you move up in the blue levels you get two of the special boxes which makes things even more challenging!

 This is the starting box for all of the following!

If you were to decrease once: 

If you were to decrease twice: 

If you were to increase once: 

If you were to increase twice: 

I really enjoyed playing this game! It was a fun little break from my normal hectic school work and a time where I just got to sit down and logically think of numbers and how to solve problems again (something an early childhood education major doesn’t get to do everyday). In regard to this game as being a teacher and possibly having my future students play it, I’m not too sure if it’s very helpful. Yes, it does teach valuable problem solving skills but, I feel like if I did more research I would probably find a more useful game that also taught that skill. Mathematically it doesn’t require you to be able to do anything either really, besides basic counting. So depending on the grade I’m teaching this game might be useful. I would really only use it in a kindergarten or first grade room, and only for a short amount of time. I would only have my students complete two to three levels a day on it because I could feel myself getting bored with it after that, and therefore I can conclude that five and six year olds are not going to sit down and play the entire game. Overall, I really did enjoy playing this game and think that you all should go and check it out for yourself! The website it’s on (coolmathgames.com) also has hundreds of resources that are all amazing for bringing technology into how you can teach math!

 

 

 

 

 

As I continue playing my game (Nambers) I have figured out more and more tips and tricks that are very helpful. First off, the number in the top left corner next to the stars tells you how many moves you have left in order to get all 3 stars on the level.  You can see that in the picture below, you should complete that level in three moves. Once you go over that amount of moves in order to complete the level you get one less star for every extra move. Watching this number as you play, especially on the more difficult levels becomes very frustrating. And that is because you could still solve the challenge and be able to move on to the next level but not get any stars for it, which is super unsatisfactory. To make it even more daunting of a goal you can see on the main game board  how many stars you’ve gotten on each level, and it tells you the total amount of stars you’ve received out of the 120 possible. So even if you complete the level and can move on to the next one you have this need to go back and figure out how to complete the level in a more strategic way in order to get all of the stars.

This aligns with Gee’s (2007) idea that learning must be pleasantly frustrating to motivate students. Students have to be challenged to prevent feeling bored or stressed. The stars add that extra challenge into the game. Sure, you could complete the game by making as many moves as you want to, but that’s not very interesting and could get very frustrating when you’re up to 20 moves for one of these levels when most of them can be completed in less than 6. The added challenge of the moves limit reminds me of golf and the par, you don’t have to get the ball into the hole in that many swings however if you do make the par you will do better overall in the game and you will feel more accomplished. This is the exact situation in this game, when you don’t exceed the moves limit you do better by getting more stars and feel more accomplished because you can see all of your stars on your game menu (shown below).

This game also aligns with Gee’s idea of the Cycle of Expertise. Gee states that “Expertise is formed in any area by repeated cycles of learners practicing skills until they are nearly automatic, then having those skills fail in ways that cause the learners to have to think again and learn anew” (37). As you increase what level you are completing you have to use skills you’ve gained from the previous levels in order to succeed. However, some of the skills you have learned will fail you once you move on to the next level of the game. For example, in the first few blue levels you only have to change the numbers once to get to the correct answer (which is a skill you learned), however, then once you move up to the higher levels you have to change the numbers multiple times and in different ways in order to complete the puzzle (this is the skill failing you). The first level where I had to change the numbers multiple times really threw me for a loop, I couldn’t believe that I would have to do that when I originally didn’t. I figured the game would get more difficult as the levels increased, however, I simply thought that they would just add in more boxes to make a larger puzzle.

Read my next blog post (Post 2c) for my discussion on the next set of levels in this game and my overall opinion of it!

 

 

 

 

My previous experience with video games is pretty above average. I grew up with an older, and younger brother both of whom have an expert level of experience with playing video games. Thus, I was introduced to many of them myself. I was introduced to and would play with them Mario Cart, Super Smash Bros, Mario Party, Black Ops 2, Red Dead Redemption, and just about every Pokemon game ever made. Along with playing games with my brothers I would play some games with my friends like the Sims, Just Dance, and other random online games just about every kid loved playing. I have always felt pretty comfortable learning how to play games and jumping right it, in fact I can’t even remember the last time I actually read the directions for a video game. With my extensive experience of always being around them, I know that there is only so many buttons you can press and eventually one of them will do what you want it to.

The game I decided to play for this project is on coolmathgames.com and it is a numbers based game called Nambers. It is a very strategic game and is quite difficult to play if you don’t read the instructions, like me. At first I was getting lucky by clicking the correct squares to change, however, as the levels progressed I had to actually figure out how to play the game correctly. The game gives you x amount of boxes (depending on the level) all with a variety of numbers (1-9) in each box, and then you have a smaller box below it that shows you what numbers you want in your big box. Meaning, you have to click on your big boxes and either increase it by selecting it and sliding your mouse right, or decrease it by sliding your mouse left. The trick is that you can only change the number 2 if you have two 2’s or the number 3 if you have three 3’s and so on. This small fact is something I did not figure out I had to do until about level 5 when things stopped being so basic that it was your only option to select two 2’s or three 3’s and so on. Below are two screen shots, one from level two and one from level five. In level two you can see that you have three squares with the number three and one with the number two. By looking down at the small box you can see that you want all of the squares to be the number 2. Thus, I clicked on the three squares and moved my mouse to the left so that they would decrease. However, once I got to level five there was suddenly more than just three 3’s and they only gave me three 5’s. This level took a little work but once I figured out the rules it became pretty simple. To pass this level I had to change the top three 3’s to fives by selecting and swiping, and then change the two 2’s to threes, and finally select the three 3’s I now had and change those to 5’s. I’m very excited to continue playing this game to improve my problem solving skills and critical thinking!

In the Gee reading he said something that really stuck out to me today while I was talking to my corroborating teacher. He said that,“not exploring, updating, and reinventing our teaching strategies can cause us to miss valuable opportunities to reach students” (Gee, 19). My cooperating teacher today was just showing me how she was designing a Google classroom for next year and even slowly moving her students for this year on to doing things online. She told me how she fully believes in updating her teaching methods in order to use her resources to the fullest, and really get her students excited to learn. Through my years of observation I have seen many different types of teaching styles and classroom dynamics, however, the one thing that has remained pretty constant is the students excitement to work on things with laptops or iPads or chrome books. It truly makes them feel like they are doing something fun and they understand it. Teachers should always be updating how they teach and technology is a really big part of todays society that teachers need to be ready to introduce to their students. It’s also an amazing resource for them that can truly change the way they teach.

 

Personal information

1. My name is Lindsay and that’s what most people call me.
2. I am from Detroit, Michigan
3. I have two brothers, one who is older than me, Joe and one who is younger than me, Nico. My older brother is a senior at Michigan Tech University, located in the upper peninsula of Michigan, as my younger brother Nico is a senior in high school.   On campus I am very involved in my sorority Kappa Delta and am on our council as Panhellenic Delegate. I also have a job on campus at our call center. I love working out and I am making it a goal to make time for that everyday this semester.

Learning Style 

1. For me to feel comfortable talking in class I need to see that other people are willing to talk about the subject at hand. I do not enjoy starting a conversation or having a very wide discussion. I like when the discussion is very specific and people know exactly whats being discussed.

What have you been reading?

1. I recently read a book called See Me After Class: Advice for Teachers by Teachers by John Goodlad. This book was very eye opening as it discussed some of the worst things teachers have seen, but it always ended with a good note. And that to me is kinda the moral of teaching, things will be bad sometimes, but they will always get better. My favorite quote from this book is”If someone had told me everything I needed to know before I started teaching, it wouldn’t have mattered. I wouldn’t have listened anyway. I was better and knew more than anyone. I was exactly the kind of new teacher I’d like to help. Talk about irony – I wouldn’t have listened to myself even after I had been through the school of hard knocks. Still, maybe other new teachers aren’t as stubborn and hardheaded as I was.” I love this quote because it’s a simple reminder to stay humble and never say no to a learning opportunity.

About Dr. Shutkin:

7. What is your favorite assignment in this class?