Lesson Plan to meet special needs

In Math, an important lesson students need to understand is about order of operations. In this lesson, students learn and practice order of operations, and they are encourage to use the acronym PEMDAS that stands for “Please excuse my dear aunt Sally”. My lesson basically focus on understanding the order of operations and how it can affect the answer in a mathematical sentence with several operations included, and in practice. Though most of the students understand it pretty fast, some others find hard to remember the order and apply the rules.

Based on my experience, I decided to change my lesson plan to try to reach all students and help them understand and apply these rules correctly. To achieve my goal, I will ask students to bring their devices to class, and use different technological tools.

Differentiation is a very important part of educations. Is the way a teacher responds to the different needs of their students. To differentiate means to adapt your teaching to the different skills and  backgrounds of your students, Today differentiation is much easier thanks to technology.  By using technology and the many web2 tools available today in internet, a teacher can deliver and share information in many ways, giving students the opportunity to use those tools that fit their needs better based on their particular learning style. By differentiating, teachers are giving students the opportunity to understand better how they learn, so that they could become independent and confident learners. Videos, blogs, websites, games and networks are just some of the many tools that educators can use to differentiate in their classrooms.

In this lesson plan, students will not only have access to the information in many different ways, but also, they will be able to share with others their understanding by choosing the tool that best adapt to their skills and learning style.

Students are asked to choose 3 sources of the following list, to watch, read or listen, and create either a google doc, a common craft video, a glogster, a prezzi, a digital book, or a podcast explaining the order of operations and sharing 10 different examples solved by them. Additional to their project, they will need to create 10 problems for their classmates with an answer sheet.

List of sources:

A day of sharing

I want to share some pictures of the visit that some of my studrnts and I made to the " Hospital Infantil Federico Gómez". It all started back in early October when I shared with the kids the work that some people are doing with the kids that have cancer, bringing happiness to their lives by making true one of their wishes. The kids asked if we could help, and we started by doing during advocacy and home room some "alcancías" to collect money within their communities explaining what the project was about. We had all sort of experiences. On January I had one disappointed and sad student that during Christmas  he collected a lot of money from friends and family, and then the maid stole the money and left. What I liked was the response of everyone in the group. They showed support and encourage him to start all over again, with wise phrases like "Well that's life, start again and don't worry"....WOW! And that's exactly what he did without looking backwards. At the end we collected about $2500 pesos and were able to buy three tables and make true the wishes of one teenager (17 years old with leukemia), one 6 years old boy and a 4 years old girl. This Friday we met the children at the hospital just a little before their scheduled chemotherapy. The kids brought cupcakes, candy, cookies, donuts, and shared with the children and parents that were waiting for their treatments. It was a shocking experience for all of them, but also so much rewarding. They listened to heartbreaking stories, felt empathy, showed a lot of strength, and brought for a moment some laughs, happiness, joy and hope to such a sad place. I asked the kids to write a short reflection about their experience. Once I have them, I am planning to make a video with them. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of our amazing and beautiful students. Have a nice Sunday.

My experience as a learner

I have always had a passion for learning. I truly believe that there is always something interesting to learn about, and specially today when our world is changing constantly and today being updated is a need. My experience as  a learner is always challenging and motivating. I have experience frustration, anxiety, fear, but at the end the experience is always enriching. As a teacher, being in the position of a student, gives me also another perspective, and helps me remember how can a student feel when they face something new. The way teachers teach their students has, I believe a direct correlation to the way in which we learn ourselves, and there are many factors that affect teachers´learning and therefor the way we teach. From my point of view the most important factors are,  the motivation to learn and improve the development of  skills, personal confidence,  emotional well being, economical stability and a sense of independence. I love learning, it increases my motivation, my love and passion for the job, and most important it increases my potential and effectiveness in many ways. The big challenge here, is to find the time and support to put my developing ideas and new skills and techniques into practice. 

Where do I see myself in the near future.

Because technology has become such an integral part of society, it is necessary to integrate its use in the classroom and today, this can be done in many different ways . Today's technology can provide teachers and students with opportunities for teaching and learning that were impossible in the past. Computers and other devices like Ipads and smart phones are used today to communicate and collaborate with people across the world, widening our knowledge and point of view about everything. As teachers we have the responsibility of preparing our students to become independent learners and help them develop all the needed skills to become global students and be able to face the challenges of the 21st century. Educators should nowadays use technology in their classrooms not only to change the ways students access information, but also to teach them how to identify information that is useful and trustable, work effectively with others, and learn about the different types of media that can be used to present information.  Other advantages of the use of technology in the classroom is the ability to address  the different learning styles increasing the students´ potential. Using several types of technology i a lesson, can also help students understand better the concepts, and increase not only their their confidence, but their curiosity and motivation for a specific topic.

In my Science class, I teach a lesson about volcanoes and earthquakes, which is a topic in which my students in Mexico always show interest because they have experienced at least one in their short lives. Basically, the lesson is based in videos, books and a hands on activities to understand better the types of boundaries and how they can cause an earthquake. In this days, internet offers not only tons of information about earthquakes, tsunamis, and boundaries that are one click away, but also provides students with current and actual informations about where and when are earthquakes happening at the moment, interactive sites like EDUCADE where students can as the first step of the lesson,play with a puzzle of the tectonic plates, to understand better how plates move and where are the volcanoes and earthquakes generally located. In the second step, students will get into groups of 3 to 4 people.and have them play with the second level of the puzzling plates. Step 3. Have students go to Interactives: Dynamic Earth and using  the plate and boundaries map shown there, ask them to create their own plate map with the location of the plate boundaries, most important volcanoes, mid ocean ridges, and recent earthquakes. Step 3. Ask students to discuss within their groups they observations and conclusions about the location of volcanoes, plates, earthquakes and boundaries. Some questions that can serve as a guidance for this step are:

• What did you notice about the distribution of volcanoes?
• What did you noticed about earthquakes?
• Where are the majority of volcanoes and earthquakes located?
• What do you notice about the convergent boundaries and their locations?
• Why do you think that volcanoes and earthquakes emerge around this boundaries? Step 4. After the discussion. Have students research how do volcanoes form, how do earthquakes form? How are these processes different? How are they similar? Why do you think volcanoes formed in one area, but not earthquakes? To research, students can go to the following sources: USGS, Volcano Live, Curiosity Aroused, USGS Earthquakes, Earthquake facts and Scholastics. Step 5. Have students use the volcano simulator. Step 6. Present an overview of how volcanoes form and why earthquakes occur. Lead the discussion towards the structure of the Earth´s interior. Step 7. Have students tweet 5 most important fact they learned about volcanoes and five about earthquakes. Step 8. Complete a worksheet. Step 9. Have students choose one volcano located anywhere around the world and one earthquake that happened any time in history to research and make a presentation on. Choose a Prezzi, Glogster, Blog post or another way of your preference to present your findings. Students can highlight the following subject areas for volcanoes and earthquakes: For volcanoes: history of the volcano, type of volcano, location, last eruption, video. For earthquakes: Plates and faults involved, epicenter, social impact on countries, video.  Step 10. Have students present their work.

As I am about to finish my certification in technology by SUNY, I am excited about all the opportunities that this certification provides me with.  On the one hand, as a teacher the possibility to enrich each and every one of my lessons, motivating my students and facilitating their learning process is one thing that motivates me. As a math teacher, there are many times where I can feel the frustration of my students when they struggle and when they work hard to understand concepts and processes, and they fail. This failure very frequently traduces in low confidence and self esteem, and what worries me the most,is that his feeling lead them to hate the subject. Today, this is a matter that concerns educators and governments around the world because more and more students are avoiding careers that involves any type of math, leaving science, finances, and other important fields with a poor enrolment. The advantages of using technology to differentiate instruction, to make learning a fun and interesting process, increasing students´curiosity and enhancing their motivation for learning, can switch this tendency and make a difference in the way students perceive math. “Technology is an extremely important aspect of our lives because it has revolutionized the way we communicate and learn.” In education, the way we plan our lessons, as well as the way how students are absorbing the information is constantly changing.  Gone are the days of mere chalkboards and posters; now, students seem to crave for different apps, and web tools to work with in the classroom. Expert agree that “ utilizing technology not only builds students confidence, but also enhances the teaching-learning process, saves paper and time, and keeps students engaged and motivated.”

On the other hand, I see myself in the near future, as a trainer. Teaching and sharing my experience and knowledge with other educators, parents, and business people who could benefit and improve their performance and professional development by developing skills and abilities through the use of technology. Technology has brought advancements in many fields of our daily lives like agriculture, medicine, transportation, communication, genetics, tourism, entertainment, etc. Technology has touched every aspect of life, making it easier, better and different. Technology has changed the way we live and they way we think. It has changed many lives, and it has certainly change mine.

Understanding PEMDAS.Lesson Plan to meet special needs

In Math, an important lesson students need to understand is about order of operations. In this lesson, students learn and practice order of operations, and they are encourage to use the acronym PEMDAS that stands for “Please excuse my dear aunt Sally” to remember the steps. My lesson basically focus on understanding the order of operations and how it can affect the answer in a mathematical sentence with several operations included, and in practice. Though most of the students understand it pretty fast, some others find hard to remember the order and apply the rules.

Based on my experience, I decided to change my lesson plan to try to reach all students and help them understand and apply these rules correctly. To achieve my goal, students will bring their devices to class, and use different technological tools in the classroom.

Differentiation is a very important part of educations. Is the way a teacher responds to the different needs of their students. To differentiate means to adapt your teaching to the different skills and  backgrounds of your students, Today differentiation is much easier thanks to technology. By using technology and the many web2 tools available today in internet, a teacher can deliver and share information in many ways, giving students the opportunity to use those tools that fit their needs better based on their particular learning style. By differentiating, teachers are giving students the opportunity to understand better how they learn, so that they could become independent and confident learners. Videos, blogs, applications, websites, games and networks are just some of the many tools that educators can use to differentiate instruction in the classroom. "Differentiated instruction provides a means to address many of the educational factors leading to gaps in achievement" Internet offers a vast array of resources to educators, parents and students that take into account individual learning needs and leaning styles, motivating students to meet their highest potential. Because of technology, teachers today have access to a myriad tools for all steps of the learning process, allowing different ways to absorb, understand, process and deliver information.

In this lesson plan, the main goal is to differentiate instruction according to the different skills and needs of students. They not only have access to the information in many different ways, but also, they are able to share with others their understanding by choosing a project that best adapts to their skills and learning style.

Students are asked to group with other two students, and together they will choose 3 sources to watch, read or listen, and create any of the following projects explaining what order of operations is and the importance of following the rules.

Common craft video

Glogster

Prezzi

Digital book

Flippable template

Podcast 

Color by number Freebie

Game

Additional to their project, they will need to complete the following activity.

• Create your own acronym to remember the order of operations. 
• Number 1 - 20 down the left side of a sheet of paper.
• Create order of operations problems for each number. The answer to the order of operations problem must be the same that the number of the problem. Examples: The answer for problem number 7 should be seven.
• Use at least 4 operations and 1 set of parentheses in each problem created.  
• One way to further differentiate this activity is to vary the number of parameters based on ability levels.

Assessment will be based not focused only in the result, but mainly in the process that students follow in order to achieve their goal.

Accessibility Options  are important considerations for students with visual, hearing or motor difficulties. Therefore, resources for their should include various options.

Video

1. How to defeat a dragon with math- Garth SundemKhan Academy. 
2. Order of operations: Math is fun
3. Khan Academy: Order of operations
4. Song: Order in the court 
5. The PEMDAS Song

Manipulatives

1. The Millionaire GameOrder of Operations 
2. GameMath Frog. Order of operations
3. Math interactives

Visuals

1. Order of operations
2. Math Goodies: Order of operations
3. About.com Mathematics
4. Purple Math. The order of operations

Bibliography

The NMC Horizon Report is the centerpiece of the NMC Emerging Technologies Initiative established in 2002. Its main objective, is to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to impact  the teaching and learning processes, information management and creative inquiry in many and different ways . The main mission of this project, is to help educators and leaders across the world build upon the innovation happening at their institutions by providing them with research and analysis done by experts in the field.

In the 2013 report, there are six technologies highlighted likely to be use in the course of the next five years.  On the near-term horizon, which assumes that these new technologies may be available for schools within the next 12 months,  two of the technologies that may enter the mainstream for schools, are cloud computing and mobile learning. Cloud computing has already impact the way people communicates, work with others, stores their data and the way they access it. Mobile learning is becoming an integral part of education. Today, more and more students are having access to devices, which allows them to learn, communicate and collaborate in many different ways, taking advantage of all the possibilities that this technology offers. On the mid-term horizon, which assumes that these technologies may be available for schools within the next two to three years, there are basically two technologies likely to be adopted, these are learning analytics and open-content.  The 2013 Horizon Report describes learning analytics as the "Field associated with deciphering trends and patterns from educational big data, or huge sets of student-related data, to further the advancement of a personalized, supportive system of higher education." In other words, is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of improving the learning process. The open-content  tool represents and important change in the way students study and learn. It offers a greater number of people the possibility to have access to education by lowering costs and making learning accessible to regions that are difficult to reach.  Based on the Open Content Alliance, it is about building a digital archive of global content for universal access. On the far term horizon, this means four to five years away, the two technologies that the NMC Horizon Report highlights, are 3D printing and the virtual and remote laboratories. 3D printing is becoming much more affordable and accessible. Stratasys states that "Bringing 3D printing into the classroom exposes learners to the same cutting-edge technologies they’ll encounter in their careers. It gives them a jump-start on tomorrow’s challenges." On the other hand, virtual and remote laboratories gives students the possibility to experience scientific experiences without the associated costs of building and maintaining a physical laboratory. It also has the advantage, that students can repeat their experiments as many times as they need and wish without facing extra costs, and they offer greater precision and efficiency. They give students the possibility to have a realistic view of system behavior. Additionally to all these advantages, students can have access to professional laboratory tools from anywhere and whenever they need.

How Web. 2.0 can empower students and young adults

Web2 provides tools that can be found on the web to create, publish, connect, communicate, discuss, share and teach. By introducing them to your classroom, the possibilities for learning widen up. Students feel more engage because these tools gives them the possibility to socialize through different networks, giving them the possibility to learn from others by sharing ideas, information, experiences, and concerns.

Social media provides a variety of tools that provide students new ways to collaborate, create, elaborate, and learn. it widens the opportunities of students to become independent and global learners, developing their skills t become inquirers, thinkers, open-minded, risk takers, reflective and knowledgeable.

Some of the best web tools available for education besides the social networks well known by everybody, there are many others like Meograph, MarQueed, Szoter, Easel.ly, Mural.ly, Hello Slide to name some.

An excellent example of how Web2 tools can empower students is Adora Svitak. This girl at the age of 16, is today an internationally published author, known for her educational videos, essays, stories, poems, blogs and books.

      Svitak, A. (2014, January 9 ). Adora teaching research skills to 9th graders. Retrieved from    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEAG0f4Kwns