Comments for Devin

Comment on Assessment Plan by Sandy Ludeman

Sandy Ludeman — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:33:41 +0000

Devin,
Please reread the prompt for this component. You have done part of it (the more traditional part). Read the second bullet where you are to create a project based assessment and indicate how you applied the information from the website. THis will allow you to connect Component 1 to this component.

Sandy

Comment on Unit Plan by Kristy Pedersen

Kristy Pedersen — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 03:29:32 +0000

I would agree with Sandy the product base learning will be much more beneficial than the lecture type. That is one of my favorite things of your style of teaching. Good plans too, it is very thorough

Comment on Unit Plan by Sandy Ludeman

Sandy Ludeman — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:02:26 +0000

Devin,

I think your idea of using products instead of the usual (Mind-numbing) lessons in the text will really help students apply their knowledge. Using, especially, UDL 4.2 and 7.2 also adds to the students’ actually understanding why they are learning these things. When you complete your final version be sure to add a brief description of the instruction under the topic on the calendar, e.g., images of polygons.
Sandy

Comment on Relating to Other Content Areas by Sandy Ludeman

Sandy Ludeman — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:47:04 +0000

Devin,
Both of these projects can be fleshed out for the final assessment. Bringing in people who actually apply these skills for a living is a great idea as well. As I think you saw in the video, using them as actaul evaluators is also a good idea as it helps students move beyond thinking evaluation only occurs in school. Your use of images will be especially helpful for students like me who never really got (or liked) geometry.

Comment on Relating to Other Content Areas by Kristy Pedersen

Kristy Pedersen — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:13:56 +0000

Dude! Sorry unprofessional reaction, but I like the idea of doing an Egyptian unit. Using an ancient way to do that sort of thing would be great. I was trying to make a connection to my subject and an integration, but the only thing I could come up with is calculating momentum and improving sports. Such as a baseball swing or how to make a long jump better. It could be a good way to get athletes interested in math if they are having issues with it. Love the values you have of relating it to real life.

Comment on Connecting to Students by Sandy Ludeman

Sandy Ludeman — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 19:55:00 +0000

Devin, Again, you have posted a thoughtful response although, before turning in the final copy, I need you to include the specific UDLs: you have referenced them generally, but I believe the more you use the list, the better able you will be to remember the prompts.

I am so glad you are moving beyond lists of words and are making the words work – like the home assignment. Also, using manipulatives might help students (like me, for example) other than SPED. And your attitude toward teaching something you may not like reveals your movement toward thinking like a teacher. I found teaching things I did not like, e.g., romantic poetry, actually helped me change my mind because the students liked it! Maybe that will happen.
Sandy

Comment on Connecting to Students by Kristy Pedersen

Kristy Pedersen — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 04:17:31 +0000

OOOOooooo I love the idea of building a house. What a useful way to link it to a life like idea and even visual. I wonder if there is some type of building program you can use to see how this crazy house will be. Plus doing a visual and auditory lesson will benefit.

Kristy

Comment on Influential Learning Environments by Katherine Thomas

Katherine Thomas — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:05:03 +0000

Whereas in the first experience you were being taught math as an abstract concept, in your high school pre-calculus class you were shown directly how it could be applied to real world applications. It is an incredibly powerful message, showing how all the effort you put into learning the steps, rules, and equations can be used. Nobody wants to feel like their time is being wasted, and I don’t doubt that you’ll give your students a sense of purpose and “meaning” to their learning. Thank you for sharing your experiences! Beware of “slipping into what you know” if that is the very thing you actively want to avoid!!

Comment on Influential Learning Environments by Kristy Pedersen

Kristy Pedersen — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:24:07 +0000

Devin,

I really like the stories you have provided and I think most would enjoy the values you are trying to implement. I also often found myself wondering why things were just the way they were in math. Why we valued theorems so much even though they themselves were theories. I look forward to seeing your unit I hope it involves the community! My mother-in-law is a math teacher in the middle school. The kids always complain and say, “Why do we need to know this we won’t ever use it”. So to show how math is used in life later she will have here three kids and I come in and say how we use math. My husband is a software engineer so he uses it often and is a great example. She also shows the episodes from Numbers sometimes to really drive that concept home. Maybe you could bring community members in to show how they use it. Just ideas!

Comment on Influential Learning Environments by Sandy Ludeman

Sandy Ludeman — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:56:34 +0000

Devin, I had very similar experiences in my math classes but, unhappily for me, never did have even one teacher who excited me. I so regret not taking more math nor even giving it a chance. I, too, always wanted to know why the formulas worked; I even made up my own geometry theorems (which did not go over very well). I have this theory that every teacher should have some experience within their chosen content that was discouraging or really difficult so he or she can understand why students do not like or do badly in the content. Your stories give me hope that you will understand those students….and do it differently.
By the way, direct instruction gets a bad rap because it so often can just be bad teaching; in the hands of a good teacher it can be the best way to teach certain subjects. Sandy