We Like Those Stinkin’ Badges!

I was sick one day this week and instead of laying in bed binge watching Netflix I spent a good chunk of the day reading blogs on assessment.

For the last year or so I’ve been trying out different methods for students to keep track of their own learning. I’ve been slowly moving my assessment techniques away from the standard unit test (too bad kid if you failed that test….try harder on the next unit kinda thing) to mastery learning and standards based assessment.

I’ve been using a system like Dan’s and have wanted to jazz it up a bit to incorporate a more game like feel (Especially after seeing his talk on Video Games and Math Class)
I came across Alice Keeler’s blog and wow!!! she is a Jedi on Google! I especially love her google sheets for levelling up and awarding badges and Gamifying Searching Google Drive. I felt that a combination of these two ideas was exactly what I wanted.
So again instead of watching House of Cards on Netflix, I modified Alice’s sheets to create a system that works form me.
Here is what I came up with….
I created a Master List which will keep track of each student and their level/achievement on the expectations/learning goals.
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 I created a Student tab/sheet which will show a student their current mark on each learning goal, the level (stars), and a mastery badge (if awarded). The best part about the student tab is that it is completely automatic. Everything on that tab is populated using formulas. The only thing I need to enter on that page is the individual student numbers.
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This student page is what the student will see. They can look here to check their “score” on each learning goal. See how many badges they’ve earned toward mastering their learning. I just need to publish each of the student sheets and share the public link with each of those students. (Read at the end of the post to see how)

Here is the process…..and this is where I may need some help…

For my senior students:
We will have weekly to semi-weekly “rolling” assessments. On each assessment I’ll assess up to 4 learning goals. For example, the first one it will be learning goals 1 through 4. The second assessment will assess 2 through 5 and so on. The second and third times assessing the same learning goal will include tougher questions.
Every time a student does better on a learning goal they get the better mark. I go to the master sheet take out the old mark and put in the new one!! Screen Shot 2015-01-11 at 7.52.50 PM
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It magically shows up on the students score page.
To get a badge the student will have to have demonstrated mastery of the learning goal. For me this is the student has demonstrated that they know the concept repeatedly. To award the student a badge I just have to put an M in the second column of the learning goal…..and voila! a badge shows up on the student score page!
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My students will have a visual record of their achievement. They can also request “upgrades” on any learning goal! They can set a date and time to come in and get another assessment testing that learning goal. Their mark should always reflect the amount of knowledge they know rather than the knowledge they know on test day.
Check out the badges tab, Alice has included a ton of different badges. You could set up the different badges you want displayed. You will need to just edit the formula in the badges column on the student tab. (Do this before you make a copy for each student).
Here are some samples of badges I’m creating to award mastery of learning goals.
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Currently my sheet is set up for 20 learning goals. If you need to add more, do it before you make copies for each student. Fill all the formulas down on the student page.
If you want to try this out:
    1. Definitely go and see Alice’s blog and see what she’s got.
    2. Download a copy of my Spreadsheets and give it a whirl 
    3. Let me know how it’s going by commenting here or sending me a tweet @MrOrr_Geek

 

After showing Alice the new sheets she pointed me to her Template Tab sheet which will automatically create tabs/sheets for each student!! Awesome.

Here’s how to share the student tabs with kids

Share the first student sheet by choosing publish to the web..

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Choose the first student to publish and hit publish (Do not choose Entire Document). It will give you a link copy that link!

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Create a brand new spreadsheet and paste that link beside a cell with the student’s student number.

Screen Shot 2015-01-11 at 8.34.59 PMRepeat this for every student. I know it seems like a lot of work at the start, but that will be it!!

Now you can share that one document with your class and they can always access their score sheet!

 

 

Logarithmic Warm Up

Our goal in Advanced Functions today was to graph y = log(x) and transformations of y = log(x). Here was what we did as a warm up/minds-on. Everyone started with a whiteboard and a device of some sort (SmartScreen Shot 2014-12-08 at 2.16.38 PMphones, iPads, tablets—I have access to a set of iPads for anyone without a device. This class being a grade 12 class….just about everyone has their own device).

I had them log into a PearDeck file I created.

I gave everyone in my class a number. Some got integers 1-20 and some got fractions 1/4 through 1.

My instructions:

1. Take your number, n, and find log(n). Write your number and log(n) as an ordered pair! (n, log(n))

I started the PearDeck presentation which showed them this slide……and gave them all a movable point.

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2. Move your point to the location of the ordered pair you have! So my students started moving their points around and on the projector screen we can see everyone’s points all at once in real time! So we are basically watching the creation of y = log(x).

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Sorry for the poor quality of pic…it was on the fly

You could see the looks on their faces as the graph was being created….pretty cool

From here we took a note on the properties of the function….then kept using PearDeck to analyze transformations of y = log(x). We saw Graphs then –> wrote equations and then saw equations –> drew graphs. We could do everything right in PearDeck so we could see all of our answers all of the time! PearDeck works through your Google account…..give it a try!

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Projects from 2013-2014, iTunesU, iBooks

I feel like since I started using Twitter for Pd and following the #MTBos my learning curve has been steep! As a result, when I look back at resources I have created I find myself wishing that I had done it “this way” or “that way” or used a different task here or there.
This is no problem for creating lessons, activities, tasks to use with MY students because I can always modify, change, manipulate!
My regrets show up when I’m involved in a project that gets published or shared out beyond my reach and afterwards my thinking has changed by seeing a great blog post, or a new activity, or by just having a discussion with a colleague. I wish I had all the time in the world to keep everything “up to date”

Our blogs, Google Drive Folders, Dropboxes are easily update-able and where are current lessons are!

Here are a few of those projects that I hit publish and find it hard to keep up to date: Each of these has lots of stuff I’m proud of, and some stuff I wish I could find the time to “update”

ITunesU Course – MPM1D (created April 2014)
Last spring I created an iTunesU course for my school board (Lambton-Kent).
Purpose: To share some digital resources I have used, or, are using in my grade 9 Principles of mathematics course.

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https://itunes.apple.com/ca/course/principles-mathematics-public/id946920145

iBook – Measurement (created July 2014)

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Whatcha Thinking – independent use of 3 Act Math Tasks for MFM1P

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iBook – Linear Relations (created July 2013)

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Popcorn Pandemonium

DOWNLOAD THE TASK & RESOURCES

Download the videos, images, and resources by clicking download below

My afternoon grade 9 applied class (as a group) is very outspoken, loud, and restless (maybe it’s because it’s the afternoon and they have been sitting at desks all day). They have been a challenge to keep on task. So….I  am trying to find opportunities for them to be outspoken, loud, and restless.

A few weeks ago I came across this post by John Berray. Using/eating marshmallows to compare rates of change. I loved his idea of “experiencing rate of change” I decided to re-purpose his lesson to meet our goal of—> “I can solve a linear systems of equations by graphing.” I also took his recommendation of using popcorn instead of marshmallows…..and it paid off!!

Here is the low down…. we start the “Math Dial” off low.

ME: OK you are going to have a good o’ fashion popcorn eating contest!

Start with this video:



Ask for questions:

Here are a few from math tweeps

here are a few questions we can address with this problem.

  • When will Tim and Don eat the same amount as Jon?
  • Who will eat the most when the minute is up?
  • Will there be a time when Tim and Don eat the exact same amount?
  • When would Don eat more than Tim?

ME: Ok lets figure out who will eat the most in the 1 minute. But I want to recreate the video with you guys.

So I made a giant bowl of popcorn. (Don’t have time to make enough popcorn? — have kids give high fives to a timer instead)

Arrange groups of 2 or 3 and everybody grabbed some popcorn to start!

Round 1:

In each group kids are to choose who to mimic, Jon, Tim, or Don. They are to eat just like them! Allow them to ask about how fast each person is eating….or how much did each start with, etc.

Show Act 2 to answer those questions:


Tell them to get their timers ready….because they will eat just like one of those guys. Ready…..all you Tims and Jons eat your starting amount … Set….Go!

Start the timers and eat!

Question 1:
After they are finished, have them work out on their whiteboards who would eat the most in a minute.

Question 2:
When would Tim & Don eat the same as Jon if ever? (Great potential here for integer solutions talk).

Question 3:
During the minute, at anytime did Tim and Don eat the same?

If there was no time limit find when Tim & Don would eat the same?

Used this handout so they could create tables of values. Had them graph in Desmos!

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The awesome thing was that my students were desperately trying to find the equations to match their graphs….they didn’t want to plot all the points. I visited each group helping them find the equations if needed. Once the equations were in desmos they knew where to look.

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Act 3 – The reveal of who ate the most in a minute


Round 2: Do it all over again with new eating patterns!
Here are two possible eating pattern cards to give out:

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Students who finished early worked on our Crazy Taxi  vs. a new Insane Cab

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(@mathletepearce has a nice write up on using the Crazy taxi problem in class.)

Next day! Solving Multi-step equations…..will solve this systems of equations algebraically.

DOWNLOAD THE TASK & RESOURCES

Download the videos, images, and resources by clicking download below