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10 Tools in My Teaching Day

by Jon Orr

Looking to stay productive? Wonder what tools are out there to keep organized? I’ve tried a lot of tools, apps, websites over the last few years; some I kept using and some I tossed away. Here are the 10 tools that I use on a regular basis in my teaching in a video blog format!! If video is not for you scroll below to read the transcript.

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This was my first go at a video post and I would love to know what you think. Think I should keep doing it? Think I should stick to just text? Let me know in the comments below or send me an email. For real, I would love your feedback!!

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Updating the MFM1P Spiral

by Jon Orr

“Have you taught for 25 years? Or have you taught one year 25 times?”

I don’t think I’ve taught the same course the same way ever. Why would we? We don’t have the same kids in front of us. And especially with the resources at our finger tips from our colleagues inside and outside of our schools. I’ve wrote before about the power of #mtbos and it changes the way you teach.

I started spiralling the MFM1P course a few years ago with Kyle Pearce. Since then I’ve taught that course 3 or 4 semesters in row…..and never the same way. New amazing lessons and tools are springing up. For past lessons I wasn’t completely happy with I’ve got to see if this new lesson or that lesson will help my students understand the concepts more deeply.

One change I wanted to make was to include solving equations earlier in the course. In my old plan I waited to introduce it after introducing linear relations. But, after teaching solving equations using the Double Clothesline and the puzzle nature of learning it that way….I can introduce it now and continually practice our skills through warm ups.

If you want to follow along as my day-to-day plan unfolds follow this link! If any of you have been spiralling MFM1P I would love compare notes, or see your plans.

 

 

 

One Second a Day!

by Jon Orr

February of this year my friend Mark Giufre wrote a post about capturing 1 second of everyday from class (picture or video) using the app 1 Second Everyday.

Mark’s Idea:

Why: Our classrooms oftentimes represent life. Days pass as quick as years. Moments come and go and are often not captured or reflected upon. #projectmoment will allow you to capture a clip of something you want to remember each day and then give you the chance to reflect on those at the end.

A number of teachers (myself included) joined him to to capture a month worth of videos/pictures from our classes. The app strings all these moments together to create a video. Check out his post that shows the resulting videos.

My video captures 37 class days from February to April

Next School Year:
Let’s keep Mark’s project going! Start on your first day of school and snap a picture or video of what’s going on in your classroom. Tweet it out with the hashtag #projectmoment and save it to the 1 Second Everyday app. I plan on doing this for the entire semester (~ 90 days). Having this video to share at the end of the semester will be amazing to reflect on. I look forward to seeing all your classrooms.
Join us and share these amazing moments!

#MTBOS — Career Changing Community

by Jon Orr

The Exploring the MathTwitterBlogosphere Blog is gearing up for its blogging initiative starting in January. I signed up to be a mentor because I wanted to help out this amazing community of educators the way it helped me over the last few years.
Following this weird #MTBOS hashtag on twitter has changed my teaching practice in so many ways. The people are amazing and always willing to share a lesson or strategy or a desmos graph!!!

Through the hashtag I’ve collaborated on a few lessons with people from across the continent….Last year Michael Fenton and I worked on a Go Fish game for Trig Identities….and we debriefed with each other after each giving the lesson! That collaboration I find hard to do even just in my school or district!

I found it absolutely amazing when J.J. Martinez (Whom I’ve never met — but seems awesome) sent me a video showing his class’ reaction to revealing the answer to a task I created and shared.

Everyday I find amazing resources and connect with people through this community. I can’t believe I used to teach without the #MTBOS.

I found blogging and posting pictures of our classroom activities helped me keep focus on making everyday count for my students.
Here was my first post on starting my 180 Photos/Tweets routine..If you’re not sure what to blog about I would start that way. Just share a picture daily of what you’re doing in your room on Twitter. The blog ideas will follow!

Another post if you’re just starting on the #MTBOS and looking for lessons, resources or blogs is “Let’s Find A Good Math Lesson Online with #MTBOS.” I thought it was worthwhile to share the tech/organization side of finding and keeping good lessons/resources.

So head on over to the Exploring the MathTwitterBlogoSphere site and read their tasks, and keep reading the #MTBOS!