Visualizing Rate of Growth using #ClothesLlineMath

You know how there are some sessions you go into and you walk out thinking, "Wow, why didn't I ever know about this before?"
Yup. That was me at the CMC-South Conference at Chris Shore's session on #ClothesLineMath.

He challenged us to use what we learned within 2 weeks. I don't know if I'm within the timeframe, but it doesn't matter. Cuz I was excited. And I tried it.

In my classroom, we are learning that exponential functions grow at a faster rate than linear functions. What a great spot to use #ClothesLineMath!

First, I asked my math department friends to come visit me during periods 1, 3 and 5 so they can give me suggestions.
Then I came in super early to class to rearrange my room.

I have desks in groups of four for group work. The students face each other, not me. Today I wanted students to focus on the clothesline, so I set up the desks in an arc facing the front.
I haven't had my students face me all year, so when the students actually came in and sat looking at me, I felt satisfied. It felt like participation.

I went into  Chris Shore's website the evening before and practiced at home with my daughter, so I had plans to have students go on the board and work on their own number line in groups of 2. But I didn't implement that during my 1st and 3rd period cuz I was excited about the "perceived participation".

I didn't use fractions, decimals or negative numbers on this day. Just whole numbers. I was happy to see that the students who did participate used hand methods like Chris Shore mentioned in his session.

I used a word problem from my textbook(shown below). My students pointed out that soccer teams would never start with 1 minute of practice like it says in plan 2 of the question. I should have thought about the problem instead of only thinking about using #ClothesLineMath. Oh well. It was too late.

I had students place the numbers on two lines. One for Plan 1 and another one for Plan 2. As we added more numbers to the clothesline, we realized we had to rearrange ALL the numbers on the line(setting the benchmark). We saw that the space in between numbers on the line for plan 2 increased by two times. In plan 1, the increase in practice time remained the same. We saw that the space in between the numbers remained the same.

I felt satisfied with the lesson but was sad to see that students could not come up with an equation for the two plans.

For the remaining 5 to 10 minutes of class, students had to write down their observation and answer the question from the textbook in their notebook.

Then third period started and (yes!) my teacher friend Deatra Lee showed up to give me pointers. I also have a para-educator that period, which means I get an extra pair of eyes. Now that this is my second time doing the same lesson, the excitement of trying something new quickly faded and I started seeing what any normal person can see. Deatra kindly stayed after class and shared that she saw a few dominant personalities and they were actively participating, but others were not. I told her I had markers and cloths so students can work in groups on the board while I have other students come to the front to work on the clothesline, but I didn't implement it. What I did NOT tell her was that I really enjoyed having students face me and it made me FEEL like they were participating and learning. I was too embarrassed to share that. Deatra also suggested giving students time to talk to their elbow partners first then having them sharing out their observations to me. I was so glad that Deatra helped me see beyond my "perceived participation".

Of course I implemented her tips during fifth period.

I saw a beautiful room during fifth period with kids up, around and loud. Because they were in groups of 2 to 4, I think they felt more comfortable coming to the front to place the numbers on the clothesline.

I'm not going to lie. My pictures look so much more beautiful than the actual lesson. But anyhow.
This was how my first attempt at #ClothesLineMath went. It was fun for me. It was different for the students. I felt bad that my first and third period students did not get the same interaction that fifth period students got. But now I know what to do if I use #ClothesLineMath again.

How are you using #ClothesLineMath in your classroom? I'd like to know.
Pleases visit Chris Shore's website and see what you want to do in your classroom. Then share it with Chris, but also share with me. Cuz we all wanna be better at our craft. Right?

Making Sense Of Solving Systems... with #360Math

It's the beginning of the new school year... again. And my new set of students are at it again.
They work in groups of two and write their last names above their heads on the board so I know who's working on what. I am teaching Algebra 1B again this year. Yes, I honestly don't enjoy teaching this class. But I want to make the best of everything. I've been using 360 math for a few years now. It's getting popular among my teacher friends and I get to talk to many teachers about the benefits of it all.

But my friends always ask me.

"Do you really have 100 percent participation?"
"What if you have a student who is really resistant?"
"What if a student really doesn't care?"
"Do you use 360math everyday?"

Come on, friends.

360math is better than what we are making our students do on their notebooks. No. Students have bad days and some students really don't care. So I don't get 100 percent participation everyday in every class. And no. If I use 360math everyday, it will be the same as taking notes in their notebook everyday. We all know we get tired of monotony. We all know we have other hands on activities that doesn't require students stuck to the board. And yes. I'm sorry. I also do traditional lectures about once a week. But I make it short and have them run straight to the boards afterwards.

I think this is my fifth year using 360math. Every year I told myself that my students are not even capable of solving systems. So then why do I waste my time having them solve systems using word problems? I tried skipping word problems altogether. My colleagues would agree with me. I knew I was right. I felt it was the previous math teachers' fault.

But you see, I have a daughter who is in 6th grade. And a son who is in 5th grade. And I help them with math at home.

I realized my kids have a hard time with word problems. I wasn't going to blame their teachers for this.

So this year, I decided that I'm going to use word problems 80 percent of the time in my classroom. Cuz I want my students to stop asking me where they would use math in the real world. I believe I'm at week 4 in the school year. I've only spent 2 days WITHOUT word problems.

Students tell me I make their life difficult. They say they feel like they're in an English class. But no one has yet asked me how Algebra is used in the real world.

I started week one with this question from my Pearson textbook. I just introduced the rules of using the board in pairs. I didn't teach anything. I told them to do whatever they want on the boards to solve this question and give me an answer. My students were lost. They just drew the picture they saw on the board.

It was the third day of school so they all tried to do something for me. I walked up to some groups and some knew the answer already. I told them to show me the work on the board. Then I asked them if they could maybe make me a table or a graph. We spent a whopping four days on the board with the same question with me walking around and suggesting they do certain things until we came up with a table, a graph and an equation.

Some students complained that I'm a horrible teacher because I didn't teach them anything. Others felt good about themselves because I was apparently not a teacher and somehow they figured out how to solve this.

On the fifth day, I had them sit on their desks and take notes from me. Students told me I am teaching only because I am afraid they will snitch on me to the principal. I told them to go snitch anyway. I tried to help the students understand what the x and the y axis means, what the y intercept and the slope represents. And I had them explain the answer they found in words so other people who do not know Algebra would understand them.

On the sixth day, I gave them 5 word problems. Three weeks already passed. They only solved about one problem a day. They took their first test. There was only one word problem on the test. I do not need more than one to see if they got that one standard or not.

I was really shocked to learn that most students know how to graph and get the answer, but do not know what the slope represents, what the x and y axis represents and even what the answer means. But for some reason, the lower level students who didn't know how to graph got the correct answer and knew what it represented. They used tables to get their answer.


I don't know if my students are learning more. I don't know if I am doing the right thing. But I know that the SBAC tests students on communicating and reasoning. I am a math CAASPP rater and I know that even if my students don't know how to graph, if they can get to the answer, they'll get credit on many portions of the performance task as long as they understand what they are reading and have a working strategy to get to the answer.

So here it is. My new use of #360math. Having students make sense of everything behind the numbers. And I pledge to use at least 80 percent of my time teaching word problems to my students so they understand that numbers are just another representation of information we use everyday.

Combining Video Tutorials With One-on-One Tutoring For Struggling Learners

Creating videos online and having students learn from them sure saves time, doesn't it?
It's also great when you tell students that they can use the videos while taking their test.
It will take some of them forever to finish the test because some learn from the videos for the first time while taking the test. But they still learn. A little.

But more students complain about learning from videos than appreciate it.

Then came the idea that having students create video tutorials themselves helps them learn content and forces them to communicate their reasoning.
For hard working students, they had to re-record multiple times to get to the end product and I saw that the level of mastery was much higher than when a worksheet was handed out to them.
Videos are only one of the many tools we have at our disposal to help our students master content.

But for struggling learners the best thing really is one-on-one attention.

Truth is, today's teachers don't have the time to help all 36 students in a classroom everyday, in each period. And reality is that for many parents and students, learning online is just too foreign.

When I tried using videos so I can spend one-on-one time with my students, parents started complaining. They didn't see that watching videos and listening to my lecture was the same boring task. I stayed strong last year, but this year I caved in. When the customers refuse to buy my product, I am not a forerunner, I am just a loser.

So last semester, I didn't record a single video. Even with student created video tutorials, I told them they had the option of making their own video tutorial or showing me that they can solve the problem in front of me. Most students chose to solve the problem in front of me rather than create video tutorials because if they make a mistake, they'll have to correct themselves, but it's not like they have to start from the beginning.

One week before the end of the grading period, my Algebra 2 students were noticeably frustrated. They asked me what happened. Didn't I allow my students last year to do test corrections? Didn't I sit with them one-on-one to help them learn and bring their grades up? I explained that I can't teach in person and also help them one-on-one simultaneously. It's physically impossible.

So this time, THEY suggested I record videos for them. They said they will learn from my video. They said I can sit with them one-on-one to tutor them and get them to solve similar questions in front of me so they can bring their grades up.

To keep the students accountable, I gave them a short 4-question-quiz on the last day of the grading period based on the videos they were watching throughout the week. They averaged a C on that short quiz.

After report cards came out, some students said they didn't like learning from the videos while others requested that I only teach online. But all of my students liked the opportunity to spend time with me one-on-one. It helped them understand where they went wrong. It also helped them bring up their grades since they corrected a test item, then solved a similar question.

When I read that book by Michael B Horn, I thought it was interesting how he described learning using cars. Yes, electric cars are cool, but if there is no market for it, it won't sell. And it won't replace the market that is dominated by traditional gas guzzling cars. So then came hybrid cars. There is a niche for electric cars and the market for these will grow.

I tried selling electric cars in my classroom. It didn't sell. This semester, I came up with a hybrid. My customers liked it. It's an ongoing research. What works best in the classroom? And each classroom is different.

I love that I work at a school district that provides a Chromebook for each child. I love all the available resources out there that help students learn content in depth. But you see, the most important thing we need to look at is, how can we use all these resources so we can make more one-on-one time for our students. I heard speakers talk about emphasis on learning and not on technology itself. But it didn't really click with me till this semester. I was so excited about this tool and that tool. And I was so scared that I'd fall behind other teachers if I don't stay updated on new tools. But now I see that all those things are secondary to interaction with students. Some students will not lift a finger till you sit next to them and force them to do something. Wait. Some students do not lift a finger EVEN if you spend time with them. But most will learn if they get more time with you. And no, they don't want to share you with 35 other students. They want you to themselves. Right now, I'm at a happy spot. I have enough tools at my disposal so kids can learn while I spend one-on-one time with them. I wish that I can come up with more hybrid cars for my customers.

Solving Systems by graphing? 360 Degree Math is the Best!

This year is a very exciting year for me. I have six Algebra 1B classes and one Algebra 2 class. Algebra 1B consists of sophomores and upperclassmen who need to complete second semester of Algebra 1 throughout the whole year. Not too many teachers receive the gift of coaching the students who don't "play school" very well. To make sure I use this opportunity wisely, I made a list of things I need to follow at all times.

1. Model for less than 5 minutes. 
2. ALL work done while in classroom. 
3. Make videos and work available online for frequently absent/sick students or for ones who want to review at home. 
4. Always monitor student work. 

I quickly learned one of the best ways to accomplish this was through 360-degree-math (vertical non-permanent surface work) and student-created-posters and videos. Many of my students do not have notebooks and even if I provide one, they rip off the pages for other classes or lose the notebook. The poster idea was great, except when it's time for them to present, other students did not pay attention like they are supposed to. The student-created videos are exceptional, I really believe in using that for instruction. But most of my students give up after they make their second or third mistake during their recording and choose not to upload their video to their Youtube channel. (This is a blog for another day.)

My students love writing on the boards. Since the majority of my students don't keep notes or work at home, I wanted to increase the frequency of 360 degree math usage in my room.

This is how I usually do it.

(Keep in mind that teachers who use 360 degree math do it in many different ways. In case you want to tweet the tweeps I know are using this, here is @tbed63, a 5th grade teacher, @AlexOverwijk, a math teacher in Canada who did a presentation on this at #TMC15. I also know @edcampOSjr is using this. I hope I'm not forgetting anyone else. )

I have students work in groups of 2. I like having two students work together because throwing ideas at each other makes working on tasks so much more fun. I have each student pick a different color marker. They have to write their names up on top of the board above their head. Last name comes first, then the first name. Since I can only see the backs of my students, I can't tell which ones are doing well and which ones need assistance. So the name on the board is a crucial piece. I stand in the middle of the room. I use my projector and my bamboo tablet to show how to graph a basic linear equation. This takes less than 2 minutes. Then I give them another equation. I tell them, "partner 1 in the group, please graph this equation. You may consult your partner." I write the new equation on my computer that is projected. They get loud and things go on their boards. I identify struggling groups and approach them to assist them. I try my best to go around the whole class and tell them "great job!" if it's done correctly. Then I give them a new equation and have partner 2 graph it. Afterwards, I tell them that I'm giving them a challenge.

"Let's see who really got this. Partner 1 or 2."

They get excited. I tell one person in the group to graph the first equation.
Then I tell them not to erase the graph. On the same board, I tell the second partner to graph the second equation. They feel confused. Some ask, "Are you sure we don't erase the first graph?" but follow through.

I tell them, "I want to tell you the truth. I know both partners got it and it's okay if you worked together for both graphs. This wasn't a competition. I just wanted to teach you my lesson for today. We learned how to graph a system of equations!"

Then I ask them where they think the answer would be. They look at their board. Some kids remember what the answer is from their previous years in Algebra 1. Pretty soon the whole class picks up the answer from that one child since all students can see each other's answers. I teach them how to write their answer in coordinate form.

Then I give them practice questions. It's the same rule. One partner graphs the first equation, the second partner graphs the second equation, then they write the answer together. I don't necessarily have to help every group. They see each other's boards and self correct and learn. But this time, they do 4 questions on their board space. So they have to divide up their board space into 4 parts to solve them. (I don't have a sample from solving systems of linear equations, so I'm posting a picture of practice questions from solving linear inequalities. )

If we tell our students to take notes in their notebooks on their desk, some students will have their eyes on their desk and their pencil will be moving, but when you get to their desk, all you see is doodles. Some students are just brave and they do nothing.

Similar things happen with 360 degree math. Some students refuse to get out of their desk and stand next to the board. They don't want to do anything. Some students write their name on the board, but start doodling. Great thing here is that I get to see that immediately and I get them back on task or call their parents. Some students write their names on the board, then stand leaning on the board. They do it very strategically in cramped areas. So it takes me a while to identify those. But I have chosen to work with the 33 students who are working on the board actively rather than the three students who are not. I still talk to them about it after class.

Some students are scared of being wrong, so they wait until that one child gets their graph done, then copies it. I'm okay with that. I just try to remember who that child is, then I talk to them about being confident and about having fun when you are wrong.

This is a great way to identify the students who really get it. When these students get the same question wrong on a test, I pull them out and ask them why they got it wrong. Usually they tell me tests scare them. I give them credit for the question if they can show me how to solve it right then and there as we are having our conversation.

To summarize, 360 degree math is a great tool for any math lesson, but I wanted to show you an example on how I used it in my class for solving systems using graphing. 360 math is great for formative assessment, error analysis, creating a social environment, lessening math anxiety and promoting group work.

I hope this answers your question on how I might be utilizing the boards all around my room. Please tweet me up at @MathPrincessC if you have any questions that I didn't address in this blog. And finally, I wanted to thank a few people in the district who helped me purchase and install boards all around my room. You know who you are. Many thanks for supporting my work and believing in me.

My Shot at Gamification During Summer

Summer is just a great time to try anything new, isn't it?

That is, if you are one of the fortunate ones who get to teach during the summer.

I've been thinking about gamification for a long time, but it seemed too intimidating.

Some people told me to start assigning XP and badges in place of grades and that would do the trick. Others made gamification too daunting. They said I need storylines and  great animation skills.

I'm a doer, not a thinker.

So guess what I did. Yup, I did gamification.

First, let me share what my 10 students in my summer session said about gamification.

They liked earning XP simply for completing a quest. They liked that their grade was based on XP plus the final (They needed 2200 XP and pass the final with a 70 percent or higher). They liked that I lectured for about 5 minutes at a time, only when the whole class seemed confused. Whole class verbal directions were not necessary since the quests contained directions. They liked that they interacted with me one-on-one.

They didn't like how it took me 24 hours to approve their quests. This means grading their quest so they can get their XP and badges. They wanted instant gratification. They didn't like that I would comment and return their quest instead of giving them partial XP for projects that did not meet the rubric.

At the end of the summer session, 9 students passed with an A or B and one student earned a D because he didn't earn enough XP, and received a 68 percent on his final.

I realize I need to explain my grading system and the nature of the quests at this point.

Most of my quests are math projects.

Some require students to participate in #360math, or vertical non-permanent surface classroom, which means all students have to go to the whiteboards, write their name on top and solve problems I ask them to solve. I monitor them in the middle of the room and help them when I notice signs of struggle. As long as they participate, they earn their XP.

Some require students to create a video tutorial uploaded to their school Youtube account. If it is a real-world project, they have to create a video explaining what they did for the project, then teach the math in it. There is a 3-minute time limit.

The quest that is worth the most XP ends up being traditional tests which are cumulative. I know, traditional tests suck, but I guess I'm still not that innovative. Here is the innovative part though. Students take the test and I grade them. Whatever their grade, they can't get their XP until they get 100 percent on the test. So how do they get 100 percent after they learn that they only scored 30 percent? They correct their test, then come see me individually to explain why they got it wrong the first time and how it's supposed to be solved. And of course, if there is no one around to help them correct their wrong question, they first get tutored from me, then they come back the next day to re-explain to me.

So as you can see, the whole class is set up so students actually learn and they earn XP. You either do it correctly and earn XP, or you don't do it correctly and you have to keep trying till you get it right. Students only stress out over XP. I tell them periodically how much XP they need to have by certain dates to ensure they pass my class. When the final comes, students should not be worried since I recycle questions from the previous tests, which were all cumulative anyway. I also add three or four questions that everyone can get correct such as, "Draw me a little picture to have Ms. Choi remember you by".

What I loved about gamification using 3D gamelab was that I can create quests that simply required student participation, while others required meeting content standard proficiency. All students had to do their work (quests) and in the end, they would automatically be set up to pass the final. What I hated about gamification was how I had no time for anything. I was constantly approving quests and constantly talking to students who were in different levels even though I had a set timeline on when to complete what.

On the last day of summer school, my students and I had a round table discussion on my system.
They shared all the things I shared above, but in addition to that, they thought that having one final at the end of the semester for a grade will be too long of a period for students to wait. My students told me that there will be many lazy students who will not accumulate enough XP throughout the semester and start complaining about my grading system at the end of the semester. To protect me, they said I should have a test at the end of each grading period and also assign grades based on how much XP they "should" have earned till that point in time. Yes, my students are super cute and try to protect me from other evil students. :)

They did tell me that it was "annoying" and "unfair" of me to hold off on approving their quest on traditional tests until they corrected all their wrong answers. They said, they were "totally okay" with a "C" on their test and I am "forcing" them to do better. I just took that comment as, "Ms. Choi, you are REALLY an awesome teacher".

Since it was the last day of school and I already told them their grades, they told me that board work was great sometimes, but on those days when they didn't want to work, they simply copied off their friends work to get their XP. But they do that with traditional classwork anyway, so I didn't really think too seriously about it. I just wanted to see everyone's work on the board so I can approach the ones who need help and provide it.

So that's it.

I tried 3D gamelab over the summer because it was about $120 per year for up to 175 students. Steven Isaacs, the presenter I met at ISTE2015, told me he uses that so I wanted to try it out. Another presenter from ISTE2015 told me Classcraft is cheaper. So I wanted to try that one during the regular semester. But this semester, our District made many changes to our schedule so now we have 7 periods instead of 6 and our awesome principal made some changes to the way we work in the math department. So right now, I am putting gamification aside.

I am still using the same grading system. But instead of XP, I just put in grades into gradebook everyday for everything they do. And it's either 100 points or nothing at all. It's a little different because students are not looking at how many XP they accumulate, but rather they check to see if they still have a 100 percent A. Other students who don't mind a B or a C simply don't submit their work since they are happy with a lower grade. So test corrections are not being done and student created videos are not being done as thoroughly compared to the summer when I used gamification. I really feel like I need to go back. But the pricing system with 3D Gamelab doesn't work for me since I have six classes and way more than 175 students.

If you are using a certain platform for gamification that is easy on my wallet and still really user-friendly, would you let me know about it?

ISTE 2015 Day Three

It's already been a week since ISTE2015.

Memory from a week ago is already getting a little hazy. I need to blog as soon as possible when I go out to these conferences since there is no purpose in attending these if I forget everything I learned.

Some of my friends who participated in the 5k wanted to do a scenic bike ride at 6am on the third day. But I am one of those unfortunate ones who never learned how to ride a bicycle and I really wanted to attend one of those #CoffeeEdu sessions that I see so often on Twitter. So I went solo.

It was nerve-wrecking to get a Uber by myself. But I did it and the experience was quite pleasant. I learned that if the driver ranks lower than a 4.7, he gets kicked out of the Uber business. So unless the driver really sucks, give him a rating of 5 and allow him to put bread on his table.

CoffeeEdu with Alice Keeler and Jon Corippo was at 6am at 1500 Market St in Philadelphia. There were so many people in small groups that I felt uncomfortable leaving my little group of 5 to move onto another group. My precious find in this session was Steven Isaacs. He is a game design teacher. He uses 3D Game Lab as a platform and gamifies his lessons. I have decided on this day that I will use 3D Game Lab to gamify my summer session that will start July 13. I already signed up. It's going to cost me $10 a month for 175 concurrent students. I am currently being trained on COPPA (Child Online Protection and Privacy Act) on 3D game lab as I write this blog. More on this will come in another blog post. I learned that Steven had a session on the last day of ISTE. Of course I decided I'm going to attend that one. Steven was easy to approach and easy to talk to. He was the first one I met that I liked without knowing that he is an active presenter. But wait. How did I find Steven in that Starbucks crowded with people? I talked to people. I talked about the topics I am interested in. Global connection, gamification, blended learning and vertical classroom. And this one woman said, "Oh! I have someone you wanna meet!" And she took me to him. My advice to you out there, if you are shy like me, is to just talk to random people about what you are interested in. Then you'll get your connections. You are only weird if you shut up and stand by yourself in the corner.

When I returned to my hotel, I learned that Jon Corippo was at CoffeeEdu through Twitter. The one that I was in. But I didn't see Jon. So I had to demand that I see him. I have been bugging Jon to meet up with me and share his wisdom one-on-one since the day I heard this podcast by Adnan Iftekhar. He finally gave in on my third day at ISTE. He gave me a few hours. Basically, my third day was all about CoffeeEdu and Jon. I didn't get to walk into any of my sessions. AND THAT WAS TOTALLY FINE. :)

Shadowing Jon was great. He told me to come visit him in Room 103 in the morning. I thought he was presenting in there. I was wrong. The room was almost empty. There was some kind of podcast going on. We took a picture together first. Then he went on his interview. I didn't understand anything he said. But whatever it is, I told him I want in. It sounded like he was talking about training teachers to use some cool recording software for students. Later I learned it was a podcast with Wirecast. I like having my students create video tutorials so this sounded cool. Then there were more meetings. I heard words like "future ready" and "reporters". People kept stopping Jon to say hi as we walked the hallways for him to get to his meetings. I learned two things while walking with Jon:

1. Don't randomly stop people cuz I think they are fabulous.
2. Forget my first lesson and stop them anyway to give them a hug since they are used to it *wink*

I think Jon felt bad for me. He told me he'll have lunch with me! We went to the Reading Terminal to pick up food. He shared his wisdom while eating with me on the steps at the convention center. I don't know what I can share and what I cannot. He shared so much that I'm still processing. He asked me what I think about education right now. I answered. He asked me what I think about teaching math. I answered. He asked about my district. I answered. We talked about charter schools. We talked about wanting change in traditional schools. We talked about blended learning. We talked about 360math. We talked about Bootstrap in math classrooms. We talked about Dan Myer's 3 Act Math Tasks. We talked about deadlines. We talked about grades. We talked about homework. I honestly don't want to share what I learned from Jon here. I want to keep it with me.

But hey, I do want to share this about Jon. Jon is one of those guys you want as a mentor. I put a smiley face and gave him what I thought were answers I needed to give him in the beginning. But he was straight forward. He didn't do fluffy talk. My face turned serious as I listened to him. He eats fast. Soon the time he allotted me expired and he had to go. I am grateful. Thank you, Jon.

It was already 2 or so when Jon left for yet another meeting. I stayed at one of the cafes to process and blog about my second day. Then I joined my District folks to go to the Philadelphia baseball game. Don't ask me who Philadelphia was playing against. I don't know anything about baseball. There was a storm. The game started an hour and 30 minutes late. So I was a little grumpy and scared because we took the subway and there was lightning when we arrived at the stadium. But it was only my second time at a baseball stadium and the memories created that evening will be something I'll never forget. The subway felt like me exploring gamification and 3D Gamelab - exciting, scary and new. The baseball game with the lightning mimicked my feelings about traditional schools and math classrooms - gloomy and rainy but still something I wanna stay in and experience.

So for this blogpost, I want to leave you with this. I know you want what's best for your students. If you have children, I know you want what's best for your children. How do you feel about education in traditional schools? How would you teach if you were the teacher of your own children? Now what do you want to change in your classroom? What else can you do outside your classroom to make change happen? You see? You and I, we are the only ones who can make change happen. Would you kindly contact me if you are at the forefront of changing education for the better? I'm always looking for mentors and partners. Let's do this!

ISTE2015 Day TWO

Philadelphia Art Museum

I started Day Two right. I participated in the ISTE 5k with Josh Stumpenhorst. In addition to that, I got three other friends from my District to go with me. The 5k was at 6:30am so we had to use Uber.

Want to know about Uber? Click here. It's like a taxi but better since I get to see where the car is, who my driver is and my estimated fare before I even get in the car.

The course was beautiful.  More than 200 runners showed up at the "Rocky Steps" in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum. My friends and I had fun taking pictures and videos of each other running up the steps like Rocky.

Remember how I mentioned that I recruited three other friends from my district for the 5k? Well, guess which one out of the four didn't complete the entire course? Yup. That would be me. I just couldn't go up those steps in the middle of the course. I'm not talking about the "Rocky Steps". I'm talking about another set of scary steps right smack in the middle of the scenic trail. I waited for my friends and took pictures of them instead.

Other than the early morning exercise, the beautiful view and the "Rocky Steps", this activity made me feel like I belong at ISTE. It also made me realize that there are many people out there who enjoy the things I enjoy. I just have to find them. And what a great day we live in. We can use technology to connect with other people with similar interest. Josh Stumpenhorst extended an invitation to the attendees of ISTE2015 to join him so he can run with a few friends and more than 300 signed up. He announced that he had to change the venue because of the large number of signups. He estimated less than 20 participants would show up.

After that, we returned to the Convention Center and took our District photo at 9:45am. The "ASK ME" person was so friendly. She agreed to take our District photo. Her name was Louis, I think.


It was already 11am when I finally walked into my first session with Josh Sheldon on creating Android Apps using MIT App Inventor. It went on for only about 30 minutes. I really liked this session because I learned that there is a college board approved AP Computer Science Principles course ready to start in the 2016-17 school year. Click on this link for more information.

In addition to that, I got a link for more training for myself. I started coding club after the "Hour of Code" event inspired by Hadi Partovi and my high school students quickly got interested in creating apps. Here are the links.

• http://www.appinventor.org/
• http://educators.appinventor.mit.edu/

My ultimate goal is to eventually integrate coding into the traditional math classrooms, but for now, I'm learning to code myself through my coding club.

I felt REALLY good about my learning.

During my lunch hour, I bumped into Sam Patterson (left) and I was really excited when he said that he intends on working with me so our students can interact with each other. He serves at a private school and I at a public school. It will be interesting to see how our students interact and learn from each other. I'm super excited about this one, but forgot to tweet about my excitement along with this picture and I worry Sam forgot what he said to me. Oh, this picture is me introducing Sam to my co-worker Erik. Erik ran the 5k with me earlier in the morning and was in the fastest group in the picture above. Erik started teaching a Technology course last year and is pumped up about coding and other things. Sam, being who he is, was super nice and was talking to my friend about things I didn't pay attention to cuz I was taking the dark picture above.

Developing the Innovator's Mindset was my next session by George Couros. I tweeted out notes from this session. If you've ever been to any of George's sessions, you will know that he will never disappoint. The picture I posted above from his session link is the main point. But describing his session is unnecessary here since if you look him up online, there's tons and tons of information. And as you already know by now, the only reason I would go to any session is either to learn more about the presenter or to have a conversation with one to connect in person or both. So of course I stayed after the session. He is the division principal in Canada. He was in a hurry. He had a plane to catch. And some sales lady kept on holding him. I seriously wanted to push her away to the Nether in Minecraft. I finally got him and asked if he can introduce me to math teachers in Canada since I want feedback on my students' math tutorials from students outside of the United States. He was like, "Why don't you just tweet me the link? I'll share it with the world!" George is just so refreshing. Thank you George. There are reasons why certain presenters have many followers. They are good during the presentation, but they're even better in person.

My last session for the day was with Bob Lochel. If you are a math teacher, you hunger for math content sessions. I already use Desmos in my classroom, but I wanted to meet Bob in person. He is an AP Statistics teacher in Philadelphia, so it will be quite silly to come all the way to Philadelphia for ISTE2015 and not meet up with Bob. I don't like the blurry picture above, but he was moving around the room the whole time (signs of a great teacher), so I couldn't get a better one. I know I will see him again in California for TMC2015 towards the end of July, but I wanted to say hi so I will feel more comfortable when I see him again and ask silly questions about statistics that is so common sense to him. Just so you know, common core now includes Probability and Statistics in the regular high school math pathways and a lot of teachers are re-learning these two subjects. I am finding joy in Statistics and I think math can be more fun thanks to Statistics. But I do need people smarter than I to show me the way to Statistics fun in the classroom, so Bob is a great resource for me. During his session, I learned that mapping equations to pictures is difficult. And that his student video tutorial is really great. Below is my two equations that map onto the green hat. That was all I can do during the few minutes Bob allowed us to play around. I can see my students learning so much from this. Bob is a friendly guy. I can't wait to talk to him again later this month at TMC2015.

After my last session with Bob, I joined my district friends and went on a walking trip to see the Liberty Bell. That was a lot of fun. I won't elaborate. ISTE is fun when you have great friends to hang out with.

As I write my last sentence I realize it's already July 6. I still want to blog about my third and fourth day at ISTE2015 for my own reflection, but I wonder when it will finally get done.

Oh well, ISTE was so great. So great that I still want to continue writing about my experience even though by now there is no audience for it but myself. If you get a chance, if your District is willing to support you, please attend ISTE next year. I know for sure I will be lobbying with my district so I can attend next year. Have a great evening! Day 3 and 4 will be coming... hopefully soon.