Ms. Pikas' Next Generation Digital Classroom is researching college tuition and creating a function to represent the cost per credit hour. The experience is reinforcing concepts of finding slope, and applying algebraic functions to real world learning. Students are using their iPads to create a Flowboard multimedia presentation including a graph of their function, a video advertisement for their college, and pictures of their work.
Flowboard is an iPad app that allows students to add images, videos, text into a beautiful presentation. Students ended up with a link to their presentation that they turned in through their Google Classroom.
Your DMS teachers have started working on becoming more connected with other teachers globally for the month of October. They are using #ceolympics and making graphics, signing up for twitter, and retweeting resources. Our FCC teacher is working to show off work from our Functional Communications Class, while Mr. Garcia has been sharing his favorite tools on Twitter.
Our campus earns points for various tasks that allow our teachers to connect with others while learning new tools.
Updates to follow on our progress!
I am on my 9th season and 14th First Lego League team for the 2014-2015 school year. I started back in 2006, as a science teacher, because students from my feeder elementary school had done First Lego League, and they wanted to keep doing the program in middle school. Little did I know, that moment would change my life forever. Our first tournament was in a music building at The University of Texas. It was magical, thirty teams from central Texas competing for the most lucrative prize of all, trophies made completely out of Legos. It was seriously cool. I set our goals pretty low, "Let's learn something new, and have fun!" Little did I know, that my team who came up with a way to save the Alamo using Nano Technology, would be able to answer difficult questions from real engineers and educators. They knew things I didn't even realize that they knew! It was a proud moment for me as a coach. From that moment on, I never looked back, I was a robotics coach, and I always will be. We ended up taking home one of those amazing Lego Trophies for that research project too! That was the cherry on top of a very sweet cake.
Throughout the years, I've coached teams that were good, bad, inspiring, and just plain amazing. But my very favorite part of coaching comes from seeing a kid who never speaks, grow to be comfortable presenting their research in front of experts, or eloquently discussing their program strategy with engineers. Patience is needed to observe this sweet moment of growth, but it is worth every long evening, every Saturday, and every moment away from my own family.
This year, I was able to experience my "proud coach" feeling much earlier in the season. I have three veterans, and one of them was running for President of the club. When this kid walked into the doors of robotics his first year at Deerpark Middle School, he was quiet and timid. He was always a grounded student, and has rightfully earned the nickname "The Voice of Reason" in the chaos of meetings. He kept me organized and on task. This year, this student let me know, he wanted to run for president. As he gave his speech, I saw the certainty in him that I sometimes have to wait entire season to see in students. He spoke in front of the entire group with confidence and grace, and although his competition was fierce, he was voted as our 2014-2015 robotics president.
Building robots with Legos is always a cool thing, but building up students is even cooler.
Ms. Stoeffler, Deerpark's new art teacher, is having students explore different art mediums by having them try their hand at drawing with a 3D pen.
Students practiced writing their names in cursive, creating jewelry, and tracing the Golden Gate Bridge to turn it into a 3D model.
We are excited to see the amazing products that students design with our new 3D pens!
Mrs. Pikas' classes are using their Next Generation Classroom iPads to turn in class work. Google Classroom helps teachers and students stay organized in Google Drive. Students can turn in homework, and teachers can easily grade and give meaningful feedback on assignments. Everything is contained in one very organized folder.
What the teachers say, "I love Google Classroom, I don't have to take papers home anymore!"
What the students say, "Google Classroom keeps me organized and helps me keep up with my work!"
Teachers can easily insert videos, files, presentations, and announcements. Students can comment, turn in supplemental assignments.
Mrs. Sieber will be on leave from March 9th-August 2014, check back in September for more posts.
Mrs. Margulies' classes worked on a poetry unit where students had to collaborate on a Google Website about poetry. Students had to analyze poems, create an anti bullying poem, upload a "Who I Am and Who I Want to Be Poem", and collaborate on a Poetry Slam. Using their student Google accounts, multiple students were able to edit and work on their website at the same time. Students utilized YouTube to share their videos and embed them on their websites.
Georgia's Poetry Slam
Kevin's Poetry Slam
