CUE 2016 Takeaways

This past weekend was CUE 2016 and I only attended one day of the three conference days. Even though it was just one day, I was able to leave with some great takeaways.

Session 1:
Making the Hard Parts Easy: Teaching in 2016 and Beyond
by Matt Vaudrey
Great session. Matt is always a treat to watch in a presentation, and he continues to deliver solid, engaging, practical, and useful sessions. He had us up talking with each other, moving around the room, learning from others in the session. He modeled music cues by giving us a 60 seconds to discuss focused questions with a partner (different every time). The music stopped and we knew to stop our conversation so that Matt could allow two teachers the opportunity to share out their conversation.

The session was focused. I love when a presenter tells the attendees in the beginning what we will be doing and sticks to it. We focused on:

• Focus on what matters
• Mess with Curriculum
• Give students authority 

My biggest takeaways:

• Look into Kaizena to offer students voice feedback inside Google docs. 
• Assign less work to students... just one way to make grading easier.
• Quicken transitions in class with music cues by Matt Vaudrey (found here).
• Matt's slides can be found here.

Session 2:

Approach + Process + Delivery = Better PD

by JR Ginex-Orinion and Gerardo Martinez

Another great session. Both JR and Gerardo encouraged the attendees to focus on the "why" when preparing professional development for your site (teachers and admin). Essentially, define the purpose of your session because time is valuable for everyone. I also loved how they had us take a PD title we recently used and rewrite it so it includes the "why" (purpose). Great idea!

My biggest takeaways:

• Use empathy with teachers and administrators
• Value everyone's time!
• Start with the "why".
• Their goods can be found here.

Session 3:

Strengthen Student Understanding in Math and Science with Desmos Classroom

by Andrew Stadel and JR Ginex-Orinion

It was an extreme pleasure to prepare and present with JR. I love his enthusiasm and excitement for science, good PD, and Desmos. The focus of our session was simple: play, tips, and build. We allowed attendees to play two Desmos activities (one from JR and one from Cathy Yenca). We showcased the teacher dashboard for each activity and then we shared our activities so the attendees could see how the activities were built in order to explore the building part of desmos activities. We reassured the attendees that they don't need to necessarily build their own activities, because they could find one in the Desmos library or the Desmos Bank and adapt it for their needs. Thanks to all the teachers who came to our session. We hope it was helpful and you will let us know how teacher.desmos.com is transforming your classroom.

• Our session goods can be found here.
• Use Command F with the dashboard
• JR made two awesome polygraphs:
• Distance and Time
• Phases and Mixtures

Thanks JR. It was a blast to collaborate. I learned a lot.

Session 4:

More Than Data, Science Is a Story: Infuse Writing in Science

by Dan Bennett and JR Ginex-Orinion

I came in late to this session, but it didn't matter. It was easy to know where they were in their presentation.  Within minutes, we were working on the floor categorizing these cards with different colored shapes as a segue to the importance of the Periodic Table. It was a splendid activity. Both Dan and JR shared their experiences in their science classes. A big part of their class was using media to create mystery so students are asking questions. Similar to a 3 Act task. It was a wonderful way to end the conference.

My biggest takeaways:

• Create mystery with students. Use stories to explain the mystery
• Our brains, chemically, enjoy stories. Use them more often in class.
• Their goods can be found here.

Thank you to all the presenters who worked so hard to prepare great sessions. By reflecting on the highlights, it will allow me to incorporate many of the techniques, resources, and ideas with the teachers I support and the professional development I offer.

CUE,

933

Bonus:

I loved this on display at the Hard Rock Hotel. Sorry, I didn't grab the artist behind this gem. Look close, those are vinyl records. So cool!

Classroom Clock Questions

I'm curious about the precious classroom time we [math] teachers have with students.
Enlighten me.

Please take 1 minute to fill out this form as I prepare for an upcoming Ignite talk at NCTM.

Thanks,
Andrew

Square Dance

I recently debriefed with a fellow (teacher I support) about two activities focusing on Squares, Square Roots, and Irrational numbers. Let's build number sense. Here are the goods:

• Clothesline activity using these cards
• Square Dance desmos activity

She ran both activities with students, starting with the Clothesline activity. She used the cards linked above for students to first place the visual representations on the number line. It looked something like this:

Followed by:

Students then completed the first 7 screens in the Desmos Square Dance activity. Screen 6 includes a validator when done correctly, compliments of Nathan Kraft.

*Please note that part 1 of the activity uses only whole numbers as rational numbers. I highly recommend using the activity as a launching point for students to know that perfect squares include other rational numbers like fractions and decimals. 

Back to Clothesline:

This week she will use the next set of cards for irrational numbers. It might look something like this on the number line:

Followed by:

Back to Square Dance 

Students can build better conceptual understanding of irrational numbers in the desmos activity. Also look for teachable moments throughout the activity. 

*Please note screens 11 & 15 include non-repeating and non-terminating decimal notations. 

Screen 11

Screen 15

Just like Screen 6, Kraft-y validators are included on screens 12 & 16.

Two closing thoughts:

1) My fellow was so happy to use these conceptual representations with clothesline and desmos. 

2) She hasn't seen students making mistakes like she has in the past. Here's an example (crossed out) of a common mistake she has seen regularly in the past.

If you have time, head over to this post and have your students play War with the Rational-Irrational cards provided.

Dance,

945