QR codes are Fun!

After reading this article on QR codes from another blog, I am looking into how I can bring this more into my classroom.  First I would like to offer this:

This following this QR code will get you to my website where you can check out my daily homework assignments and other things about my class.  Go on, try it, use your smartphone for something that is truly smart.

I dont have much more to offer at the moment except this link to creating QR codes online:

QR code Generator

and this video about cool things another school has done with QR codes:

Much of this information I found through this Teaching with Technology blog.

My first foray into a tech heavy assignment

Welcome, one and everyone.  Over the next few weeks, months or even years, I will be posting some discoveries, thoughts, ideas, problems and solutions with regards to using technology in my classroom. 

 Just to give you a bit of context to who you are reading, I am a 7th and 8th grade Mathematics Teacher at a Charter School in Western Massachusetts.  And now as Mario might say "Here we go!"

This week in my 8th grade class we started our preparations for the MCAS (state tests).  In order to begin to prepare over the next two months I thought that I would start off light and give students word problems to break down and the discuss as a class.

I have done this in years past with varying degrees of interests and excitement from the students.

This year however, I am taking a technology in education class and it has provided me with some grand ideas that I have started implementing into my class.  The idea I was able to use to spice up this assingment and really get some student buy in to breaking down the problem, solving it and then recreating a new, similar problem for another student to solve, I integrated some animation.

The process for this assignment lasted about 3days.

Day 1:

I showed the students an animation that I created on Dvolver.com and we worked through it together to create an equation and solve the problem.  After we worked through it I told them that they would be making these animations.  Students were put into groups of three, each with a different problem and a set of instructions.  Their job on day 1 was to create an equation from their word problem, then solve the equation.

Day 2:

We all traveled up to the computer lab.  After students showed me that they had completed their initial problem they were allowed to go to the website and create a three scene animation that they would then email to another student in the class and myself.  This animation would contain a new problem that was similar to, or could be the same as, their initial problem.

Day 3: 

Students had to watch each others animations and create an equation from it that they eventually solved and turned in.

This form of practice went over very well with the students.  All of them were interested in making the animations and couldn't wait to solve their problems just so they could create a scene and make a movie.  While it was a small assignment and was targeted review mostly, I felt I could play with the format a bit, but now I will try to continue to work technology and creativity into my review sessions more often.

Hiccups:

Dvolver wasn't perfect, cant save in the middle, only so many lines of speech, etc. but it was a great start.  If you have any other websites that might fit an assignment like this please post them here so we can all learn from them.  Thanks for reading and Ill see you all next week.

Pace

PS

The animations that I am getting back are amazing!