Week+6+Journal+Entry

Our team did work on editing our survey. I think we did a fine job but notice there are parts we still should have changed. It is too late now since we gave it this week, but wonder if it would change the results too much if we changed it for next year. I was also very frustrated the fact that we were given survey monkey as a choice (which I did like working with) but found out that we can't get the graphs or share the data with the free account. Were we expected to purchase this? We were able to print the results and scan them, but everything looks really small. With the hard copy survey, we have the results which I entered into excel. I'm having my son help me remember how to create graphs and get percentages. (It has been too long since I have had a class on it or used it myself.) How did the GoogleDocs work with the results? I'll have to try creating a survey using it some time.[[http://www.edutopia.org/key-largo-technology-brain-video|

Using Tech to Understand How the Brain Learns]] This video is very inspiring. It makes me realize what we can accomplish not only in our own classrooms, but also how we will be able to impact other classrooms, too.

Something I plan on looking into in the near future is the Brain Gym exercises. I attended a conference last year and learned a little about it and wanted to use it, but, unfortunately, it was put aside. I plan on getting the materials I received and looking up more on it to see what I can do regularly in my classrooms.

I love the idea of projects and being able to focus deeper into the subject instead of studying more topics. This is such a problem in math. Having taught 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade over the past twenty plus years, I know how much we repeat what was taught in previous years yet how students will seem like they have never seen it before. (I saw this quite a bit last year with nearly a third of my 6th graders coming from my 5th grade class the previous year.) I know the state is reworking our standards to help with this so I am excited to see what changes will result. I also hope I will be able to work projects into my classroom. I feel so worried about covering all the needed topics for the OAT and for next year's teacher, I know I feel like I don't have time to fit everything into my day.

[|Why Teach with Project Learning?: Providing Students With a Well-Rounded Classroom Experience] [|Project Learning: An Overview with Seymour Papert,] I really thought it was interesting when Papert said that we need to "learn this on a certain day" but actually have kids use the knowledge we need to teach them where it fits into what they are trying to discover. He also mentions that standardized curriculum will create low standards. He believes we need to allow students the ability to think differently and persue his/her own interests. I do know my students learn more when they are interested in the subject so, as I mentioned above, I do plan on using more projects this year, but I don't know how to go about doing this in our current environment (small classrooms with 32 very small desks...little working space, with no room to reconfigure the classroom). I also wonder how it works with classes of 33 or with a class of 26 where half, or more than have of the students are on IEPs.

Our team will be meeting with the other Elyia team this Friday. I am looking forward to collaborating with another sixth grade math teacher to see how she is using our Holt textbook series, Ohio standards, and the technology we currently have available to teach math. I also hope to find out what projects we can plan together. I used audacity in my social studies and language arts lessons, but not in math. I look forward to learning more about Picasa. I am a bit anxious about this video we are to make, but hope we will get a better understanding at our next meeting.