Mr. Haynes' Math Corner

I had a lot of fun creating my own wiki page and being able to try things out and sample things that I wasn't previously familiar with. I was surprised at how easy it was to throw pictures, websites, and other things into the different pages that need a little bit of life added to them. I used our class website as a framework to build my own website around. I added a blogger section that students can use, as well as a student resources page that gives students different websites for math games. I was excited when I realized I could add my Google Form I created for last class into my website. I used the tables feature for my grading breakdown, and it was much simpler than I was anticipating it to be. I was expecting to have to resize and drag it around a bunch of times, but it fit perfectly as soon as it was added. I'm glad I was able to change the background theme. The all white was waaaaaay too boring and dull. I was wanting to use a picture of Neyland Stadium, but I couldn't get the picture formatted the right way, so I went with the classic UT orange instead. I also added a recent site activity in the side bar. I like that feature, because as a student it shows what the teacher has added or edited, which helps you know what's going on. I really found the Sites' history revisions an awesome feature. It was neat to go back and look at the changes and how different my site looked from different periods of time. It was like watching a little child grow up right before my eyes (tear).

Here is the link to my wiki page: Mr. Haynes' Math Corner

Forms: Survey

Perhaps now more than any other assignment, the tutorials and sample websites came in handy. It took me a while to make it through last week's spreadsheet because it had been so long since I used one. The tutorials helped me recover the basics. This week, however, the tutorials and help links helped me survive. I did fine when it came to creating the form; that was easy. However, when it came to translating it to the spreadsheet and calculating the results, the tools REALLY came into play. I found the edtech VISION website the most helpful, because I chose to do a survey rather than a quiz. I didn't quite understand why I had to make two spreadsheets, one for responses and one for calculations, but its step-by-step instructions helped me understand why to separate and the ease of separating them.

I chose to share my form with my sister (she took it as Tapanga Lawrence and also marked that she had no sibling, which is hurtful). She was able to coach me long on the spreadsheet, so I wanted to show her how I could take it a step further and throw a self-grading form in with it. She was not familiar with Forms, so it was nice to switch roles and actually be able to teach her something. It was also neat that as she was taking the survey, I was able to watch her responses pop up on my spreadsheet and see the results automatically calculated. I can definitely see how Forms is a great tool for teachers who have the ability to quiz their students online. To view my spreadsheet, click: here

Forms allows teachers to gather data and results in different ways. By linking up with Spreadsheets, results from Forms can be presented in logical, organized data that both teacher and students can follow along. Just like with Spreadsheets, Forms qualifies with the standard that teaches students the "Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas," and teaches the students to "Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations" (p. 117). Forms allows both teachers and students the ability to see grades and assignments in a timely manner, and allows the results to be organized so that there is not any doubt or question whether certain grades or assignments were calculated.

My Gradesheet

Overall, I think that Google Spreadsheet is a lot like Microsoft Excel. When I first opened the app, I noticed that the general layout of the spreadsheet is nearly identical to Excel. I have always used Excel when making a spreadsheet, so it was nice to have similarities between the two. My sister, who is an accountant, came over as I was doing my spreadsheet and she sat down to watch how it worked. She uses Excel on a daily basis, so it was neat to see her reaction to Google Spreadsheet and hear her compare the two different apps. Any of the differences to Spreadsheet from Excel, in my opinion, help in Spreadsheet's favor. I really liked the easy accessibility of all the functions within Spreadsheet. To me, it seemed that all of the functions were presented in a simpler way, rather than Excel, which I feel has a little bit more of a scavenger hunt to find out to use things like a SUM or AVERAGE function. Also, like with everything we have used in the Google apps, the ability to save it to Drive and work on it wherever is a HUGE plus. My sister accidentally close my app, and she began to freak out. I simply went to Google and to my Drive and there it was. That really impressed her, too. I think the one area of Spreadsheet that I can still use a bit of work on is the formulas. I had to work through those very slowly, making sure to use the right cell and the right function with them. A bit more practice with understanding the formulas, and I should be good to go. To view My Gradesheet, click here.

Google Spreadsheets allow teachers to visually meet areas of the CCSS for many levels of education. A big part of the CCSS is that teachers need to visually and tangibly present material to their students. Spreadsheet does just that. Spreadsheet is a great example of allowing a student to "capture the 'processes and proficiencies' of mathematics," and not just what they acquire simply by knowledge (p. 93). Spreadsheet allows students to take what they know and have learned and orchestrate it into a tangible piece of evidence and shows their understanding. Spreadsheet does not do the math for the students, but it is a tool to help students explore mathematical concepts that are relevant in today's college and career arenas. It meets a Standard for 6th grade math, which requires that students "Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution, which can be described by its center, spread, and overall shape" (p. 96). With the CCSS pushing students to use certain, appropriate tools to help acclimate them to the approaching outside, Spreadsheet is the perfect mathematical tool to achieve their Standards.

Presentation and Drawing

Google Presentation

1. Before experimenting with Google Presentation, my only other real experience creating a presentation was with Microsoft Powerpoint. After creating my own short presentation over my favorite professional athletes, I noticed several similarities between the two programs. At first glance, the setup of Google Presentation is a lot like Powerpoint, with the slides lined up along the left side of the screen, with your option length top. They both offer many of the same options, such as slide transitions. However, the biggest difference to me (and the biggest plus) to Google Presentation is its easy access through Google. When opening Powerpoint from a different computer, one had to previously save the slideshow as a document and email it to oneself. With Google Presentation, all I had to do was sign into my Google account and access my Drive, and it was right there for me to edit. I am really starting to become a fan of Google Doc.'s system of unity throughout Google apps.

2. The biggest thing I picked up from reading chapter 5 on Presentations is how the CCSS has tried to make Google Presentation the standard for slideshows. As stated above, I found many similarities between Google Presentation and Microsoft Powerpoint. The CCSS makes standards that Google Presentation has a easier time meeting than Powerpoint. The book states that the standards, "Students must learn to work together, express and listen carefully to ideas, integrate information from oral, visual, quantitative, and media sources...to help achieve communicative purposes, and adapt speech to context and task," (p. 72) are easily met by Presentation by allowing collaborative work and the easy accessibility through Google to share presentations to peers, teachers, and students. At first, I was a little worried that I would struggle at first with creating a slideshow through Presentation because I was new to it; however, the book made it easy by its step-by-step instructions of how to create and edit a new slideshow.

Link to my slideshow---> https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-4Sjzs4yX2dhgPBW1xrtk0mIOClnDgG8A12iiLBWwMo/edit#slide=id.g3166a43ba_1_11

Google Drawing

1. I was a little easy going into this part of the assignment because I am, quite frankly, a HORRIBLE artist. I cannot draw or illustrate a decent looking picture if my life depended on it! To a pleasant surprise, Google Drawing made my lack of artistic ability fade away and allowed me to create pictures that you could actually guess what I was making. It took me a little while to understand how to use the shapes into my picture; but once I tackled that obstacle, I was blown away at how simple Drawing made the creation of a picture. I think this app would be VERY beneficial with young students, such as elementary or lower middle school ages because of its simplicity, yet effective way to create organized illustrations.

2. Walking through the middle school lesson plan over the Tangram Square was quite the humbling experience for me. I followed the lesson plan step-by-step which made the process easy. However, when it got the the step of looking at the puzzle, it went waaaaaay over my head. I could see how challenging, yet intriguing an assignment like this could be to a middle school-aged atmosphere. I also liked how in the lesson plan, the instructor partnered Google Drawing with Google Presentation to let the students share their results.

3. Like with the Presentations chapter, the Drawing section made it easy for me to follow along with the foreign Google Drawing app. I like how the chapter started off by stating something Drawings has over Microsoft Office. For me, nearly all of my experience comes from Microsoft office, so as we go along learning new Google apps, I am comparing them to their Microsoft counterparts. With Drawings being an app with a visual product, it is clear by looking at a illustration whether a student understood the directions and followed them accordingly. That is why Drawings easily fits the standard that says "Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it." (p. 129) I also noticed how the book described Drawings as a perfect tool for visually taught subjects like geometry. I know in the past, being able to electronically see geometric shapes would've helped me better comprehend the material. This also passes a standard, being able to draw geometric shapes with corresponding conditions (p. 130).

GAIN

1. Like many others in this class, I am most familiar with the word processor Microsoft Word. After reading about the Google Documents word processor, I noticed both similarities and differences that one can compare between the two. One major difference and strength to Google Docs is the accessibility of work for both teachers and students. With Microsoft Word, the only way to share work is by emailing it to its destination; with Google Docs, students can collaborate on a document from different places at the same time. If a student needs to save his work and continue it at another time, he/she can store it in the Google Drive and easily attain the material anywhere there is an Internet connection instead of having to use whatever device was originally used. In other words, it's like saving a work to the Internet rather than a single document that has to be shipped between sources. One weakness to Google Docs is that it can only be accessed through an Internet connection. In contrast, Microsoft Word can be accessed whether there is a connection to the Internet or not.

2. The Common Core State Standards is a set of standards that is geared to help better prepare students to be ready for the technological forces found in colleges and in the workplace. Instead of having different standards throughout a state, the Common Core State Standards will centralize a core of standards that all school systems can follow, creating a unity of technological development for students across the state. Because of its easily accessibility, Google Docs is the perfect word processor to spearhead with Standards. With Google Docs, both teachers and students will be serviced the changes and technology brought by the Common Core State Standards.

3. Tony, Nathan, and myself shared our pros and cons for the iPad. Tony sent us his thoughts, and Nathan and I edited it with our own thoughts and agreements/disagreements. I was blown away at how easy it was to share information between the three of us. Google Docs makes it seem as if we were in the same room bouncing ideas off of each other. With the simple click of a button, I could add to his notes, throw my own opinions in, and ask him further questions about some of his ideas; all while sitting in my living room.