Jigsaw 104

Link to Recording

As you can see a screenshot my storyboard is above. 

• In my session I used pane 1 to help my students put a face with a name and turned on my webcam.  I like to do this a few times throughout the semester, just so my students can see me and know that there is a real person behind what is going on in the class!  I would like to add some music to use for future sessions as well. 
• In pane 2, as you can see, I have my Welcome Session Powerpoint.  I use PowerPoint quite often in my sessions.  I like to enlarge the presentation so it is easier to see and I use the follow me pointer a good bit as well.  That is very useful in helping the students know what I am referring to and where I am on the slide.  
• In pane 3, I used a survey.  I do not think it showed up in the recording, but as you can see from the screenshot it was there.  I also used the notes feature and discussed the benefits of using that.  
• In pane 4, I have a fun image loaded.  I like to use these to make the room feel a little more comfortable and also to know that I am present and working in the room also!  I sometimes like to put informational images there in pane 4 as well.  

Reflection:

I have truly learned a good bit from going through these 4 sessions of Jigsaw U.  I have to admit that I was pretty lost in the beginning of last semester, but I feel like I have come a long way with this new program.  I know I still have a good bit to learn and perfect, but I have enjoyed learning about this and trying new things.  I hope I can continue to learn and work to improve my jigsaw sessions.  

Jigsaw 103

PANE 3

For Jigsaw 103, we were to demonstrate the use of pane 3 and pane 4.  Above you can see where I utilized pane 3 to do a survey with my class.  Unfortunately, on this particular evening I did not have any students who up to my session, so I was unable to actually try it out.  But I do look forward to trying it again in the future.  As you can see I survey was going to help me gather information about what day of the week and time would be most convenient for my students to be able to attend.  Obviously, the night I had selected on my own was not most convenient for my students!  I was also trying to see if they would prefer me to preview upcoming material or what they would like me to do in the sessions instead of previewing new material.  I like the fact that we can gather reports/graphs from these surveys.  That makes it much easier to see what most of the responses are and how to move forward with those responses.

I have also used pane 3 for notes in previous sessions.  I would allow students to post questions and ideas in pane 3.  Obviously, the students enjoyed that.  they felt a little more involved in the session that way.  The map feature that is available in pane 3 is also interesting.  I like to keep up with where my students are located in the state.  So that feature is pretty cool.

PANE 4

Pane 4 is useful for adding fun images, like the one above, and for adding informational images, also like the one above.  I have tried using pane 4 with my tablet to be able to write and solve math problems, but that was pretty difficult.  I hope to continue working on that and improve my use of pane 4.  I think this could be a great tool for teachers, especially in math classes.  But it will just take some getting used to and adjustment time!

Jigsaw 102

Demonstrate the use of Pane 1 (your choice: webcam, video, or audio) for instructional purposes and describe your approach.  Demonstrate the use of Pane 2 (your choice:  presentation, document, or screenshare) for instructional purposes and describe your approach.  Reflect upon best practices for utilizing these two panes.

Provide evidence:  Screenshots with explanation; screencast

Provide reflection:  Paragraph

Pane 1

Instructional Video for Accelerated Coordinate Algebra/Geometry A - Solving Exponential Equations:

In my September 25th class, we were going to be working on solving exponential equations with unlike bases.  This can be a tricky concept for some students to grasp so I thought this might be an opportunity to try out a video on this topic.  This is a nice chance for the students (even if they are not live, but listening to the recording) to hear someone else talk or watch someone else solve a problem instead of it always being me!  Once the video had played (it was a fairly short video), then I went over some more examples of solving exponential equations and was sure to work through them the same way the video had shown.  Sometimes when I show various methods to solve the same problem, students get confused.  So, i typically try to do the same method every time, especially when I am introducing a topic for the first time.  Below are several screenshots of the video I used during my session.  

Pane 2

For Pane 2 I decided to use a presentation.  I have been working on this and am much more comfortable with this than any of the other options.  I have also been working on using the annotation tools when my presentation is a PowerPoint.  It is not perfect at all, but it does at least help my students see how I work problems out.  I am still perfecting my writing!  Below is a screenshot of a presentation where we were discussing characteristics of exponential functions.

Reflection

I am slowly becoming more comfortable with the different features in jigsaw.  It is hard to branch out and try different things once I become comfortable with what I have been doing!  But I am trying!  Some best practices that I have tried to work on is to be prepared before it is time for my live session.  This means I have to have my lesson prepared and uploaded into my assets ahead of time.  I also have to keep in mind that little timer that counts down when you are trying to record your session.  There have been several times when I start right away and the beginning of my lesson gets cut off because it hasn't started recording yet!  Also, I use the red dot (follow me button) a lot when going over items.  That helps my students know where I am in the explanation.  And of course, I always have to remember to check my microphone settings so that my students can hear me and remember to push the "push to talk" button!  

Jigsaw 101

Jigsaw 101

Upload a diversified set of 5 assets into your asset library and tag each asset with a desired system of your choosing.  Demonstrate how you have used one of these assets in a session.  Reflect upon best practices for setting yourself up for success prior to synchronous sessions.   

Here are 5 assets that I have uploaded into my asset library.  I have found that presentation is what I use the most and tends to work the best for my and what I am trying to do with my students.  

Here is where I tagged my assets.  

Here is where I used one pf my presentations in a synchronous session.  I used a Powerpoint presentation to teach a lesson on how to solve systems of equations.  


Jigsaw 101 Reflection 

Learning how to used Jigsaw has definitely had its bumps in the road, but I am starting to feel more comfortable with the program.  Once I figured out how to load the assets in and share them in my session, I started to feel like I was getting somewhere.  While I was much more comfortable sharing my screen in adobe connect to teach lessons, I am slowly getting used to this format.  It is going to take some getting used to, but I think I will eventually get there!

As far as using Jigsaw, I have learned that it is much more helpful for me if I have my lesson prepared a couple of days ahead of when my session is.  This makes it easier when the synchronous session time comes and I already have the presentation loaded into my assets and I can just log in and be ready to get started!  I am definitely keeping this simple for now.  But I am looking forward to learning more about Jigsaw and becoming even more comfortable with the program as we move through the semester.  

Evaluate 3.1.2 Self-Reflection and Teaching Abilities

Self reflection is one of the biggest ways you can improve things in your life.  But in order to do that, you have to listen to what others have to say and be honest with yourself.  Since I have not started teaching the online classes yet, I don't really have any artifacts and digital feedback to post in the blog.  But I can discuss how I feel this training has been and my reflections on my traditional classroom.

This TOOL training has been quite an experience.  When I began I thought it was going to just be a lot of pointless hoops to jump through.  But as I have worked through the many quests, I have found that I have learned a lot of new things!  I have read about so many new ideas and ways of doing things.  I have also tried out and learned a lot about many new websites that are great for educational purposes.  I hope I have the chance to utilize them even more through the GAVS program.

In my traditional classroom, I always try to step  back and look at what all I do with my students to make sure I am doing them every kind of service I can offer them.  I always have to keep in mind that they are teenagers and are still trying to figure everything out!  I feel like I have a pretty good relationship with most of my students and they have gotten to where they are pretty honest with me.  They let me know when I seem like I am in a bad mood or when I didn't explain something very well.  But I try to take that constructively because, ultimately, they are my audience, so they need to feel good about what we are doing in class and understand the different processes.

As a teacher, we have to be able to change things and be flexible with our students.  And that means we need to regularly evaluate ourselves to make sure we are doing right by our students.  We need to stay up to date with the latest trends and happenings so that we can do what is best for our students.  Below is a link to my website for my traditional classroom.  I want to make everything as accessible as I can for my students, so I keep homework, notes, and announcements up to date pretty much every day.

Mrs. Pruitt's Website

Evaluate 3.1.1 Differentiation

I am not currently teaching any GAVS classes and have not ever had the opportunity to do so.  But I am familiar with differentiation and have read a good bit in the resources provided about the LMS that is used by GAVS.  I think as a teacher, a certain level of differentiation is natural.  I feel like I can typically see my students weaknesses and strengths pretty easily.  As a math teacher, it is easy to notice the difference between careless mistakes and completely not understanding material.  When I give assessments, whether they are formative or summative, if I notice problems areas then I know I need to go back over that material.  Sometimes I have to wait until a little later in the semester to do so, simply because time does not always allow me to take extra time on topics, but I make a note to revisit it later.  Sometimes if there is a small group of students that are struggling, I will get them in a group either at my desk, the hallway, or up front while the rest of the class is working on something else and we can go over the problems they are having.  These are just a couple of simple, but usually very helpful, ways to address problem areas.

As far as grouping students, there are several options.  And it depends on what the goal of the assignment is.  Sometimes it is best to group a higher level student with a mid-level student and a mid-level student with a lower level student.  This will usually help some unusual leaders emerge during an assignment or project.  But there are times when you feel you want to keep your higher learners together and maybe mix the mid-level student and lower level students together.  But like I said, it is all dependent upon the goal of the assignment/project.

Earlier this year, my analytic geometry students were really struggling with factoring quadratic functions and solving quadratic functions.  We had done a good bit of work on it, but I gave them a quiz on it and most of my students really did poorly on it.  So, we took a few days off from factoring and moved on to the next topic.  My students were frustrated, and I probably was too!  But at the end of the following week, we used Friday to go back to factoring and reteach and practice.  I gave them several options for working on the practice.  I had some students working up on my smart board so I could check their work.  I had some others working in groups together.  I had some students that just wanted to work on their own.  I was very flexible with how they could work.  But then they had a 10 question graded assignment that was an independent assignment that I would use to replace their low quiz grade.  I have shown some screen shots of it below.  The grades on this replacement assignment were so much better than the original quiz!  This just reminded me that sometimes you have to change your plans up and make sure you are doing what is best for your students.

Evaluate 2.1.2 Rubrics and Competencies

Rubrics and competencies are great tools for setting up structure for students on assignments and projects.  These tell students exactly how they will be assessed and what is expected of them on the project.  Most teachers have used rubrics to help with this.  It is helpful if the teacher will post some examples of what is a poor example and also an example of an almost perfect project.  This way students can get some ideas of what is expected of them.  If you have developed a good rubric, then there should be no subjectivity for the teacher when grading.  It should all be straight forward and laid out so that the student could actually grade his own project based on what the rubric says.  Below I have a couple of screenshots of a pretty good math rubric that deals with math concepts.