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ImagineIT Phase 2
My current position is at William Howard Taft High School as a geometry teacher for diverse learners. Taft is a wall-to-wall International Baccalaureate school. Taft’s demographics is fairly well distributed across various ethnic groups. The students follow a traditional schedule and have various opportunities for remediation.
Many times, the diverse learner student have difficulties grasping the concepts being presented. My big idea is to bring the real world into the classroom to provide the students with a deeper understanding of the concepts being presented. Instead of the traditional semester exams, we will be completing an individual project. Through completion of mini projects, the students will develop tangible skills that could be carried over into the workplace or post-secondary education.
Our students follow the same curriculum as the general education students with modifications based on their Individual Education Plan (IEP). The students will cover the following units: slope and distance; reasoning, constructions, and angle relationships; congruent polygons and triangles, transformations, similarity and congruence; triangle congruence; quadrilaterals; circles; and surface area and volume. Our school does not have books. However, we utilize the Knowledge Center resources to supplement lessons designed by the Teacher Collaborative Team (TCT). The Team consists of all levels of geometry teachers that will meet three times a week to develop, standardize assessments, and discuss failures/successes in their classes.
Using all styles of learning will be utilized to ensure the maximization of learning potential. The current environment is to focus on your students’ performance on standardized testing. However, it is my belief that if the students are provided meaningful enriched projects, then the performance on the standardized test would rise. The old style of lesson presentation has created an environment where students have lost interest in mathematics. Furthermore, students do not understand the relevancy of mathematics or STEM. By transition to a more problem based learning environment, it will create an environment where students will become problem solvers and recognize the relevancy of the disciplines.
Currently, the assessment method is paper and pencil. However, I will move to a project based assessment for both the units and semester final. The students will have mini projects to demonstrate understanding of the various units and have a culminating project at the end of the semester. The projects will consist of videos, constructions, and demonstrations. The students need to demonstrate all of the various ways that geometry is used in the real world. We will utilize the IB rubric to determine understanding on the various summative assessments. On the formative assessments, immediate feedback will be provided. In addition, the students will be able to self-assess to determine completion of a particular assignment.
The students will utilize various types of technology during the multiple projects that will be completed. The students are going to use their phones to create movies, calculators to complete calculations, manipulatives to demonstrate understanding of concepts, PowerPoint, word, and various construction tools to develop their culminating project.
In our deep play group, we are investigating the maker movement. Both the maker movement and project based learning pedagogy will be utilized. The students will be able to use creativity to demonstrate understanding of the topics presented.
Many times, the diverse learner student have difficulties grasping the concepts being presented. My big idea is to bring the real world into the classroom to provide the students with a deeper understanding of the concepts being presented. Instead of the traditional semester exams, we will be completing an individual project. Through completion of mini projects, the students will develop tangible skills that could be carried over into the workplace or post-secondary education.
Our students follow the same curriculum as the general education students with modifications based on their Individual Education Plan (IEP). The students will cover the following units: slope and distance; reasoning, constructions, and angle relationships; congruent polygons and triangles, transformations, similarity and congruence; triangle congruence; quadrilaterals; circles; and surface area and volume. Our school does not have books. However, we utilize the Knowledge Center resources to supplement lessons designed by the Teacher Collaborative Team (TCT). The Team consists of all levels of geometry teachers that will meet three times a week to develop, standardize assessments, and discuss failures/successes in their classes.
Using all styles of learning will be utilized to ensure the maximization of learning potential. The current environment is to focus on your students’ performance on standardized testing. However, it is my belief that if the students are provided meaningful enriched projects, then the performance on the standardized test would rise. The old style of lesson presentation has created an environment where students have lost interest in mathematics. Furthermore, students do not understand the relevancy of mathematics or STEM. By transition to a more problem based learning environment, it will create an environment where students will become problem solvers and recognize the relevancy of the disciplines.
Currently, the assessment method is paper and pencil. However, I will move to a project based assessment for both the units and semester final. The students will have mini projects to demonstrate understanding of the various units and have a culminating project at the end of the semester. The projects will consist of videos, constructions, and demonstrations. The students need to demonstrate all of the various ways that geometry is used in the real world. We will utilize the IB rubric to determine understanding on the various summative assessments. On the formative assessments, immediate feedback will be provided. In addition, the students will be able to self-assess to determine completion of a particular assignment.
The students will utilize various types of technology during the multiple projects that will be completed. The students are going to use their phones to create movies, calculators to complete calculations, manipulatives to demonstrate understanding of concepts, PowerPoint, word, and various construction tools to develop their culminating project.
In our deep play group, we are investigating the maker movement. Both the maker movement and project based learning pedagogy will be utilized. The students will be able to use creativity to demonstrate understanding of the topics presented.