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= CAMPPP Description =

Course Review:

Our Agenda:
 * 4 Tidbits
 * Circle Sharing - One thing you liked and one thing you did not like.
 * Course Review
 * Article from OCT

MATH TRAIL from Consecutive Program: [|Math_Trail_IS original.doc]

Please note: The e-portfolio as it is a requirement for Graduation. __YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SEND yours to me by April 28. The requirement is for next year.__ However, the whole Personal Teaching Portfolio is NOT required. See PPT from April 7 and 11 for ideas

This is today ||< 5 ||< 6 Guest Connie Quadrini ||< 7 Tidbits: Mike P and David Li ||< 8 || Tidbits: Mariana, Michael S, Mariya ||< 12 ||< 13 Guest Shirley Dalrymple ||< 14 Tidbits: Alice and Tanvi
 * < Mon ||< Tues ||< Wed ||< Thurs ||< Fri ||
 * < 4
 * < 11

Functions : Mariya, Maria, Mariana

Geometry : David Ng, Terrance, Becky ||< 15 || Tidbits: Maria, Becky, Theepika
 * < <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">18

Functions : Mike S, Alice, Samantha

Math Models and Personal Finance : Mike P and Alex ||< <span style="color: white; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">19 ||< <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">20 <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">Guest <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">Paul Costa ||< <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">21 Tidbits: Alex and Sam

Rate of change, derivatives, Geom and Alg of Vectors David Li, Anthony, Theepika

Data, Statistics and Probability: Tanvi, Janice ||< <span style="color: white; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">22 || Tidbits: Janice, Terrance, David Ng, Anthony ||<  ||
 * < <span style="color: white; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">25 ||< <span style="color: white; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">26 ||< 27 ||< <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: right;">28

If SmartBoard in school, get serial number from back of SmartBoard and you can download Notebook for free. Look for Notebook 10. SB680-R2-459441
Download NOTEBOOK 10 OR 10.7, (Google Smart Technologies) YOU WILL BE ASKED TO ENTER THE SERIAL NUMBER (above) you will be asked to wait for a confirmation number by email - usually takes a few minutes. Go back to email. Once you have it go back to Smart Tech and hit down load again and use your authorization number google Smart technologies downloads for the address

April 20, 2011 Reflection: Dan Meyer Talk Samantha D’souza

The two most important points I felt Dan Meyer made in his talk was in regard to the way information gets translated down to students. The first point was regarding the ways in which current textbooks merely ask students to regurgitate the formulas discussed without creating a sound understanding of the concepts and ideas behind the formula. One of the points he made that really stood out to me was the way students could pass physics by simply knowing how to read a textbook and not actually understanding any concepts. This is largely due to the way in which textbooks and often teachers pose problems to students where the elements needed to solve the problem are highlighted in the question. This inhibits their ability to develop problem solving skills as they are merely inputting values into the formula. The second point which Dan Meyer made and I think it is strongly linked to the first is that as teachers we should be instilling students with a thirst for knowledge and motivating them to ask the questions which will develop their learning. By getting students interested in the questioning process they will be able to relate it to their own live and become aware of the parallels between reality and academia, thereby uncovering the relevance of the subject. I found the aspect of finding the relevance to their lives especially important when teaching in a high school setting because many of the students taking the mathematics courses do so because it is required and not because they have a curiosity of mathematics. Therefore, the course becomes a burden to them because they believe it is useless and irrelevant to their lives. By finding a way in which the students can relate to the course, it creates an interest in the subject as well as motivates them to do well. This relates to one of the chapters I taught my Grade 11 College Mathematics class; Personal Finance. I noticed that students paid more attention and performed better during this lesson in comparison to a lesson on Quadratics in which they did not find a relevance to their lives. I was able to get a greater amount of interest from my students by providing them with an activity in which they researched the different interest rates and policies of credit card companies and by calculating the different interest rates for the same scenario they were able to compare the different companies and figure out which was the better one to use. This not only allowed them to get a better sense of where they would use mathematics in their life but it also interested them because they looked forward to getting their own credit cards and making questions that related to their own interest and the appropriate purchases they would make.

April 13, 2011 = See Mariya's Board Game Assignment below.. .=

April 13, 2011 A Rather Provocative Assessment Reflection from David Li “The purpose of assessment is to improve student learning.” Schools have been factories for far too long: churning out the same “student product”. If the recent global economic recession has taught us anything; it is that the old business model does not belong in the modern day. So too must we – heeding this omen – reconsider the curriculum of schools. In Shepard’s article, he mentions, “the modern principles of scientific management, intended to maximize the efficiency of factories could be applied with equal success to schools.” In short, the principles were implemented on schools – that time has come and gone – but their effectiveness and their efficiency is an argument for another time. In this reflection, I aim to discuss the universality of assessments including its implementation, and the current curriculum design still does not improve student learning at optimized levels. Let me be fair and say the role of assessment has made some impact and wanted results in student learning. Assessment for, as, and of learning are strategies in which – I believe – all teachers should be using, but unfortunately that is not the case. John Bobbit probably said it the best, “a primary goal of curriculum design was the elimination of waste…” That is why we see one assessment strategy used for an entire class. As much as I love Assessment for/as/of learning, it has almost reaching the point where it, too, is becoming static. What I mean, we have the same formula by using: diagnostic tests, exit cards, and peer reviews, but these do not address the all principles of Assessment: Dynamic, Prior Knowledge, Feedback, Transfer, Explicit Criteria, Self-Assessment, and Evaluation of Teaching, at least not at the peak levels and the on-going frequency. I have seen in so many cases where the formula of assessment becoming a “Big Mac”: bottom (diagnostic), middle (journals), and top (peer review), with the lesson as the lettuces and burger. If this formula sounds familiar – and it should – it is a reflection of the formative and summative evaluation/assessment formula. Our current curriculum design is lagging behind international curricula. Ours does not go beyond the shadow of “Evaluation”. Student’s whenever they hear diagnostic, or peer review, there is the prevalent idea of “good and bad”, when the goal of these assessments is everything but those two. “The purpose of assessment is to improve student learning”, but our student’s do not see it that way. In our curriculum, we have put evaluation – and sadly assessment too – on a pedestal and this is a major obstacle that deprives assessment as a process of learning. I agree with the article when it said that the curriculum must make assessment more informative not for us but for the student’s as well. In short, I see the promise and the change assessment has done for teachers and students in school. And despite my criticism of our assessment strategies, I do believe there is an increasing positive trend of assessment. It is a two pronged attack: one, it is being used for the process of learning; and two, teachers are starting to tear down the overhead of evaluation that looms in their classroom. The future is bright if we as teachers are able to complete these two goals.

Mariya has shared a Game she constructed as Assessment __//For//__ and __//As//__ Learning for her Grade 10 Applied class <span style="color: #3200ff; display: block; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"> <span style="color: #3200ff; display: block; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;"> <span style="color: #3200ff; display: block; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">