Ellumination

I got to be a test subject as my teacher learned Ellumination. She did great and showed me all around the sites and tools she uses. The tool itself seems fairly straight forward, but providing many features. With microphones you can have a conversation via computer, you can go through tutorials with a student or use the whiteboard to allow them to write work or examples and for you to interact on the board. Ellumination can be used 1 on 1 or for large groups, like our initial overview and welcome.

Virtual School

I am amazed at the hours my virtual teacher puts in. As I mentioned before, this is her first year and aside from all the regular responsibilities she also has to learn all the systems and procedures. We were talking about the systems she uses and discussing some of the other features classmates have blogged about. She IM'd a fellow teacher with some of the questions and received a response within minutes. The other teacher has given her an overview of using one of the systems and I am looking forward to being her test subject tomorrow.
I don't know what it is like for a more ecperienced teacher, but I have been very impressed with the interaction my teacher has with others and how they help each other out and share resources.

More on eNLVM

I am in the process of creating my first lesson. You can access my classes using this link. If you click on Geometry it will take you into the Pythagorean Theorem lesson. eNLVM provides links and permissions for many online tools beyond NLVM which saves time on our end. I would like to include visual proofs from Manipula Math, but the permissions have not been received. I have them in my lesson, but offline for now.
The eNLVM site is really easy to use and I opted to add directions (Mathlet and text) I like being apply to include citations/ permissions right with the lesson.

NLVM

I started this entry to talk about the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives from Utah State University and while checking on links and some details I discovered eNLVM. I have used the NLVM for elementary through high school courses. The site is divided by grades and math courses, and many activities carry across multiple grades and math courses. Among the activities available, students can use virtual geo boards, work tangram puzzles and twist plantonic solids around to count vertices, edges and faces.
eNLVM lets you setup classes, track student performance and create or use lessons. It only took a few seconds to sign up and so far I have not found any cost involved. I also had to setup the school account, which took less than 1 minute. Once my account was created I setup my first class. So far very easy.
Now for my first lesson. I am currently teaching similar triangles so I figured I would create my first lesson on similar triangles. Once you get to this stage you can use mathlet, mathlet and text or text only. I opted to use a mathlet with text and the next window was a goldmine. Not only can you link directly to NLVM activities/mathlets, but you can add urls and a list of websites to get mathlets or activities from is provided. I think it is time to explorer. I will add more about what the mathlet list leads to tomorrow.

Gaining Insight from Other School

I am always searching for new (at least to me) online resources that can be used to enhance my lessons. Now that I am exploring virtual schools, online resources are gaining more importance and I don't have to take a class of 25 to a computer lab. I found a website for Henrico Schools and I love the setup of their site. I have been looking at Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry. Geometry is setup differently.
For the Algebra course the course is split into modules and then into lessons. They use the same books we do, so that helps even more. The outline of the website reminds me of how the virtual school's courses are setup. I think this organization works for bithe traditional and virtual classes and truly lends itself to a hybrid setting.
The lessons consist of Stating the standards/objectives, warmup activities, lesson presentations, classwork, homework, additional resources, assessments and some have journal options. I am currently working with a couple teachers from my school to setup something similar for our department. We have spent most of the year working on coherent curriculm, common assessments and cnsistent layout of our lesson plans and each teacher has also wanted to keep the ability to taylor a lesson or provide additional resources for their students. Cirtual schools seem to already have this in place. I am looking forward to taking a format more commoon to virtual schools and applying it in traditional and hybrid settings similar to what Henrico has done.

3-D Shapes

This website, Interactive Geometry 3-D Shapes allow user to manipulate 3-D objects. Users can twist the image to see all sides, and see a net version (the kind you can cut out of paper and fold). Users can also use the site to examine surface area, volume, platonic solids and many others. The site has links to other pages that assist in other subject areas
Now that we have a manipulative to use, why did we need it? Some students have trouble visualizing the 3-D object that is represented by a 2-D object. In a traditional class we will sometimes take copies of the image net and have students cut the object our and fold it. This website can be used on a SmartBoard, in a lab or at home for students to explore various platonics and 3-D geometric shapes.

Math Online and Interactive

This link provides a long list of online math manipulatives. The following posts will highlight some of my favorites so far.

Now I am on the Right Track

It looks like the issue I was having with my assignments not reaching the teacher I am working with has been corrected and I am finding it very interesting to read her responses to some of the common problems my students have. It is great to be observing a class that matches one that I teach face-to-face. When completing assignments I can duplicate mistakes that are very common. I am really focusing on mistakes that I am not sure how I would handle virtually. The teacher uses positive reinforcement and suggestions to point me in the right direction. It takes longer virtually to work through the suggestion and discovery process than face-to-face, but that extra time might allow the student more opportunities to work out the process.