For the past few years I have been focusing on creating professional videos using Camtasia. Yesterday I stumbled upon the platform Engage for teaching lessons in virtual reality. I am really excited to explore teaching in the VR environment! I have reached out to the company to see if I can create a library of math videos in this virtual platform. I will keep you posted!
School is out in many places across the country, so now is the time to get your son/daughter the extra help they need in math. We can tutor any math course online. Depending on where you are, we might be able to find a tutor in your area for face-to-face tutoring. Contact us and let us help you or your student be more successful in math this fall.
Have a great summer!
I retired from teaching in May 2015. After teaching for 29 years, I am enjoying my new adventure! I am working with several companies to create digital materials for all levels of math courses, including 6-8th grade math, high school math, and college level math (Statistics and Math For Elementary Teachers). It has kept me incredibly busy, but I am loving what I do. I miss the students, but love the freedom to work from anywhere, including our sailboat in San Diego!
Now that I work from home, I decided to take on a puppy. Chloe is beautiful and keeps me company, along with my other 3 miniature dachshunds.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a wonderful New Year! I am looking forward to seeing what 2016 will bring!
Sue
Last semester I had my online Algebra students take quizzes by downloading the quiz from the online calendar, write out all their work on the quiz, then email the final copy to me to grade.
Yes, there is a step missing there…how did they get the paper quiz back to me by email? Most students today do not own a scanner, nor do they need to, because they own a smartphone! CamScanner is the best smartphone app I have found that will take photos of a document and turn it into a high quality scanned PDF . The PDF is very readable, even if their handwriting is not quite as readable ; )
Here is an example I made to show you what an image taken with CamScanner looks like.
(yes there is a mistake in this math problem!)
I created a video showing how I could explain to a student where their error occurred in the problem:
I created this video as a sample to help visualize how I can be of help.
I will not upload student help videos to YouTube, but send a link directly to the video on my server.
If your son or daughter is having trouble with their math homework and can’t figure out where they went wrong, you can use CamScanner to email me their work and I can help you find their error and help them learn how to work the problem correctly.
If you are a student reading this and just got a test back, but don’t know where you went wrong, use CamScanner and send me the test. I can go over it virtually with you, showing you where the issues occurred, and how to work the problems correctly.
I would love to help, so download CamScanner here or directly from your smartphone, and let me help you today!
Jing by Techsmith
A great way I have had my students ask me questions online is by using Jing, which is FREE (yes I said FREE!).
Students often don’t know how to describe their question, so a screenshot of their assignment in an online Learning Management System is a great way to do that. A picture, in this case, really is worth a thousand words!
Capturing an image
Here is an example where a student sent me a screenshot of their question and added in some text in the screenshot to ask their question and elaborate on their level of frustration. Sending a screenshot in this case is nice since the student would have a hard time typing out the fraction and the exponents, and a screenshot is very quick!
If the student does not feel like a screenshot is enough, or wants to explain their reasoning to me, then a video is better.
Recording their computer screen
I created a video using a student’s screenshot question to help you imagine how a student could give me more information by adding sound to their screenshot.
*if the video does not show up for you, here is the direct link.
Sharing their image or video
The student can upload their video to screencast.com and send me the link, or save the video and send it to me. Jing’s videos are saved in .swf format, so they are difficult to view on iOS devices, but can be viewed with a browser such as Puffin on an iPhone or iPad.
All Jing images were taken from Jing’s website.
Need help with Jing? Watch their tutorials and let me know if you have any questions!
I recently wrote about the video series I created for Pearson, entitled Common Core in Action. I wanted to share one more screen shot from the videos and talk a little bit more about what using Hyperstudio can do to make videos more engaging and visually appealing for students.
Here is a screen shot from the video entitled “Common Core In Action: Adding Fractions”.
The screenshot above is showing the portion of the video where I am adding two fractions with a common denominator of sixths. The sixths are visually represented by purple one-sixth fraction strips.
I used Hyperstudio to create the stage for my video because I can move objects around the stage during the video. In this case, I used the stack of one-sixth strips on the bottom of the screen to show two-sixths plus five-sixths as adding a set of 2 purple one-sixth strips and 5 more purple one-sixth strips to obtain 7 of the purple one-sixth strips.
The point in the video where this screenshot is taken, is where I am showing how the improper fraction seven-sixths, can be turned into a mixed number by bringing a red strip to the stage, which is worth one whole. Lining up the purple one-sixth strips along the edge of the red one-whole strip, I am able to show that 6 of the one-sixth strips are equal in length to the one-whole red strip, leaving me with 1 one-sixth strip left over. Having the ability to move around the fraction strips during the video makes it easier to explain visually why seven-sixths is the same as one and one-sixth.
Using the fraction strips is important to the Common Core Standards for explaining WHY a common denominator is needed when adding fractions, and not just having the student perform an algorithm by showing them “how” to add fractions.
To give you a better idea of what the fraction strips can do for students when I use them in fraction lesson videos, I created a small video where I move around the fraction strips showing how to visualize equivalent fractions. You can see that HERE.
In the screen shot above, I have created all of my fraction strips so that they are relative in size to the red one-whole strip. For example, it takes 2 of the one-half strips to equal the one-whole strip, 3 of the one-third strips, 4 of the one-fourth strips, and 6 of the one-sixth strips. Another reason I use Hyperstudio, rather than real fraction strips and a document camera to create the videos I teach with, is because I can create any size and color fraction strips I want.
If you would like me to create a lesson for you, please send me details about the manipulatives (like fraction strips) you would like me to use, along with desired colors, and I will design and create a personalized video lesson for you, on demand!
I recently finished designing and creating a set of professional videos for Pearson Higher Education called “Common Core In Action”. It was such a fun project! The videos are going to be used with math content texts for college students studying to be K-8 teachers. This particular set of videos shows how to teach some of the topics in elementary mathematics, to align with the Common Core Standards.
These videos would be a great resource for parents trying to understand their child’s homework, which could utilize many of these methods. Therefore, I am working with Pearson to try to get permission to set up a site where parents could view these valuable resources. Stay tuned!
I was given permission by Pearson to show a couple of screenshots from the videos. I will talk about each screenshot in a separate blog post. The first video screenshot I want to show you is from a video entitled “Common Core in Action: Addition Algorithms”.
To align to the Common Core State Standards when teaching addition, teachers often have the students use Place Value Disks. In this video I created a set of place value disks, where white disks are worth 1 (one) unit, and red disks are worth 10 (ten) units, to match the actual physical items elementary schools are using. I also included 5-frames and 10-frames to help teach addition involving regrouping, which used to be called “carrying” when I was in elementary school.
I used Hyperstudio to design and build the background to my video because I wanted to be able to interact with the place value disks during the video, as I taught the lesson on adding whole numbers using place value.
In the screenshot of the video, the bottom row is comprised of the movable objects:
I have created multiple copies of each object, sitting on top of one another. During the video I “pick up” place value disks or 5-and 10-frames, as needed, and move them onto the place value board. The eraser on the side of the screen (see the original screen shot) is used when I create subtraction videos, so that I am able to “erase” objects I am removing, or subtracting.
As I talk through the process of adding 28 and 34 in the video using place value disks, I actually move the disks into the appropriate columns in the place value chart shown.
The screen shot shows the point in the video where I have 2 ten disks plus 3 ten disks. I also have 8 one disks plus 4 one disks, but in this screenshot I have already regrouped 10 of the one disks to create a set of 10 ones inside of a 10-frame. This left me with one 10-frame of one disks and 2 one disks left over. The next step in the video would show me trading the 10-frame for 1 ten disk, and moving the ten disk into the “Tens” column. This allows me to explain in arithmetic where the “carried 1” comes from.
When I complete the process, and have the final tens and ones disks in the place value chart, I relate the place value disks to the final numeric representation of the sum by hitting the button on the screen labeled “Sum”. The screen will then show the number 62 (which is later in the video than this screen shot), where the digit 6 represents the 6 red ten disks which will be on the screen and the digit 2 represents the 2 white one disks that will be left on the screen.
If you would like me to create a video showing how to use classroom manipulatives to teach a topic in your curriculum, please contact me and I would love to work with you!
Live tutoring for math is great, especially if it is in person. However, I have found that asynchronous tutoring is even better. Over the years, my students have realized that as well. For the past 5 years, more students have opted to email me and have me answer their questions using an animation or video, rather than come to my office hours. They realize that instead of hearing me explain how the problem is approached and solved only one time (and hope they take really good notes), they can watch the video or animation as many times as they want, to make sure they understand.
For over 10 years I have been creating online personalized tutorials for my students at Mesa Community College. It started with teaching myself Flash so I could create visual animations to match the in-class activities we were doing with manipulatives for future elementary teachers in my Math For Elementary Teachers course. Next, I found the Livescribe smartpen and started creating algebra animations to quickly answer student questions.
I have continued over the last 10 years to find new and better ways to answer student questions or explain how things work. I now use Hyperstudio 5.0 to create interactive animations, which is easier to use than Flash, and exports to HTML5. I use Doceri on my iPad to create quick tutorials because I can create a movie out of it, and the student’s don’t have to have a special player to run the animations, like they do with Livescribe pencasts. If a student has trouble using the online math homework system, then I can easily create a video of my computer screen using Camtasia Studio and quickly explain to them how to use the program.
Now that I am retired from teaching and no longer have my own students, I want to use my experience to help all students across the globe. If you, or someone you know, is struggling with a concept in math, please contact me. I am excited to help you learn!
I love to learn! When I was teaching in Oregon I took watercolor and kayaking lessons at the college I taught at. When my boys were young, I took piano lessons alongside them. I had to give piano up because I enjoyed it too much and I found myself practicing for hours at a time when I needed to grade papers and take care of my children! I hope to take up piano and painting again, now that my boys are older, and I have retired from teaching. The past 3 years I have been learning to sail with my family.
I am always learning new technology and apps to enhance teaching and learning. These past few weeks my focus has been on learning WordPress. Since I decided to use a very detailed theme, there was quite a learning curve! Luckily, my husband started building his new website, www.onastarboardtack.com a few weeks before I started mine, so he was a wealth of knowledge. This is how it should be. When someone knows how to do something and shares it with others, the learning never ends. My hope is to reach people who have something they want or need to learn, and I can share my experience with them. Learning should be enjoyable, and not a chore.
It is summer now, so many students are not in “school”, but hopefully still learning something new like surfing, cooking, or playing an instrument.
I hope that students and teachers alike will find a way to refresh themselves this summer, before starting again in the fall. What do you do to refresh yourself?
I had been considering retiring from teaching in the classroom to pursue starting my own business for several years, but finally took the leap of faith in May 2015. I am very experienced in creating digital content for major textbook companies, but really wanted the time to focus on expanding into new markets. My goal is to build lessons for home school companies, teachers, parents and students.
My hope is to reach those students who are “stuck” and could use a tutorial designed just for them, with their learning style in mind, just in time before they lose momentum in their learning. I am willing to tutor live, but I have found in my 29 years of teaching that students retained more when they emailed me a question and I answered with a tutorial that they could watch over and over, rather than just answering them once in a live environment.
I will continually expand my website, include more examples, and plan to learn new technologies to help students achieve higher success in math. In the meantime, I have posted some older examples on my Technology for Math Education site: www.tech4mathed.com.
The company is called On Demand Curriculum because I plan to expand to include more subject areas, including writing and science lessons. For now, I will be starting the company by helping with math lessons and technology assistance.
Join me on my journey and help me spread the word!
Sue
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