My Top Ten Math Blogs I Follow, Plus Two Bonuses

I follow (gulp!) 232 blogs on https://www.bloglovin.com/. I know some are defunct, and some are possibly renamed from older blogs, but I can't let go of any of them. I know it's geeky, but every morning, with coffee in hand, I browse through my blog feed and get ideas from great people from around the world.

http://www.fishing4tech.com/mtbos.html is an awesome place to search through blogs for a particular topic, but I truly love "happening" upon an interesting lesson or thought each day. I learn from so many people everyday, MTBoS is my virtual classroom.

ALL of the blogs are AWESOME, truly, whether they are about a lesson or even just a teacher's difficult life moment. I want to share with you my personal list of top ten blogs...ones that personally connect with me almost every single time. They are in no particular order, but generally, each time these bloggers post, I save them. They make me go, "hmmmmm." Maybe they will resonate with you, too.

1. Fawn Nguyen's Finding Ways. The first time I heard of Fawn was at TMC '15 . She gave perhaps the most passionate talk I've ever heard. Fawn is so brutally honest and true, and I think she connects with everyone. She can make you laugh and cry in the same sentence. She is fiercely protective of her students, like a momma bear with cubs. And get out of her way if you do anything to hinder the performance of her students. Every time I read her blog, I feel cathartic. Like it's everything I wanted to say but could never get it out nor could have the courage to say it. She is courageous, and it's no wonder everyone loves her.

2. Sarah Carter's  Math Equals Love. If you haven't heard of the Sarah formally known as Mrs. Hagan, you could be living under a rock. Sarah has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered and even found her husband Shaun Carter on hard material. When you see her posts, you think, now why didn't I think of that? She is extremely relatable and it's no wonder her students love her.

MTBoS. Sarah does great things with Interactive Notebooks and planners, but she also finds easy, uncomplicated ways to teach and provides links to fantastic handouts.

3. Julie Reulbach's I Speak Math. Julie teaches Algebra 2, and if you need great resources and ideas, she's got them. She also will answer your questions on Twitter, and she taught me how to use Kahoot! at TMC '15...which, by the way, many of the teachers in my school now use!

4. Sam Shah's Continuous Everywhere But Differentiable Nowhere. Sam has unique ideas that I've never seen anywhere. I've used the fist bump problem (a take on the handshake problem), which I blogged about here and here. I use a lot of his problems in my problem-solving class. His posts are thoughtful, kid-tested, and there is always humor. And they are thought-provoking and genuine. I love them!

5. Meg Craig's Insert Clever Math Pun Here. Do you need ANY and ALL resources for Pre-Calculus, Algebra II, or Geometry? Meg's got them. All of them. She makes awesome review sheets and we both preach not to Kill a Kitten with our students. She is also the Queen of Gifs and cheering people up who need cheering. The world is a better place because of Meg! And who can resist her cute hat profile picture on Twitter??

6. Jo Morgan's Resourceaholic. I particularly like her gems, which truly are little nuggets of helpful links and resources that she finds by scouring Twitter and other places so you don't have to. I find nifty puzzles and facts there every post. She is also an amazing resource for England's math GCSE test that I don't give, but I do like to follow.

7. Amie Albrecht's  Wonder in Mathematics. I've only just discovered Amie's blog, and it is chockful of fantastic ideas. I particularly love her Friday Five series, where she, like Jo, finds awesome ideas so you don't have to.

8. Sara Vanderwerf's Saravanderwerfdotcom. Sara is also more of a recent find for me. She has great resources, and everyone loves her (secret)5x5 Most Amazing Just for Fun Game.

9. Ok, you get two here because I confused Alex Overwijk's Slam Dunk Math with Bob Loch's Math Coach Blog. I met both at TMC '15, and loved working with Bob in the Desmos workshop. He has great AP Stats resources. If you are into Visible Random Grouping, then Alex is the one for you. I had the pleasure of participating in his TMC '15 session, and it was fantastic...plus, he is pretty famous for something pretty cool, as you can see in this video!

10. Pam Wilson's The Radical Rational. Again, this is just another awesome site with great things posted...and she wears my math club's T-shirt.

Two bonus blogs. 

I save posts from http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ and http://www.educatorstechnology.com/ all the time, as they often have great tech ideas to incorporate in the classroom. Though not necessarily math related, I use their ideas to get ideas across to students using technology.

In keeping this list to a top 10, I know I left several blogs out that I adore. What are your favorite blogs?

Zaption: Easy Flipped Classroom--I Pinky Swear!

If you don't follow Richard Byrne, whose blog is Freetech4teachers, you must NOW. I have gotten a lot of great ideas from him, and today he did not disappoint. In this blog, he wrote about Zaption. Zaption is a site where you can take any video and add questions to it to make it interactive. Zaption calls these videos "learning tours". In about 5 minutes, I learned how to add multiple choice and free response questions to videos. Here's the video I watched to learn--so easy, I pinky swear.

I thought, nah, no math, I'm sure...but right when I checked it out, I saw a choice of a rational graph video, which I just taught, so it caught my attention. I had hoped to get to converting to vertex (standard) form of a parabola in my class today. Students had a test, and then they worked on this Desmos activity to introduce them to parabolas. But we did not get as far as completing the square.

Insert Zaption. I searched for a completing the square vertex video, and luckily, the first one I saw had an instructor who does it the same way I do. I was able to add a multiple choice question and two free response questions in a video that was less than 4 minutes. I added it to their homework assignment, and students will have to answer the question before they move on. Twice, I asked them to predict the answer, and then once I asked them to solve a problem on their own after watching the video. Afterward, I can look at the analytics and see their responses and how they did. I am assigning this for homework in addition to a light assignment on what we did get to cover.

Here is the video:
And here are the analytics, though none of my students have done it yet--though I can't wait to see it for myself.

The gallery is quite amazing. They have all different subjects and topics. Try it for yourself. If you do a flipped classroom or a modified flip, I think you will love it. 

If you are interested in learning how to use Explain Everything for your flipped classroom, click here.

Visible Random Grouping Every Damn Day

It seems like many of the blogs I have been posting lately have to do with Twitter Math Camp, but I guess that's because it was so unique, and so, well, necessary. It opened my eyes to so many different ideas, like technology in the classroom which I wrote about here and here. Well, I have to talk about another thing because I am using it every single day, and that's Visible Random Grouping. This is where students know that the teacher had no input in the grouping. So for example, our instructor Alex Overwijk had us line up according to height and then grouped us into groups of three to work on a task. I have used a technique where students line up in order of their birthdays without talking (very fun!). These are both examples of Visible Random Grouping. But mostly, in the past, I had broken groups up in such a way that they had one high (top) student, one middle high, one middle low, and one low. I did this for many years, but sometimes the top student would do everything and would not want to help and other times, the low student would feel like the odd person out.

Research according to Peter Liljedahl shows that when breaking students up at random:

• Students become more agreeable to work in any group they are placed in
• There is an elimination of social barriers
• Mobility of knowledge between students increases
• Reliance on the teacher for answers decreases
• Engagement on classroom tasks increase
• Students become more enthusiastic about math class

So this year, I decided to give visible random grouping a try. But I did not want to come up with a different way every day, so I decided to try a website that I luckily read in Richard Byrne's blog Freetech4teachers.com. It's called flippity.net, and it is AMAZING. Through this website, you can group students into groups or teams of many sizes, and what's also neat is that you can even pick a group of one at random, so that you can pick one student at a time, to answer rapid-fire questions for example. You can make seating charts through it, too. So here's how it works. 

First, click here to make a copy of the Random Name Maker Template. Click on make a copy. You will get a google sheet that looks like this:

Type over the names with your student names, deleting any extra. In addition, you can copy the names of your students from a grade program and paste it into column A (starting with cell 2), again deleting any extra.

Click at the top where I put the arrow, and rename your template with the class name. Or, you can click the arrow on the name tab at the bottom and click on rename.

Then click at the bottom tab that says "Get the Link Here." You will get this screen:

Next, you basically follow the instructions in cell 2. Click on File, then Publish to web, then Publish, and then copy the link (command + C) and paste it into cell 3 (Command +V). You will need to close out the box with the link before you can paste it in the light blue cell. When you do, it looks like this:

Then click where I have drawn the arrow: "click here to get your flippity.net name picker." Click on the link it then gives you, and you will get to flippity.net. Then click on whatever size group you want. For example, I clicked on groups of 4. 

Notice the shuffle symbol--if you know some of the group was similar the day before, you can just click on shuffle and it will give you a new group. I have this on the board as students walk into class. One day I came into my classroom after a bathroom break between classes to see students standing and waiting for me to put their names up on the board! And that day, I let them sit where they wanted. Once in a while, I think that is OK, too, but they were MUCH more off track!!

I love flippity.net because the class has really grown together and it's only been one week. I have asked students to name every student in the class, and some can now do it. I use it during my freshman advisory so that kids from different sending districts will get to know each other. Last year, my senior group of advisory (we grow with the students...having them all four years from freshman year to senior year) seemed to really be broken up into two groups. Now I am hoping that this will not happen with my new group. 

I have bookmarked the links so that it is easy for me to get to every day, and put them in a folder called random names. 

It's a lot of steps in the beginning, but once you do the first one, the second is easier, and then you have it for the rest of the year. When a student is added or dropped from you class, you can go the spreadsheet, add or delete them, but you do have to re-publish. But that's it! 

I have not used this feature yet from flippity.net, but I think it is so cool! There is a Jeopardy! Template that you can just change easily and play right away!! 

There is also a way to make flashcards from a spreadsheet and a certificate from taking a quiz that you produce...this website is a teacher's dream, and my thought is that they are not done yet.

So will you do #visiblerandomgroupingeverydamnday? I am, and I am loving it.

~Lisa

My Top 5 Technology Bloggers/Websites for Google, Green Market, Cheesecake Brownie Bites

Math: My Top 5 Technology Bloggers/Websites for Google

Do you remember the commercial Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs? I think that, in a good way, our school has gone Cuckoo for Google. Last year, we changed our email from Outlook to Google, we started using Google drive instead of our then beloved h: drive, and this year we are learning how to implement Google Chrome, Google docs, Google sheets, Google forms, etc. in our 1:1 classroom. With our buzzword "collaboration," many of us now see the benefits of creating a lesson in Google docs, in which all students (or teachers!) can work on at once. In fact, as the math department is up for our review this year, we will be using Google sheets to collaboratively enter the concepts our students are expected to know by the end of each course. And we just revamped our Math Lab sign-in by having students sign into a Google form on a computer or iPad--no more running out of sign-in sheets and easy access to see who attended...I am in awe of how we have been growing technologically!

This summer, I went to a Google 101 course at ISTE 2014, and it only touched on how Google can empower both teachers and students. I came home excited and found webinars and youtube videos about cool extensions, apps, etc. Completely geeky. I know. If you want to "Go Google" with me, here is a list of the top 5 websites and/or bloggers I discovered and learn from every time they post. I may never use Safari again!

1. http://www.friedtechnology.com/ by Amy Mayer @friEdTechnology. Watch these two videos just to get an idea: Smarter Chrome Lesson 2: Themes and Extensions, and Smarter Chrome Lesson 3: Favorite Google Extensions. These are just simply awesome. I learned so much just from watching her videos. Extensions are kind of like apps, and they can be added to Google Chrome right next to the omnibox. They make work life SO. MUCH. EASIER. And who wouldn't want easier? You can make your chrome screen unique to your particular needs. And I love the Kate Spade colorful theme for my background :)

Extensions help you do things you need quickly and easily.
They appear to the right of the "omnibox," or search bar.

There are many more videos from friEdTechnology, and I encourage you to look them up.

2. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/.  Richard Byrne, author of this site, is an incredible resource, and I can't stress enough to follow his blog. He is often the first to blog about new technology features that are free for educators. You can also follow him at twitter here: @rmbyrne. This is one of his Google Tools Tutorials. I attended his webinar on blogging, and he has given me great ideas, one of which is to make a top 5 list. He has also taught me a bit of html. Thanks Richard!

3. http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/. Alice tweets AWESOME quick facts that help with anything and everything about Google. I learn things from her whenever I check my twitter feed. If you only have a minute to learn, follow @alicekeeler and you will definitely learn something. She is a "Google Gooroo!"

4. http://www.shakeuplearning.com/ Kasey Bell creates FABULOUS Google Cheat Sheets that help to navigate anyone from beginner to expert. I often pin these sheets on Pinterest. You can follow her on Pinterest here, and learn how to navigate through Google.

5. http://www.simplek12.com/. SimpleK12 is a teacher learning community that can help you to Transform your Google Classroom with SimpleK12 . They offer free webinars weekly. They are great! The webinars are 30 minutes long, and they cover topics such as:

• How to use google forms
• How and why to get a google phone number 
• Quick start guide to using Google tools
• How to use Google chat

This list is endless. I have gotten so much out of just 30 minutes. I strongly recommend these not only because they are free, but because the speakers are excellent and you can pick and choose which webinars to watch. They are GREAT for beginners, but everyone can learn from them.

Through SimpleK12, you can gain access to tons of resources by purchasing a membership...but the webinars I mentioned are FREE! And everyone talks about getting the "bunny slippers." I want a pair!! 

And honestly, I learn a TON from my colleagues. Whenever I show them something I learned, they share something with me that they discovered, and therein lies the collaboration. It is really an exciting school year!

Play: The Green Market

My husband and I went to a Green Market in Palm Beach Gardens this Labor Day weekend. That's what they are called by us, but I think in the north, they are called "Farmers' Markets." I don't often have the chance to buy local, and it does feel good to support these small, fresh businesses.

I got an AMAZING smoothie from this guy:

I told him I like papaya, and he concocted his own blend for me: a ton of beets and carrots in a juicer, then poured into a Vitamix filled with papaya and banana. 

The samples of freshly made hummus, artichoke dip, pepper relish, and more from this guy below were so yummy. We bought a bunch home and served them as appetizers with the fresh pita chips we purchased. 

We bought bread from this shop, shown below. We were told to keep the bread sliced in the freezer to keep it super fresh. I've been taking out a slice every morning for breakfast, and it tastes amazing.

It's great to just walk around and take in the sights and smells. Highly recommended to do on a weekend were you just want to get away for an hour.

Eat: Cheesecake Brownie Bites

I know I just posted about Ghirardelli brownies last week, but I had a request to make cheesecake brownies for a Labor Day get together. So I searched Pinterest, as usual, and came up with this recipe from www.justataste.com. I changed it up by using one bag of the Ghirardelli brownies from Costco rather than make the brownies from scratch, but I did use the cheesecake recipe. Mine took a little longer than the 12 minutes suggested.

Have a great week!

~Lisa