SMART Notebook 11: Embed Your Voki

Posted on April 20, 2012 by RDavis • 1 Comment

I remember a couple of years ago trying to get my voki inside of my notebook software. After failing miserably, I gave up and literally did not use voki much after. SMART Notebook 11, or “the game-changer”, as I call it, has the ability to run various types of widgets. One of those widgets, located in the SMART EXCHANGE, is the voki avatar.

Voki is a web based interactive avatar that is fully customizable to say dialogue that you type or say. It’s great for students to do creative storytelling, recite poetry, sing songs or pretty much anything that requires voice.

I’m going to introduce voki to my students by creating an avatar to give hints on certain questions. I’ve recorded a video that explains the process for embedding your voki to SMART NB11. It’s going to be an awesome addition to my lessons and I’m pretty sure that my students will agree.

The voki avatar was created by one of the many publishing companies that are a part of the SMART Ecosystem, called Robots and Cupcakes. Their content is pretty incredible and worth checking out.

Filed Under: SmartBoard

A Great Flipping Resource: Region 10 SmartBytz

Posted on April 20, 2012 by RDavis • 0 Comments

Looking for a great resource to aid in flipping your classroom? Region 10, a TX ESC has an amazing student learning portal with ready made instructional units to aid students.

SmartBytz is a collection of math and science animated videos that cover a broad range of areas.

All videos are housed on youtube and that is where my students actually located the videos…and watched…what I did not show in class. Check out Region 10′s Powerof10Texas youtube channel.

My students and I agree that this is pretty great stuff! Check out the video below on the distance formula, a Davis class Favorite…

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies

IPAD: Mathgraph for Algebra

Posted on April 16, 2012 by RDavis • 0 Comments

Mathgraph is an app great for students to investigate how certain graphs change depending on the parameters. Each graph starts with the graph of its parent, which is helpful.

Press details and change the the graph by moving the sliders that control each attribute of the equation.

Mathgraph is best for student investigation of properties. With this app, students can easily determine, “What happens if I change…” or “How does graph A compare to graph B?”

The best part, of course, is that Mathgraph is FREE.

Check out this application on the App Store:

MathGraph

Katherine Philip

Category: Education

Updated: Mar 20, 2012

Filed Under: Ipad

IPAD: Geometry Pad – A Secondary Math App Worth Downloading

Posted on April 16, 2012 by RDavis • 0 Comments

My frustration with mobile learning and mathematics has been 100% about the absence of quality applications. It just seems that every app that I’ve seen for secondary math has been either equation solving or vocabulary. Not that those apps are bad, I just wanted something a little more dynamic and interactive.

Today, my hope is restored and I cannot wait to use this app with my Geometry class. The app is simply called, Geometry Pad and it’s free…for now.

The Breakdown
You can think of Geometry Pad like Geometer’s Sketchpad or Geogebra in its most basic form except it’s on IPAD which means that my students can dynamically interact with mathematics without going to the computer lab.

Features
1. It’s FREE…for now, Although I would gladly pay for it!
2. The feature request option takes your needs directly to the developer. I’ve already emailed them 4 times…requesting a slope calculation, auto alphabetic point labeling and a few other minor details.
3. Insert points, lines, shapes and touch the object to change the properties and calculate measurements.
4. Labels and measurements can either be shown or hidden.
5. Multiple projects can be worked on simultaneously on the same device because there is a save feature which will definitely come in handy for classroom use.
6. Students can place objects, show measurements, MOVE the objects and watch as the measurements dynamically change!

Keep in mind that this is a brand new application and future releases will include more features as evidenced by the response that I just received from the developer.

I’m pretty stoked right now and I encourage you to download the app.

Geometry Pad

ZonMobile

Category: Education

Updated: Apr 13, 2012

Filed Under: Ipad

SMARTboard Quick Tip: Our SMART Collaborative Review

Posted on April 11, 2012 by RDavis • 0 Comments

This week, my students are working in collaborative groups, but it’s not just an ordinary grouping day. We are conducting “speed dating in math”…or “Speed grouping”

Speed grouping works like this. Students begin with a series of activites centered around a specific student expectation. Every 15 minutes, a buzzer sounds and when that happens, students are to switch groups to collaborate with a new team on a new problem.

Students know where to go and who to work with through random selection. I use the SMART Random Group picker which is located in the lesson activity toolkit under tools. Once the timer goes off, I simply tap the “regroup” button and all groups are automatically reset.

It’s been a nice change of pace and students are taking each portion of the review seriously making sure that they have completed all parts before the “switch”.

Filed Under: SmartBoard, Teaching Strategies

Yet Another Posting About Manga High Math

Posted on April 6, 2012 by RDavis • 0 Comments

The other day, as always, we were ending our class time…with Manga High math. This time, instead of a “game”, we were utilizing one of Manga High’s algebra challenges. As all of my experiences with Manga High, this one ranked somewhere near the top literally because of one student. I had a student who, even… Continue Reading

Filed Under: Web20

Dear @KanyeWest So You Want to Change Education?

Posted on April 6, 2012 by RDavis • 0 Comments

While visiting my morning dosages of online news, blogs and such…I was rightfully intrigued by a slideshow of “Kanye tweets” and one tweet in particular took my breath away. Kanye West wants to change the world, which is nothing new at all but with his new company DONDA, he specifically ranted a series of tweets… Continue Reading

Filed Under: Professional Development, Random, Teaching Strategies