Video+lesson+write-up


 * Title of Video:** Leap Year


 * URL of the Video:** [|Leap Year Video]

[|3.NBT.2] Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction. [|3.MD.1] Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes, e.g., by representing the problem on a number line diagram. //Students will...// Learn about leap years from a video **Not only are the students in my room becoming more computer-savvy every day, they are highly motivated to learn because technology is incorporate into the curriculum (Wells, 2006, p. 40) ** Create their own leap year math solution ** The best thing we can teach them, is how to learn themselves. (Armstrong & Warlick, 2004, p.1) ** Design a Calendar page for their solution
 * Learning Goal(s) or Objective(s):**

A solar year is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds A year is rounded to 365 Days but the extra time accumulates Leap years occur every four years to solve this problem Addition and subtraction of time is used to create a solution Different calendars solve the problem in different ways
 * Student Understanding(s):**

Why do we have leap years? How was math used to create leap years?
 * Essential Questions:**

//Instructional Delivery Method:// Each student will use his/her own laptop in the computer lab
 * Methodology:**

//Scaffold:// A graphic organizer with questions will be provided as a handout to be filled in during the video

//Organization Tool://The graphic organizer (perhaps through a program like Kidsperation) **Basic skills for today’s students include: finding information, decoding information, evaluating information and organizing information into personal digital libraries. (Armstrong et al., 2004, p.1). **

//Collaboration Tool:// We will discuss the answers to the graphic organizer questions before moving on as a whole class

//Product:// Students will use math to create a new calendar solution and design the calendar page for their February or altered month

//Assessment:// Students will email the quiz results after the video, we will discuss the graphic organizer questions, and they will turn in their calendar page and math solution work which will be graded based on a class created rubric focusing on the student understandings


 * REFLECTION**

1. What is the concept you intended your students to learn or explore? **//I wanted students to gain insight into the real world application of math as it relates to creating and solving calendar problems such as the dilemma for which leap year was created.//** 2. How do you think this assignment would fit with the prior and future learning of the class? **//Prior learning is tied in when students apply previous math knowledge and strategies to creating their own calendar solutions. Future learning is related to seeing that the current level of knowledge in math may not be adequate to provide a true solution to the problem, as well as future interdisciplinary explorations in planetary orbits and solar years.//** 3. Why did you decide to organize the assignment in this manner? That is, how does this approach advance student understanding? **//While I thought it would be relevant to show a leap year video on leap day, I didn't want it to become a pointless activity with no real applications. I decided to hone in on the math aspect, because it gives children the chance to see math as a creative problem solving activity that is used to impact some very important things to the way the world works. I wanted students to see that many ideas have been tried and failed so that they felt free to explore their own solutions based on their limited math skills in hopes that they would be hungry to learn more to get closer to conquering these real life challenges.//** 4. If you had the opportunity to make this same assignment again, would you do it in the same way? If you would alter it, explain why. **//I am pretty happy with the way the lesson turned out. I do think that the calendar creation aspect needs to be slightly more focused, but I also want to refrain from making it too structured so that students are really legitimately challenging themselves to think creatively to solve this problem. The task was meant to take kids to that synthesis and evaluation of Bloom's Taxonomy. I believe with the right in-class scaffolding, it could achieve that.//** 5. Given the student work, what would you plan to do next with these students? **//I would love to have students comment and reflect on both their own work and the work of others on the calendar creations so that they were socially constructing a deeper understanding. I would want students to think about what worked and what didn't, as well as what the limitations of the math they had to work with did to affect their solutions. Perhaps we could learn a little more advanced math to help. Then I think it would be great to create a class solution that pulled together all the best thinking as determined by the class as a whole.//**

1. What do you think were the affordances 3 of using technology in your lesson? **//My understanding of the affordances in using this brainpop video, are that brainpop is engaging and children respond well to the characters and humor. It cues the teacher for places to pause the video and cues places for questioning. It is easy to follow and provides a built-in quiz with other activities that can easily extend the lesson.//**

2. What do you think were the contstraints 4 of using technology in your lesson? Or what do you think MIGHT be the constraints? **//I feel that the use of video in this particular context, is constrained by the content of the video resources available, as well as need for teachers to clearly define what students should be focusing in on. Since videos will often provide information extraneous to the topic at hand or focus questions, students will need that structure need to be met through the use of some kind of graphic organizer, questionaire etc.//**