This year is the first year that I've really used Google Classroom. It is awesome. When you post an assignment and link a Google Doc, you have three options, depending on what you want the students to do with the document:
Most of the time, I just post digital copies of homework, so I just allow students to view. For digital investigations, I make a copy for each student so that they can turn it in. Recently, I covered properties of quadrilaterals in my Geometry class. I do not like to give students the properties, I would rather that they discover them through investigations. I have Geometer's Sketchpad investigations, but my school has Chromebooks and you can no longer download Geometer's Sketchpad. I tried looking for these investigations, but eventually decided that I just needed to make them myself. I used Desmos Geometry to create them and Google Docs to create a guided investigation template. The Google Doc has the links to the investigations. My students this semester are really reluctant to do investigations, they do not understand why I am making them do it. I have a circular conversation with them most days that we do investigations: Student: Why are you making us do this? Me: So that you can think for yourself. Student: But I can think for myself. Me: Can you answer the questions in the investigation? Student: No Me: . . . I'm not really sure why my students are pushing back with investigations. I have some students who need me to sit there next to them and read the questions that are printed on the screen. There are students who just refuse to do it, and wait until we go over it as a class. Thankfully, I do have some students who complete the investigations.
There are some days that I want to give up on investigations and everything that UTeach taught me about effective and engaging teaching, but that is why I cannot give up. I did not become a teacher because it would be easy, I knew that it would be challenging. I became a teacher because I wanted to show students how math applies to life outside of the classroom. And I will not stop trying to achieve this.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
June 2018
Categories |