Desmos Updates Web-Based Calculator: Ready to Ditch Your Old TI?

Desmos, Inc, creators of a great online graphing calculator just updated the interface and functionality of their web-app, but is it enough render other apps or traditional calculators obsolete?

There are advantages to your students utilizing web-based, iOS/Android, or physical TI (or Casio) graphing calculators, so if you've got the resources, use them all!

Software, hardware, and mobile apps all have their place in 2012 maths education.

Appropriate Uses:

Desmos (and other) online graphing calculators

You live on the web, you work on the web, you publish on the web. Why are we still forcing our students to make and analyze function and statistical graphs on a separate piece of hardware and (at best) uploading them to PCs via USB? 

Especially with Algebra 1 or Geometry students, I feel like there is a ton of instructional time spent just teaching navigation through menus and screen on traditional calculators. The beauty of the Desmos interface is that almost every utility your Algebra students might use is all together. Equation editor, tracing, and graph view doesn't require any extra keystrokes. Instructing use of the Desmos Calculator is usually limited to answering "How do I add a new equation," and "What do you press for the exponent?" and the students quickly figure out the rest as they play.

Editing equations on this web-based graphing calculator also seems like training wheels for other math software like Mathmatica, Wolfram Alpha, or Geogebra

The real power of Desmos, is how they've built sharing right into the app. 

With a button that looks VERY similar to the Google Docs share button, you've given a hypertext link, mail link, embed code, and image download. Very flexible!

You could:

• use the sharing feature to upload your own graphs onto your class website
• post to your class social media pages
• embed into assignments/quizzes/exams

Your students could:

• Share on wikis
• Share on discussion/message boards
• email you
• email each other
• Post on their social media accounts

Mobile Apps or Software Based Calculators

I haven't really found one that has anymore functionality than the free Desmos calculator, but these are handy to have on my iPads or the math computer lab for when the network is down. The practice of typing mathematical equations is also important for success on our Missouri Algebra I EOC. It'd be a shame for our students to score poorly because of the technology instead of a lack of knowledge. 

Students are also always willing to download a free version to their mobile devices. Searching in your app store will get you one of several free or cheap options. The favorite for my class iPads is (you'll never believe it) "Free Graphing Calculator". My preferred software for high schools is the open source GeoGebra platform. It is very similar to Geometer Sketchpad, which is written into many textbook's curriculum, and (like Sketchpad) also has an archive of lessons and resources.

Traditional graphing calculators (TI-83/84/NSpire or Casio Fx or Prism)

Students taking standardized tests still have no other options for their graphing/statistical needs than the golden standard dedicated graphing calculator. It seems obsolete and an inefficient use of resources to me, but its also irresponsible to neglect training on operation (and encouraging/requiring students to use them). If your math students are spending all of their time sketching simple graphs on their ACT, SAT, or AP (or your Praxis II) scratch paper, they will run out of time to do the analysis that is truly required on the assessments. Until the testing companies find a way to block students' use of other apps during testing, laptops, tablets, and smartphones will continue to be banned from the testing environment.

Besides testing, endurance also lies on the side of TI. Although it seems crazy to me that they still sell TI-83s for 80-90 dollars, that's actually great for your attempts to integrate the technology into your classroom. The keystrokes for most basic functions on TI or Casio hardware haven't changed since at least 2000, so you can reasonably use class sets your school has previously purchased within the past 12 years. Can you imagine getting a reasonably similar experience for your students between a 2000 iBook and a 2009 MacBook (The year before TI-Nspire was introduced). We have almost 40 old TIs we still use in a bind.

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What's your preference for your students' graphing needs? Given limited instructional time, which approach would you prioritize?

5 Reasons I Was A Better Teacher My First Year

I was a better* teacher my first year. Here's why.

Such enthusiasm. A world where I still flipped up my hair in the front (and pulled it off.) 

1. First year teachers will try anything.

If you were anything like me, you were always willing to lend an ear to someone with a different strategy for illustrating properties of equality, tactfully contacting parents of difficult students, increasing engagement, or establishing routines. The further I get into my teaching career, the less willing I feel to take a new tip.

2. First year teachers don't have bad experiences and classroom baggage.

Remember that first student who tried to drive you bananas? The first time you felt like an administrator didn't support you? The first time your perfect lesson bombed? The first time your students disappointed you? The first time you disappointed your students? Ever wish you didn't? The longer we teach, the more we have to forgive, the shorter memory we require, and the greater courage we muster to put ourselves out there again.

3. First year teachers "wing it" less.

Before you start to feel like a vet, there are those 1,2,3 years where you don't. Where planning ahead isn't a luxury and "good professional practice" - it's a necessity just to get through your lessons.

Now that the level of structure and planning is on my terms, I know that proper planning for instruction really is best, and that my worst days teaching usually come on the days I'm least prepared. My students are less focused, my transitions take longer, and fewer students are engaged. Granted, winging it is helpful for the days you're distracted by family demands at home or you're a bit under the weather, but prepping like a rookie usually keeps my teaching fresh.

4. First year teachers follow policies. (For better or worse).

As ridiculous, redundant, or reactionary as some of the bureaucratic hoops we have to jump through may be, by George, I was minding my ps and qs my first year. Some teachers are more likely to take one for the team and go through the motions than others, but even the most defiantly natured first year teacher will follow more policies. And sometimes (often?) following these policies really is best for maintaining school environment and student expectations.

5. First year teachers don't know what doesn't work.

This is connected some to #1, but because I didn't know what strategies "didn't" work, I was willing to try. I was amazed at the (proven) effective strategies from the Marzano group. I expected everything I picked up from PD expert my school brought in to work. (Sadly) I believed then that every PD my district would offer me was going to change me life. (And maybe it did because I believed it would.) This sometimes results in ineffective lessons I can avoid with more experience, but there's something to be said for the power of a positive attitude and an open mind.

We entered the city golf-cart Christmas Parade for Math Club. I'd label that under "crazy" these days. We're not Minnesota, but golf-carts on December 5th is still too cold.

*I say "better" because these are qualities of a good teacher that are inherent to new teachers that overcome other inadequacies. If we keep these qualities as we add experience, we slide into that professional growth sweet-spot. Master teachers are made.

What about your first year experience do you wish you'd hung on to? What are you most glad is over?

"I Secretly Agree When My Students Think They Shouldn't Be Writing in Math"

Have you ever felt that way? It's certainly easier to believe it?

"My job is to get these kids to perfect their arithmetic, solve equations, and make graphs for the ACT or state tests."

Writing has come back to the forefront the past year with the technical emphasis in the Common Core. The Missouri Algebra I End of Course Exam is reintroducing a required performance event this year, and its something that worried more than one of my colleagues. I had an opportunity to spend 5 days last semester in a writing PD with other teachers from North County, and it really helped to change my outlook on why and how to write in math class.

Where I'm Coming From

The training, sponsored by the Gateway Writing Project (which is the local effort of the National Writing Project), focused essentially on two tenets: writing for assessment and writing for learning.

I had a love/hate relationship with this training and our instructors, veteran/retired teachers from around St. Louis, most of which had spent some time in my district. Any time you go to a professional development with mixed subject areas led by someone not from math, they always will have several examples and takeaways reading for other subjects, and then I always hear this:

"I'm excited to see what you come up with on applying this to your math classroom."

You only need about 2 years of experience in the classroom before you just expect that will happen at 75% of PD opportunities. But at the same time its frustrating, it also forces the issue. How will I use this in my math classroom? And fortunately, most days, I was happy with the answer I found.

What I Learned 

Your students have opportunities for writing in the math classroom almost every day. Writing doesn't only have to happen in solutions to word problems, but (I think) is most useful in the learning process. I had already developed a practice of asking my "why" to my students after they responded to my questions, but writing those types of responses took that understanding to the next level (and got the introverts involved, too).

Tips for Getting Started:

1. Have your students explain steps to the problem they just solved, using relevant vocabulary to the lesson/chapter, and properties or laws they used. The first time you do this you'll get lots of "this" and "thats." My preferred response to generic language is always to ask the students how helpful it would be if I delivered my own examples to them like that. When my students stop moving "this" and "that," they make fewer errors of omission or inconsistency.

2. Have students describe their problem-solving process. Even better than "show all your work" is "explain all your work." When kids write down what each bit of their work is representing or in the solution for, they will often find their own errors in logic or process.

3. Have students reflect on success/failure/questions on the lesson of the day, share with a small group, and then combine their thoughts concisely. They might answer each other's questions, they'll better articulate where they have confusion, and its a good opportunity to wrap up/summarize learning goals for the day.

Have Courageous Conversations with other Teachers

Chances are, you or someone you know (kind of) really believes they we shouldn't be teaching writing. Challenge that, and (humbly) start a dialogue or brainstorm. Here's what I put together for my colleagues.
 

Where are you in your attitude toward writing in math class? Do you believe it enough to make your students do it?