Should be "ED" colleges, not "we" colleges. Silly iPhone predictive typing :-)
On 3/16/09 4:21 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > Send FourthGradeMath mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/fourthgrademath > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of FourthGradeMath digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 (Caroline Meeks) > 2. Re: FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 (Greg Dekoenigsberg) > 3. mongo now in git (Greg Dekoenigsberg) > 4. Re: FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 (Richard Holden) > 5. Re: FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 (Greg Dekoenigsberg) > 6. Trying to build teams of teachers+coders (Greg Dekoenigsberg) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:05:50 -0400 > From: Caroline Meeks <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [math4] FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 > To: [email protected] > Message-ID: > <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Message: 3 >> Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 07:57:08 -0400 (EDT) >> From: Greg Dekoenigsberg <[email protected]> >> Subject: [math4] Teachers and developers: "Finding the 44" >> To: [email protected] >> Message-ID: <[email protected]> >> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > > > Hi Greg, > > Love this idea. What do we have right now? 20 developers and 1 teacher? > > One suggestion based on the group work I've been doing and studying this > semester and my experience is that groups of 6 might work better on average > then groups of 2. > > Maybe 4 developers and 2 teachers working on 4 activities. > > And although the activities should not be perfect, they should be very > thoughtful. That is full of thought about why what you are trying might work > for learning. Team members should be thinking together about learning and > it would be great if we could transfer some of those thoughts to the next > person who picks up the activity and improves it. Maybe the next person > will also improve or have a different view of the pedagy of the activity > too. > > > >> >> >> >> Lest anyone think I don't want teachers around, which is perhaps what some >> may have construed from my comments, I want to make it VERY clear: >> >> THIS WON'T WORK IF WE CAN'T FIND 4TH GRADE MATH TEACHERS TO HELP US. >> >> The way forward, ultimately, is to pair teachers and developers together >> to build activities that map *directly* to clear objectives, as defined >> by the curriculum framework: >> >> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Math4Team/Resources/CurriculumChart >> >> The nice thing about the open source model is that these activities don't >> have to be perfect. In fact, they *shouldn't* be perfect. They should be >> experimental. They should be moving targets. They should come together >> quickly. They should be simple, and numerous. Over time, it will become >> clear which ones have the most momentum, because people will actually be >> using them, and ultimately we will polish those gems that our community >> find most useful. >> >> What we're really doing here is establishing a framework that will allow >> us to get started -- because it tells us *what we should be working on*. >> Too frequently, we've had developers decide to write a cool activity, >> without having a clear goal. The result is a bunch of cool activities, >> but with not nearly enough coverage. >> >> Hence Math4. 44 objectives, 44 activities. Which means that we need 44 >> developers, and 44 teachers to guide them. :) >> >> If you look again at the Curriculum Chart: >> >> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Math4Team/Resources/CurriculumChart >> >> ...you see the 44 objectives, and next to them, slots for people and >> activities. As we recruit developers and teachers, we should be pairing >> them up by objective. >> >> As an example, I've added myself and Mongo to the following objective: >> >> "4.P.3: Determine values of variables in simple equations, e.g., 4106 ? x >> = 37, 5 = y + 3, and s ? y = 3." >> >> Note: Mongo, in the short term, will really just be a drill tool that can >> handle any content. However, I am picking a single objective anyway, even >> though it could conceivably handle multiple objectives. >> >> So now we need 43 developers and 44 teachers. I'm doing what I can to >> bring developers to the table. >> >> Who can bring the teachers? We need your help. >> >> >> You're exactly right! This initial period is not about a finished >> product, it's about getting started. >> >> I think Caroline is frustrated because this isn't very educational at >> this point, but what it is, is very open source like. Now if you're use >> to what end products look like in Open Source, you'll be wondering why >> we're so "off the mark" at these beginning stages. > > > I'm not frustrated. I'm excited!!! I just know from research how many > learning technologies are totally ineffective and sometimes even reduce > learning. So I want to encourage thinking about pedagogy and learning > during the design stage. > > I also want to encourage reflective practice in general. > > I do this for two reasons. First, I think it will make your work better and > second, its the change we need to accomplish in the schools and with the > students, it just makes sense for us to try to practice it ourselves. > > I'm excited because having kids using instructional materials that really > promote thinking and result in learning is the whole point. What you are > starting is important. Thinking about it is important too. > > Thanks! > Caroline > >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> FourthGradeMath mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/fourthgrademath >> >> >> End of FourthGradeMath Digest, Vol 2, Issue 19 >> ********************************************** >> > > _______________________________________________ FourthGradeMath mailing list [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/fourthgrademath
