Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Douglas D. Harrington
TE 831
Summary Box
Materials:
1. Student B.Y.O.D. (Bring Your Own Device) with Internet Access
2. Teacher Desktop, SMARTboard, and Internet Access
3. Virtual Classroom Activity in Desmos
4. Vodcast Video uploaded to Vimeo
Lesson Procedure:
Before (Launch)
Begin lesson by playing the Vodcast on exponential growth. Before beginning the
lesson, discuss important characteristics of exponential functions discussed in
video including growth factor, intercepts, and asymptotes. Highlight students
prior understanding and make that thinking visible for the class. Access the
demonstration slide using the link, making sure the link is visible on the board, to
model the technology for students. Students should log into the website as well.
Circle around to make sure any technological issues are addressed promptly.
During (Exploration)
1. Introduction of Task
After students are logged into the virtual classroom on Desmos,
demonstrate the process of accessing graphs and recording solutions in
the software. Explain that students should follow the prompts in order to
connect ideas. If students attempt to work out of order, they may not have
enough information to answer the prompts effectively. Encourage students
to be as descriptive and in-depth in their responses as possible. Take time
to model an actual answer to the first question to highlight your
expectations.
2. Pairing Up
In my classroom, students are arranged in tables of four; however, this
task is best completed in pairs. As a result, students need to follow the
pairing routine to find their partner and begin their work. Students have
the freedom to begin working as soon as possible. No paper or pencil are
necessary as they can record answers in the software.
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3. Student Actions
During the task, students should be working in pairs focusing on how the
constants a, b, and c affect the key characteristics of exponential graphs (shape,
intercepts, asymptotes, domain, range, etc.). After answering each question, the
Desmos software provides the opportunity for students to access other responses
in the classroom and revise their own answers.
4. Teacher Actions
The teacher should monitor the progress of the class through the Desmos
classroom dashboard. At any time, the teacher can access any slide from
any group and see in real-time what the group is working on. The
dashboard is best accessed on an iPad so that the instructor can circle
around the room, being present in each group.
Circle the room and pay attention to the mathematical language in each
group. Students have previously explored transformations of other
functions so the teacher should focus students on using precise language
(translation, reflection, shift, vertical stretch/compression, horizontal
stretch/compression, etc.). This level of language is not an expectation, but
is an opportunity to reinforce these ideas and terms.
After (Summary)
1. Class Discussion
Lead group share or reveal responses from Desmos software highlighting
the relationship between the graph and the constants of its equation. Use
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the observations/notes collected during the Explore phase to fill in any
gaps in understanding or address misconceptions. The emphasis should be
placed on patterns in transformations rather than specific examples to
help students generalize.
2. Exit Slip
Ask students to explain the transformations of an example equation
without a graph provided.
Additional Resources:
Vimeo Vodcast:
https://vimeo.com/218768566
Reflection
I chose to begin the re-purposed lesson with the Vimeo Vodcast to create
actions and beliefs for utilizing the Vodcast could be elaborated fully, this video
meant to simply serve the setting for the Desmos exploration so the rest of this
pen and pencil task which I have employed in the past to meet the same goals.
spending copious amounts of time creating each graph by hand, students can
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observe many times the number of graphs in the same amount of time. Before the
deeper discussions about the role constants play in transformations. Finally, the
how this technology provides greater opportunity for students to master content
functions. As my previous practices for addressing this goal were clumsy, Desmos
bit of risk.
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while working on high cognitive-demand tasks resulting in diminished student
important concept while limiting those that challenge success. Instead of splitting
student engagement with the lessons goals in mind. Upon reflection, TPACK
classroom have been tangentially discussed, but I will summarize them here for
clarity. First and foremost, the online software created a task which avoids
Desmos provided all students with access to make observations. Finally, this
no matter which slide they were on. Without this ability to monitor, I would not
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have been able to quantify this increased engagement objectively or identify areas
major complication arose when the technology failed to work on student phones.
classroom are not supported on phones as they are on tablets. Upon further
inspection, Desmos does provide icons next to the created classroom highlighting
which formats are supported, but I missed this information. As a result, the
scramble to find the departments laptop cart could have been avoided. In the
developing a lesson plan. Given the interactive nature of the software, Desmos
the illusion of collaboration despite the truth that interactions only occur in a
single direction. The software itself does not possess a discussion feature
about transformations. This technology does not create space for the interactions
technology. Given the ability to create your own digital interactive classroom, it
offers more than what mathematics teachers commonly use the software for an
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monitor students as they work through review materials, identifying common
understanding.
some of that time by adapting my longer explorations into the virtual classroom.
determine the mastery of content which results in higher retention and increased
achievement.
understand how this technology can impact their own practices and facilitate
student success. Working with a new technology always carries a sense of risk,
a bridge between the content, technology, and student achievement for the
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teachers in my department.