Comments on: Collective Effervescence Is the Cost of Personalized Learning

By: How Often Do You Help Dan Out and Build Residue? / Global Math Department

How Often Do You Help Dan Out and Build Residue? / Global Math Department — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 16:34:59 +0000

[…] you should check this out – cross-posted on both dy/dan and the Desmos blog – features from Desmos called the Classroom Conversation Toolkit, which […]

By: Neel

Neel — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 18:17:56 +0000

I’ve often thought about this in terms of guided notes in the classroom as well. So many math classrooms use guided notes to scaffold learning for students — they can be effective. Teachers, however, should also consider how guided notes (which are often made in a worksheet style) limit conversation in the classroom. Many students jump ahead because they are mastering the content more quickly than their peers — a worksheet has built-in differentiation since students are working at different speeds. As this post mentions, the real loss can be in classroom discussion. In my own classroom and in working with other teachers, I am always grappling with how to address the tension between routines/procedures around guided notes versus the ability to create this “collective effervescence” by keeping students in the same place. Thanks for a great post.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 16:29:48 +0000

The pause button is a very useful management tool – thank you.

More generally, Desmos is incredible for giving structured guidance, rather than wishy washy investigations. My students are really enjoying using it. Thank you for the great work!

By: Danielle Chaput

Danielle Chaput — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 12:21:52 +0000

In reply to Danielle Chaput. Please disregard my previous comment. I found my problem, those tools are not available in Polygraph activities...makes sense. Thanks for the great resource, trying it out tomorrow!

By: Sharee

Sharee — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 07:09:25 +0000

I am a newbie to Desmos this year (Thanks CAMT!) and used “Match My Parabola” last week. When I paused the class, there were audible groans of disappointment from the most surprising of students. They weren’t ready to stop trying to figure it out, and wanted to keep going and try to get to the challenge questions rather than go to their next class. I’ve used the pause/guided functions in two different classes, and they have been transformative.
Desmos is my new favorite toy in math class!

By: Jane Taylor

Jane Taylor — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 02:22:58 +0000

Couldn’t agree with you more. I did a Desmos activity where the students worked in pairs. I monitored their work on the dashboard and circulated among the groups, correcting the misconceptions that I noticed in their answers. I used the pause button a few times when the whole class was struggling. But the students were engrossed in what they were doing and I think some of my comments fell on deaf ears. I think the activity might have been more effective with teacher pacing. I missed the collective ah-ha moments and I think some of the students never really got the point. Thanks for providing both the tools and the rationale for using them.

By: Danielle Chaput

Danielle Chaput — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 17:31:23 +0000

What great tools! How do I access them? I don’t see them in my dashboard. I’m still a Desmos newbie, maybe I’m missing something. Can’t wait to try it all out with my students this week!

By: Scott Immel

Scott Immel — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 13:13:46 +0000

The new tools are fantastic! Be able to show the class as a whole how students are reasoning through a problem is such a valuable process for authentic student learning. We can look at what went wrong and right with their thinking, without embarrassing a student who answers wrong in front of the class.

I love the pacing because I can build activities now that allow me to have a discussion with the class on the first couple of slides, and then I can let them go!

My only issue is that I don’t have enough time in my life to create all the lessons using Desmos that I want!