Toolkits: Awesome Audio

This afternoon I took part in the Awesome Audio toolkit run by Cheryl Torrie. We explored the chrome extension 'Mote', an accessibility feature that allows you to add voice note feedback or instructions for students within Google Docs, Slides and Sheets. 

When using Mote in Google Slides you can leave verbal instructions making this extension a great tool for rewindable learning. Having both written and spoken instructions gives students a better opportunity to access the learning. To demonstrate this I have used a slide from last week's distance learning that was set for the students who require teacher aid support in class. By clicking on the Mote speaker icon and format options you can change the colour and audio playback options for each voice note. A bonus feature is that a Mote recording can be copied and pasted into different slides.

To insert the spoken instructions I clicked on the Mote icon which can be found in your extension tool bar if you have pinned it, or next to the comments icon in Google Slides, (refer to the image below). After doing this a box appears on the screen and prompts you to begin your voice recording. What I liked was that the box is moveable so that meant the need to memorise instructions was removed. Recording the instructions allows you to add a personal comment eg: 'Have fun!' which is often in the text lost when written.

The Mote extension also allows you to leave sound bites in the comments tool. To use this feature you need to click on the purple Mote icon in the comments tool. You then record your feedback and click done. Your voice recording is then inserted into the comments tool and can be accessed by clicking the play button. The comments tool is the only place Mote can be accessed and used in Google Docs.

Mote recording sit in the cloud and allows you to see who has accessed (viewed and/or listened to) your voice recording. This was a great toolkit to attend as I am already thinking of ways this extension can be used creatively and purposefully to open the connections to our learning up to a wider range of students. 

Amplifying Basic Facts: Manaiakalani Toolkit...

This afternoon I took part in the Amplifying Basic Facts toolkit lead by Donna Yates and I'm really glad I did because I came away with a lot of great ideas to implement in my maths program. 

The focus:

• How to teach multiplication /division basic facts.
• How to amplify and turbocharge the teaching of the basic facts.

Donna shared the message from Jo Boaler's  that more often than not we create 'maths anxiety' in our learners by expecting them to be able to recall the basic facts in 4 seconds without taking time to ensure we have helped them grow their understanding and number sense. To lessen the chance of this happening we need to introduce strategies using equipment to allow for visual connections to be made, provide opportunities for our learners to practice these strategies using contexts they can connect to, before we ask them to be able to recall from memory. 

Strategy

'Basic facts should not just be rote-learnt in isolation from understanding. There is little point knowing what 6 + 7 or 7 × 8 is, if the student has no concept of addition or of multiplication. Teaching needs the joint foci on developing understanding as well as memory.'

Practice

'Doing a wide variety of work that aims to build and enhance strategies, helps reinforce procedures, and understanding of mathematics.  Practising strategies also reinforces and continues the process of memorisation.'

Memorise

'This should only come after the students understand the operation, and have some strategies for performing it.'

Donna shared a wide variety of online programs and virtual manipulatives to help us provide the multimodal learning opportunities needed to help a wider audience make their connections. I really enjoyed the hands on opportunity to explore these.

                        

Image from Donna's presentation 

My Takeaways:

• Recall comes when good foundations are laid and understanding grows
• Make use of at NUMPA Book 6
• Continue to grow understanding of the literacy of maths
• Incorporate virtual manipulatives into my program
• Use images to 'find the maths'
• Basic facts should not be rote learned in isolation from understanding
• Continue to use the real worlds of our students with written maths questions to allow connections to be made in context and with understanding.
• Make a virtual maths manipulatives slide so these can be accessed any time by any one from a known place

Resource Links:

• Array Display - a site that shows what times tables look like when drawn as an array. It has the function to change the order of the factors and show what the array would look like as a division.
• Donna's Multiplication site - so many great links here
• Maths Eyes - finding the maths in images