Signing Off

Thank you STEM for the 2012 Math and Science Externship experience.

I gained and learned so much while working at Merrill Manufacturing this summer. As the school year approaches, I sign off from this blog with my work at Merrill Manufacturing coming to a close. But, the lessons to be made, the continued contact with my company, and the impact on my classroom has no end.

I would like to link this blog to http://msbakermath.blogspot.com/ where I will continue to develop my teaching through gaining student interest and sparking curious minds...

Wrap-up of a Wonderful Extern Experience

               I believe I was in a very ideal situation through this experience. I reaped the benefits to the maximum. As I accomplished tasks given by my employer, I also had time to work on projects relating to school as I learned about the company and used the experiences and resources that surrounded me by being at Merrill.

                I learned some very good applications as I worked on my tasks here. Some of those applications included: 1.) As I worked on my “Surface Area Project,” I used surface area formulas and other formulas to figure out if a hydrant could be used by humans for drinking water. This project also looked at the huge role variables and algebra has in solving real life problems. 2.) The importance of finding trends in and coming up with models/equations to make predictions as I worked on the “Production Trend Project.” 3.) I discovered how Excel is a technology tool we should be familiarizing students with because I used it in all of the projects I did at Merrill. 4.) I worked with averages and standard deviation to set manufacturing target goals. 5.) I saw the importance of using conversions as I examined freight shipment quotes. 6.) I found I need to implement the 21^st century skills, especially communication, problem solving and reasoning into my classes.

                There was such great value in working with my math skills hands-on this summer. Everyone of course encounters math on a daily basis. I am different in that when I do, I have that constant sometimes nagging question- Can I get my students to experience this math like I am experiencing it right now or could I turn this into a project that will make math more real for my students? And, as long as you are a teacher with that constant nagging question, you will fly and create wonderful things; it only takes the encounter of real, applicable math, some creativity and innovation, and some TIME.

                I guess I am most thankful for the time that I did have and the support to work on these projects and activities that blossomed through my work at Merrill. I will say that is the biggest benefit I had in this process. I was able to have a focus on bettering my teaching throughout the summer. I was able to work on a water flow project for my calculus class. I have been working on this project on and off throughout this summer. There was a lot I did not know about hydraulics and water dynamics that I needed in order to make the project I am designing successful. Being that Merrill manufactures and engineers water system parts, I was well surrounded by resources I needed to ask any questions. I have to also mention, the pay was wonderful too. I felt well compensated, if not a little guilty, that I was being paid for the professional development experience this summer. I learned a lot and made good progress in the creation of projects and unit planning.

                This experience was absolutely priceless for me. The list of benefits that go named and will continue to arise from this for me is something I am so thankful for. 

Opening the Doors to Business and Education Collaboration

I saw first hand how much good the collaboration of the business world and education world can be. I had a unit about percentages and exponential models where I used loans and interest as the application. Students were to create a request for a loan. They were to prepare their loan proposal to actually present to a loan officer from the bank in town where they showed knowledge of exponential growth. Knowing this “outsider” person would analyze their project and give them feedback made them work hard. Those that did not work effectively and efficiently on the project faced the real sense of the consequences of ill-preparation. I am very thankful to the volunteer loan officer that came in.

The obvious answer for more involvement is to bring in the employees or administration of these businesses into the classroom. My employer mentioned doing this before where a school ran a program and he was asked to speak about is position to students. He stopped when the school no longer extended the reach out.

                If all businesses had it as a priority to get involved in young peoples’ lives from just talking with them to forming mentoring and educational relationships, there would be so much more engagement from students. Unfortunately, I realize that the priority for businesses is to keep themselves afloat. Their job is not to understand standards, how students learn, and create engaging, relevant learning experiences that will spark the curiosity of our workers to-be. BUT, the brilliant, specialized minds in the working world have the ability, and it becomes the educators job to open the doors and force these brilliant minds to volunteer (I'd pay them if I could). I know most people would not turn down a request of help toward students’ education.

               

                This is where the teacher takes on a time-consuming challenge. Oh, to just KNOW how to engage the students- if only I could whip units, activities, and lessons out. The design of applicable lessons where real-life experiences become clear and motivating to students is a big picture goal. Finding businesses willing to be involved could be a huge aide in achieving the goal.

There are a couple ways I see teachers designing units involving businesses:

1.)    The teacher can use the business to give feedback: I really liked the loan unit I taught. I will boast a bit, and say it was a very strong unit. There can be a more real drive for students if a particular business is involved in critiquing and giving feedback. The learning experience results in more than just an “A” or a “D”.

2.)    The teacher can use the expertise of businesses to help learn new things to teach to students: I just recently designed a pump as inspired by the work I was doing at this company. Merrill produces water systems of all sorts, so the knowledge here on water flow, fluid dynamics, and general physics can be found if I ask the right people. I am in the process of designing a lesson which has to do with the rates of water flow in various pump designs. By default, I am in the position to ask for help from “experts” for I am by no means an expert of water works. My ignorance on fluid dynamics, for example, could have easily stopped me at one point from attempting a project like this. I have a good resource here, I am dedicating the time, and the project will be created. There are a lot of projects and applications where non-expertise has stopped me in the past. I did not have the expertise of computer programming. I did not have the expertise of wind turbines. Time would just not allow for the research required to make lessons surrounding applications like programming or aerodynamics for example. The solution… find the experts. We need to expend the time and energy to make worthwhile activities and projects for students. The reward of will be great: engagement from the students, a potentially fascinating learning experience for all, and who knows, maybe an invaluable business partner who KNOWS HOW to spark the students curiosity- they just needed that open door. 

Week 4: Changes to the Classroom

           This experience is just packed with new applications and ideas to bring to the classroom. Easy enough, I can list off some these applications: graphing trends and finding best fit lines for sales data, finding rates of change with waterflow, finding averages to create target goals for the manufacturing department, etc.

Not as easily, however, is an explanation of a realization with how I have been a step-by-step instructor.

As I try to envision some of the changes that will result due to my realization, I cannot tell you at the moment what it exactly looks like because I am still trying to come to terms with it and how I need to change my activities.

I have always taken care in my step-by-step explanation of solving problems, completing activities, and doing projects. I feel I even had a driving mentality for some of the activities I designed, that as long as students could follow directions, they would be able to complete the activity/task. I had on the side, and perhaps too far on the side, the hopes that in the process of following the steps I laid out, they would make connections and build concepts.

This should not be. Students need to know that for unfamiliar problems out there, they will more times than not be on their own to make their own steps to finding solution. Just because there are not steps, does not mean they stop. They need to have the skill to TRY to apply ideas and ANALYZE/tweak their processes to arrive at a best solution. In other words, as a howled out about in my last blog, they need to be able to problem solve. And, they need to have CONFIDENCE in the process of finding things that do not work and then keep trying.

My current project is an example of this demand. I started with trying to set certain manufacturing target goals. What I found is the monthly manufacturing outputs fluxuated too much to set a fixed rate/target. My project has turned into trying to set up a model that will give a projection on sales. If sales can be harnessed, then production needs can be predicted and thus more regulated.

I still am struggling with my project, but I have a goal, and I look forward to the moment I arrive at a solution and I SEE THE SOLUTION WORK AND FIT THE GOAL.

 Steps and useful ways to remember things have a place. But, I need to begin introducing to my students that lesson of no right or wrong approach.

I  really do believe hands-on projects at the end of units that encompass the objectives/standards of the unit are what will get students engaged. I truly need to strive this school year to create projects where the students use their skills and see and feel victory in pulling the skills learned together to complete their project.

One of the projects I am working on creating for my students is a project where the students are to create an irrigation system. This is just an idea at this point, but at the end of this experience I will post the project materials on this blog. Below is a list of requirements (a list, not steps) of what I need for this project as I go about designing it. Forgive me because it is early in its design.

1.)    I need to present the problem and be clear with my expectations for the end project results:

a.       Problem: They are to design a pump and irrigation system that waters a row of tomatoes that is 10  feet long

b.      Demands: They need to present research of waterflow, pressure,

2.)    I will need to factor in cost and let them know what I have available, so they can work around it whether they design specifically on what I have, or they find some of their own material.

3.)    Rubric for a analysis paper which includes the rates of changes that are at work in this scenario.

4.)    Background information on water some physics fluid dynamics.

Week 3: The Concerns of the Business World

I sat down in a meeting with my employer on Monday of this week. After about one and a half weeks have gone by, I watned to hear about any of his concerns, and I hoped for feedback from him on the projects I was assigned. Progress looks good, and my employer was happy with no concerns for the actual projects themselves. I feel content in the work I have done, for it has shown him my willingness to take the projects he gives me and complete them with quality and efficiency.

The partnership here is working perfectly. I am accomplishing tasks for the company and alongside of my work I do, I have been able to develop lesson and activity ideas that will bring relevance and meaning to my students. I am so appreciative of the help I have received from the employees here as well. They are always willing to help any cause I am trying to go for.

As I said, my employer had no concerns with the work I am doing for the company, but he did have a concern for sharing and passing along information about the business world and its demands to students. This resulted in interviews with him and some of his other employees including an administrative assistant and a web developer.

The jobs and tasks spoken of ranged from performing conversions in order to figure out costs of imports or revenues of exports overseas; to communicating with costumers about list prices, mark-ups, and/or discounts; to ordering freights of needed materials and supplies to keep the business running, to being responsible for programming web sites, to positioning graphics and objects on a page so they can be viewable from a variety of devices (a computer screen or a mobile phone); to designing a water hydrant that will work throughout the year and not freeze in cold weather; to managing vacation times and bonuses. The range of tasks and responsibilities were endless, but one thing was constant. Math was present. Mostly, the ability to problem solve was a must.

When you do not know how to do a certain task, do you know how to problem solve, use resources, and have the drive to find the solution?

The thoughts and needs for students seem universal and of course aligns with the skills outlined in the Iowa CORE 21^st Century Skills. Once again, it is clear what we need to do as educators, as we know too well the frustration to try to get students to overcome a challenge to become problem. It is the not so simple desire that students will not just sit there when they do not know how to do it or skip over all of the word problems in a math assignment.

Here are some profoundly simple quotes that came from the interview:

“No business will work without [math].”

 “Calculators can’t always help you if you do not know what to push”

            “Employers look for people who are willing to figure things out.”

             “Someone will not do your work for you.”

This is yet another trumpeting of why the 21^st century skills, UbD, and all of those standards are important, so I apologize. But, this is the perspective of those in the business world.

I will be honest and say I have a lot of students who will not push. They skip the word problems; they do not even read them. I am slowly producing two lessons from this experience. The goal is to provide students with a relevant problem or set of problems that spark a drive of curiosity; to give them the skills to see a possible routes and tools to the solution; and to give them the time and push to explore their routes and arrive at a solution themselves. Problem solve- this is their expectation.

Week 2: Connections Between Work Experience and Teaching Standards

It is one thing to know the various constructed guides and standards in teaching our students such as the “Eight Standards for Mathematical Practice”. To be honest, I had to look up these eight standards again to remind myself of what they were. I read through them, and of course I nodded my head all the way down in agreement.

To be even more honest, I am tired of being outlined with what needs to be accomplished. It is another thing to be able to know HOW to create lessons and units that fulfill these standards and guides.

The “Five Characteristics of Effective Instruction”, the “Eight Standards for Mathematical Practice”, the “Iowa CORE standards are great summaries and guides of the common sense practices that any good teacher already strives to have as the base of all lesson goals. As I went through training, as I read other blogs and tweets, as I go through professional development, I feel these acronyms and summaries of what we universally need to be doing in class are always trumpeted out for the general agreement of everyone. It is the HOW. How will I, as an individual, and how will others, problem solve of HOW to achieve these standards (i.e. common sense, but oh so hard to achieve goals)? How will individuals network to build ideas that everyone can use?

I am completely done with complaining. I will only talk and share of what there is to learned from this experience from now on.

Going out and spending time working with my math skills that I teach is the best thing for me. I would say every teacher should have this experience that this “Extern Program” enables. The standards and guidelines are out there to help us help our students become career ready. In this program, we are experiencing what it takes to be career ready directly.

For example, this is not reading article that tells me how important the skill of problem solving is for my students in the working/business world. This is being given the time and experience to be in the position of problem solving for a business. I have been challenged with a problem, and I have not been given the clear route to take. I have these skills; sure, I know formulas to calculate surface area of cylinders and other shapres, and sure, I know there is an equation to calculate arc length. As I have been working at Merrill doing a project on calculating the surface area of winding flow routes, I have been challenged to apply these skills. Mostly, I have been challenged when I realize a simple old formula will not work. Then what do I do? How do I expand on what I already know? What tools are available.

I have included my two week summary document down below to show the process I have gone through in order to solve a problem of finding the surface area of a water valve. The problem solving becomes real, and I have to ask myself: “How will I create this type of experience of problem solving in my class?”

I will be designing activities that are simulations of my experiences here. I will be having my students calculate volume of one of the water valves I have. I would like to experiment with importance of flow rates, and see if I can tie this all together for them in an interactive lesson where they can see their work and calculations produce an important and relevant outcome of creating flow. I have a lot of ideas that I will be working with my employer about, such as is it feasible that my students could manufacture their own pumps? These ideas are developing, and I will create and publish the lessons I come up with on my blog and the other networks I am a part of, such as Twitter, my other blog, and a wiki.

I know I will be able to link up the lessons I create here to the Iowa CORE, or to the Five Characteristic to Effective Instruction, or to any of those great standards and guidelines out there, because this experience is providing me with the knowledge, the curiosity, the time, and the resources to learn about new ideas and applications. This experience pushes me to learn the HOW, so I can go and share with my students. How will I create a lesson that simulates the problem solving I had to do with time-production chart? HOW will I simulate the problem-solving I had to do to calculate surface area. HOW could we create a water hydrant? HOW?

Below is the Week 2 Summary of the Surface Area Project I am working on at Merrill.

Week 2 Merrill Summary

Concerns/Questions as we Begin

The setting I find myself in is very different from having the job as a teacher. As a teacher, I am in control of the big picture. I make the decisions based off of the goals that my students need to achieve. I am very well aware of the big picture problems and where things need to move.

It is somewhat of a transition due to the fact that I am not the “boss”. I am not in control of the big picture and problems. I feel we are still in the process of accomplishing what the company’s goals are with me? I just submitted the first task, and I feel this need of approval before I would continue organizing the data in the way I did. I need to know if the work I did is helpful. I see this as applicable in my classroom. Students, just as much as I, need that big picture. They need to know what we are trying to get at and/or trying to solve, so they feel their efforts and contributions are accomplishing something. I already feel I gained significantly from the task I did, but now I feel the need to make sure continuing to do this task benefits the company.

Simply said, I am concerned that I am taking more than I am giving so far in this experience.

Progress/Achievements

My first and ongoing task is to look at time production trends. I have now had a small experience of being a company’s data analyst. I have found out that being a data analyst requires you to look at A LOT of numbers. The true challenge is to be able to pick out trends and then be able to illustrate the trends in ways easy for others to read and interpret.

I was asked to complete the task of comparing the time production averages over the years. Merrill keeps a close record of every single part it manufactures. I looked at the total amount of time that goes into each part and the total production amount of each part in the years of 2009, 2010, and 2011. With this information, I was able to see the unit time it took to create each item. For example, in 2010 Merrill recorded it produced 47,880 units of part A1M and it took 26,725 minutes (A1M is a product code that when looked up in the catalog is a head casting piece to one of hydrants). Thus, in 2010, in took about .558 minutes to make one unit.

I had this huge list of all of these pieces and I needed to figure out how I could present this data, so it was useful- or, so that the useful information was clear and easy to pick out when so much background data surrounds it.

As I worked with Excel and organized the data, I started to play around with the question of “What trends given this particular data would be most helpful for the business to know?” I decided that focusing on the rate of change over the years would be best. I made one production time sheet that just looked at how the 2011 unit rate compared with the average rate. I then made another production time sheet that looked at the rate of change from one year to the next.

This work serves as an application to my classroom in many ways: 1.) Unit rates, 2.) Averages and different ways of calculating averages, 3.) Comparing decimal numbers, and 4.) Figuring out how to portray and communicate data. My students could look at one item and make predictions about how future production based off of an equation they could formulate from the given data. They could make graphs and analyze the ups and downs.

I have a lot of data I can play around with and use in story problems and activities for my classes. There is always plenty to do and learn about when it comes to application and activity design for lessons.