Listening to Dan's talk on iTunes has makes me really want to post this, because this is the one problem that actually caught my curiosity. I was driving home one day, noticing these nice dotted lines on the highway as I came home. I wondered what I could do with it, and so I made my carpool friend drive home one day...
Act 1 - Roadlines
I especially like this, because I feel like it is the "wizardry" of mathematics, something so innocent, could tell someone so much.
Act 2 - Measurements
Some other very vital information is what is the distance. Well if you are from the US of A (do americans actually say that?), you can use
this great article, just keep in mind my video is shot in Canada (so Km/h), or as my Blair Miller helped me find you can use this resource for British Columbia...
Or just pull out Google Earth and measure, that mother is pretty precise.
Act 3 - the Reveal
And there it is. I feel as if I may have cheated you guys out of the reveal, just doing the picture in picture. Would have been better show me pull in the camera onto the dashboard? What do you think?
The Sequels
Where I could see this going is A) develop the general case for m/s to Km/h. Or better yet lines/sec to km/h (MPH if you are a friend of Uncle Sam (do Americans ever say that? I need to get cultured)). For some reason I feel like this would be a sweet app, have students make it. I also thought of bringing in movies, car chases, to see how fast they are really going. This
one even mentions some of the speeds in the intense
Bullitt car chase.
How else could I extend this? I don't know, but I think my grades should have fun with it...
I had a thought last night. This happens from time to time, and I am only learning to post my thoughts as they occur. I have been busying myself so much with Standards based grading, and I have been loving every second of it. Let me tell you the truth SBG, to me, is not a reform because it is how I was taught to assess in my professional development. I had a great professor that has dealt among her faculty many of the same things I hear strong advocates of SBG encounter. "What about numbers?" "Retakes just give out grades like candy!" Blah-blah-blah. This all being said I am a definite fan of SBG. I feel like it is powerful not simply as an assessor, but also as a curriculum guide. When I make topic scales and outline specifically what I expect students to learn, I create a clear vision in my head not only what I want to teach, but how I want to teach it and how I want students to learn it! What a fantastic method indeed. This is where my thought comes in. How do I turn the great assessment force of SBG back on myself? How do I get the super power inducing radioactive SBG spider to bite me, not just my student Peter Parkers?
I have become a firm believer in teacher modeling (no, I don't mean modeling instruction, though I love that too!), I simply mean that we must show kids that when teach them any important skill, we the teacher still hold that skill valuable in our own lives. If not we are continuing the trend of getting grades for the sake of grades. I had a great evaluation last year (one that I still need to write my reflections for... eek!), but it was a one time assessment! I did not take into my own hands my learning, and outline very clear standards for myself that I could measure and improve. I must out on a great chance to learn, to adapt, and to grow, and I also missed out on a chance to show my students that this skill is useful for the rest of their lives not just their K-12 existence.
So that is what I plan to do! I need to become a self assessor just as much as my students do! I need to track my progress, to see that each unit, I am learning from the mistakes that I have made, so that I can improve! What is more, I do not want fluffy light-hearted goals. No I want to make a scale of clear documented learning and skills outcomes that will guide me as a teacher, that I can assess myself (with the aid of my students), and that I can make a sweet set of skills.
These I believe will be my topics...
Instruction
Relationship
Assessment
Parent Communication
I almost included a half assed list, that would completely destroy my true goal, but I need to think about this more and stew on it before I 'git 'er done. So instead I want to ask you, my superiors, what are your standards? I know this is probably not a new idea for you, so please inform me.
