In April, we will be attending St. Mary’s Spring Conference.  This is where 2^nd year master of ed students present their action research and conduct Socratic Seminars with other graduate students. 

            The first session that I will be attending is about physical vs. virtual manipulatives in the math classroom.  The research that they conducted shows that there are benefits to using manipulatives in the math classroom, but also addresses the problems such as time constraints and technology difficulties that can be a negative for these activities.  The data that the presenter collected is about how student’s knowledge of the concept grew and how they were motivated and engaged when doing the activities.  I think this session will be interesting to find out which virtual manipulatives were used and how they implemented them.  In my classroom, I would like to use more of these and enhance my students learning through their 21^st century skills.   

            The second session that I will be attending is about grading policies and how they support high quality learning.  The research that they have conducted is about how a grade needs to reflect exactly what a student knows.  Their answer to the grading problems is standards based grading along with weighting the grade with at least 80% summative assessment.  Part of the math department at Blaine is doing standards based grading and our Geometry team is thinking about implementing the practice.  I am interested in seeing this model and how it has been implemented at another school and the pros and cons they have encountered. 

            The third session that I will be attending is called encouraging participation from the reluctant participant.  The main concepts they focused on were communication, culture, and technology.  The data that they collected shows that with this change the majority of their class is on task in various ways that include both interactions with peers and using technological devices.  I am interested in the techniques used for implementing a cooperative style of learning and also the strategies used to make electronic devices useful in the classroom. 

            The fourth session that I will be attending is about using iPads to increase student engagement.  It is a study about how we can use this technology in the classroom, how it can save money on books, newspapers, and computers, and the professional development that is needed for teachers to implement this.  I currently have a teacher iPad and our engineering program is looking at buying iPads for student use if we find good applications and uses for them.  I am interested in how they used the apps that are described in their research and the benefits that student iPads can bring.  I think that this technology can be very beneficial to our students but we want to approach it with plan for implementation or it may cause more work than it is worth. 

            The fifth session that I will be attending is about how metacognitive practices can be used to improve critical thinking.  Their research is focused on giving students skills that can be used in any subject and into their future.  They collected data through journals that students used on “Critical Thinking Fridays.”  My current action research plan has to do with increasing student achievement through critical thinking.  I am interested in finding out how they set up the one day of critical thinking and what type of activities were implemented.  I like the focus on student-reflection of their own learning and studying how the students actually learn.