I was just thinking of another important thing I got out of this class...if it wasn't for Alec, I would have no pictures on my website, my blog, or in my portfolio. Big deal eh?
Well, I wouldn't even have had any personal information, and I certainly wouldn't have ever blogged.
Alec helped me to get over my "fears" in class, and by learning about the technology, I was able to see first hand that it wasn't so bad, and that I could indeed live with putting some stuff about me on the web!! (I think I've even come to like blogging)!!!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
ECMP Reflection Part 2
The end is actually here, tomorrow is the last day of classes for me, and thus the last day of ECMP. I have enjoyed my time in this class immensely, and I have gotten a lot of value out of it. What have I learnt?
One thing that stands out is the opensource software and the other software that is found on the web that is free. I like this because I picture myself teaching at a community school, where if students have computers, they are likely not going to have Microsoft XP, or whatever, so having an option to get software, free, that is just as good, is a lovely thought!!
Not only have I enjoyed what I have learnt, I really enjoyed watching the movies done by my colleagues. The videos on beauty and the reality of our culture, wasn't an eye opener for me, but sometimes I get consumed in my subject area and with teaching my students only math, but these issues are more important...so it has led me to ponder how I could go about discussing these topics in my classes.
I'm sure I will find some way!!
One thing that stands out is the opensource software and the other software that is found on the web that is free. I like this because I picture myself teaching at a community school, where if students have computers, they are likely not going to have Microsoft XP, or whatever, so having an option to get software, free, that is just as good, is a lovely thought!!
Not only have I enjoyed what I have learnt, I really enjoyed watching the movies done by my colleagues. The videos on beauty and the reality of our culture, wasn't an eye opener for me, but sometimes I get consumed in my subject area and with teaching my students only math, but these issues are more important...so it has led me to ponder how I could go about discussing these topics in my classes.
I'm sure I will find some way!!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Youtube in a Classroom
After reading Alec comment on my blog about "Ma and Pa Kettle - Math Lesson" I was a little upset!!!
I didn't use a lot of technology (with the exception of a Smart Board) in my internship, and now that I have found a number of good You Tube math videos, I was upset to hear that a lot of schools do not allow this.
Hopefully Alec was right, and there is a way to get around this. So, here are a few of the sites that I like, pi day, and search Al G Bra, he too has some good sites, and my last favorite, is American Pi.
I didn't use a lot of technology (with the exception of a Smart Board) in my internship, and now that I have found a number of good You Tube math videos, I was upset to hear that a lot of schools do not allow this.
Hopefully Alec was right, and there is a way to get around this. So, here are a few of the sites that I like, pi day, and search Al G Bra, he too has some good sites, and my last favorite, is American Pi.
Monday, April 9, 2007
300
Quick little blurb on the movie 300 which I saw this weekend. I just read a review on hotmail entertainment, and the movie was basically ripped to shreds.
Now, the movie is quite gory, and there is a lot of violence...point taken, but having studied Ancient history and this particular Battle of Thermoplyae, I can tell you that there were a lot of accurate portrayals. Even the amount of violence and hard life of the Spartans, is accurate to the best knowledge of historians, even if it is gruesome. The lifestyle was pretty accurate, the soldiers (leaving their parents, being starved, etc.), the tough Spartan women, valuing war....
This author makes numerous cracks at the movie, one being the use of war elephants, why not they say? Well, ridiculous as it sounds, they existed and came from Northern Africa; whether or not the Persians used them I can not specifically recall, but they did at least exist!!
So, my point...? The plot is not "over-the-top" or made up, it was a real battle, where 300 Spartan soldiers died for the freedom of their people and all of Greece. Besides what I have mentioned, there are elements up for debate (like how the Persians found the path through the mountain), but it was definitely NOT laughable.
I recommend anyone with an interest in Ancient history, Spartan history, or action films, this movie is worth seeing.
I would just like to add that before one tries to critique a movie they should do some research regarding it's accuracy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, the movie is quite gory, and there is a lot of violence...point taken, but having studied Ancient history and this particular Battle of Thermoplyae, I can tell you that there were a lot of accurate portrayals. Even the amount of violence and hard life of the Spartans, is accurate to the best knowledge of historians, even if it is gruesome. The lifestyle was pretty accurate, the soldiers (leaving their parents, being starved, etc.), the tough Spartan women, valuing war....
This author makes numerous cracks at the movie, one being the use of war elephants, why not they say? Well, ridiculous as it sounds, they existed and came from Northern Africa; whether or not the Persians used them I can not specifically recall, but they did at least exist!!
So, my point...? The plot is not "over-the-top" or made up, it was a real battle, where 300 Spartan soldiers died for the freedom of their people and all of Greece. Besides what I have mentioned, there are elements up for debate (like how the Persians found the path through the mountain), but it was definitely NOT laughable.
I recommend anyone with an interest in Ancient history, Spartan history, or action films, this movie is worth seeing.
I would just like to add that before one tries to critique a movie they should do some research regarding it's accuracy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tapped In
I've been putting this off, since the one seminar that I wanted to partake in I was unable to attend. I hate not finishing something, but it seems that this is what I have come to...little things just kept coming up, and keeping me from attending any of the seminars. At first, it was the ones that I wanted to attend that I couldn't seem to make, but since today was the last day, as you can see it came to be even the ones that I didn't care about I never made (which is likely the ultimate reason that I never did fully make it through).
In any event, one day I would like to attend a seminar on math or perhaps history, but until then, I am afraid that I have yet to join a tapped in session.
In any event, one day I would like to attend a seminar on math or perhaps history, but until then, I am afraid that I have yet to join a tapped in session.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Math
Not surprising that I would be blogging about math...since that is what most of my blogs are about. I can't help it, math is such a wonderful subject. I am currently working on an assignment for my Math 308 class, and one of the questions involves finding the slope of the tangent line to the circle x² + y² = 25 at the point (3,4). Sounds a little confusing at first, but what they are asking for is to find the derivative of this function....what is the function? Well the function is y, so if we solve for y, we get f(x) = √(25-x²). How I had to find this was using 4 different methods.
I am a little rusty on my calculus since I haven't touched any in 3 and a half years. So it took a lot more effort and figuring out than it should have, but while I was working away I was totally happy, and content. Sitting down figuring out a problem, was not stressful (like so many papers and projects that I have to do), it was just nice and relaxing, even when I was coming up with dead ends!!! = )
Once I started getting back into things, and I started remembering stuff again, it was real nice and I never fully realized how much I missed doing stuff like that until now.
I am a little rusty on my calculus since I haven't touched any in 3 and a half years. So it took a lot more effort and figuring out than it should have, but while I was working away I was totally happy, and content. Sitting down figuring out a problem, was not stressful (like so many papers and projects that I have to do), it was just nice and relaxing, even when I was coming up with dead ends!!! = )
Once I started getting back into things, and I started remembering stuff again, it was real nice and I never fully realized how much I missed doing stuff like that until now.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Tech Task #9
Okay...tech task #9 involved evaluating some software. Being a high school teacher I decided to search for something that didn't apply to young elementary students.
Boy was that hard!!
There were some math ones that I found, Cinderella and geometer sketchpad. But they were not real user friendly. The tutorials were quite difficult to follow, involved a lot of reading and contained a lot of information that was, overall, difficult to follow.
With this in mind I would not recommend using any of these with a class. It would take too long to figure it out, and likely just confuse your students - particularly Cinderella...the geometer sketch pad does have some hope!!
The other one that was at least do-able, was Celestia. I couldn't find any real educational benefit out of it, but it was fun to play around in the galaxy. So what was Celestia about?
Well, you could take tours around different places (planets, comets, stars...), with the tour there was a brief description of some of the places that you stopped at, but not much.
Outside of the tour you could search items in the galaxy, but only ones pre-recognized by the computer were findable.
Over all, out of the 3 programs I looked at, I wouldn't recommend any of them.
Boy was that hard!!
There were some math ones that I found, Cinderella and geometer sketchpad. But they were not real user friendly. The tutorials were quite difficult to follow, involved a lot of reading and contained a lot of information that was, overall, difficult to follow.
With this in mind I would not recommend using any of these with a class. It would take too long to figure it out, and likely just confuse your students - particularly Cinderella...the geometer sketch pad does have some hope!!
The other one that was at least do-able, was Celestia. I couldn't find any real educational benefit out of it, but it was fun to play around in the galaxy. So what was Celestia about?
Well, you could take tours around different places (planets, comets, stars...), with the tour there was a brief description of some of the places that you stopped at, but not much.
Outside of the tour you could search items in the galaxy, but only ones pre-recognized by the computer were findable.
Over all, out of the 3 programs I looked at, I wouldn't recommend any of them.
ECMP Reflection part 1
We are wrapping up with classes which means ECMP is almost over. Reflecting upon my experiences in this class, I would like to mention first that I took this class because I heard how great Alec was, and to be very honest, I was looking forward to the no final part. Since it is my last semester before I get my degree, I wanted this to be EASY!!!
Things have changed. I have really enjoyed taking this class, and I have learned quite a lot. I am sad though that I did not take this class before my internship...since the website that I created I would have loved to share with my students. Oh well...I've got something I can share with future students!!!
I would recommend to any students in the faculty of Education to take this class, and try to do so in their 2nd or 3rd year, then they could use their project in their internship, but also their online portfolio, they could actually use during interviews...instead of it being a work in progress.
Things have changed. I have really enjoyed taking this class, and I have learned quite a lot. I am sad though that I did not take this class before my internship...since the website that I created I would have loved to share with my students. Oh well...I've got something I can share with future students!!!
I would recommend to any students in the faculty of Education to take this class, and try to do so in their 2nd or 3rd year, then they could use their project in their internship, but also their online portfolio, they could actually use during interviews...instead of it being a work in progress.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Interesting...!!
The funny math video at the top of my blog is really quite interesting. It is a "math lesson" about dividing shares (25%) evenly between 5 people. The argument is 14% a piece, for each person or 5. It is actually quite neat how the arguments work with this particular number.
I would be careful before showing this in a class, because if I had weak students I would be afraid of the outcome it could potentially have. But as long as I had a strong class, I think this would be an awesome little video to watch at the beginning of class!!
It is called "Math Lesson - Pa and Ma Kettle."
I would be careful before showing this in a class, because if I had weak students I would be afraid of the outcome it could potentially have. But as long as I had a strong class, I think this would be an awesome little video to watch at the beginning of class!!
It is called "Math Lesson - Pa and Ma Kettle."
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Standardized Testing
Should Saskatchewan adopt standardized testing?? This has become a rather large question, and there are a number of people pushing for it. This is a problem!!!!! As educators it should be our responsibility to STOP this before it gets any further.
Why??? I have good reason to believe this, I am not trying to just be difficult!!
First thing I guess I should say is that I am coming from a math background and thus I think primarily in terms of math.
What is standardized testing?? Prime examples of what this is are looking at the education system in Alberta and the United States (also known as the No Child Left Behind program). In both these places students are required to complete "standard" tests, which means they are all the same and every students must take it. In both these circumstances the main focuses of the test are math, reading, writing and science. However there has been numerous studies which are suggesting that these "standard" tests are not effective because they are multiple choice, which means that students are not able to show what they really know, and simply have to memorize facts to pass (they don't actually need to have an understanding). Then these results are published and schools inevitably become rated against one another, and the government (and firms supporting this - like those making the tests) argue that this is a good thing!! That ranking a school as 54th in the state is going to make those kids and teachers work harder to be number one. Well if you are living in a low socio-economic neighbor you might already be working as you can! So as you can see a large part of the problem is the focus on these numbers/stats with no contextual information.
As you can see this could become a problem for teachers in Saskatchewan if our province adopts standardized testing. Studies continually show that these tests do not benefit students, being ranked does not give them the boost to do better, but harms their morale, and most importantly these tests are NOT accurate measures of how students are achieving.
There are numerous other issues pertaining to standardized testing like, high-stakes testing, issues of accountability, teaching to the test, but I dont' want to blog about this any longer...it's been long enough!!
Why??? I have good reason to believe this, I am not trying to just be difficult!!
First thing I guess I should say is that I am coming from a math background and thus I think primarily in terms of math.
What is standardized testing?? Prime examples of what this is are looking at the education system in Alberta and the United States (also known as the No Child Left Behind program). In both these places students are required to complete "standard" tests, which means they are all the same and every students must take it. In both these circumstances the main focuses of the test are math, reading, writing and science. However there has been numerous studies which are suggesting that these "standard" tests are not effective because they are multiple choice, which means that students are not able to show what they really know, and simply have to memorize facts to pass (they don't actually need to have an understanding). Then these results are published and schools inevitably become rated against one another, and the government (and firms supporting this - like those making the tests) argue that this is a good thing!! That ranking a school as 54th in the state is going to make those kids and teachers work harder to be number one. Well if you are living in a low socio-economic neighbor you might already be working as you can! So as you can see a large part of the problem is the focus on these numbers/stats with no contextual information.
As you can see this could become a problem for teachers in Saskatchewan if our province adopts standardized testing. Studies continually show that these tests do not benefit students, being ranked does not give them the boost to do better, but harms their morale, and most importantly these tests are NOT accurate measures of how students are achieving.
There are numerous other issues pertaining to standardized testing like, high-stakes testing, issues of accountability, teaching to the test, but I dont' want to blog about this any longer...it's been long enough!!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The end...
The end is in sight....I am mere weeks away from graduating and I am sooooo excited because my brain just seems FRIED. 4 years at University has been long enough, I am ready to be done.
I've got a few more papers/projects to work my way through and then I have a summer of no homework, relax and do whatever I feel like...and I'll be making money because I've got a job!! So come end of April, life will be good!!
I am looking forward to have time to read the paper and do other leisure activities like that. I like being up on the news, but have a hard time making time for it with everything else in my life AND school.
Basically I am looking forward to a summer of shutting down my brain and then getting my OWN classroom come the fall (if I get a job)!!
I've got a few more papers/projects to work my way through and then I have a summer of no homework, relax and do whatever I feel like...and I'll be making money because I've got a job!! So come end of April, life will be good!!
I am looking forward to have time to read the paper and do other leisure activities like that. I like being up on the news, but have a hard time making time for it with everything else in my life AND school.
Basically I am looking forward to a summer of shutting down my brain and then getting my OWN classroom come the fall (if I get a job)!!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Astronomy Podcast
Okay...I found a podcast to listen to. Thanks Alec for giving me that site about the math podcasts...unfortunately I couldn't get them to work, and since I didn't know what to do to get it to work, I instead watched an astronomy podcast Episode 18: black holes big and small. It was actually quite interesting, this discussion was primarily what black holes are, what were to happen if some poor soul got sucked in, etc. What I found was quite cool, was the aspect of math and physics that were discussed....they weren't discussed in great lenghts to make someone who is not of a math background to cringe, but were brief enough that I was able to pick up and understand some of it.
This podcast was much more enjoyable then I thought any podcast would be. I was able to put it on in the background and do other work while I was listening, so I didn't have to stop doing everything and sit down and do just that for 30 mins. Which was really nice!!!!
So overall I enjoyed listening to my first podcast ever.
Now in regards to education and teaching...
I dont' know if I'd ever use a podcast in my classroom, nor do I think that I myself would ever actually make one. They seem to be full of educational information (most that I had looked at anyway), but I am unsure of how I could use this in a math classroom or if it would even be useful (I am talking here as if there was a useful math podcast out there).
To me this seems like something I would have in my classroom as an extension of the students learning...perhaps a personal project of some sort...?
In this respect though, I think they could be useful and helpful for students.
I'm still unsure of exactly how I feel right now, but I think that pretty much sums it up...
This podcast was much more enjoyable then I thought any podcast would be. I was able to put it on in the background and do other work while I was listening, so I didn't have to stop doing everything and sit down and do just that for 30 mins. Which was really nice!!!!
So overall I enjoyed listening to my first podcast ever.
Now in regards to education and teaching...
I dont' know if I'd ever use a podcast in my classroom, nor do I think that I myself would ever actually make one. They seem to be full of educational information (most that I had looked at anyway), but I am unsure of how I could use this in a math classroom or if it would even be useful (I am talking here as if there was a useful math podcast out there).
To me this seems like something I would have in my classroom as an extension of the students learning...perhaps a personal project of some sort...?
In this respect though, I think they could be useful and helpful for students.
I'm still unsure of exactly how I feel right now, but I think that pretty much sums it up...
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Podcasting - Before hand
I haven't listened to a podcast yet because I am having a hard time finding an interesting one. I wanted to listen to one that is about my major...math!! But that is proving quite difficult so I will have to settle for something else.
To be honest I am unsure if I will like the podcasts, even if they are really good. Sometimes I find that technology consumes me and takes over my life. And this seems like it could be just another thing that involves me using my computer and staring at a screen.....
To be honest I am unsure if I will like the podcasts, even if they are really good. Sometimes I find that technology consumes me and takes over my life. And this seems like it could be just another thing that involves me using my computer and staring at a screen.....
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Hot Potatoes
Well...I am truly a math geek at heart because I found something totally cool today. In ECMP class Alec showed us about a FREE site called Hot Potatoes. In this program you download you can create different on-line "tests" for your students. For instance you can create crosswords, fill in the black paragraphs, matching, and more.
I chose to create a math based cross word (pretty cool I think) and you can find it at my History of Math website under my activities page!
I am really excited about this...so I am going to go see what else I can create!!
= )
I chose to create a math based cross word (pretty cool I think) and you can find it at my History of Math website under my activities page!
I am really excited about this...so I am going to go see what else I can create!!
= )
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Graphing Parabolas in Math 20
Well, if you happen to find yourself teaching math 20 one day, I've got a great site that you can use when you get to the Graphing Parabolas unit.
The site is called winplot What is winplot? Well it is a graphing applet, that allows you to graph a number of parabolas at one time...so what, you're probably thinking. Doesn't seem like a big deal...? But there's more!!
**Note: ^2 means that we are raising some value to the power of 2**
When you introduce your students into y = a(x-p)^2 and eventually y = a(x-p)^2 + q, what this applet allows you to do is really cool, and I will show you with an example.
graph y = x^2
the kids can now see what this graph looks like. All is good.
Next you want to edit the equation you already have. What you are doing to do is now type in y = (x-3)^2
what the kids are going to see is the graph y = x^2 move to its new location.
The reason why I find this really worked well, was because I wasn't just adding another graph onto the screen to confuse my students. What I was doing was moving that graph, in order to help them better visualize what happened.
After doing this with a few different graphs, the students can hypothesize about what happened, and if you do enough, they WILL get it!!!
So, winplot is free and it is easy to use. So my advice...?? Download it, play around with it, and use it if you ever teach anything on Graphing Parabolas.
To use winplot:
Once you have downloaded it, you will have to unzip the file into a folder that you want. Open up winplot, and go to Window and select 2-dimensional. Once you are in, click on Equation (at the top), and click on Explicit to do what we've been doing here.
Good luck and have fun!! = )
The site is called winplot What is winplot? Well it is a graphing applet, that allows you to graph a number of parabolas at one time...so what, you're probably thinking. Doesn't seem like a big deal...? But there's more!!
**Note: ^2 means that we are raising some value to the power of 2**
When you introduce your students into y = a(x-p)^2 and eventually y = a(x-p)^2 + q, what this applet allows you to do is really cool, and I will show you with an example.
graph y = x^2
the kids can now see what this graph looks like. All is good.
Next you want to edit the equation you already have. What you are doing to do is now type in y = (x-3)^2
what the kids are going to see is the graph y = x^2 move to its new location.
The reason why I find this really worked well, was because I wasn't just adding another graph onto the screen to confuse my students. What I was doing was moving that graph, in order to help them better visualize what happened.
After doing this with a few different graphs, the students can hypothesize about what happened, and if you do enough, they WILL get it!!!
So, winplot is free and it is easy to use. So my advice...?? Download it, play around with it, and use it if you ever teach anything on Graphing Parabolas.
To use winplot:
Once you have downloaded it, you will have to unzip the file into a folder that you want. Open up winplot, and go to Window and select 2-dimensional. Once you are in, click on Equation (at the top), and click on Explicit to do what we've been doing here.
Good luck and have fun!! = )
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Help
I need some help...I am looking for information regarding the proposed curriculum change for high school mathematics. I attended a seminar on this change and I got some information from that seminar, but as there were a number of teachers attending who simply started 'attacking' the sask learning folks, it wasn't an overly informative session.
Who might I contact to learn more, or where might I look...? Any ideas?
Who might I contact to learn more, or where might I look...? Any ideas?
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Telecollaborative Learning
Telecollaborative Learning...well I am to blog about a project that I have found that I think will be useful. To be honest I am having the hardest time actually finding one, everything I've been trying doesn't work or is just weird, so hopefully I can find one soon...........
So, a telecollaborative project is an internet based project that is supposed to involve people from around the world to solve common problems. I think I have found one, but I am still a little unsure.
The site that I have finally chosen is called "Statistics: A curiosity factor" and can be found by clicking on the link above [when you get to the link, click on projects, on the left hand side and then scroll down to the title Statistics: A curiosity factor].
What is this site?
Well this site is intended to familiarize students with statistics, i.e. data collection, and the analysis of data collected. This could be used in a grade 9 math classroom under the Data Management unit. In this project once students have familiarized themselves with some surveys and the like, they are to create their own. In this survey it is the students choice, and they are to get 25 people of different age and location to participate. Once completed they will graph the data and discuss their findings with classmates.
Okay so that is the gist of the project.
What is the common problem?
Well I believe the common problem was to inform people around the world of statistics and its uses.
How would I use this?
This is something that I think I would use in my class, but as this particular project is outdated my class wouldn't actually be allowed to participate.
BUT, this would be a good opportunity to start a new similar project, in which the data used by students would be taken from participants from other countries.
So, a telecollaborative project is an internet based project that is supposed to involve people from around the world to solve common problems. I think I have found one, but I am still a little unsure.
The site that I have finally chosen is called "Statistics: A curiosity factor" and can be found by clicking on the link above [when you get to the link, click on projects, on the left hand side and then scroll down to the title Statistics: A curiosity factor].
What is this site?
Well this site is intended to familiarize students with statistics, i.e. data collection, and the analysis of data collected. This could be used in a grade 9 math classroom under the Data Management unit. In this project once students have familiarized themselves with some surveys and the like, they are to create their own. In this survey it is the students choice, and they are to get 25 people of different age and location to participate. Once completed they will graph the data and discuss their findings with classmates.
Okay so that is the gist of the project.
What is the common problem?
Well I believe the common problem was to inform people around the world of statistics and its uses.
How would I use this?
This is something that I think I would use in my class, but as this particular project is outdated my class wouldn't actually be allowed to participate.
BUT, this would be a good opportunity to start a new similar project, in which the data used by students would be taken from participants from other countries.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Technology and Health
Are all of the technological advances that society is creating, harming our youth? Don't get me wrong, technology is a wonderful thing, but I don't like the idea of our youth depending upon it. I've found too many high school students depend upon their cell phones, MSN, and their play stations, or x-box's. And because they do, it spreads onto their siblings at younger ages, and now middle level kids are becoming in the same boat, and it's even starting to spread to elementary students.
Now I have no proof of this, nor have I conducted any students, I am just going off what I have noticed as an educator.
There have been studies taken though, regarding the obesity and other health issues of the youth of our society, and one of the causes named is kids lack of activity because they are playing on their game boy, or computer, etc. I see this as a problem. First I think technology is great, and that young kids should know how to use it and the like, but too many of them get dependent upon it, and then what we are seeing is some students stopping all or most physical activity so they can play with their toys.
As I am still a university student, I have not found the time to research any further into this topic, so I ask you your opinion on this topic. Is technology harmful to our youth's health?
Now I have no proof of this, nor have I conducted any students, I am just going off what I have noticed as an educator.
There have been studies taken though, regarding the obesity and other health issues of the youth of our society, and one of the causes named is kids lack of activity because they are playing on their game boy, or computer, etc. I see this as a problem. First I think technology is great, and that young kids should know how to use it and the like, but too many of them get dependent upon it, and then what we are seeing is some students stopping all or most physical activity so they can play with their toys.
As I am still a university student, I have not found the time to research any further into this topic, so I ask you your opinion on this topic. Is technology harmful to our youth's health?
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Medieval History
Sounds like an exciting topic doesn't it??? Well, it is, but I am NOT looking forward to the midterm that I am writing in 2 hours. I am actually starting to stress quite a lot because this week I have been prepping for interviews instead of studying for this exam...not necessarily the best choice (at least that is how it feels right now)... = (
So...one thing that is frustrating me, is the the usage of names. It seems that all the royal families like naming their children after themselves or their own fathers...and this results in many King Henry's only distinguished by the Roman Numerals that come after their name...and in France we have what seems to be an infinite line of Kind Louis'!!
This really has nothing to do with education, let a lone technology, but it is my current focus, and occupying my mind, so I just had to blog about it...back to studying!
So...one thing that is frustrating me, is the the usage of names. It seems that all the royal families like naming their children after themselves or their own fathers...and this results in many King Henry's only distinguished by the Roman Numerals that come after their name...and in France we have what seems to be an infinite line of Kind Louis'!!
This really has nothing to do with education, let a lone technology, but it is my current focus, and occupying my mind, so I just had to blog about it...back to studying!
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Technology and Mathematics
I have a question to pose. Being a "math geek" I always think of technology in a classroom in terms of a math class. As I am learning all of these neat/cool things from Alec, I would love to incorporate them into my classroom when I eventually have one. But I am stuck...I am unsure of how to implement these sorts of things...?
I have worked with a smart board, and that was great, both the kids and I had a great time!! =) But it was more centered around me, just because you have one big smart board, and I used it for instructing and giving visuals. This worked great, but I am thinking that there is more that I could do to get the students involved. **Now there is a problem here though, because some of the schools that I would like to teach in do not have enough computers for their to be a lab open to anyone but the computer classes** So now we've come to another predicament.
I am really struggling to find ways to adapt this into my classroom...and one of my main problems is that what if I have to teach the students all about the technical side of what I wanna do? then I've lost actually time for doing it, because if anyone knows anything about the math curriculum...it is unrealistic in time (I have yet to meet a teacher who can teach the given curriculum in a semester, and have the kids following along)...
So I guess my question is rather large, and I am just more so looking for ideas...!!
I have worked with a smart board, and that was great, both the kids and I had a great time!! =) But it was more centered around me, just because you have one big smart board, and I used it for instructing and giving visuals. This worked great, but I am thinking that there is more that I could do to get the students involved. **Now there is a problem here though, because some of the schools that I would like to teach in do not have enough computers for their to be a lab open to anyone but the computer classes** So now we've come to another predicament.
I am really struggling to find ways to adapt this into my classroom...and one of my main problems is that what if I have to teach the students all about the technical side of what I wanna do? then I've lost actually time for doing it, because if anyone knows anything about the math curriculum...it is unrealistic in time (I have yet to meet a teacher who can teach the given curriculum in a semester, and have the kids following along)...
So I guess my question is rather large, and I am just more so looking for ideas...!!
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