My house:
http://screencast.com/t/t2PRXMvd
My favorite place on earth... Fenway Park
http://screencast.com/t/TEcQG6000
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thing #10
In Progress... Playing around with VoiceThread... I know I need to get with it, when my 4th grader already has an account on Voice Thread!
http://voicethread.com/share/1544898/ Still trying to work out the details, but I will get it tomorrow!
http://voicethread.com/share/1544898/ Still trying to work out the details, but I will get it tomorrow!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thing #9 Part 2
I have uploaded my photo to Picasa for anyone to see...
http://picasaweb.google.com/jsalasky3/FieldDay2010#
After the editing was done, I played around with Aviary and FotoFlexer. So fun!
Here's the list of more free imaging stuff out there:
FreeFoto: http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp
Pics4Learning: http://www.pics4learning.com/
Public Domain Photo Database Photo: http://www.pdphoto.org/
Public Domain Photos: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/
Flickr Free Use Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/freeuse
http://picasaweb.google.com/jsalasky3/FieldDay2010#
After the editing was done, I played around with Aviary and FotoFlexer. So fun!
Here's the list of more free imaging stuff out there:
FreeFoto: http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp
Pics4Learning: http://www.pics4learning.com/
Public Domain Photo Database Photo: http://www.pdphoto.org/
Public Domain Photos: http://www.public-domain-photos.com/
Flickr Free Use Group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/freeuse
Thing #9 Part1
Before editing... http://screencast.com/t/4HtcEuki
This is a picture of some of the kids in my daughters 3rd grade class last spring at their field day. I am going to crop the picture and put text on the photo before I send it out to her teacher.
After editing: http://screencast.com/t/J3uuJcfXb
I used the crop feature to zoom in some on the kids in the class. Then I also used the text feature to type a title on the picture. The last editing I did was to lighten the photo up so you were able to see the background a bit better.
I'm not real sure that I will use the digital images much in my math classroom, but only time will tell. I do enjoy playing around with photos and sharing my creations with other friends. I'm going to try the "Aviary" site to see what that's all about too!
This is a picture of some of the kids in my daughters 3rd grade class last spring at their field day. I am going to crop the picture and put text on the photo before I send it out to her teacher.
After editing: http://screencast.com/t/J3uuJcfXb
I used the crop feature to zoom in some on the kids in the class. Then I also used the text feature to type a title on the picture. The last editing I did was to lighten the photo up so you were able to see the background a bit better.
I'm not real sure that I will use the digital images much in my math classroom, but only time will tell. I do enjoy playing around with photos and sharing my creations with other friends. I'm going to try the "Aviary" site to see what that's all about too!
Thing #7
OK, I could do this for about 8 hours, but time doesn't permit right now... so I have a start.
I will plan on working on this site a little at a time. I will start by updating my lesson plans weekly.
The web-site is: http://mathfordawgs.weebly.com/
I am very excited to include new links for my students and include pdfs of worksheets for them to re-print at home in the event of them misplacing their original.
This screenshot shows the start of the site pages: http://screencast.com/t/9dJd5ANz
I will plan on working on this site a little at a time. I will start by updating my lesson plans weekly.
The web-site is: http://mathfordawgs.weebly.com/
I am very excited to include new links for my students and include pdfs of worksheets for them to re-print at home in the event of them misplacing their original.
This screenshot shows the start of the site pages: http://screencast.com/t/9dJd5ANz
Thing 5 #4
Ooops, lost this once already... The NetTrekker read aloud feature seems to be good for text that is already typed, but the problem is that in a math lesson there are many times problems that have been typed in some type of equation editor and the problem does not get read. The directions get read, but not the problem. The nice thing with the vozMe is that I can type the directions and the problem with the words typed in the way it should be read. I'm not sure if Jing is suppose to capture the reading of the text, but it did not...
Here is the link to the recoding: http://screencast.com/t/vceQmAweIqH
Here is the link to the recoding: http://screencast.com/t/vceQmAweIqH
Thing5 #3
Wow, I can't believe all the on-line stuff out there for math!!! I'm so excited. I keep bookmarking and bookmarking. I should have my data projector in my room all set after Christmas and I plan to use several of these links to show things in class in a "new" way. I also will have a web-site for my students to find links to help them with material we have been covering in class. I have to move on or I'd spend all day just playing around on these sites. I found this link very useful: http://www.emathematics.net/index.php. I will use it will both my FST classes and my Algebra class. I know that I have students who are missing the whole first week of Chapter 4 in my FST. This is a chapter all about trigonometry and this web-site has a great set of videos that I can recommend my students watch for help before they try and do the homework. I can't wait to play around more with these links!
Thing 5 #2
I am fortunate to be teaching my Algebra course from a Prentice Hall textbook that comes with all kinds of on-line support for students. Most of the students will use the on-line support just for the on-line text-book, but there are many other resources out there for them. They can watch a "teacher" re-teach a lesson and/or just go through examples step-by-step. My Algebra class is a co-taught class with several special-ed students who need constant re-teaching. This is a great way for these kids to get help while at home. The materials offered by Prentice Hall also would be great for a student who has missed an excess amount of time in class. If a student needs help on a lesson and just needs to see the instruction a different way, this if a great option for them as well. I like that they can also have a parent sit with them and the student could teach the parent how to do the assignment. It is so beneficially for students to explain how to do the problems and not just do the problems.
Thing 5 #1
Differentiated Learning seems like a given in education. I can't believe there are many teachers that don't try to do these things. If they are not trying, they do not really care if their kids are learning and should get out of education!
In a math classroom we are a bit tied to the standards we have to cover and make sure the kids understand. In my Algebra class, my students get an outline sheet to fill in as I go over the notes. At the top of the notesheets, I always list the objectives that we will be covering that day. The class is a low level class, so our objectives are very basic and are very focused on what the state standards say we must do. We, as a group of Algebra teachers, have narrowed down exactly what these kids need to meet the requirements and to be successful in the next level math course. I can honestly say that I have no gifted kids in this class, so my instruction is geared toward a lower level of students.
We do have the kids sitting in pairs and encourage them to help each other when working on homework. We change these seats frequently so the kids get to meet and work with several others throughout the class. I do have some students that pick up things quicker than others so we try and pair up kids so that one of them is able to help the other. Sometimes though, it is the "blind leading the blind".
Our notesheets have several examples that we work through together in class before I have them do their homework assignment. I have typed most of their assignments, even most of the ones from the book, as years of teaching has reinforced the fact that kids hate bookwork and they will be more likely to do a worksheet rather than bookwork.
I try to give a non-graded quiz at least once a week. I make these very short and focused on what they must know. I collect them and "grade" them within one class period so that I can pass them back and talk with each student individually about their mistakes. I love to do this and would do this daily if time permitted. It is a great way to gage each students understanding.
I feel like differentiated instruction is just something that comes naturally to good teachers.
In a math classroom we are a bit tied to the standards we have to cover and make sure the kids understand. In my Algebra class, my students get an outline sheet to fill in as I go over the notes. At the top of the notesheets, I always list the objectives that we will be covering that day. The class is a low level class, so our objectives are very basic and are very focused on what the state standards say we must do. We, as a group of Algebra teachers, have narrowed down exactly what these kids need to meet the requirements and to be successful in the next level math course. I can honestly say that I have no gifted kids in this class, so my instruction is geared toward a lower level of students.
We do have the kids sitting in pairs and encourage them to help each other when working on homework. We change these seats frequently so the kids get to meet and work with several others throughout the class. I do have some students that pick up things quicker than others so we try and pair up kids so that one of them is able to help the other. Sometimes though, it is the "blind leading the blind".
Our notesheets have several examples that we work through together in class before I have them do their homework assignment. I have typed most of their assignments, even most of the ones from the book, as years of teaching has reinforced the fact that kids hate bookwork and they will be more likely to do a worksheet rather than bookwork.
I try to give a non-graded quiz at least once a week. I make these very short and focused on what they must know. I collect them and "grade" them within one class period so that I can pass them back and talk with each student individually about their mistakes. I love to do this and would do this daily if time permitted. It is a great way to gage each students understanding.
I feel like differentiated instruction is just something that comes naturally to good teachers.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Working on Thing #6
I want to always have these sites available.
Verify a Hoax
Check these sites to verify spoofs, hoaxes, urban
legends or myths you may have read about:
–
http://urbanlegends.about.com
About.com Urban Legends–
http://www.cdc.gov/hoax_rumors.htm
CDC Health Hoaxes & Rumors–
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org
Hoaxbusters–
http://www.vmyths.com
Vmyths–
http://www.snopes.comSnopes.com
Thing #4
After exploring Thinkfinity/illuminations for at least an hour I have a couple of very useful activities for my mathematics lessons.
The first one is to help with transforming sine and cosine waves. This is a very difficult topic for students and I am hopeful that by showing several examples in class they will be able to get a better grasp of the material. I will plan on projecting the activities for all the kids to see and this way we can go through many examples and I hope the kids will be able to make conclusions and take some notes that will help them with learning the patterns. The link to the activity is http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=174.
The second activity I found is for my Algebra course and deals with solving a system of equations. The link to the activity is http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L766. The students get in such a rush to find the answer to what x and y are, they often forget that they are actually finding a value that means something. I am hopeful that they will enjoy doing this activity and will see how solving systems relates to the "real-world".
The first one is to help with transforming sine and cosine waves. This is a very difficult topic for students and I am hopeful that by showing several examples in class they will be able to get a better grasp of the material. I will plan on projecting the activities for all the kids to see and this way we can go through many examples and I hope the kids will be able to make conclusions and take some notes that will help them with learning the patterns. The link to the activity is http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=174.
The second activity I found is for my Algebra course and deals with solving a system of equations. The link to the activity is http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L766. The students get in such a rush to find the answer to what x and y are, they often forget that they are actually finding a value that means something. I am hopeful that they will enjoy doing this activity and will see how solving systems relates to the "real-world".
Monday, November 1, 2010
Thing #2 part 2
http://screencast.com/t/lDrGJGvr4f
I used a word document from my Algebra files to start the process. I was disappointed that all of the equations and drawings I had in my original document were not imported. I have not played around enough with it to know if I can find a way to fix that, but the equation editor in google was pretty good. The graphs cause another problem though. Some of the graphs I had on my original were pasted into word as a picture...I'll have to work on that one. It is very important for me to figure out how to put graphs into google. I also have not figured out the easy way to send the link to the class. I posted the link in the class questions area, but I would like to e-mail it to everyone... Using google docs will be great once I figure out some of these little things. I think as a math department we will be able to use this to help edit files. Right now we have a shared drive, but I think this is more user friendly. I'm not yet sure that I will be able to use this with my students in my math classes...
I used a word document from my Algebra files to start the process. I was disappointed that all of the equations and drawings I had in my original document were not imported. I have not played around enough with it to know if I can find a way to fix that, but the equation editor in google was pretty good. The graphs cause another problem though. Some of the graphs I had on my original were pasted into word as a picture...I'll have to work on that one. It is very important for me to figure out how to put graphs into google. I also have not figured out the easy way to send the link to the class. I posted the link in the class questions area, but I would like to e-mail it to everyone... Using google docs will be great once I figure out some of these little things. I think as a math department we will be able to use this to help edit files. Right now we have a shared drive, but I think this is more user friendly. I'm not yet sure that I will be able to use this with my students in my math classes...
Thing #2 Part 1
http://screencast.com/t/A6APkGomycqK
I found the teacher/student templates and right away spoted the Jeopardy template. I am excited to be able to use this in my classes for reivew as soon as I get my data projector! This will be a very good way to engage the kids while reviewing for tests and/or quizzes. I'm sure there are many more templates that will be useful. I also liked the calendars and the photo album templates. This was more for personal use.
I found the teacher/student templates and right away spoted the Jeopardy template. I am excited to be able to use this in my classes for reivew as soon as I get my data projector! This will be a very good way to engage the kids while reviewing for tests and/or quizzes. I'm sure there are many more templates that will be useful. I also liked the calendars and the photo album templates. This was more for personal use.
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