I'm just overwhelmed by what all is available out there on-line for all to use! The abundance of videos is amazing. I'm planning on using the videos to re-teach lessons to kids that missed class or kids that didn't understand it the first time. We are in the middle of a unit on Trigonometry in my FST class and I had 2 kids miss a whole week due to family vacations. Needless to say, they are extrememly behind! I work part time and so they must meet with me in the morning if they want help. The on-line videos that I have looked at would be a great way for them to do some at home learning on the material they missed. I always ask them to get notes from someone that was in class before they come and work with me, but this would be WAY better. There are so many great math videos that I had a hard time picking one to include. I am including a trigonometry lesson from the Khanacademy. http://screencast.com/t/xxItiqaWma7z I am not sure exactly how I will use the video instruction in my classes. I am thinking about having them watch a topic relavant video before I teach a lesson... what a great way to have some prior knowledge! Of course, the other option is to have them watch the video if they are struggling with the material after I taught the lesson. Seeing it a second time and maybe just being in their own environment will help them. My son always complains about his teacher having too much going on and he doesn't know what to write down. I think if there was a video about the subject that he could watch later, he would be more relaxed in class and better learn the material. This will definitely be a great way for us as educators to see how self-driven our student can be. I've got to say that the best feature of the videos out there is simply the ability to watch it where and when you want!
I do believe that if a teacher has the ability to use a video resource compared to an audio resource, that's the way to go. I am a very visual learner and if I have lesson to follow and listen to, I will be able to learn much better than just having an audio file to listen to. I do like to listen to books in the car and if you can focus on listening, it is very entertaining and can be very educational. Certain students may do well, listening and thus taking their own notes. I also do enjoy following along in a book while listening to an audio file.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Thing #12
The google form survey is going to be a great way to get baseline data at the begining of a chapter or unit. I should have no problems getting the kids to go on-line and take the survey. I have created a sample one for the chapter I will be starting after Christmas break. I am excited to try thiswith my students. http://screencast.com/t/u5dWurLAmWv
I plan on making the survey longer and asking more questions. I think the best way to get a general idea of my students prior knowledge will be with multiple choice questions. That way I can get a statistical look at where the majority of the students are needing instruction quickly. The "short answer" questions would be too time consuming to read all the varying responses.
I also think I will use this at the begining of the year to gather data about my new students and what their grade was in the previous math class. I'm thinking with the results spreadsheet, I should be able to get a good idea of which students will be needing more assistance right away!
I am planning on using my rubric that I created to grade my students extra credit presentations. I am going to give them the option of using any software that they would like. I will share ideas and suggest that the kids use google, that way they can work on the project in any location. I really do not like to grade student projects that is why I am a math teacher. Most of the time their answers are either right or wrong, so I don't have to be subjective. The rubric will make it very easy for me to get through the presentations and grade them fairly and quickly. Although I am looking forward to these! http://screencast.com/t/LVnVVUAXz
Grandville is working on getting the staff to use the data warehouse that the ISD has. We had inservice on this information in the fall and I wish I paid better attention. I do know that we are working on getting more data input throughout the year. I do think it will be helpful if we can see the trends of students from different tracks. We have many kids that come in to our high school and are taking Algebra for the 2nd time as freshmen. It will be interesting to see how they perform later in our math sequence. Grandville has its own data warehouse that we will be using more due to regulations. I look forward to begin able to compare my students with those of another math teacher...call it friendly competition.
The FERPA and HIPPA are important to protect our students from unfair exposure. Because of the internet, everything is out there for all to see and we need to be sure to protect our students. FERPA protects our student educational records while HIPPA protects our students health records. I have a feeling that these two acts will have to be adjusted consistently with all that the internet makes available. I only hope that the programmers of the world can stay one step ahead of the hackers of the world.
I plan on making the survey longer and asking more questions. I think the best way to get a general idea of my students prior knowledge will be with multiple choice questions. That way I can get a statistical look at where the majority of the students are needing instruction quickly. The "short answer" questions would be too time consuming to read all the varying responses.
I also think I will use this at the begining of the year to gather data about my new students and what their grade was in the previous math class. I'm thinking with the results spreadsheet, I should be able to get a good idea of which students will be needing more assistance right away!
I am planning on using my rubric that I created to grade my students extra credit presentations. I am going to give them the option of using any software that they would like. I will share ideas and suggest that the kids use google, that way they can work on the project in any location. I really do not like to grade student projects that is why I am a math teacher. Most of the time their answers are either right or wrong, so I don't have to be subjective. The rubric will make it very easy for me to get through the presentations and grade them fairly and quickly. Although I am looking forward to these! http://screencast.com/t/LVnVVUAXz
Grandville is working on getting the staff to use the data warehouse that the ISD has. We had inservice on this information in the fall and I wish I paid better attention. I do know that we are working on getting more data input throughout the year. I do think it will be helpful if we can see the trends of students from different tracks. We have many kids that come in to our high school and are taking Algebra for the 2nd time as freshmen. It will be interesting to see how they perform later in our math sequence. Grandville has its own data warehouse that we will be using more due to regulations. I look forward to begin able to compare my students with those of another math teacher...call it friendly competition.
The FERPA and HIPPA are important to protect our students from unfair exposure. Because of the internet, everything is out there for all to see and we need to be sure to protect our students. FERPA protects our student educational records while HIPPA protects our students health records. I have a feeling that these two acts will have to be adjusted consistently with all that the internet makes available. I only hope that the programmers of the world can stay one step ahead of the hackers of the world.
Thing #11
Prezi is a neat site. I have been having a difficult time getting some of the text boxes moved around to where I would like them. I think it's OK now. As usual, I couldn't find a way to do fractions in a text box so I chose a different topic to cover. I did not try and paste in a document from word...maybe that would work? It didn't work well in Voicethread.
My presentation is on solving systems of equations using substitution. http://screencast.com/t/qToMLaHf
The link: http://prezi.com/hgqcmder3-ne/edit/#0_4049461
I like how visual the prezi program is, but I know I am more comfortable with PowerPoint just because I've used it longer. I like the transitions and music capabilites offered in PowerPoint also. I do, however, think the idea of kids being able to make these presentations without owning Office is important. I will be using this presentation in my Algebra class later this year as in introduction to section 7.2 in our book. I am thinking about the many different programs I can offer up to my students to make their own presentation for extra credit. This is most definitely on the list!
My 14 year-old son likes playing with the ZoomIt program...I can only imagine how a room full of kids will react when I can play like the FBI and zoom in on where two lines interesect or on a negative sign that often gets lost. I am sure I will use the ZoomIt program almost daily. My classroom is a long room and I put up answers on the front screen which is difficult for the kids in the back to see.
An example of my answer sheet, zoomed in: http://screencast.com/t/bYa9F6JSx6lo
I also like the ZoomIt timer! I like to give my students a set time to work on warm-up questions and very often, I loose track of time and I know it ends up costing them precious homework time.
http://screencast.com/t/UvPYvMsH
My presentation is on solving systems of equations using substitution. http://screencast.com/t/qToMLaHf
The link: http://prezi.com/hgqcmder3-ne/edit/#0_4049461
I like how visual the prezi program is, but I know I am more comfortable with PowerPoint just because I've used it longer. I like the transitions and music capabilites offered in PowerPoint also. I do, however, think the idea of kids being able to make these presentations without owning Office is important. I will be using this presentation in my Algebra class later this year as in introduction to section 7.2 in our book. I am thinking about the many different programs I can offer up to my students to make their own presentation for extra credit. This is most definitely on the list!
My 14 year-old son likes playing with the ZoomIt program...I can only imagine how a room full of kids will react when I can play like the FBI and zoom in on where two lines interesect or on a negative sign that often gets lost. I am sure I will use the ZoomIt program almost daily. My classroom is a long room and I put up answers on the front screen which is difficult for the kids in the back to see.
An example of my answer sheet, zoomed in: http://screencast.com/t/bYa9F6JSx6lo
I also like the ZoomIt timer! I like to give my students a set time to work on warm-up questions and very often, I loose track of time and I know it ends up costing them precious homework time.
http://screencast.com/t/UvPYvMsH
Thing 18
I had never heard of the RSS sites. I am always going to the local news web-sites to keep up on things. I have created an I-Google page that will be a great place to have all my stuff visible always!
In Google Reader I have 4 subscriptions right now and I'm sure that the more I look around, the more I will be adding to the list. http://screencast.com/t/eYMNjL7eK . I have a subscrition to the Red Sox news that I am most thrilled about! I'm a huge Red Sox fan, and when MLB.com doesn't have any new info on the Sox I'm bummed. I've got a feed from the Boston Globe that will keep me up to date!
Educationally, I have three blogs that I am following. Two of them are math related and the other is technology related. If nothing else, these feeds will keep me up with the math and technology that I should be using in my classes. I am excited about being up to date in the 21st century world of education.
I
In Google Reader I have 4 subscriptions right now and I'm sure that the more I look around, the more I will be adding to the list. http://screencast.com/t/eYMNjL7eK . I have a subscrition to the Red Sox news that I am most thrilled about! I'm a huge Red Sox fan, and when MLB.com doesn't have any new info on the Sox I'm bummed. I've got a feed from the Boston Globe that will keep me up to date!
Educationally, I have three blogs that I am following. Two of them are math related and the other is technology related. If nothing else, these feeds will keep me up with the math and technology that I should be using in my classes. I am excited about being up to date in the 21st century world of education.
I
Monday, December 6, 2010
Thing 10
I am very much an amature with this Voicethread thing...
I created a powerpoint http://screencast.com/t/22LCae0T6 to import into Voicethread, and it really didn't work the way I thought it would. I had music and animation in the powerpoint, but it is all lost in Voicethread. Also, one of the fractions did not copy well and the graphs are really wacky! I have to play around more to get this figured out... but I have a start. http://voicethread.com/share/1569353/
I think in my math classroom I would most likely be using this type of digital story telling to teach a lesson that I am not able to do in person. I also know that it would be very helpful for those kids that are absent on any given day.
I'm also thinking it would be fun, but time consuming for the kids to take a lesson and creat a digital story of their own to teach the class. I have done this without the digital piece before and it's great for the kids, but takes at least twice as long to get through.
After talking with my son, a high school sophomore about this idea, he suggested it would be a great extra credit assignment! I think I may just offer that for the end of this coming marking period. I will have to look through the suggested rubrics for something I can follow to base a score on. As a math teacher, most things are pretty black and white. The more "stories" that I can collect the better! I will certainly be saving all that get turned in to me and will use and or post the ones that I think would be helpful for other students and teachers. I look forward to the great works my student will hand in!
I created a powerpoint http://screencast.com/t/22LCae0T6 to import into Voicethread, and it really didn't work the way I thought it would. I had music and animation in the powerpoint, but it is all lost in Voicethread. Also, one of the fractions did not copy well and the graphs are really wacky! I have to play around more to get this figured out... but I have a start. http://voicethread.com/share/1569353/
I think in my math classroom I would most likely be using this type of digital story telling to teach a lesson that I am not able to do in person. I also know that it would be very helpful for those kids that are absent on any given day.
I'm also thinking it would be fun, but time consuming for the kids to take a lesson and creat a digital story of their own to teach the class. I have done this without the digital piece before and it's great for the kids, but takes at least twice as long to get through.
After talking with my son, a high school sophomore about this idea, he suggested it would be a great extra credit assignment! I think I may just offer that for the end of this coming marking period. I will have to look through the suggested rubrics for something I can follow to base a score on. As a math teacher, most things are pretty black and white. The more "stories" that I can collect the better! I will certainly be saving all that get turned in to me and will use and or post the ones that I think would be helpful for other students and teachers. I look forward to the great works my student will hand in!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thing #8
I have to admit that I, like most teachers, use material more "freely" than I should. For the most part, the teachers that I "quizzed" knew the laws, but not all the intricate details... the how many copies they could make and all the numbers involving length of time of video clips and music clips. I found this link while digging around on the web. http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/pdf/db_area/archives/TL/2002/10/copyright_chart.pdf
I think I've seen it at school in printed form. I know the librarian at school needs to be right on top of this! I'm sure teachers do not break copyright laws because they want to break the law, rather the need is there and the publication fits. I certainly will try and be more aware of all the legalities. With the internet, this is going to continue to grow as a problem!
I have created a Creative Commons license for my Web-page. It's starting to look pretty fancy...
http://screencast.com/t/JQ59dEzo
I think I've seen it at school in printed form. I know the librarian at school needs to be right on top of this! I'm sure teachers do not break copyright laws because they want to break the law, rather the need is there and the publication fits. I certainly will try and be more aware of all the legalities. With the internet, this is going to continue to grow as a problem!
I have created a Creative Commons license for my Web-page. It's starting to look pretty fancy...
http://screencast.com/t/JQ59dEzo
Thing #3
Finally got my son to help me out with the Skype assignment. Ann LaRoche and I have tried to hook up a coupld of different times with no success. My user name is Jennifer.Salasky. My son and I had lots of fun playing around with the Dell Webcam Central tools to make funny faces and sounds... http://screencast.com/t/gw3ptH0m I had set up my Skype accoutn before reading the tips in the lesson, so I will try to go back and see if I can edit my username and profile info.
I am very excited to be part of skype now and plan to use it next starting next semester with my students at school. I always tell them that I check my school e-mail quite regularly during the evening hours and that if they have questions they can send them to me. Using Skype would make this helping process much easier. I have a feeling that I could tell my students when I'd be on-line to help them study for a quiz/test and that several would use Skype to get help.
I also think that the idea of having a working professional use Skype to talk with my students about how they use math in their job will be a great addition to my curriculum. I should have my digital prjector by the 2nd half of the school year, so I've got to start to plan who and when to do a classroom dicussion with someone from the "real" world. I'm thinking I may need to get a doc camera since right now I only have the one on my computer and I'm sure it would be better for all involved if I could show a classroom of kids and/or paper that I am writing on while helping kids.
I am very excited to be part of skype now and plan to use it next starting next semester with my students at school. I always tell them that I check my school e-mail quite regularly during the evening hours and that if they have questions they can send them to me. Using Skype would make this helping process much easier. I have a feeling that I could tell my students when I'd be on-line to help them study for a quiz/test and that several would use Skype to get help.
I also think that the idea of having a working professional use Skype to talk with my students about how they use math in their job will be a great addition to my curriculum. I should have my digital prjector by the 2nd half of the school year, so I've got to start to plan who and when to do a classroom dicussion with someone from the "real" world. I'm thinking I may need to get a doc camera since right now I only have the one on my computer and I'm sure it would be better for all involved if I could show a classroom of kids and/or paper that I am writing on while helping kids.
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