This class has exponentially broadened my repertoire and has given me numerous ideas for using this new (no longer fandangled) technology in the classroom as I begin teaching math this fall. In my personal life, alone, I have made a blog for my mother to keep up with my life easily, a Ning social network for myself and my camping buddies to organize camping trips, used Jing recordings to teach my mother how to do things on the computer (which is terrific because I am in AZ and she is in AR), and I have used Audacity to record myself reading my boyfriend's favorite book so he can listen to me read to him whenever he likes (we loaded the mp3 onto his Ipod - he seems to enjoy it and he jokes that I talk too much lol). The real gem is how I'll be able to use this technology to aid me as a teacher. Blogs, wikis, Ning, Jing recordings, videos, podcasts, photos...it can all be used. I am most comfortable with blogs, wikis, podcasts, videos, and Jing recordings and I believe each of them will be highly beneficial in my classroom.
I will be able to make blogs and wikis for my students and I will be able to post assignments, tutorials, examples, lessons, notes, and much more by creating podcasts, videos, Jing recordings, and posts/pages (depending on if it is a blog/wiki) within the blog/wiki. I have learned from this class how online learning should be and now that I have seen a highly effective way of teaching online I will be able to emulate it and hopefully see similar results. I plan to use this new knowledge to make it so that a student with online access can get as much help from my blog/wiki as he/she could if they were speaking with me directly. Before taking this class I didn't even hope for that because I had never seen it done before but now I know that not only is it possible, it is highly likely.
Thank you for your guidance, help, support, and feedback. The Jing recording I made as a tutorial for multiplying and squaring polynomials has already helped the student I currently tutor in Algebra. I can't wait to see how the rest helps my students in the fall.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Revised Teaching Philosophy...but only slightly :)
As the generations grow so does our understanding of the world, or at least our knowledge of the stuff in it. As the generations before mine learned more and more about each field of study, the knowledge available for each field of study grew as well. As technology grows, manual labor is less and less important while knowledge is increasingly important.
As each field of study grows and business and development needs grow so do the options of what people can study. The exponential growth of available information has created the need to teach our children more and more every year. Curriculum has become overwhelmed with necessary information and time available for the teachers to ensure the students’ understanding of each subject has decreased significantly. Because we are trying to teach our students too much in too little time with too few resources we end up doing a haphazard job and we need a new solution. We either need new teaching methods or a different time structure for school or both. One option is that parents’ could be responsible for teaching their children to read and write before entering kindergarten. There are many programs available to parents for just that purpose and it would free up at least a year of required education that could be replaced with something else such as math or music.
One problem I see in my own generation is that students are learning that things work but not how or why. Students can solve for x, but do they know why it works or that they use algebra every day when determining how much of something they need? Students learn that gravity on Earth is equal to 9.67 m/s2 but do they know why we experience gravity? Do they know that something in orbit is perpetually falling or do they just know that if we launch an object fast enough it will orbit the Earth? If we expect the students of today to become the inventors and creators of tomorrow than we need them to understand why and how things work not just that they work. People will strive to meet the expectations set forth for them. We need to raise the bar, provide the tools, and refuse to accept failure. This is our duty as the generation of today. We are all teachers whether formally or not. Our children and students are learning their values from us and the rest of society therefore it is up to us to show them what to value. The only effective way to lead is through example.
Also, it is important to teach what we know and admit what we do not. Ever ask for directions and have someone give you the wrong directions simply because they did not want to say “I don’t know?” Classes should be taught by teachers that are comfortable with the material so they can pass on an actual understanding of the material. Again, being able to explain how and not just that it works is imperative. I am especially great at math and am only so-so with chemistry. I love teaching math to others because I am so comfortable with the material that I can come up with dozens of different ways of explaining the material which helps the students truly understand it and be able to apply the knowledge. If I were teaching chemistry, I would be teaching straight out of the book and would not be able to explain how things work.
We need to put the right teachers in the right positions and make the effort and take the time to teach our students what is in the box so thoroughly that they do not struggle to think outside of the box effectively. Our needs have outgrown the box and it is time to expand our box by thinking outside of it and incorporating new tools such as the ones we have learned to use in this course. What we took a class to learn will, hopefully, soon be second-hand nature to both teachers and students alike.
As each field of study grows and business and development needs grow so do the options of what people can study. The exponential growth of available information has created the need to teach our children more and more every year. Curriculum has become overwhelmed with necessary information and time available for the teachers to ensure the students’ understanding of each subject has decreased significantly. Because we are trying to teach our students too much in too little time with too few resources we end up doing a haphazard job and we need a new solution. We either need new teaching methods or a different time structure for school or both. One option is that parents’ could be responsible for teaching their children to read and write before entering kindergarten. There are many programs available to parents for just that purpose and it would free up at least a year of required education that could be replaced with something else such as math or music.
One problem I see in my own generation is that students are learning that things work but not how or why. Students can solve for x, but do they know why it works or that they use algebra every day when determining how much of something they need? Students learn that gravity on Earth is equal to 9.67 m/s2 but do they know why we experience gravity? Do they know that something in orbit is perpetually falling or do they just know that if we launch an object fast enough it will orbit the Earth? If we expect the students of today to become the inventors and creators of tomorrow than we need them to understand why and how things work not just that they work. People will strive to meet the expectations set forth for them. We need to raise the bar, provide the tools, and refuse to accept failure. This is our duty as the generation of today. We are all teachers whether formally or not. Our children and students are learning their values from us and the rest of society therefore it is up to us to show them what to value. The only effective way to lead is through example.
Also, it is important to teach what we know and admit what we do not. Ever ask for directions and have someone give you the wrong directions simply because they did not want to say “I don’t know?” Classes should be taught by teachers that are comfortable with the material so they can pass on an actual understanding of the material. Again, being able to explain how and not just that it works is imperative. I am especially great at math and am only so-so with chemistry. I love teaching math to others because I am so comfortable with the material that I can come up with dozens of different ways of explaining the material which helps the students truly understand it and be able to apply the knowledge. If I were teaching chemistry, I would be teaching straight out of the book and would not be able to explain how things work.
We need to put the right teachers in the right positions and make the effort and take the time to teach our students what is in the box so thoroughly that they do not struggle to think outside of the box effectively. Our needs have outgrown the box and it is time to expand our box by thinking outside of it and incorporating new tools such as the ones we have learned to use in this course. What we took a class to learn will, hopefully, soon be second-hand nature to both teachers and students alike.
Using Flickr in My Private Life
This is a slideshow I made with random photos from my life this spring and I was even able to include a video of my friend's dogs playing in the slide show. I hope you enjoy it :) There is so much that can be done with this technology; it is wonderful.
here is the video by itself in case you want to see it again and again and again :)
here is the video by itself in case you want to see it again and again and again :)
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Using Jing and Podcasts as Teaching Tools
I used Jing to create this tutorial to help students recognize distinct patterns when multiplying polynomials so that factoring polynomials will be easier.
When teaching a specific subject, such as math, I like to take 2 days per month and do something different. In this case I would do something that is NOT math related. Usually I like to read poetry and have the students respond or I bring in an art project. With podcasts, assigning fun non-math homework is even easier because I can record myself reading the poem/instructions, asking questions, and giving suggestions. The following podcast is of myself reading a poem and then asking the students their opinion.
The podcast would be accompanied by a typed version of the poem similar to this
The Poet by Jane Hirshfield
"She is working now, in a room
not unlike this one,
the one where I write, or you read.
Her table is covered with paper.
The light of the lamp would be
tempered by the shade, where the bulb's
single harshness might dissolve,
but it is not, she has taken it off.
Her poems? I will never know them,
though they are the ones I most need.
Even the alphabet she writes in
I cannot decipher. Her chair-
Let us imagine whether it is leather
or canvas, vinyl or wicker. Let her
have a chair, her shadeless lamp,
the table. Let one or two she loves
be in the next room. Let the door
be closed, the sleeping ones healthy.
Let her have time, and silence,
enough paper to make mistakes and go on."
Moyers, Bill. Fooling with Words. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1999. Print.
When teaching a specific subject, such as math, I like to take 2 days per month and do something different. In this case I would do something that is NOT math related. Usually I like to read poetry and have the students respond or I bring in an art project. With podcasts, assigning fun non-math homework is even easier because I can record myself reading the poem/instructions, asking questions, and giving suggestions. The following podcast is of myself reading a poem and then asking the students their opinion.
The podcast would be accompanied by a typed version of the poem similar to this
The Poet by Jane Hirshfield
"She is working now, in a room
not unlike this one,
the one where I write, or you read.
Her table is covered with paper.
The light of the lamp would be
tempered by the shade, where the bulb's
single harshness might dissolve,
but it is not, she has taken it off.
Her poems? I will never know them,
though they are the ones I most need.
Even the alphabet she writes in
I cannot decipher. Her chair-
Let us imagine whether it is leather
or canvas, vinyl or wicker. Let her
have a chair, her shadeless lamp,
the table. Let one or two she loves
be in the next room. Let the door
be closed, the sleeping ones healthy.
Let her have time, and silence,
enough paper to make mistakes and go on."
Moyers, Bill. Fooling with Words. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1999. Print.
Using Blog and Ning in My Personal Life
As do many parents, my mother has difficulty navigating the web and is therefore pestering me for pictures and information about myself that I've already posted online and cannot be bothered to repeat or print and mail...jk but really it is a pain in the neck. So I created a blog just for her. Its even called My Life Posted for My Mom
I also created a Ning social network for myself and my camping buddies. We can use it to post pictures, videos, camping dates, and plans. We also use it to coordinate camping trips. Its great to have one central place for information and checklists when you have 8 people going camping and they all live in different towns :)
I also created a Ning social network for myself and my camping buddies. We can use it to post pictures, videos, camping dates, and plans. We also use it to coordinate camping trips. Its great to have one central place for information and checklists when you have 8 people going camping and they all live in different towns :)
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