Reflections

1. I feel the blog offers the opportunity to interact directly with students on specific questions. This will allow the opportunity to understand the thinking of my students as we work through Algebra 1. It also provides a medium for students who are reluctant to ask questions in class to ask.

Many years ago when I taught elementary school my classes frequently had pen pal classes in other parts of the country. These were a great learning experience. I think Skype offers the opportunity to interact with Algebra classes outside of Texas. In fact, since we are an international school we could have the opportunity to interact with schools outside the USA.

I will set up my blog to allow interaction with students. I see the possibility for posting a "Problem of the Week" with students replying on line, and the posting of student questions about class content.

2. I see opportunities to enhance instruction using technology. The key lies in recognizing when technology can be used effectively. Since this is new, there will be some trial and error as I see how to most effectively use the tools for Algebra instruction. Having the oportunity to interact with other math teachers moving in the same direction along with my 8th grade team mates should help a great deal.

3. The most unexpected outcome for me was seeing how little I knew about available technology tools. In a world where technology applicationns are exploding in numbers it is difficult to keep up with it all. The "11 Tools" gave me some great insights.

Tool 11

Working through the "11 Tools" has opened my eyes to how little I really knew about the internet. While I was certainly functional, there are so many resources out there that I was unfamiliar with. I believe one of our responsibilities as teachers is to open up the students' understanding of available tools and their applications to learning. As their knowledge of internet tools grows, their ability to apply them to learning endeavors will also improve.

I also think that ethics is an area that we need to focus on. There are two facets of ethics we need to focus on, honesty and safety. We have so many students who readily accept plagiarism as a convenient way to complete assignments. Our students need to understand that copying someone else's work does not lead to deeper understanding and that it is unfair to the original source who wrote the article to begin with to use without giving credit.

Using the internet safely really requires common sense. We don't get in cars or give our pictures to strangers face to face. Why should we do that over the net? It is one thing to communicate with someone over the web and quite another to build a meaningful relationship face to face. We need to help our students understand the difference.

Tool #10

I do not own or have access to the popular i- devices although I have had the opportunity to watch and play a couple times. It appears to me that the majority of the students see their i-phones and i-touch devices primarily as game and music platforms. While the number of math related apps is fairly small, there are several out there that would be beneficial. In fact I can see myself recommending a couple of them to my students. I did not find a math app that was free that I liked.

I like the "Algebra Prep: Graphing" app. It touches the core of what we focus on in Algebra 1 and would be useful to any of my students. The "Math Ref" program also offers a great resource for algebra students with its search capability for formulas and properties. The third program I like is the "My Calculator Pro". We provide graphing calculators for our students in class. Those students with I-touch and i-phones could use that app for a fraction of the cost of a new graphing calculator.

Tool #9

The screencast offers a great way to grab information off news articles or videos that relate to math. This gives students a way to see practical real life applications of what we have been studying. I have found that transparencies of news articles are hard to read and streaming videos frequently don't work in the classroom. I'm looking forward to trying this in class.

A student use of screencast would be similar to how I would use it. This could be extended to searching for specific types of problems and their solutions.

Skype holds out the opportunity for a class to interact with other algebra students on other campuses in the district as well as out of the district, perhaps even out of the country. When I taught elementary school my classes frequently had pen pals in other states. I think Skype would offer the class a chance to have an algebra Skype pal class outside of Texas. It would be interesting to share studies outside of our campus.

Tool #8

I selected two videos I think offer different perspectives. The first is a RAP video created by an Algebra student. He does a great job of utilizing math vocabulary and algebra illustrations in his video. The second one is a really old Ma and Pa Kettle video showing a debate on how to correctly divide. I use this to help students think about the processes used in division.

One of the difficulties I have had in the past, is that streaming videos don't work very well in the classroom. They typically do not download fast enough. Hopefully I can use the embedded videos to eliminate that problem.

Ma and Pa Kettle Math

Our students often go through the motions, following step by step processes without thinking about why. Having students explain why an answer is correct and the errors in the thinking leading to incorrect answers makes them better math students. This "You Tube" video is a good one for that.

mathmaticious

A neat digital video we used to introduce our students to our new digital storytelling unit. They wanted to see it over and over.