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.

Tool #7

Hold your breath, the video is in production and will be coming soon.

WIKIS-Tool #6

On the teacher side, I see WIKIS as a great way to develop unit ideas prior to actually writing it down. Ideas can be exchanged, revised and developed with an eye on the finished product. Then we can sit down and finalize the product.

With students, there is the opportunity to post particularly challenging problems and let students tackle them on the WIKI to develop a solutions collaboratively. It would also be a great way to open up dialogue among stusdents about the concepts being studied and aspects not understood. Perhaps student to student explanations can help.

Tool #5

After looking at both diigo and delicious I chose to join diigo. It seemed to be the more useful of the two. I have found and bookmarked two math sites at diigo and linked diigo on my blog page.
The tags used for finding these sites were math and algebra. I think the Homeschool site is paritcularly interesting because of the expanse of information presented.

Each year I put links to worthwhile websites up on the board for students to write down and check out. Having a social bookmark site available, I can list those sites and encourage the students to check them out. It also provids a place for others who know great sites to share.

Tool #4

I really like the Google Docs. We do so much collaboration insuring that our students are receiving the same instruction at the same pace. Google Docs allows us to develop multiple documents at a time with much less time going back and forth discussing changes and editing. It seems to me that we can use this for assignments, quizzes, tests, and planning. I can also see the students using the Google Docs function completeing some of the projects we undertake. The opportunity to work collaboratively from home opens all kinds of new options.

Google Reader is a cool tool for keeping in touch with what our peers, both on our grade level and those above and below are working on. Curriculaum issues can be addressed and discussed on line leading to more effective use of time in class. The opportunity to see discovered new links can be extremely valuable.

I have spent several hours unsuccessfully trying to link my RSS to my blog page. The 11 Tools has been very informative and I see many possible uses for the various programs examined to date. In fact, for the most part I have enjoyed this to date. On the other hand, I have spent far more hours than I will earn for this class dealing with technical issues that are not clearly explained in the material examined nor on Google when searched.

Tool #3

These image generators and mashups offer opportunities to present vocabulary and topics visually in a way that might make them more memorable for some students. Students using these tools could also show depth of understanding and this would undoubtedly allow students to present topics in manners that would make them easier to recall. While they certainly have value in the algebra classroom I don't feel these tools would be used extensively.

Tool #2 Professional Learning Networks

Building a online education community sounds exciting. I believe that we get so caught up in our teaching that we spend too little time sharing experiences and knowledge. This provides us an opportunity for open ended collegial realtionships. Opening the blog community up to students provides a new array of opportunities for students to deepen their understanding and grow.

If one of the goals of the blog is to open communication, both among peers and students, then we need to be sure to ask the kinds of questions that will encourage exchanges of ideas.

I have made comments to the following blogs. Dawson Daily, Amy's House, Shivani's Reflections, Director's Thoughts and Ms Lee's Thoughts. These are all in district blogs. It seems to me that I need to find an out of district blog as well to participate in to provide balanced viewpoints.

Thoughts on Tool #1

The process for tool number one took some time. More than I really expected to spend. Now that this is set up I can see that it is easily used. As an Algebra teacher I can see the value of using the blog to provide students with helpful hints and reminders related to work undertaken in class. It also opens the door for interacting with students on questions they pose.

WOW!!! I'm a blogger!