The final and most important way the Smartboard can be utilized in any classroom, but an English classroom as well, is through the capability of "saving" any of the notes taken during class (including the drawings, highlighting, etc.) and then uploading those slides to a blog or online file for students to refer to later.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Smartboards in the Classroom (Blog 14 Makeup)
A very important idea commonly taught in ELA classrooms is note-taking strategies and implementing an outlining system when writing papers. The use of Smartboards in the classroom during this lesson would be helpful in keeping students engaged in the note-taking process. The teacher could construct the beginnings of an outline for a research paper and could either appoint a student to sit at the computer and type up the rest of it as she speaks/presents in front of the class, or students could come up and write their own examples on the board. The use of the Smartboard would allow the teacher to present in front of the class at the same time notes are being annotated on the board. It would also allow the teacher to point out specific things through different colored markers and highlighting capabilities. The teacher could also use the "screen" capability to hide specific parts of the outline as she reaches different points in her lecture.
SAMR Exploration (Blog 12 Makeup)
My attempts in “technofying”
this lesson plan was to hopefully create an experience that reaches beyond the
abilities of the traditional activities. Through the implementation of
technology in each of the four steps, the lesson plan was strengthened and
deepened to more creatively reach more students in addition to differentiating
the learning instruction for varying abilities.
Following the SAMR method, the four
steps included a substitution, an augmentation, a modification and a redefinition
of the traditional activities. The substitution segment of my lesson incorporated
students using iPads and the highlighting tool instead of
paper/pencil/highlighter. Although the inclusion of the iPad doesn’t
necessarily add any more learning content to the lesson, it does make the
activity more interactive and fun for students. The incorporation of technology
in any English grammar lesson is extremely effective considering most students
find grammar dry and boring. By using tools like the iPad, students are able to
use something they’re familiar and comfortable with to help make the lessons
more interactive.
For the augmentation segment of my
lesson, I chose to use the “Audio Boo” app for iPads and iPhones. This app can
be used quickly and easily to record short segments of speech that are shared
on the Audio Boo website or imbedded into blogs. The teacher will make several
recordings incorporating either a run-on sentence or a sentence with a comma
splice. The students will be hearing these
sentences with errors rather than reading
them. This ability to record through technology drastically transforms the
complexity of the lesson; It teaches the students the differences between oral
English and written English and how when we talk especially, our errors become
more prominent. By evidencing this fact, students will become more conscious of
their spoken word and then eventually more careful and articulate in their
formal writing. They will also establish a better ear for detecting these sorts
of errors while learning the proper difference between run-on sentences and
comma splices.
Modification involves incorporating
a game-like iPad app in order to teach students about the different parts of
speech. In the game, eight different colorful characters represent the
different parts of speech (verb, noun, adjective, etc.). This playful twist on
the traditional hand diagramming of sentences will be much preferred by
students. While the “Grammaropolis” app may not be as intensive as tradition sentence
diagramming (a potential drawback to using this particular game), it does teach
the basic aspects of sentence construction.
The last transformation in my lesson
plan involves redefinition. My traditional idea was to have students actually teach an aspect of grammar to their
fellow students through concrete visual aids such as writing on the board or
using poster boards. In my transformation, I implemented the use of Podcasting.
After listening to the popular Podcast, Grammer
Girl, Students will try their hand at creating their own Podcast to help
teach something to the class. This use of technology will require students to
articulate their knowledge in a succinct verbal manner, thus improving their
public speaking skills.
The technofication of this lesson
plan greatly expands the scope of its ability to reach all levels of students.
It adds dimensions of hearing/speaking/interactivity that would otherwise be left
to simple pen and paper. And most importantly, it makes the lesson more fun, a
quality that becomes especially important when dealing with grammar.
Google Tools (Blog 10 Makeup)
I plan to integrate Google Docs and Google Presentations into another technofied lesson plan in this blog post. The lesson is intended for middle school-aged English students. The lesson will ask students to collaborate on a pre-made Google Doc worksheet in order to answer questions to the beloved and famous novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. The students will work in groups of two or three to read the chapters at home and then answer the questions on a Google Document. The intention of having students do this over the internet is so that they can answer question as they read at home and not have to wait to manually fill out worksheets in class the next day. The next step is for students to identify an aspect of symbolism in Lee's novel and create a collaborative presentation using Google Presentations to prepare for the class. Using both Google Docs and Google Presentations allows for students to more effectively execute group projects from places outside of the classroom.
Here is an example of the Google Document that will be used in this lesson: (Study questions borrowed from Sparknotes.com)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ph2TkAoz-wk9QqtGIu23j0JFyc_GY52N29lTGF5DJ4w/edit
Copyright Issues in the Classroom
I particularly enjoyed the article about the 5 myths surrounding copyright infringement on the Internet. These five myths would be an important source to use in the classroom because many students probably succumb to many of these falsities surrounding copyright infringement. I, admittedly, believed many of the myths that were provided. I was aware that pulling images from Google without sourcing was most likely an issue, but, like myth #4 points out, I never thought too much about it because others were doing it all the time. Many of my past teachers use Google images in PowerPoint presentations often, which gives the false impression that this is acceptable to do. But as the Myth presentation points out, "It's not uncommon for people using images stolen from Google to be smacked with a bill for unpaid license fees" (http://brittanysbest.com/2013/08/5-copyright-myths/). This is something I certainly want to inform my students about in hopes that they can avoid this fate, as well as respect the people who create the original images used on Google.
The idea of Creative Commons is especially intriguing as an educator. I was unaware of the fact that when you create a song or video and upload it to the internet it automatically creates a Copyright- own all rights reserved, in order to protect your material from being used. So when you actually WANT people to share and use your content, Creative Commons is the way to get around this. It provides free copyright licensing that allows you to choose specifically which portions of your content you want to protect and which you want to share. As advocates of the service explain in a Youtube video, Creative Commons "saves the world from failed sharing" (http://drapestakes.blogspot.com/2008/12/educators-guide-to-creative-commons.html). It exercises our copyright in more ways, more simply. And most importantly, it creates the sense of an online community, an idea that we, as teachers, always want to be instilling in our classroom. Creating a community in which students can freely and safely share their work, and in the process learn from it, is an advantage for the Internet-riddled education world.
image from: http://virulentwordofmouse.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/what-does-the-average-surfer-know-about-creative-commons/
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Implementing Indian Education For All
I found looking through the Indian Education for All Standards for Alaskan educators was especially interesting. The following five standards are the expectations for Alaskan Educators to help incorporate Native American studies into their curriculum. I appreciate that they recognize teachers who follow these standards as "culturally-responsive" educators. Especially in communities with high percentages of Native American populations (such as Montana and Alaskan towns), this "cultural-responsiveness" is easily accessible and extremely important.
A. Culturally-responsive educators incorporate local ways of knowing and teaching in their work.
B. Culturally-responsive educators use the local environment and community resources on a regular basis to link
what they are teaching to the everyday lives of the students.
C. Culturally-responsive educators participate in community events and activities in appropriate and supportive
ways.
D. Culturally-responsive educators work closely with parents to achieve a high level of complementary
educational expectations between home and school.
E. Culturally-responsive educators recognize the full educational potential of each student and provide the
challenges necessary for them to achieve that potential.
As an English teacher, it's easy to incorporate Native American literature into curriculum. In order to meet standards in both traditional and modern Native American education, books from older and newer authors can be used. For example, books such as "Bead on an Ant Hill" by Delphine Red Shirt and "Fools Crow" by James Welch, are excellent works describing traditional Native American culture. You can also introduce modern Native American texts such as "Diary of a Parttime Indian" by Sherman Alexie, which describes more modern challenges for Native Americans in a prominently white dominated society. The combination of these three texts would supply a well rounded view of Native American culture and the challenges and successes they've achieved throughout their many years in the North Americas.
In terms of achieving standard B, English classrooms have great incentives to visit/participate in community events. Events such as pow-wows and poetry readings or cultural presentations are great opportunities to bring students on field trips.
A. Culturally-responsive educators incorporate local ways of knowing and teaching in their work.
B. Culturally-responsive educators use the local environment and community resources on a regular basis to link
what they are teaching to the everyday lives of the students.
C. Culturally-responsive educators participate in community events and activities in appropriate and supportive
ways.
D. Culturally-responsive educators work closely with parents to achieve a high level of complementary
educational expectations between home and school.
E. Culturally-responsive educators recognize the full educational potential of each student and provide the
challenges necessary for them to achieve that potential.
As an English teacher, it's easy to incorporate Native American literature into curriculum. In order to meet standards in both traditional and modern Native American education, books from older and newer authors can be used. For example, books such as "Bead on an Ant Hill" by Delphine Red Shirt and "Fools Crow" by James Welch, are excellent works describing traditional Native American culture. You can also introduce modern Native American texts such as "Diary of a Parttime Indian" by Sherman Alexie, which describes more modern challenges for Native Americans in a prominently white dominated society. The combination of these three texts would supply a well rounded view of Native American culture and the challenges and successes they've achieved throughout their many years in the North Americas.
In terms of achieving standard B, English classrooms have great incentives to visit/participate in community events. Events such as pow-wows and poetry readings or cultural presentations are great opportunities to bring students on field trips.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Web 2.0 Tools
After some exploration on "The 100 Best Web 2.0 Tools" website, I came across a couple useful looking ideas. The first is called Teaching Channel, a site that contains hundreds of useful videos focusing on teaching strategies. The videos include interviews with teachers about an array of topics including ELL students, project-based learning, motivation and student-advisor relationships. The videos also include a lot of in-class examples, filming of real students in classrooms. There are many lesson plans demonstrated through these videos, which I will find super useful in the future when I'm building my own classroom units.
The second 2.0 tool that I found to be pretty cool is called Eyejot. It's a site that allows you to send short video messages to anyone (but in this case, students) on your computer or handheld phone. This could be really helpful for teachers who have students who respond more effectively to verbal instructions rather than ones written down. Sending video-assignments might create a stronger sense of relevance for students, thus encouraging them to get more of their homework done on time and/or understanding the assignment more thoroughly.
I also found a couple articles on the Spigot website useful/entertaining. The first one, (although I'm unsure of whether it's a joke or not) is pretty hilarious for an English major like me. Rick Anderson writes on the Scholarly Kitchen blog that, "At this year's annual meeting of the American Library Association in Las Vegas, there will be a special performance by the Oxford Commas, a band composed of librarians and university press editors who are dedicated to raising the grammatical standard in popular music." It's brilliant. They feature grammatically correct songs such as "Whom do you Love?" and "Julio and Me Down by the School Yard." Would be a great and funny article to show to a classroom full of English students.
The last article I found was one in which I very much disagreed with the point of view. It came from a personal blog that talks about educational transitioning toward a more technological world. This particular article was about the shift from reading in books to reading on "machines." But he argues for the advantages of reading from computers/kindles/iPads for many reasons, while making some pretty outlandish statements. For example, he writes what if, "The machine could learn their readers preferences, nuances, 'intelligence', etc. and tailor assistive materials and experiences to the reader to maximize enjoyment and comprehension?" If the machine did indeed advance enough that it could do these things, then the role of an English teacher would be nonexistent. And students would spend an even greater time on screens instead of communicating with real humans. I think the role of paper books is important, and no matter how advanced these "reading machines" can get, they will never replace the traditional role of text on paper.
The second 2.0 tool that I found to be pretty cool is called Eyejot. It's a site that allows you to send short video messages to anyone (but in this case, students) on your computer or handheld phone. This could be really helpful for teachers who have students who respond more effectively to verbal instructions rather than ones written down. Sending video-assignments might create a stronger sense of relevance for students, thus encouraging them to get more of their homework done on time and/or understanding the assignment more thoroughly.
I also found a couple articles on the Spigot website useful/entertaining. The first one, (although I'm unsure of whether it's a joke or not) is pretty hilarious for an English major like me. Rick Anderson writes on the Scholarly Kitchen blog that, "At this year's annual meeting of the American Library Association in Las Vegas, there will be a special performance by the Oxford Commas, a band composed of librarians and university press editors who are dedicated to raising the grammatical standard in popular music." It's brilliant. They feature grammatically correct songs such as "Whom do you Love?" and "Julio and Me Down by the School Yard." Would be a great and funny article to show to a classroom full of English students.
The last article I found was one in which I very much disagreed with the point of view. It came from a personal blog that talks about educational transitioning toward a more technological world. This particular article was about the shift from reading in books to reading on "machines." But he argues for the advantages of reading from computers/kindles/iPads for many reasons, while making some pretty outlandish statements. For example, he writes what if, "The machine could learn their readers preferences, nuances, 'intelligence', etc. and tailor assistive materials and experiences to the reader to maximize enjoyment and comprehension?" If the machine did indeed advance enough that it could do these things, then the role of an English teacher would be nonexistent. And students would spend an even greater time on screens instead of communicating with real humans. I think the role of paper books is important, and no matter how advanced these "reading machines" can get, they will never replace the traditional role of text on paper.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Attempt at Pecha Kucha
Although I never got the entire screencast recorded, I did complete the powerpoint as well as the oral presentation. I chose to make a presentation on Shakespeare and his famous Globe Theater. I do plan on completing the real screencast by the end of the semester, considering all the work is done, I just need to record it. The part of the project that I've already completed pretty much just required skills and knowledge that I already have from making presentations in the past. It is the recording that takes some learning. It was interesting to think about "flipping the classroom" while making the powerpoint, knowing that the kids will never see their teacher's face throughout the entire unit. I have to be a lot more thorough when putting it together. I feel like flipping the classroom might be kind of hard with some areas of English. But the prospect of having the students learn information on Shakespeare at home and then reading one of his plays in class is quite exciting. It seems like it would be time-effective. I don't know if I'll use the classroom-flipping tactic super often in my own classroom but I do see the value in making a few throughout the course of the school year. Really big units that require extra instructional time outside of class could be aided greatly by this format of teaching.
Awe(some/ful) Powerpoints
Some VERY BAD powerpoints:
This powerpoint fails on multiple levels. First of all, the title is boring and nondescript, giving us absolutely no information as to what the presentation will be about. Far too much text covers each slide and when images are used, they're overwhelming and crowded into the space. This powerpoint give some good examples of how bad presentations can be fixed by simplifying text and finding appropriate pictures to use with the information. Using one quote or one piece of information on each slide is plenty enough to keep an audience entertained. This powerpoint illustrates how inconsistency in font/color/image greatly distracts from the point that's trying to be communicated in the presentation. Now here are some examples of GOOD powerpoints: This powerpoint uses a creative and unique approach to introduce the topic of "change." The first ten slides or so are almost exactly the same, except one word is changed, giving the effect of a film.
This powerpoint fails on multiple levels. First of all, the title is boring and nondescript, giving us absolutely no information as to what the presentation will be about. Far too much text covers each slide and when images are used, they're overwhelming and crowded into the space. This powerpoint give some good examples of how bad presentations can be fixed by simplifying text and finding appropriate pictures to use with the information. Using one quote or one piece of information on each slide is plenty enough to keep an audience entertained. This powerpoint illustrates how inconsistency in font/color/image greatly distracts from the point that's trying to be communicated in the presentation. Now here are some examples of GOOD powerpoints: This powerpoint uses a creative and unique approach to introduce the topic of "change." The first ten slides or so are almost exactly the same, except one word is changed, giving the effect of a film.
Exploring "To Kill a Mockingbird"
There are many ways to further explore books read in the classroom. Some of these ways can be achieved by digging online for outside resources other people have put together. I have attached a slideshare presentation on Harper Lee's famous book as well as a Youtube video that could both be used in the classroom.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Possible Lesson Plan
The task is to create a lesson plan where the students utilize three separate search engines.
LESSON: After reading a piece of classic or recognized literature, the student must find three separate notable analyses of the text through three different search engines. Google, Yahoo and Bing. In doing so, the students will learn different ways the search engines behave and decide which they find most effective. In order to teach safe and effective research methods, the teacher will demonstrate to students the dangers of using the internet too liberally. The most important thing to tell students is to NEVER give personal information over the internet at school unless they know for sure it is a notable website. If they are not sure, they should ask an adult. Additionally, in order to conduct the most effective search, students should use key words of titles and authors they might be searching for. They can also place quotation marks around the words they want to stay grouped together in the search. In addition, students will learn the value as well as the drawbacks of sites such as Wikipedia. The teacher should explain to students that there is certainly a time and place for Wikipedia when doing base introductory research but when it comes time to find notable authors and articles, it is not the right resource.
Possible questions to address during research unit:
- Which search engine did you find the easiest to navigate?
- Which search engine gave you the best results?
- Was there a specific search engine that ever asked for your personal information?
- Compare the articles you found and decide which is the most comprehensive.
LESSON: After reading a piece of classic or recognized literature, the student must find three separate notable analyses of the text through three different search engines. Google, Yahoo and Bing. In doing so, the students will learn different ways the search engines behave and decide which they find most effective. In order to teach safe and effective research methods, the teacher will demonstrate to students the dangers of using the internet too liberally. The most important thing to tell students is to NEVER give personal information over the internet at school unless they know for sure it is a notable website. If they are not sure, they should ask an adult. Additionally, in order to conduct the most effective search, students should use key words of titles and authors they might be searching for. They can also place quotation marks around the words they want to stay grouped together in the search. In addition, students will learn the value as well as the drawbacks of sites such as Wikipedia. The teacher should explain to students that there is certainly a time and place for Wikipedia when doing base introductory research but when it comes time to find notable authors and articles, it is not the right resource.
Possible questions to address during research unit:
- Which search engine did you find the easiest to navigate?
- Which search engine gave you the best results?
- Was there a specific search engine that ever asked for your personal information?
- Compare the articles you found and decide which is the most comprehensive.
Using RSS Aggregators in the Classroom
Having never really used a RSS Aggregator feed before, I was skeptical about how one could be used effectively in the classroom. But then I explored feedly.com a bit and realized the ease at which a teacher could create a useful and practical tool for her students. I added about seven different links that concentrated on different areas of English lessons, literature and modern examples of how these things can apply to the real world. Links such as the NPR and New York Times's book list as well as TED talks and "article of the day" seem like really useful tools to use in a middle school or high school english classroom. It would be fun to have my students explore the feed and pick out one or two links to concentrate a project or presentation on, even if it's just simply reading one of the books offered on the a best sellers list.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Prezi
It's time to make pancakes! And more importantly, time to demonstrate that I can effectively use a Prezi! So check THIS link.
citations for pictures included:
-http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-mixing-bowl-ingredients-image11101454
-http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/basic-boffo-buttermilk-pancakes-recipe/
-http://2eat2drink.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/stack-of-pancakes-p.jpg
citations for pictures included:
-http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-mixing-bowl-ingredients-image11101454
-http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/basic-boffo-buttermilk-pancakes-recipe/
-http://2eat2drink.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/stack-of-pancakes-p.jpg
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Technological Teaching Tools
When browsing the "Free Technology for Teachers" website, it was surprisingly difficult to find resources that were applicable for an English classroom. It makes sense though, most of the new technology for classrooms we hear about are geared more toward the fields of science, math and social studies. I think this might be why I've been slightly skeptical of how technology can be realistically applied to an English curriculum. Seemingly, the best way to learn to read and write is to do just that: read and write in the traditional manner. This may just be my technologically naive side coming out again, and I do think technology has a place in the classroom, but I just question how much it can be utilized by English teachers. I'm sure I have a lot to learn and can certainly be proved wrong on this point. But for now, I'm still struggling to see that proof.
I did, however, find a pretty neat resource on the website regarding the conduction of research online. "Google for Educators" offers free posters that list some of tips on how to make most of a google search. I think this would be incredibly valuable in an English classroom, seeing as any research paper usually requires anywhere between two and ten outside sources, and almost all research is done explicitly online these days. When I was a younger student, nobody told me the tricks and tips of conducting a successful google search, so I think this would be a great thing to hang on the wall of my own classroom. The posters are organized in a well thought out manner: they start with a simple search on the left and explain how to get more and more specific as the text moves right. Even fourth and fifth graders would be able to interpret the graphic.
The link is here, so check it out. Look at all five posters. They all seem really useful.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Future Student Work
As an English teacher, I will, of course, will expect my students to conduct a lot of reading and writing. It is so important to me that my students learn how to think critically and therefore understand how to pick apart a piece of writing and analyze it for certain components and ultimately, be able to apply the text's themes to a real world existence. In most cases, the way they will demonstrate this capability will be through writing responses, essays and papers. But in non-tangible production, they will demonstrate their critical thinking capabilities through group discussion, answering questions in class and giving public speeches. Although at first, the intended audience of these things may seem like the teacher, in the end, it's the students themselves who learn from their own writing. The process of dissecting literature and then reformatting it into your their observations is a method that teaches the very writer something about the text and ultimately about universal truths and humanity. That's what I love so much about English; the entire development toward being able to read for both enjoyment and exploration at the same time is self-improving and builds on multiple emotional facets such as empathy, cultural understanding and problem solving. The actual process of reading and responding isn't meant for the teacher or parent or principal at all, but for the student to realize that they can discover meaning in presumably indecipherable texts.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Sad Sad News
Guys... Missoula's most beloved brunch spot is closing their doors on Sunday, February 16th. There are rumors that Food For Thought may just be shifting management and if that's the case, maybe everyone's favorite hangover-cure-spot won't be closed for long. So we're crossing our fingers that that's the case. Because if Food For Though closed forever, most of UM's population would be gravely saddened. Seriously.
Listen to this test "Audioboo" about our thoughts on the closing of Food For Thought.
listen to ‘RIP Food For Thought’ on Audioboo
Listen to this test "Audioboo" about our thoughts on the closing of Food For Thought.
listen to ‘RIP Food For Thought’ on Audioboo
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Technology in English
The role of technology in English has the potential to be extremely useful. From my experience in high school, English teachers utilized the internet to help supplement research and a variety of outside analyses of literature all the time. However, I rarely had an English teacher that used more than just that. Some of my teachers did have Smartboards and used them in ways to help the class run smoothly, especially in terms of diagramming sentences and having students come up to the board to write examples or pull up Youtube videos.
To be quite honest though, I'm not super familiar with modern and exciting programs at the disposal for English teachers. I'm excited to learn about some of these programs- I've discovered quite a bit of new and interesting stuff from following notable writers/authors/English experts on my twitter account. I see now, at least the partial significance of using social media in classrooms. I understand the push for encouraging digital literature in classrooms through the use of Kindles, iPads, Nooks, etc. but personally, I really don't think I want to exclusively use these in my classroom. I highly value the importance of the written page and the ability to annotate and take notes in the margins of books. I also think that note-taking is one of the most important aspects in the successful learning of writing and reading. I think the practice of allowing students to take pictures of slides with their smartphones so they can avoid writing out notes is completely counterproductive. Again, I understand the efficiency and convenience of using digital literature and ways of notetaking in the classroom, but as a huge supporter of plain old pen and paper, I really push for the traditional ways of writing and reading.
To be quite honest though, I'm not super familiar with modern and exciting programs at the disposal for English teachers. I'm excited to learn about some of these programs- I've discovered quite a bit of new and interesting stuff from following notable writers/authors/English experts on my twitter account. I see now, at least the partial significance of using social media in classrooms. I understand the push for encouraging digital literature in classrooms through the use of Kindles, iPads, Nooks, etc. but personally, I really don't think I want to exclusively use these in my classroom. I highly value the importance of the written page and the ability to annotate and take notes in the margins of books. I also think that note-taking is one of the most important aspects in the successful learning of writing and reading. I think the practice of allowing students to take pictures of slides with their smartphones so they can avoid writing out notes is completely counterproductive. Again, I understand the efficiency and convenience of using digital literature and ways of notetaking in the classroom, but as a huge supporter of plain old pen and paper, I really push for the traditional ways of writing and reading.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Open and Eager
As a student, I was never especially fond of technology being used in the classroom. I found it time consuming and complicated and never seemed to understand the importance of technology in comparison with more traditional teaching techniques. In most cases, the faults of a technological classroom lesson fell on the inability of the teacher to properly use the tools he or she were trying to implement. For instance, I had quite a few teachers who didn't know how to use their Smartboard correctly or had immense trouble trying to log the entire laptop fleet into the school's wifi signal.
I did however have one teacher in high school who was incredibly efficient and reliable when it came to using technology in the classroom. My AP Calculus teacher in high school used her Smartboard every day in ways I never considered a math teacher to use in meaningful application. Although I don't remember specific programs she used, I do remember that she utilized a very specific and organized lesson plan centered around the activities on the Smartboard for every day we had class. Each morning, when we walked in the classroom, she had a problem written on the Smartboard and we were expected to solve it. Each group would come up and demonstrate their problem solving on the board and then the teacher would correct mistakes and re-write the appropriate notation. She utilized multiple math websites for examples and showed us Youtube videos of mathematicians. She constantly pulled up the huge electronic sheet of graph paper to show how to graph functions and tables. She also integrated a really helpful graphing calculator program that helped students discover the in's and out's of the complicated tool.
This teacher was one of the only teachers I had that was able to successfully use new technology in the classroom without allowing it to become a time-consumer for her students. As an English teacher, I'm sure there are thousands of new and interesting technological tools that can be implemented into the classroom and I'm excited to learn about them and use them in my own curriculum. Despite my prior concerns with technology in the classroom, I am quite open to the innovations and benefits of introducing it to students and I'm eager to learn more about it.
I did however have one teacher in high school who was incredibly efficient and reliable when it came to using technology in the classroom. My AP Calculus teacher in high school used her Smartboard every day in ways I never considered a math teacher to use in meaningful application. Although I don't remember specific programs she used, I do remember that she utilized a very specific and organized lesson plan centered around the activities on the Smartboard for every day we had class. Each morning, when we walked in the classroom, she had a problem written on the Smartboard and we were expected to solve it. Each group would come up and demonstrate their problem solving on the board and then the teacher would correct mistakes and re-write the appropriate notation. She utilized multiple math websites for examples and showed us Youtube videos of mathematicians. She constantly pulled up the huge electronic sheet of graph paper to show how to graph functions and tables. She also integrated a really helpful graphing calculator program that helped students discover the in's and out's of the complicated tool.
This teacher was one of the only teachers I had that was able to successfully use new technology in the classroom without allowing it to become a time-consumer for her students. As an English teacher, I'm sure there are thousands of new and interesting technological tools that can be implemented into the classroom and I'm excited to learn about them and use them in my own curriculum. Despite my prior concerns with technology in the classroom, I am quite open to the innovations and benefits of introducing it to students and I'm eager to learn more about it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)