Technology Use VS Student Growth and Achievement

Throughout this summer, I've grown very excited about the many technological advances I have discovered through conferences and web browsing .   I have attended many conferences and search on the Internet trying to find the perfect new technology to bring to my classroom. I am fortunate to have access to an iPad to use next year and E-instructions Mobi's; however I find myself spinning my wheels hours and hours researching and learning about other tools I can use in my classroom this year . Today I realize I need to focus on content and technology will take care of itself. My new focus is on student achievement using the technology to bring  the lessons to life.

 

There's only a few more days left before I will be back in school so today I am focusing on how the content is to be presented or introduced in order to achieve my goal. Not to say that I have given up on technology but I will incorporate it with my focus  on achievement .  How can I better motivate the child to learn with or without technology? Does it really matter what tools I use to get this across? Practice is essential, projects are crucial and technology is the vehicle to make learning engaging.

 

I am attaching a document with the technology resources I plan to use primarily in class next year. I may add to them or take away but will commit not to loose my focus.  It is not about the mere tools in the toolkit, but the ability to get the job done.  

 My perception has changed!! Allow students to build and let them choose the tools.

  

 

Staying Focused In the Midst of Distractions

 

 

What a wonderful day it is to be a Math teacher. The Internet is full of resources and I discover more and more resources each day. Many times I find myself overwhelmed with the decision what to learn first? Once I start learning about something before I finish  there is something else presented that interests me to learn.

 Many times I find myself both excited and indecisive.   

 

During  this  blog,  I will share with you some of the most exciting resources that I have found and the order I plan to tackle them. 

1.  www.Duolingo.com. I have always wanted to learn Spanish and this website not only enables me to learn Spanish but to make a difference in the world at the same time. Whoever thought that my learning Spanish would enable me to help translate the World Wide Web into a different language.  

 

2. iTunes University has a Calculus class that is very interesting and intriguing.  It is from Ohio State and it is a complete calculus class with powerful instructors.  Even though I am not currently teaching calculus, I would love to complete this class during the summer 

 

3. Another task that I have is to create  an updated YouTube video about www.ck12.org  I will present  at  a Region 4 conference about  this wonderful resource. They recently updated their website and there are a lot of cool new features. Next year I plan to have my students create their own interactive textbook resource. 

 

4. Next I am excited about creating a tutorial for Harris County Department of education of a lesson that I have  implemented. Of course I have not yet started creating that lesson  because of the many distractions. 

 

5. I would like to also check out more resources concerning classroom management. Many times I struggle in that area however I will promise myself not to focus on my weaknesses but to be empowered by my strengths. 

 

6. I recently found a brand-new app that is just  fun!  It is called chirp. What is neat about the app is that it sends information to your phone by the use of sound. I am not sure how or if I will use it in the classroom and I welcome any ideas of how I can use it to inspire and motivate students. 

 

That is all I have for today. I will commit to remain focused and complete all these tasks; However it will be quite difficult with the Google search staring  me in the face.  

Planning For a New Year

The past year has been quite exciting and I look forward with excitement to another year. I feel overwhelmed with all the resources so readily at my finger tips so I decided to make a list of only 10 new resources that I will use during the upcoming year. That, in itself, will be quite difficult because there is always something new and interesting online. I will make an attempt to use only 10 and try and use them to the best of my ability. I will focus on my strengths this year. I want my classes to be technology rich, active, and full of positive energy.  The first hardware resource I will add for next year is the E-instruction mobi that was donated through a project I wrote on www.donorschoose.org/gladys.scott . I would recommend that if you need any additions to your classes, check out this resource. I will have 2 mobis and one teacher mobi and my students will be able to interact real-time on the data projector. Will be great to use for competitions, projects, etc. I have just written through donors choose for an Ipad 2 for my students to create a video library of content covered during class. I will also be incorporating some of the many apps available to me through the I Pad 2.

As for as the web resources I will use, they are as follows:
1. Will investigate http://www.explorelearning.com -I did use this last year but not sure if the district is going to purchase it this year.
2. Very excited about using https://www.edmodo.com/ this year. I  will be attending training for this in Aug.
3. Will be using http://www.discoveryeducation.com/ for lesson planning, videos, and to create a class within the site. Lots of features here
4. http://www.ck12.org/student/  just keeps getting better!! now you can us it in different languages. I may have my students create an online portfolio through this site
5. http://braingenie.ck12.org is a great resource for students to practice and compete with other students to get badges
6. http://www.sophia.org/home-teacher Now this is a brand new resource. You can get teacher training, there are videos and lessons within the site. Very excited about it.
7. I do want to focus on STEM activities and this resource will help-http://edtechreview.in/index.php/news/news/e-learning/200-free-21st-century-learning-sites
8. I will use a test generator to create test. Test Gen usually comes with textbooks but I have never really investigated it. This resource will enable me to create several versions of test to make the assessment creditable.

I will leave myself 2 more to add when I post again.
I am networking with many great Math teachers through https://www.bigmarker.com/communities/GlobalMathDept/bulletin They have online webinars a bulletin board where math teachers can network with each other.  Post a comment if you use any of these resources and let me know how it goes.

Change is Exciting!!

It is midway through the school year and time for me to evaluate and reflect. I have made many changes and many times fear has accompanied change but no one said it would be easy. As I reflect upon the first semester, I find that I have really learned  a lot and have required project and lessons that engaged my class.
Last semester my best projects included the water park project (I found this project online) and the geometry shapes project (for this project, students found a shape of something on a photo graph and defined the shape and created a problem based on the difinition.)  I was very impressed with some of the work and creativity of the students. I feel that it really helped for students to not only understand the work, but connect the work to a real world situation.

My goals for this semester is to create assessments that require more thought and process. I have several online resouces that will enable me to achieve this goal. The include--share my lesson, teacher pay teacher, ti resources, and gizmos.

I have found other resources that are very engaging and I will be posting video tutorials on the use of this sites--http://www.ck12.org and http://braingenie.ck12.org/
I will be presenting a lesson to teachers at a local conference  about  a free online resource that will enable them to Create and Customize thier Own Textbook (Flexbook)

I am anticipating that 2013 will bring challenges and growth for me as a teacher. My goals this year are to continue to learn new things and upon learning them to put them in practice.

STEM MASTER TEACHER--My vision for the future

This past week I attended the CAMT conference for the first time. I am loaded with ideas and excitement for the new year. I attended several sessions and learned much, but the best sessions were --How to Make Your Class Stimulate Interest Like a Video game, Mental Math, and several sessions concerning TI technology. (Graphing Calculator Tips).  I will create another post describing my experience and highlighting the changing I plan to make in my classroom next year.

I am very excited about the STEM Master Teacher initiative that was just highlighted in the news this week. God has me right on track for something great!! I really don't know when and how--that is not my focus--but to walk in whatever He has for me and to be prepared for it.  I am completing my online conference--(Creating a Blended learning LMS). I am very excited about developing this. In addition,  I am studying each night "mental Math" exercises and I am committed to learning as much as I can about Math and Science. I will be kind to myself and not focus on what I don't know but on what I am learning.

Check out my next post where I will be talking about exactly what I plan to implement next year in my MMA classes. 

Some More Good Stuff

I am continuing to learn more. Thank you interenet people. Just found a great site that will help me in discipline.     http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com  This is the best site yet. I have not really dug into it yet but will later.
I also did a 3 day drawing on goggle sketch up.  Plan to use this in geometry.

Looking forward to Next Year

I decided to put together all the things I need to be successful next year. Even though I still have all summer to prepare, I regularly come across information on the net that I can use and I need a place to store everything I find. Thank you so much teachers for sharing with me what you have used and learned. I feel so blessed to be a part of the teaching field. But I am also very apprehensive because I have never taught like this before. Technology has transformed teaching and I feel like I am riding the wave of change.  ok, first note to me--Check out I speak math blog--http://ispeakmath.wordpress.com/math-teacher-resources/  She has tons of resources. She teaches 6-7th grade her information is project based and I probably can use some of it.  Look forward to planning my first day of school in June.


Here is a neat fraction game. As of yet, I have not really figured it out but it looks like it is very stimulating and kid friendly. http://games.cs.washington.edu/Refraction/refraction.html

Just listening to my podcast and found out about a great resource to me and my students!!!

http://www.ck12.org/flexbook/


Great tool to create videos

http://www.educreations.com/

soo Much information--Will take a long time to go through. Everything is here

http://www.wismath.org/annual-conference/2012-handouts/