Equation Solving Podcast

James Bond

Mission: Solving Equations

Virtual Manipulatives

      In this podcast James Bond must solve an equation to save Miss Rani. Although it is a little cheesy, the use of the balance scale is very well done. This would be a great introduction to solving equations. I would have students watch this and then work through several equations. There are many online interactive equation balance scales that students can practice their equation solving skills on. Once students are comfortable with solving equations it might be interesting to have them create their own podcasts to share with other students.

ePals

        There are so many great ways that ePals can be used. Both schoolmail and global community are free resources. With these free resources students can communicate with students throughout the world about various topics. With ePals all communications are monitored by the teacher that not only ensures appropriate content, but also allows the teacher to ask a student to redo their letter. Teachers can also communicate with one another in this global community.
       Also on the ePals site are learning spaces and in2books, which are not free. Although they are not free they look like they may be worth the investment. With in2books students can communicate with a mentor about various books they choose to read. This communication allows students to find meaning in what they are reading and also discuss the important aspects of the book. Learning spaces offers a whole array of work-spaces for teachers, students, and parents. Through their dashboard, teachers can manage all their collaborations. Teachers can collaborate with other teachers for lessons, tests and much more. Learning spaces also allows teachers to set up blogs, wikis, forums and more for their students to participate in. With this teachers of various schools can join together their classroom on projects or communications. ePals is full of opportunities for teachers and students to collaborate, communicate, and learn.
       With our upcoming unit on my mind, I can see using ePals when talking about currency conversions and better buys. Students could apply their knowledge of currency conversion to communicate with students in other parts of the world and discuss the cost of their most desired items. They can also compare the prices and see if prices vary depending on where you are. Similarly, students could use measurement conversion to share their favorite recipes with their pen pals. I think ePals could be an exciting way to get students interested in a rather tough topic.

Applying Flickr

Big Huge Labs is a site where you can apply your Flickr photos to create puzzles, posters, magazine covers and much more. 

Math is Everywhere--

This is a movie poster I created about the Fibonacci sequence. I think that this would be an excellent project idea. Students could take pictures of places they see math in order to advertise that math is present in our everyday lives. Not only could students advertise real-world mathematics, but they could also advertise famous mathematicians and their contributions to mathematics.  In both cases the posters could be accompanied with  a brief description of their poster's connection to mathematics. This is a creative way for students to express their mathematical knowledge or research.

Licensing your Flickr Account

Photograph by: Yodel Anecdotal

Once you have a Flickr account you may choose to publish your work. When publishing there are 4 main conditions that can be combined to create 6 Creative Commons licenses that you may choose from ranging from accommodating to more restrictive.

Conditions

Attribution
by

"You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request."

 

Share Alike 

sa

"You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work."

Non-Commercial
nc

"You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for non-commercial purposes only."

No Derivative Works
nd

"You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it."

  

Courtesy of: Creative Commons

Creative Commons Licenses

 

 Attribution

 cc by

This is the least restrictive of the licenses. By applying this license to your work you are allowing people to reproduce and build upon your work on their websites, twitter accounts, and in other commercial uses as long as credit is given for the original work. 

 Attribution Share Alike

 cc by-sa

Like the previous license, people may reproduce and build upon your work as long as they credit you and license their creations under the identical terms.  This license is more restrictive than the previous because all creations based off your work must be license the exact same way.

                        

 

Attribution No Derivatives

 cc by-nd

Unlike the previous two licenses applying this license to your work allows only for the redistribution of your work with credit given. Under this license no changes can be made to your work.

Attribution Non-Commercial

 cc by-nc

This license is similar to the first license in that people can distribute and build upon your work, however it can not be distributed for commercial use. Credit must be given, but the license does not have to be the same. 

Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 

 cc by-nc-sa

This license is exactly like the attribution non-commercial license, however any new creations must be licensed the same as the original creation.

Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

 cc by-nc-nd

This is the most restrictive license. People may redistribute your work as long as credit is given. However, they can not use the work commercially or adapt it.

Information Courtesy of: Creative Commons

Why Tweet?

Nine Great Reasons Why Teachers Should Use Twitter

 This article sums up with just nine reasons why educators should tweet. This first point of this article says "together we're better",  twitter is an excellent way to collaborate with other educators. We grow and improve from conversations with other educators and twitter allows educators to communicate on their own time. With twitter educators can quickly access ideas, opinion, and resources. Twitter also expands your community to a global community of educators, not just those in your school or county. Twitter opens up the education world to more then education magazines and conferences, to individuals' ideas and opinions. It lets the everyday teacher share their ideas and tips with teachers just like them. Twitter is a powerful tool!

Check our why so many people love twitter... 

I <3 Twitter 

Then try it and maybe you too, will say I <3 Twitter!

Interesting!

Embed a YouTube Video into PowerPoint 

TILT- Teachers Improving Learning with Technology

This site has many great technology tips for teachers. I like the tip about embedding a YouTube video into a PowerPoint. I think this is very useful since many schools block YouTube. If  I want to show a Youtube video in my classroom I can not because YouTube is blocked. However, by embedding the YouTube video into a PowerPoint instead of a link I can use the video in my classroom. Embedding the video allows me to view the video without being redirected out to the internet. This will allow me show the videos in my classroom!

Social Network

Classroom 2.0

This social networking group is a current group that is still active. It has many users, which can be helpful for developing a community. With such a large user base there is  someone in the group who can be a resource. There are also many open discussions on this site that are actively being added to. This was the only open network that I came across that had discussions on mathematics. Therefore, I could add to these math discussions and create my own.

A Learner is like a Honeybee

Honeybees live in a social hive, which is their network. Just like honeybees, students live in an increasingly social society, where people are connected to each other at all times. In Siemens’ video on connectivism he states that learning is the “network that learners create”. In other words, students learn from many sources that are included in their network, such as teachers, parents, friends, computers, and other non-human devices. Like honeybees, students learn and gain knowledge from their social network. Siemens also states that “knowledge is really about the distribution that occurs across an entire network”, both internally and externally. Honeybees distribute their knowledge by hunting out pollen and then communicating this new knowledge to their network through dance. Similarly, students discover new knowledge and then can share it with their network. Furthermore, honeybees do not only learn from each other, but they learn from the environment and its changes. Likewise, students learn from other non-human devices that are part of their network, like the Internet. Both honeybees and students create a network to gain and distribute knowledge.

Honeybees and students live in a world that is constantly changing. Therefore, “our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today.” Due to this changing world connectivism places an “emphasis on knowledge that is rapidly evolving and how to stay current”(Siemens, 2005). Honeybees are foragers. They are always seeking out new sources of pollen in the constantly changing environment. Students need to be foragers who seek out knowledge. Not only do they need to develop knowledge through their network, but student also need the skills to stay current.

Therefore, a learner is like a honeybee. Both live in social communities in which they gain and share new knowledge and both live in a changing world, where they must learn the skills to stay current.

How can we engage the digital learner?

From Google to Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, technology is rapidly growing. The change in technology leads to many questions about the effectiveness of our school models and teaching.  Videos like, "Pay Attention,"  contain fascinating statistics that make it easy to see the gap between our education system and the growing world of technology.

Although technology is changing rapidly our schools are not. Instead we use the same school model that dates back more than 150 years to a time when families worked their farms. Short class periods do not lend themselves to engaging technology lessons. Students have little time to discover and explore during these short instructional periods. Furthermore, we usually teach subjects separate from each other. In real-life we all know math problems and history do not arise independently, rather we might have to solve a situation based on prior history of a company or stock. Perhaps the school model with short subject based periods is out of date and needs to be overhauled. 

While the school model has not changed, school standards continue to change. More and more standards are added to each grade or pushed to earlier grades, but is this the answer? Does adding more standards help up keep up with the times? With standards based education there seems to be little time for thought provoking problems or discovery. Instead we are forced to teacher procedures that seem irrelevant to real-life.  Maybe instead of high stakes standardized test, we should require students to perform authentic tasks that make them use higher level thinking skills.

Overall, I feel that our schools and teaching need to change. However, my question is how? How do we incorporate technology in a meaningful way? How can we incorporate technology with tight time constraints and increasing standards? When and how can we shift from procedural based standards to authentic and engaging problem solving tasks?

I feel teachers want a shift in teaching, but there are many factors still working against this change. We try our best to incorporate the technology we do have, but are still faced with time constraints and high stakes tests. So I ask… How?

Internet Safety

Internet safety is a huge issue in schools and homes. As Internet uses keep changing there are more worries about safety that arise.

Schools attempt to do their part in protecting students. At our school parents must give consent for their children to use the Internet. Our school has numerous acceptable use polices and filters to block sites. The blog “Filter Fun” vents some frustration that filters cause and I agree that filters can be problematic. Until recently teachers, at my school, had full access to all sites, but have since been blocked like the students. This makes it difficult to search for engaging videos or websites to use in class. However, ask any student and they can usually tell you how to get around the filters. The Internet and kids move faster than teachers and firewalls. So if filters can’t keep our students safe, how can we?

First, I really liked the side bar on the media awareness network site. It provides teachers with “safe passages” for students, which is a starting point for student safety.

Although we can provide safe pathways for students to follow in school, I think it is very important to make students aware of the risks of revealing too much on the Internet even when they are not in school. The Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a great resource on Internet safety that has eye-opening presentations for teachers, parents, and students. I have gone to their presentations directed for teachers and parents, as well as student presentations. In their presentations, they show you how the Internet can be a scary place, but also how to protect yourself. Their website also contains great information and videos on Internet safety.

Another site to help teachers is Facebook for educators. Facebook can be a new source to continue school drama and students do not always understand the need for privacy. This link can help teachers further educate their students on safety.

As educators we must remain informed about the technology our students are using and the risks they carry. We should inform students and parents of the dangers that are on the Internet and how to stay safe.

3 Ways to Integrate Blogs into Math Class

I have not used blogs in my teaching yet and I find it difficult to come up with math blog ideas. I often feel that our curriculum is too procedural based, but blogging could be a useful way of developing a deeper connection with the concepts.

My first idea for using blogs in a math classroom is to have the students capture their encounters with mathematics in their everyday lives (MST standard 3, 6, and 7). Students could write their experience, show pictures, or use videos to share their real-world math experiences. The article, “From Toy to Tool: Audio Blogging with Cell Phones”, by Liz Kolb, describes how students can use cell phones with blogs to capture interviews, pictures, and videos. This would be a great tool that most students have on hand to help them with the assignment. Also the blog would allow other students to comment on the encounters and share similar experiences. This would be a great way to help students see that math really is everywhere.

       Article: "From Toy to Tool: Audio Blogging with Cell Phones", by Liz Kolb

Another topic students could blog about is the graphing calculator (MST standard 5 and 6). There are many ways to find solutions on the graphing calculator so it might be interesting to have students discuss how they found the answer to a certain problem. For example, to find the solution(s) of a parabola and a line there are many ways to calculate the coordinate solution point(s). Students could suggest looking at the table, calculating the intersection, or estimating the intersection. Students would have the opportunity to try the different processes and also discuss which method they feel is the most efficient.

Finally, students could share links with each other (MST Standard 5). Students could research certain topics for review activities, re-teach sites, and more. Through the blog students could create a library of resources with a short description of each link. These links would provide excellent study help.