Thing 10

I am lucky, we already use google docs at my school. It is great for tracking student performance such as MEAP scores. I like that I can save my document and use it on any computer. I move around the building all day and use several computers for the same document. My sister uses a spreadsheet for her checking register, I suggested she use google docs so that she can see it from anywhere, not just on the computer at home. Also, she and her husband can both update it and noone will have to guess if it is accurate. As for my classroom, I know at least one teacher who assigns email addresses to all his students, so I guess I could set up a classroom account. I like getting feedback from my students in a way that is easily tracked and google docs has nice looking graphs.

There are a few concerns. I saved my logins on an excel doc so I could just cut and paste into the browser and it didn't always paste correctly. Also, my husband brought up the concern of the enormous amount of documents that are stored on this website. Could the docs get lost? How secure are the docs from hackers? With anything new technology it is going to take sometime for google to prove itself secure and reliable. So, I will use it, but will probably still keep a copy on my hard drive for now.

Check out (and complete) my survey at the bottom of my blog. With a little frustration, I managed to create it in a google doc and embed it onto my blog. That was pretty neat.

Thing 8, again

I almost forgot the most important part of the blog.... Please add me to your "people" on your delicious. My username is: ann.crosby1. Thanks bunches!!

Thing 8 is Great!

This may be my favorite thing yet. One, because it is something brand new to me, two, I love working smarter, not harder and three, I don't think educators share enough with each other and this is a great way to do that! As soon as I started adding bookmarks to my delicious site, I couldn't wait to tell all my co-workers about it. It seems like such a simple idea: I have some good sights, you have some good sites, we both teach math-lets share. I try to use the internet as a resource form my at-risk students. We go to the lab and find videos, notes, games... on whatever topic we are learning is class. We print several different versions of notes for students to choose from, we copy and paste instructional video clips into Word and make copies for everyone to take home and do the same for interactive practice games. This would be a great application for social bookmarking. Not only would it save paper and time, it would eliminate students duplicating the same sites. (Sometimes several students will print the same notes from the same website to contribute to our class.) Next year, I would like to build a class delicious site to compile our websites throughout the school year. I think this would also help students review things covered earlier in the class (since I am sure they will have lost all notes by then). I would also like to use this within my department. I seems silly to have 5 math teachers in one building and not share good information. This may be the one "thing" I really use daily. I am hooked!

Thing 7

I am still getting used to having what I think "out there" for the world to read. That is going to take some getting used to. I do however, like reading what other people write and have already learned alot and even changed the way I think about a few things. Blogs allow you to express yourself, but I wonder if my students can think critically enough to weed out the misinformed yet confident bloggers and find those knowledgable about what they blog.

Thing 5: Web 2.what?

Initial reaction to web 2.0: Wow! The sheer numbers of ways a "techie-teacher" can use this new web to engage, empower and challenge students is amazing. But, the problem is, I am far from a "techie." I look at all of the applications, endless websites, and information overload on the web and it is overwhelming. I consider myself an average web user, probably in the old-fashioned information retrieval ways of the past. But using wikis, blogs, podcasts, or other things not even invented yet in daily instruction seems like a long way off for me personally. I worry about not being the "expert" ready to facilitate every lesson with complete confidence and knowledge. How do I keep kids from getting lost in the big www and stay on-task?

After a little thought: I am on facebook, that is a start, right? I have used YouTube to show students concepts and instuctional videos. I just got my first graphics tablet for school. I am taking this class. So, I guess I can do this "techie" stuff. I think the key for me is to take one application and get to know it well, so it doesn't take away from the essence of the lesson. Then move on to the next, slowly building up my own confidence and expertise. Then I can do what we all hope to do: Teacher 21 century kids using 21 century methods. I do feel that Web 2.0 is an important tool to "grow kids brains." It lends itself to that constuctivist model I was told was the way to teach from all my college professors (so, it must be right).

Thing 4: Now vs. Then

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That is definitely true in education. I was amazed and inspired by all the possible ways to use technology to get students "thinking." Yet, I must admit, there is very little of it being done in our school system. Like the old days, we still teach students core content in 50 minute blocks with the occasional integration project thrown in as enrichment. When I was in college (not too long ago) we were taught the contructivist method was the way to go. Inquirery based learning was to get students thinking, comunicating and taking responsibility for their learning. Yet, once out into the "real world" I saw very few examples of true inquirery based learning. So, I wonder why it is we are told one method is best for learning and yet we do another.

Partly, it is our training. I was taught Hyperstudio in college. It was exremely time consuming to make anything useful. We also used Microsoft Office and basic internet research sites. This basic technology education does not support the constructivist classroom. There are all these great tools to make learning more meaningful and make our students true thinkers, yet I was not exposed to them in my teacher training. So, it then becomes each teacher's job to learn the current technology and find ways to integrate it into daily learning. This is a slow and time-consuming process. We need professional development, networking, equipment and time to become proficient before we jump in with both feet. Because of the road blocks, teachers continue to do what we have always done. It is what we know and the only way to change is to get to "know" something else. I guess, the way to change the educational system's view of technology in the classroom, is to change each teacher's view.

A good example of a math blog

I was looking for integer activities for my students and came upon a math class blog. I think it is a good example of how to apply this blogging "thing" to math. Check it out: http://grade7math.blogspot.com/2006/02/integer-games.html