Click HERE to view a copy of my Professional Growth Plan.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Independent Inquiry Reflection
I'm counting down the hours until I am done with all of my MT requirements! This inquiry was the last of my assignments to finish, and at times I felt exhausted and ready to give up.
Reneeta and I decided to collaborate on our inquiry as much of what I was planning to include in my inquiry were things that she was also debating for hers. I think that by collaborating our ideas, we were able to produce something that I think ended up being more complete and in depth. It also helped to spark enthusiasm to finish everything up, as collaborating with another person is much more fun than trying to come up with words all on your own.
The content of our inquiry had me overwhelmed at times. Although I have been immersed as a student in an inquiry based program for the past two years, I still find it quite challenging to define the true meaning of inquiry. It is not something I was exposed to as a student – not in high school, and certainly not in my undergraduate degree. I remember the first few weeks of transitioning from a traditional lecture-style university semester to this strange concept of inquiry based learning. Confusion flooded my mind. How was I supposed to learn anything? Coming from a background where the teacher was the main source for delivering information, to a class where personal research guided what I learned was challenging. I did not know what information was required for the course, where I was to find this information, nor where to start looking for it. I had the impression that many of my colleagues felt the same frustration when we started this inquiry based program.
I wish I could tell you that I have developed a firm grasp on inquiry throughout the past two years and that I could provide you with an eloquent definition, but it wasn’t until my final semester in the Master of Teaching Program at the University of Calgary, that I have finally been able to shed some light on the true meaning of inquiry.
Throughout this course, I was able to not only gain understanding of the true meaning of inquiry, but also practice my skills in it. At times I felt frustrated with the inquiry part, other times, the technology had me panicking. But in the end, I think I will leave this University as a well trained educator in the field of inquiry.
I feel that by writing this inquiry, I was able to summarize everything that I had learned. The dimensions of inquiry and the IO designing inquiry parts were what helped me to understand what inquiry was. Therefore, sharing it in the inquiry was really important for me. By adding it to this inquiry, we were able to add our own voice and our own understanding of the material needed to create a good inquiry.
We did a lot of research for this inquiry, and in the end, I think we were able to produce a piece that integrated both our ideas and those of experts in the field. By adding our own voices, we were able to internalize and personalize the information set forth by the experts. In a sense, I feel that we have gained a lot of expertise in the field of inquiry throughout the design and creation of the inquiry projects this semester and thus we too have become experts in the field.
As far as media goes, Reneeta and I chose to do a website to display this inquiry. By creating a digital copy of our learning, I think it allows us to share what we have learned with a greater audience and also adds a nice piece to our professional portfolios. The hardest part about doing the website (besides the many hours we had spent learning the program throughout the semester) was making sure that we were using the technology to enhance our project, and not just as a method for publishing our paper. Although we were able to include videos, links, and documents into our inquiry site, I wish that we could have integrated the use of technology in a more elegant manner. I honestly think that we did the best we could with our time, and if we had put more thought into it, we could have created something even more elegant to add to our inquiry. Overall, I am quite pleased with with the final product, and know that I have done everything I could to create something I am truly proud of.
Reneeta and I decided to collaborate on our inquiry as much of what I was planning to include in my inquiry were things that she was also debating for hers. I think that by collaborating our ideas, we were able to produce something that I think ended up being more complete and in depth. It also helped to spark enthusiasm to finish everything up, as collaborating with another person is much more fun than trying to come up with words all on your own.
The content of our inquiry had me overwhelmed at times. Although I have been immersed as a student in an inquiry based program for the past two years, I still find it quite challenging to define the true meaning of inquiry. It is not something I was exposed to as a student – not in high school, and certainly not in my undergraduate degree. I remember the first few weeks of transitioning from a traditional lecture-style university semester to this strange concept of inquiry based learning. Confusion flooded my mind. How was I supposed to learn anything? Coming from a background where the teacher was the main source for delivering information, to a class where personal research guided what I learned was challenging. I did not know what information was required for the course, where I was to find this information, nor where to start looking for it. I had the impression that many of my colleagues felt the same frustration when we started this inquiry based program.
I wish I could tell you that I have developed a firm grasp on inquiry throughout the past two years and that I could provide you with an eloquent definition, but it wasn’t until my final semester in the Master of Teaching Program at the University of Calgary, that I have finally been able to shed some light on the true meaning of inquiry.
Throughout this course, I was able to not only gain understanding of the true meaning of inquiry, but also practice my skills in it. At times I felt frustrated with the inquiry part, other times, the technology had me panicking. But in the end, I think I will leave this University as a well trained educator in the field of inquiry.
I feel that by writing this inquiry, I was able to summarize everything that I had learned. The dimensions of inquiry and the IO designing inquiry parts were what helped me to understand what inquiry was. Therefore, sharing it in the inquiry was really important for me. By adding it to this inquiry, we were able to add our own voice and our own understanding of the material needed to create a good inquiry.
We did a lot of research for this inquiry, and in the end, I think we were able to produce a piece that integrated both our ideas and those of experts in the field. By adding our own voices, we were able to internalize and personalize the information set forth by the experts. In a sense, I feel that we have gained a lot of expertise in the field of inquiry throughout the design and creation of the inquiry projects this semester and thus we too have become experts in the field.
As far as media goes, Reneeta and I chose to do a website to display this inquiry. By creating a digital copy of our learning, I think it allows us to share what we have learned with a greater audience and also adds a nice piece to our professional portfolios. The hardest part about doing the website (besides the many hours we had spent learning the program throughout the semester) was making sure that we were using the technology to enhance our project, and not just as a method for publishing our paper. Although we were able to include videos, links, and documents into our inquiry site, I wish that we could have integrated the use of technology in a more elegant manner. I honestly think that we did the best we could with our time, and if we had put more thought into it, we could have created something even more elegant to add to our inquiry. Overall, I am quite pleased with with the final product, and know that I have done everything I could to create something I am truly proud of.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Integrated Unit Reflection
I am so glad the integrated unit is done!
What a relief!
I had fun creating it, but the work that went into it was overwhelming. Besides coming up with a creative idea for the unit, making sure to include all the necessary components of a good inquiry was challenging! Not only did we have to worry about engagement, we had to struggle to create meaningful tasks amids the abstract curriculum of Pure Math 30.
Coming up with a solid idea was the most challenging. We had to return to the drawing board quite a few times throughout the process. The most common challenge we faced was "Are we using technology effectively, or are we just putting it in because we feel like it?" We had to stop and re-evaluate this step quite often. We also had to ensure that we didn't complicate things too much. Two different creative math teachers. Two different teaching styles. Two different visions. Combining the ideas coherently was at times challenging. Both Reneeta and I were often left playing the role of Devil's Advocate to ensure that we were able to bring our visions to life.
The most important thing I learned through doing this integrated unit was the constant need to step away from the project, reflect on what you have created so far and critically evaluate your process. The Galileo inquiry rubric was great for this. I feel there are still some areas where we could improve the project given more time and a test audience. I would like to create a final task with more of a "Real world' connection, and somehow bring in experts to talk to the students.... Realistically, I'm not sure how I would do that though. The subject matter that we chose to deal with makes it a little bit more tricky.
Our focus was on allowing students to explore the subject matter through as many venues as possible. They got to see the mathematical explanations in the interactive lessons, practice the mathematical application in the investigative assignments, and show off their conceptual knowledge with the creative scrapbook tasks.
It was fun creating the project... but it took a lot of work. I chose to create the website for this task... which presented a whole new challenge in itself. At times I was frustrated with the technology, at times I wanted to give up, but looking at the final product, I am proud to say that I was able to bring (part of) my vision to life. If I could, I would have created animations and mini-clips to support each station and incorporate the theme of Amazing race more.... But my technological knowledge is just not there yet. I think we did fine with what we had to work with. I am very proud of this production.
What a relief!
I had fun creating it, but the work that went into it was overwhelming. Besides coming up with a creative idea for the unit, making sure to include all the necessary components of a good inquiry was challenging! Not only did we have to worry about engagement, we had to struggle to create meaningful tasks amids the abstract curriculum of Pure Math 30.
Coming up with a solid idea was the most challenging. We had to return to the drawing board quite a few times throughout the process. The most common challenge we faced was "Are we using technology effectively, or are we just putting it in because we feel like it?" We had to stop and re-evaluate this step quite often. We also had to ensure that we didn't complicate things too much. Two different creative math teachers. Two different teaching styles. Two different visions. Combining the ideas coherently was at times challenging. Both Reneeta and I were often left playing the role of Devil's Advocate to ensure that we were able to bring our visions to life.
The most important thing I learned through doing this integrated unit was the constant need to step away from the project, reflect on what you have created so far and critically evaluate your process. The Galileo inquiry rubric was great for this. I feel there are still some areas where we could improve the project given more time and a test audience. I would like to create a final task with more of a "Real world' connection, and somehow bring in experts to talk to the students.... Realistically, I'm not sure how I would do that though. The subject matter that we chose to deal with makes it a little bit more tricky.
Our focus was on allowing students to explore the subject matter through as many venues as possible. They got to see the mathematical explanations in the interactive lessons, practice the mathematical application in the investigative assignments, and show off their conceptual knowledge with the creative scrapbook tasks.
It was fun creating the project... but it took a lot of work. I chose to create the website for this task... which presented a whole new challenge in itself. At times I was frustrated with the technology, at times I wanted to give up, but looking at the final product, I am proud to say that I was able to bring (part of) my vision to life. If I could, I would have created animations and mini-clips to support each station and incorporate the theme of Amazing race more.... But my technological knowledge is just not there yet. I think we did fine with what we had to work with. I am very proud of this production.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Ineffective use of Technology
When I saw this cartoon, it made me think of how many of these presentations I have seen used ineffectively!
Taken from:
http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/tfd-archives/tfdarchive-mar08.php
My RADical day
Here is a lame little activity that I came up with last week in the shower. It is called "My RADical day" (Alternately, my PI day) designed for the Pure Math 30 Trigonometry unit.
In this unit, students are required to play around with radians <-> degree conversions. A fun (cross-curricular!)way to do this is to get students to create a little story about their "RADical" day.
Here is the gist of the assignment.
(reminder 360 degrees = 2pi radians)
Time is measured on a clock. One complete rotation (or shall I say a 360 degree rotation) of the minute hand signifies one hour in our daily lives. Mathematically one can say that when the minute hands rotates to an angle of 2pi radians, it has completed a full rotation (1 hour has passed).
So at midnight, on a mathematical clock, the time would read 0 pi
At 1am, the clock reads 2pi
At 2am, the clock reads 4pi
At 3am, the clock reads 6pi
.....
At noon, the clock reads 24pi
At 11pm, the clock reads 46pi
The idea is for students to create a schedule of their day.
ie:
07:00 Wake up
07:30 Eat Breakfast
08:00 Catch bus to school
09:00 School starts: Social Studies class
15:30 School is over, get on bus, go home
They then have to take the time in hours and convert it to radians.
ie.
14pi wake up
15pi Breakfast
16pi Bus
18pi School starts
31pi Go home
Once they have their day scheduled in radians, they then have to create an interesting re-telling their "RADical" day. Students can get creative by incorporating little details like "I had pi/8 of a pizza for lunch" etc. They can choose to present the story of their day in whichever medium they prefer: Movie, Poster, Power Point, Comic life, Flash, etc (preferably using some form of technology)
Once students have completed their project, they then have to trade with another group to analyze their story. The group has to take all of the radian times, and then convert it back to "normal" time.
This project is just a fun and silly way work with radian - degree - time conversion. It also plays a significant role in helping students visualize radian angles if they can relate it to a clock.
Thats all I have so far. Just ideas. I might try to create something in IO for it soon, but for now, my focus in on finishing the last 3 assignments for my BEd!
Woot Woot!
Reflection
Ive been reading excerpts from everyone's blog today, and I'm starting to see a lot of similarities....
1. iMovie and Movie Maker are not as user friendly as it claims to be.
Everyone that attempted creating a movie found this to be tricky! (Myself included) For part of my curriculum class last year we were to create a 3 minute iMovie introducing a unit in mathematics.... and we only had one week to complete it! OMG! How did I manage to finish this? I have no idea! Eventually, I was able to figure out how to do it, and produced an awful first video attempt! Luckily we had a chance to redeem ourselves at the end of the semester, where the videos turned out a little bit better,but still far from professional.
2. Technology can be intimidating.
I bet that just about everyone in our class have had to face their fear of technology. We hear about it... it sounds wonderful... but when it comes time to applying it in creative and effective ways in the classroom... BAH! Personally, my "fear" of technology comes from lacking the computer skills needed to bring my visions to life. I want to create animations and movies and music and pictures and websites and .....The list goes on. The other problem is that most of us were schooled in a very traditional setting without a whole lot of technology. How am I supposed to know which programs to use or which lessons lend themselves well to technology? When I was in school, computers were only used for word processing and creating powerpoint presentations. (very seldom)
3. We now know and understand the essence of Inquiry and Technology in the classroom.
After 4 semesters of inquiry, I never understood the process of it until this course. Everyone rages that inquiry is the future of education... yet they dont teach us how to design inquiry, which components are necessary for inquiry or even which types of tasks we want to include. Inquiry has always been this "thing" that no one could clearly define. Even now as I'm starting on my inquiry paper, I am still having a hard time explaining what inquiry is truly about. I have always thought that inquiry does not belong in the mathematics classroom.... yet here I find myself creating wonderful lessons that not only cover all the parts of the curriculum, but is guaranteed to engage each and every single learner in my classroom. I had no idea how to do this a few months ago.
4. Despite the frustrations, learning about technology is well worth it!
I dont think anyone regrets being in this class based ont he amount of learning that took place. The course load was heavy and stressful at times, but the rewards were definitely well worth it!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Technology: Friend or Foe?
My computer crashed this week and all I could think of was "How am I going to finish all of my projects in time for the end of the semester." I cried for hours. Its kind of sad how we get so attached to technology. I ended up having to get a new computer because the crash was caused by trying to run newer programs that my old little guy just couldn't handle.
That was 3 days ago, and I still feel debilitated by not having everything set up properly. Today, I found myself stressing about printer issues. My printer is a few years old, but works like a charm... However, the software that came along with it is not compatible with the latest version of Windows! Are you kidding me??? I was so stressed! Thank goodness for the Internet. With a little bit of searching, I was able to find a compatible driver that has my printer operating again. Phew!
I look back on my week now, and I cant believe how much time, energy, and tears went into this whole fiasco. Is this what technology has done to me? Made me so obsessed with staying connected that the thought of one day without it brings me to tears?
On the bright side.... I made another video for my ProSem presentation last week, and it turned out FANTASTIC! I'm really excited about it. Therefore, I will share it with all of you. The presentation dealt with sensitive emotional issues such as suicide and abuse. To set the tone of the class, I decided to present the case of a little girl, Rebecca (Fictional). The idea was to incorporate strong images, music, and tones to tug at the heartstrings of the audience.
And if that video has you feeling rather blue, I suggest watching this wonderful "feel good" clip of Tyson the Skateboarding Bulldog!
That was 3 days ago, and I still feel debilitated by not having everything set up properly. Today, I found myself stressing about printer issues. My printer is a few years old, but works like a charm... However, the software that came along with it is not compatible with the latest version of Windows! Are you kidding me??? I was so stressed! Thank goodness for the Internet. With a little bit of searching, I was able to find a compatible driver that has my printer operating again. Phew!
I look back on my week now, and I cant believe how much time, energy, and tears went into this whole fiasco. Is this what technology has done to me? Made me so obsessed with staying connected that the thought of one day without it brings me to tears?
On the bright side.... I made another video for my ProSem presentation last week, and it turned out FANTASTIC! I'm really excited about it. Therefore, I will share it with all of you. The presentation dealt with sensitive emotional issues such as suicide and abuse. To set the tone of the class, I decided to present the case of a little girl, Rebecca (Fictional). The idea was to incorporate strong images, music, and tones to tug at the heartstrings of the audience.
And if that video has you feeling rather blue, I suggest watching this wonderful "feel good" clip of Tyson the Skateboarding Bulldog!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Foused Task Self Assessment
For the focused task, Reneeta and I chose to work with a Grade 12 graphing project. We thought it would be an easy project to do, but we soon found out that the technology part of it is actually much more tricky then first imagined. The task called for any means of technology that will aid with graphing. A graphing calculator, although plentiful in the classroom, would not have done the trick in this case, as there were boundary restrictions that needed to be considered while graphing the wine glass. We opted for a more advanced program, Maple, that we both have had some experience with. I was quite surprised at how long it took us to remember the codes and how to specify restrictions at first. However, with a little bit of practice and perseverance (and a lot of reading the Help manual) we were able to create an elegant program that did exactly what we wanted it to: Draw a picture of a wine glass.
I haven’t used Maple much for graphing, so being able to practice and play with it really helped a lot. I’ve been looking for a program that would create graphs to add to my professional library that I could use when designing tests and exams. I think Maple might just be the program I have been looking for. That alone was enough reason for me to engage in this task.
The mathematics component of this task, although it seemed complicated to the untrained eye, was actually the easiest part for Reneeta and I. The part that caused us grief was finding a way to present the math to our classmates who don’t necessarily have the same mathematical background. We decided to create a webpage along with a few iMovies to help explain the math. Creating the webpage and the movies presented a whole new challenge in itself. First of all, we had to decide where to post the webpage, which editor would we use, how would we link things together, how do we edit the HTML, etc. It was possibly the most challenging part of this assignment. I think we learned a lot from the experience though, and in the process we have both become experts in creating webpages. I would personally like to do some more PD regarding this, but in the mean time, I think I will be able to create and maintain a simplistic website.
Reneeta and I had the opportunity to work with iMovie in Semester 2 as part of our curriculum class. Despite the previous experience, we still had a lot of difficulty creating the videos. I think the content was the most challenging. How do we explain complicated mathematics to someone with limited expertise? It was a huge challenge, and we spent a lot of time working with it. The second movie (Mathematical Processes) did not come out the way we wanted it to. Personally, I think it was a pretty dry awful 10 minutes of torture. However, it was important for our peers to see the videos if they wanted to truly understand the mathematics. Did it really enhance our presentation? I don’t think so. The first video (Simplified Solution) was a much better addition to the task. It was clear, concise, and touched on all the main points that we needed to address.
The main challenge we had was how can we use technology effectively? A webpage is great, but if used uncreatively, it’s just an electronic version of a paper. Similar challenges present itself when using PowerPoint. We needed to shy away from that. We tried adding links to exploration applets that might be of interest to our students, using online feedback mechanisms, and creating “how to” movies that might assist in completion of the task. I think we could have increased the creativity factor if we had more knowledge about the technology we were using. It is something that will come with time, so I’m not too concerned about that right now.
Overall, I learned a lot from this project. As far as technology goes, I significantly increased my knowledge and familiarity with Maple, Freewebs, iMovie and Movie Maker. All of these programs are things that I will take with me into my teaching career.
I haven’t used Maple much for graphing, so being able to practice and play with it really helped a lot. I’ve been looking for a program that would create graphs to add to my professional library that I could use when designing tests and exams. I think Maple might just be the program I have been looking for. That alone was enough reason for me to engage in this task.
The mathematics component of this task, although it seemed complicated to the untrained eye, was actually the easiest part for Reneeta and I. The part that caused us grief was finding a way to present the math to our classmates who don’t necessarily have the same mathematical background. We decided to create a webpage along with a few iMovies to help explain the math. Creating the webpage and the movies presented a whole new challenge in itself. First of all, we had to decide where to post the webpage, which editor would we use, how would we link things together, how do we edit the HTML, etc. It was possibly the most challenging part of this assignment. I think we learned a lot from the experience though, and in the process we have both become experts in creating webpages. I would personally like to do some more PD regarding this, but in the mean time, I think I will be able to create and maintain a simplistic website.
Reneeta and I had the opportunity to work with iMovie in Semester 2 as part of our curriculum class. Despite the previous experience, we still had a lot of difficulty creating the videos. I think the content was the most challenging. How do we explain complicated mathematics to someone with limited expertise? It was a huge challenge, and we spent a lot of time working with it. The second movie (Mathematical Processes) did not come out the way we wanted it to. Personally, I think it was a pretty dry awful 10 minutes of torture. However, it was important for our peers to see the videos if they wanted to truly understand the mathematics. Did it really enhance our presentation? I don’t think so. The first video (Simplified Solution) was a much better addition to the task. It was clear, concise, and touched on all the main points that we needed to address.
The main challenge we had was how can we use technology effectively? A webpage is great, but if used uncreatively, it’s just an electronic version of a paper. Similar challenges present itself when using PowerPoint. We needed to shy away from that. We tried adding links to exploration applets that might be of interest to our students, using online feedback mechanisms, and creating “how to” movies that might assist in completion of the task. I think we could have increased the creativity factor if we had more knowledge about the technology we were using. It is something that will come with time, so I’m not too concerned about that right now.
Overall, I learned a lot from this project. As far as technology goes, I significantly increased my knowledge and familiarity with Maple, Freewebs, iMovie and Movie Maker. All of these programs are things that I will take with me into my teaching career.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Showcase: Google Docs and Calendar
Google Docs
I only recently started working with Google Docs, and the more familiar I become with it, the more possibilities I begin to see about its application in teaching. When I first started with it, I only used it to view documents... but with a little bit of playing around, I have discovered many other uses for the application. I really like that the application is unique in its ability for collaboration. This feature can be soooo useful in classroom! Neil talked about using Google Docs as a peer editing devise which I think is a great idea! Moreover, as seen during our showcase, it can be used to create a collaborative presentation to introduce a topic, a open canvas for sharing ideas, or even a way to generate discussion among the class.
I'd have to say that my favorite thing about it though, is that it allows me to collaborate with my peers. The teaching profession and especially the MT program allows for many different opportunities to work with colleagues. Not only does this tool save time, it is so much more efficient than email when it comes to putting together a powerpoints / handouts / reference lists, etc. I think this might be a very valuable tool to show students when assigning group work. Now students can conveniently add and edit their peer's work without having to physically meet up outside of the classroom. This might just be the solution to overcoming the excuse of "We didn't have time to get together as a group."
I find myself often using Google Docs as a storage devise as well. I have uploaded PDF's , homework assignments, handouts... everything that I would like to have online access to. The advantage of using Google Docs for saving major files to is that it is easily accessible from any computer with internet, and that in order to view the file, I don't have to download it to the hard drive. This is especially helpful when dealing with sensitive files on public computers. Also, it eliminates the need for flash drives, etc.
Drawbacks to Google Docs
I found it quite difficult to get everyone in the class to sign up for Google docs and then getting everyone invited into the collaboration process. Although I realize that this is a one time process, it is still something that needs to be considered when deciding to embark on the use of Docs.
Also, you might have noticed, copying and pasting in Docs is not as simple as a mouse click. It is not equipped with click-copy / click-paste abilities, so one has to use keyboard commands (crtl+ c / ctrl + v. Although this is not a huge problem, it is still something that takes a little bit of time to get used to.
Google Calendar
One of the teachers at my field placement showed me how she used Google Calendar in her classroom. She had one calendar for every class she taught, and updated all of them on a daily basis. She added information regarding what they did in class as well as the homework that was assigned. Some teachers prefer to use a "Homework Blog" for this, but I find it quite tedious to navigate blogs looking for information for a specific date. Calendar is a great way to make these blogs more user friendly. I was so excited when I learned that the calendars were embeddable! It eliminates the step of having to invite everyone to view your calendar... which means it opens up the accessibility for all parents and students. I also like the fact that once the calendar is embedded, students can navigate through it to view what happened last week/month/year.
Teaching requires a LOT of organization! I think that Calendar, although a small tool, can really help in maintaining sanity in the classroom!
I think Google has come up with wonderful applications, and when used correctly (or shall I say creatively) these tools can greatly benefit our profession. It is just about finding the right program and applying it to your individual classroom needs.
I am so happy that I explored the topic of Docs and Calendar, and think that I will most likely use it in my everyday teaching life.
I only recently started working with Google Docs, and the more familiar I become with it, the more possibilities I begin to see about its application in teaching. When I first started with it, I only used it to view documents... but with a little bit of playing around, I have discovered many other uses for the application. I really like that the application is unique in its ability for collaboration. This feature can be soooo useful in classroom! Neil talked about using Google Docs as a peer editing devise which I think is a great idea! Moreover, as seen during our showcase, it can be used to create a collaborative presentation to introduce a topic, a open canvas for sharing ideas, or even a way to generate discussion among the class.
I'd have to say that my favorite thing about it though, is that it allows me to collaborate with my peers. The teaching profession and especially the MT program allows for many different opportunities to work with colleagues. Not only does this tool save time, it is so much more efficient than email when it comes to putting together a powerpoints / handouts / reference lists, etc. I think this might be a very valuable tool to show students when assigning group work. Now students can conveniently add and edit their peer's work without having to physically meet up outside of the classroom. This might just be the solution to overcoming the excuse of "We didn't have time to get together as a group."
I find myself often using Google Docs as a storage devise as well. I have uploaded PDF's , homework assignments, handouts... everything that I would like to have online access to. The advantage of using Google Docs for saving major files to is that it is easily accessible from any computer with internet, and that in order to view the file, I don't have to download it to the hard drive. This is especially helpful when dealing with sensitive files on public computers. Also, it eliminates the need for flash drives, etc.
Drawbacks to Google Docs
I found it quite difficult to get everyone in the class to sign up for Google docs and then getting everyone invited into the collaboration process. Although I realize that this is a one time process, it is still something that needs to be considered when deciding to embark on the use of Docs.
Also, you might have noticed, copying and pasting in Docs is not as simple as a mouse click. It is not equipped with click-copy / click-paste abilities, so one has to use keyboard commands (crtl+ c / ctrl + v. Although this is not a huge problem, it is still something that takes a little bit of time to get used to.
Google Calendar
One of the teachers at my field placement showed me how she used Google Calendar in her classroom. She had one calendar for every class she taught, and updated all of them on a daily basis. She added information regarding what they did in class as well as the homework that was assigned. Some teachers prefer to use a "Homework Blog" for this, but I find it quite tedious to navigate blogs looking for information for a specific date. Calendar is a great way to make these blogs more user friendly. I was so excited when I learned that the calendars were embeddable! It eliminates the step of having to invite everyone to view your calendar... which means it opens up the accessibility for all parents and students. I also like the fact that once the calendar is embedded, students can navigate through it to view what happened last week/month/year.
Teaching requires a LOT of organization! I think that Calendar, although a small tool, can really help in maintaining sanity in the classroom!
I think Google has come up with wonderful applications, and when used correctly (or shall I say creatively) these tools can greatly benefit our profession. It is just about finding the right program and applying it to your individual classroom needs.
I am so happy that I explored the topic of Docs and Calendar, and think that I will most likely use it in my everyday teaching life.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Becoming Tech-Savy
I was so inspired by Neil's presentation on Friday!
I could not believe the quality of work he was able to achieve with the students! I loved how he used technology as a tool and not just an add-on in the classroom. I really liked the idea of the Pod Casts for assessment, and think it could be quite valuable in my math classroom. One of the general outcomes for the curriculum is being able to "communicate mathematically". I can just imagine using this as a tool to assess student understanding of certain concepts. It will also be interesting to see how students reason through problems. It will be really beneficial to be able to pinpoint where students are struggling in their thought processes, and then focus my teaching on problem areas. Using podcasts will be so much faster than doing the oral assessment via interview.
I'm also quite intrigued by Google Docs. (Hence the topic for my showcase) I started using google this summer as a "more permanent email address" and have become quite comfortable with the basic operations. I didn't really explore GoogleDocs until this last weekend, and I must say that I am quite impressed with the sophistication and ease of use of the program. I think it would be a great tool to use in my teaching!
I'm learning all about these cool technology things that we can incorporate into the classroom, and although I am getting quite excited about using all that the internet has to offer, I still feel slightly skeptical about the ease of use in the classroom. A collaborative website is only as valuable as the members who join in. What if students are just not interested in reviewing course-related websites? What if they are unfamiliar with technology in math? What if I try to bring in technology, and it totally fails? What then?
There are a lot of things I would like to include in my practice. And although I am totally inspired and ready to start teaching, I need to limit myself to slowly incorporate all these great ideas as opposed to overwhelming myself and my students with an overkill of technology.
I could not believe the quality of work he was able to achieve with the students! I loved how he used technology as a tool and not just an add-on in the classroom. I really liked the idea of the Pod Casts for assessment, and think it could be quite valuable in my math classroom. One of the general outcomes for the curriculum is being able to "communicate mathematically". I can just imagine using this as a tool to assess student understanding of certain concepts. It will also be interesting to see how students reason through problems. It will be really beneficial to be able to pinpoint where students are struggling in their thought processes, and then focus my teaching on problem areas. Using podcasts will be so much faster than doing the oral assessment via interview.
I'm also quite intrigued by Google Docs. (Hence the topic for my showcase) I started using google this summer as a "more permanent email address" and have become quite comfortable with the basic operations. I didn't really explore GoogleDocs until this last weekend, and I must say that I am quite impressed with the sophistication and ease of use of the program. I think it would be a great tool to use in my teaching!
I'm learning all about these cool technology things that we can incorporate into the classroom, and although I am getting quite excited about using all that the internet has to offer, I still feel slightly skeptical about the ease of use in the classroom. A collaborative website is only as valuable as the members who join in. What if students are just not interested in reviewing course-related websites? What if they are unfamiliar with technology in math? What if I try to bring in technology, and it totally fails? What then?
There are a lot of things I would like to include in my practice. And although I am totally inspired and ready to start teaching, I need to limit myself to slowly incorporate all these great ideas as opposed to overwhelming myself and my students with an overkill of technology.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Introduction
What do you know and like to do with technology?
I enjoy using technology quite a bit. My favorite thing about it is probably using it as a tool of keeping in touch with friends and family.
I use the Internet quite a bit for research whether it be personal or school related. There is a lot of information out there, and its very interesting to see what everyone else has come up with. I used search engines a lot during my undergrad, whether it was for looking up definitions of terms, examples, and even for further exploration of key concepts.
What do you want to learn about inquiry and ICT?
I want to learn how to use technology effectively in the classroom. Specifically in accordance with the mathematics curriculum. I know there are many wonderful calculator programs out there, but resources and often scarce, and not all school have access to them. I am looking to learn about alternate methods for incorporating technology into the classroom. Whether it be via Smartboard, Wikis, Blogs, Graphing programs, etc. I think mathematics is one of the more difficult subject areas to incorporate technology... which is surprising since just about all technology uses mathematics in some form.
I am also quite intrigued by what inquiry looks like in math. Especially in higher levels, where most of the concepts are quite abstract. There is this huge push for inquiry all across the curriculum, but up until this point, most of the inquiry I have experienced and seen has been for the humanities side of the program of studies. I'm quite confused as to what inquiry looks like in math, and would love to take a deeper look at it, and find ways to incorporate it into my everyday classroom practice.
What questions do you have about inquiry, technology and culture.
Even though we have been talking about inquiry all throughout this MT program, the concept of inquiry still seems a little fuzzy for me at times. My main concern is how to gauge understanding and how much is actually being learned by the students within such an inquiry based environment. In this program, there is no need to assign grades, but in the classroom, grades are extremely important to some kids. How can we assess inquiry? I think that is probably one of my biggest concerns.
I enjoy using technology quite a bit. My favorite thing about it is probably using it as a tool of keeping in touch with friends and family.
I use the Internet quite a bit for research whether it be personal or school related. There is a lot of information out there, and its very interesting to see what everyone else has come up with. I used search engines a lot during my undergrad, whether it was for looking up definitions of terms, examples, and even for further exploration of key concepts.
What do you want to learn about inquiry and ICT?
I want to learn how to use technology effectively in the classroom. Specifically in accordance with the mathematics curriculum. I know there are many wonderful calculator programs out there, but resources and often scarce, and not all school have access to them. I am looking to learn about alternate methods for incorporating technology into the classroom. Whether it be via Smartboard, Wikis, Blogs, Graphing programs, etc. I think mathematics is one of the more difficult subject areas to incorporate technology... which is surprising since just about all technology uses mathematics in some form.
I am also quite intrigued by what inquiry looks like in math. Especially in higher levels, where most of the concepts are quite abstract. There is this huge push for inquiry all across the curriculum, but up until this point, most of the inquiry I have experienced and seen has been for the humanities side of the program of studies. I'm quite confused as to what inquiry looks like in math, and would love to take a deeper look at it, and find ways to incorporate it into my everyday classroom practice.
What questions do you have about inquiry, technology and culture.
Even though we have been talking about inquiry all throughout this MT program, the concept of inquiry still seems a little fuzzy for me at times. My main concern is how to gauge understanding and how much is actually being learned by the students within such an inquiry based environment. In this program, there is no need to assign grades, but in the classroom, grades are extremely important to some kids. How can we assess inquiry? I think that is probably one of my biggest concerns.
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