Movie of Video Clips: Math and Phys Ed

Jake Hardy, Jacob Byrley, Alyssa Foldesy, and I created this video together.

Using Technology to Help the Learning and Teaching Process

There are many ways that technology can be used in the teaching and learning process. This semester has shown me that there is an endless amount of resources online to help teachers expand their instruction. Out of everything I have learned this semester, I find two ways of using technology to be the most useful and the most impacting: using technology for effective and efficient communication, and using technology for student projects. I think that we have a whole network of quick communication at our fingertips. As teachers, we can take advantage of that. Teacher web pages and class blogs keep parents and students updated with the class assignments and activities in an effective and organized manner. I also believe that using technology as a medium for student projects is effective. Webquests and curriculum pages are good teacher-created resources to use with a class. Projects such as creating videos, creating wikis, and making presentations all are student-based projects that put the students at the wheel of their own learning. We need to break away from the monotonous use of pen and paper and bring in the creative freedom technology can add to a classroom.

Online Conference

Today I watched a a session of the K12 Online 2011 Conference: "Computer Based Math" presented by David Wees, posted on November 30, 2011. In his presentation he says that he thinks math curriculum needs to shift away from emphasis of computation to emphasis of real-world application, and computers can help us do that. He offers examples of computational programs and projects students can do to create applications for the math they're learning. I will take note of the Wolfram Alpha and Calculize programs he mentioned for quickly doing complex calculations, and I will definitely use the idea of having students create their own tutorials or video word problems. These projects put the students in control of their own learning, while being allowed to use technology to be creative. One fear I have about using computers too much is that students will not gain basic computational skills that are helpful in everyday life. I can already see it in some of today's students: they have become so dependent on calculators, they can't do 2*12 in their heads. What if this permeates all of math? What if, because of dependence on computers, students fail to gain problem-solving skills associated with algebra and geometry, or lose the basic understanding of why mathematics work? This is a concern of mine.


photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jorel314/3352784321/
          http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

The Use of Podcasts in the Classroom

In my Instructional Technology class we were required to make podcasts (which you can hear if you view my older posts). Podcasting is the streaming of audio files through the internet to subscribers. Podcasting, fortunately, provides another means of communication with students. Since I'm planning on teaching math, at first I couldn't see the benefit, since learning math is very visual. However, I realized that there are uses. I can have podcasts every so often presenting problems and riddles for the students to solve. I can use them for posting homework and test reminders (which is easy to do since using iPadio requires simply a phone call). The best use I can see for podcasting is to post podcasts periodically for the parents. This way, I could inform the parents of what is happening in the classroom, what material is being covered, what they should expect their child to be doing at home, and so on. This enables the parents to hear my voice as I discuss these things instead of possibly being confused over meaning due to the lack of voice inflection in an email. The benefit of podcasting is that I can set it up to be easy for myself to send out podcasts. iPadio requires a simple phone call, whereas other forms of communication through the internet would require access to a computer. However, the disadvantage is that once I say whatever I say, I can't revise it. It isn't like an email in which I can review what I write to ensure I have said what I needed to say. Podcasts are a beneficial tool of which teachers should be aware. They can be used in a variety of ways in various subjects, even math.

Ethics

In any career, one may face a decision in which there is an ethical dilemma. The decision to be made always has an impact on many people, whether it seems to at the time or not. Making ethical decisions in education, therefore, is very important, since teachers are working with impressionable children. Ethics deals with the good and evil aspects of decision-making. Ethical standards are decided by society, but unfortunately are not always black and white. There are many gray areas in which the right choice to be made is not clear. This is where many people struggle. Ethics, like I said, is a very important factor in education. As a person, I hold myself to a standard of making good ethical decisions, because I want to be a person of good word and of trust. I will carry that into my teaching career. I will want to do what is best for my students, which will require me to make ethical decisions in their favor, even when the easier decision is to ignore what is right. The true difficulty will lie in making decisions regarding working with colleagues. Colleagues don't always see eye-to-eye, and how I approach these disagreements and how I carry myself will greatly impact the respect that is given me and the future interactions with my colleagues. Making good ethical decisions will allow me to have peace with myself, even when things are not going the way I want, because I will know that I have done the right thing. It may be easier to "work the system" by throwing ethics out the window, but I don't think that I can be proud of that. I prefer to be a person and a teacher above reproach, one that is able to honestly say that she did everything that she believed was the right thing to do.

Virtual Tours

Virtual tours are a tool that can be used in the classroom. A virtual tour takes students on a path of discovery using the computer. It helps them discover things from their desk that they may not otherwise be able to see. For example, a student can take a virtual tour of a cell in his biology class, or take a tour of a museum in his art class. Virtual tours are very beneficial when the funds for field trips or for materials are insufficient. However, we have to be careful not to substitute valuable, necessary experience with virtual reality. My class is going to be a math classroom, so I initially wondered about how virtual tours can be applied to my classroom. After a little bit of searching around, I discovered that there are virtual tours that help students discover the application of mathematics in the real world. Also, I plan on involving historical background in my lessons for the sake of perspective, and there are virtual tours centered around the lives of famous mathematicians. We can find applications of virtual tours in all areas.

Teacher Web Pages

A teacher web page is a site where teachers can post information about themselves, the school, and the activities in their classes. There are endless possibilities with using web pages as a mode of communication between teachers, parents, and students. I will use a teacher web page mainly for the students' sake. On the web page there will be a calendar with homework assignments posted, attachments to the daily presentations, and attachments for quiz and test reviews. I also think it would be nice to include (with parent permission, of course) pictures and blog-type entries from students about class activities for the parents to see. I think that there is an abundant amount of benefits of a teacher web page, the biggest of which is that teachers have easy access to their child's classroom. Also, if a student is absent, that student can easily access the day's lesson, enabling them to not fall too far behind. However, one con to the web page, from a teacher's perspective, is the work needed to keep the web page up to date. I plan on posting lessons daily, which means I have to update the site daily. However, there is so much work involved in teaching already that teachers are already bogged down without a web page on their plates. It's going to be a difficult task to keep up with, but it will be worth the effort.