The Journey Ends... For Now

The semester is nearly over, and I cannot believe how quickly the time has passed! The TPTE 486 course has been so much fun! Throughout the course of the semester, we have been given multiple opportunities to be creative on a variety of projects. I have learned so much about using technology in the classroom. We have everything from Inquiry Based Learning Activities to Interactive White Boards.

One of my favorite projects was the Digital Diagram. I love how simple it was to create a great visual of a concept with a lot of little piece of information. I can definitely see using this project in the mathematics classroom, if I am lucky enough to have access to this resource. Students can use this program to create their own diagrams. Hopefully, the students would remember the information better when they organize it in a way that is meaningful to them.

Our project with Interactive White Boards was also one of my favorite this semester. This project has such practical applications for our futures as teachers. Again, if I am lucky enough to have an IWB in my classroom, I would definitely use it daily. It was so much fun to create the flipchart. There is so much creativity involved in making a flipchart. I want to learn so much more about making these for my classroom! One of the biggest disappointments with this project, however, was the lack of secondary mathematics resources floating around. I wish there were more examples and resource packs for my subject. Hopefully, as more people learn about creating resources, more secondary mathematics resources will become available.

As I look back on my progress throughout the semester, I have to say that I have come a long way in understanding how technology is used in the classroom. One of the most exciting ways to use technology in the classroom is a classroom website and blog. As we complete projects we have been updating our classroom websites to reflect our work. I love my website, and I love the idea of using one in my future classroom. This is a great way to communicate with parents and students, especially about the assignments we will be completing. I also included a class calendar to keep students updated on deadlines and due dates. Blogs are also an important tool for teachers. Blogs can help teachers reflect on the classroom experience and on the lessons that are taught. Having a running log of these experiences can help teachers to plan for reteaching and remember especially effective lessons.

Overall, I believe it is very important for teachers, now more than ever, to have skill with technology. Technology is so relevant to the lives of our students, even the youngest of students. For this reason, we all must know how to use technology to engage students in meaningful learning. I will continue to pursue more knowledge in technology!

How to Make an "A" in Math Class: A Digital Story

This semester of school has been a fun experience. From the beginning of the semester, I have observing an area middle school, which I am very excited about. I have been interested in working with students in the transition from middle to high school for a while. I think this is a crucial age and transition for students. One of the biggest, and most important, things for students to learn during this process is how to take on more responsibility, especially for their own learning. Becoming a self-directed learner is a long process. I am a strong advocate for teaching students organizational and time management skills. As with traditional content knowledge, students are not born with these skills.

With less than a week until the last day of undergraduate career, I might be considered a seasoned pro at being a student. For this reason, I decided to use our project on digital stories to create a simple video that shares the "tricks of the trade" with young students. Digital stories are a fun way to convey a message to students, and for this material it is probably a better way to get the point across. Simply telling students to be organized or to take responsibility for their learning cannot truly be helpful unless we also tell them how to do so. This theme is especially important in mathematics. Once students enter high school, the math curriculum becomes much more interrelated and hierarchical. What students learn during their freshmen math course will most certainly be used in their senior courses. Having a plan from the beginning can help students stay on top of their growing academic demands. My story focuses on teaching students how to start off on the right foot, especially in mathematics.

The process for creating the digital story was quite simple. We used iMovie, a Mac-based software, to create our stories. A simple drag and drop was all that was needed to get the images into the software. Adding the title, captions, and transitons was also as simple as drag and drop. The best part about using this software was the amount of control the user has in timing the slides and captions. For longer captions, it was quite easy to lengthen the timing of the slide. The most frustrating part was the limited amount of creativity that the user has when using still photos. For instance, there is no way to add two photos to one slide and captions and titles are limited. I feel that having the ability to be more creative could have enhanced the experience. In the end, however, I am quite pleased with my digital story. I hope you enjoy, How to Make an "A" in Math Class.

Inspiring Diagrams

Diagrams are always are great tool for students. They provide a clear organization of information that has a lot of categories to remember. Diagrams are a great way for students to create study guides that display the information in a easily accessible way. Creating diagrams digitally with the Inspiration software is a great way to create clean looking and concise visuals for complex topics. The clear an concise nature of a digital diagrams add to the benefits of creating diagrams on paper. For these reasons, I think that students would get a lot out of creating a diagram with this software.

I enjoyed this project a great deal. The software is easy to use, as it has a simple user interface that allows the user to easily create and move objects as well as add topic enhancing images. I can easily see my future students using this program to create their own diagrams of mathematical principles and definitions that need to be categorized. There are some things about this program, however, that can be difficult for those perfectionist type students, like myself. For a consistent look, it is important for all the symbols at each level, graphics, and fonts to be the same in size, shape, and color. Achieving this consistent look can be frustrating, but, in the long run, it is not impossible. To address this problem with students, I feel that it is important to set clear guidelines and expectations for what is to be included in the diagram, much like our rubric laid out for us. Overall, I am pleased with my diagram about function transformations. You can see a screenshot of the finished product above.