Thing 3 (blogs)

Wow...... this one was tough. I looked at many different blogs claiming a math basis, but really didn't find (or maybe I just didn't understand what i was seeing) anything that is currently being used by math teachers. I found some old (2006) blogs that were OK, but two years old is like ancient history in the tech world.

As for how I might use a blog with students--I'm not entirely sure. I think it would be a great place to record notes, test updates, podcasts, important links. But I would really want students to contribute, and that is where I get stumped. I think I am going to have to do some more research and see what others are doing.

Working with the new Michigan Math High School Content Expectations would be where I would see a more professional use of the blogging atmosphere. It would be nice to have a place for teachers to share ideas and lessons throughout the year. 

Thing 1 and Thing2 (try 3)

Why are you participating in 23 Things? What do you hope to learn? What new insights did you have during Thing 1? How does writing on the Internet, knowing anyone could read it, change how you write or feel about writing?

During our "welcome back" staff meeting our principal told us about this conference. I thought it sounded very useful. As a person who once considered herself very tech savvy, I have found that I am suddenly barely tech literate in my students' eyes. That is not good as far as I am concerned, and I am working to understand what they know so that I can help them use it more effectively and more responsibly. Plus, if they are using it anyway, why not force them to use it for educational purposes. (eventually they will have to use them for professional purposes, why not start now)

I really enjoyed the video in Thing 1. It really made me think about what I do and how I teach. Sometimes I feel like math teachers are left behind in all the "do something new" or "try something different" pushes. How do you teach some of the mundane math tasks differently? At what point can you do it differently, and when does it have to be the same old stuff? To that end I really liked the example of using text messaging to collect data, so much connected to their lives than a random number generator or calculator application.