I love to integrate tech in the classroom and I thought I’d post my favorite pieces of hardware/software apps to share with the other teachers out there who may be thinking about adding a little tech in their teaching.
Google Chat/iChat: I email class notes to my students often. I require that they all have a gmail account so that they can simply check their email and chat with me after school if they have questions about their homework, missed assignments, etc.
If I’m on my mac I’ll simply log in with iChat and it since it connects with google chat I can still stay in touch.
Code Cogs Latex Equation Editor: I love this little bad boy. It lets me create gif images of equations, math problems, etc which allows me to show students what their work should look like via google chat. It’s a life saver and I don’t know how I would help them after hours without it.
Power Point: I live and die by Power Point. All of my notes, lessons, quizzes, etc are created on Power Point. I regularly email the notes to students after class. They really seem to like to be able to review all of the in class examples on their own time.
I recently got a Mac so I’m sure I’ll be making this switch to Key Note as presentations just come off sexier when created with the Apple App. Hmmm. I wonder if I can convert Key Note files to Power Point so I can continue to email notes to students.
Math Type: This is a super powerful equation editing plug in for Microsoft Word. This is really helpful for formatting when I’m making my PowerPoint slides, tests, quizzes, etc.
I’m finally prepared to begin my action research project. I’m a love of language and a lover of mathematics and I’ve always theorized that the two are linked.
On the surface my hypothesis seems counter-intuitive since those of us who gravitate toward the sciences tend to stay away from the literary arts. However, all levels of mathematics tend to be structured like a language with it’s own rules of “grammar” and structure.
This fact makes me wonder if students, particularly those from lower socio-economic backgrounds would show increases in mathematics if their overall vocabulary ( not just mathematics vocabulary ) were increased.
I will begin teaching a remedial section of mathematics soon and in addition to previewing new material I plan to focus on 5 vocabulary words each week for the remainder of the school year. I plan to measure the relative increase in achievement of the remedial students ( my test group ) with the students in the regular sections of my classes ( the control).
Their prior year CRCT scores as well as the scores they will earn this spring will serve as pre and post tests.
I admit that I cannot control for external tutorial services that students will receive or any other types of extra help, however, I still feel that the research deisgn is sound enough to at least generalize the results for my particular student population.
I plan to recruit a 6th and 7th grade math teacher to repeat the experiment with their students as well to see if the predicted changes in achievement are consistent across all grade levels.
I’ll post a more detailed write up of my research design in a future post.
Update: 8/27/08 8:24am
I had the pleasure of participating in the writing of a technology grant for my school last year.
We were awarded $98,000 which we promptly spent on Promothean boards, laptops, and all sorts of lovely tech goodies for the classroom/school. There is still plenty of money left over though…which I’m sure will be spent on PD.
This morning we are attending a conference that is supposed to show the non-tech friendly educators among us how to use web 2.0 technologies in the classroom ( blogging, twitter, podcasting, etc)
As always, I am cautiously optimistic.
I’m cautious because many educators are notoriously wary of technology.
I’m optimistic because if we can get our collective stuff together we can really do some amazing things in the classroom.
I’ll post updates with time and date stamps throughout the day.
9:04am
We watched an interesting film that somewhat summarizes my future post The 21st Century Learner. Essentially, old school teaching is dead. Technology, used properly, can engage and promote higher levels of student learning and achievement.
Robbie Reisner is here from the GADOE. She is the program manager for the grant. Jane Henson, an ed-tech specialist with the GADOE, is here as well.
Since the feds have given us the money we are subject to state monitoring, surveys, and drop ins from state big wigs to ensure that we’re using the money effectively.
I can’t help but notice the lack of young people in leadership positions within the ed-tech sphere as well as here at the training.
I’d like to pretend that all children and thus students are created equal…but alas…they are not.
When I attend conferences and visit the websites of other teachers who work in suburban school districts I find myself drinking the kool aid so to speak. I buy into their rhetoric about the commonality of the needs of all children and then I carry that same rhetoric back into my classroom to, usually, less than stellar results.
My children thrive off of a very structured, very disciplined environment because ( and I’m guessing here) that that is either what they have at home or what they lack, in the extreme, at home and they expect school to provide that rigid, almost militaristic structure.
My suburban brethren provide structure in their classrooms but not to the extreme that is required in an urban school. I know so because I’ve worked in both types of schools. In urban schools every behavior is monitored. Every action has a consequence which is to be delivered swiftly, consistently, and without mercy or regard for the students’ mitigating circumstances. In suburban schools there is more leniency because they expectation is that these children can respond to reason and logic.
There is a bit of racism and classism at work here, but the fact of the matter is that there are vast differences between the two environments. The differences require different approaches to lesson delivery, classroom management, and student-teacher, teacher-administrator, and school-home relations.
I wish it weren’t so though.
I’m from what would be called an urban district. But my parents were part of that first generation of Black middle class after the Reagan era. And as such I’m sort of a mean between the two extremes. I am more open with my students. I give second, third, fourth, and fifth chances to prove themselves. I expect them to follow the laws of the land but if they do not I simply try to re-educate them…and I’d like to think that by doing so…I’m showing them that kindness and understanding do exist in the world. I just hope I’m not setting up my entirely poor and Black population up for failure by teaching them to look for the good in people.
My cynicism , idealism, and realism are engaging in a tug of war over strategies in my classroom.
“There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.”
Victor Hugo
I’d like to think of myself as the infallible, unshakable, ultra dependable, rock star teacher who is always on time, always able to connect with the students, and always…ALWAYS…engaging.
But the fact of the matter is I am human and days like yesterday exist to remind me of that and to also remind me that technology, projects, and hands on activities are never a substitute for good teaching.
Second chances are wonderful.
I am a Georgia State Panther through and through. However, I have decided to take two math courses at Georgia Perimeter College. Even though I have only been to one class ( earlier tonight ) I am already extremely disappointed in the quality of education that I anticipate receiving.
My professor was late to class, had not printed the syllabus, and wasted about half of the class talking the syllabus, curving grades, dropping low test scores, and essentially encouraging general mediocrity in all of the students in class.
The bookstore at GPC was out of all of the books that I needed and the books were nearly twice as expensive as similar texts at GSU.
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
Today was a less than stellar day here in room 180. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time with my homeroom students these last 6 and have discovered a range of personalities that do not always gel with one another.
I am having difficulties that range from appropriately differentiating my instruction ( which is difficult since I seem to get one to two new students per day with this group ) to general classroom management. I do not have this issues with my other classes.
Perhaps the difficulty stems from my relaxed attitude. I am very much myself with my students with very little divisions between “Jovan” and “Mr. Miles”. Perhaps my own personality invites the students themselves to be a little more relaxed as well.
Also, I overheard a student who is repeating the 8th grade this year say that “Mr. Last Year” gave harder work than this and I must admit that this student’s comment stung a little. I wonder though, is the work easier to her because she has seen it before or is it easier because I am simply not challenging them (her) enough.
This possible lack of challenging lessons could also account for the classroom management issues I am having with my homeroom. It is, however, peculiar, because my other classes seem challenged and generally engaged.
I think that I’m going to accelerate the pace of the course a bit tomorrow with this group. This will allow me to move through the less than challenging material into something a bit more robust.
I’m also going to dig into my bag of tricks to try to make the material more relevant, challenging and interesting.
When I first started teaching my mentor told me that teachers had to be equal parts academic, performance artist, and psychologist. I think that in the 21st century we can add tech guru to the long list of skill sets that teachers must have in order to create really engaging lessons and content for their students.
Unfortunately we have too many teachers who have either retired on the job or are stuck in the “good old days” ( which by the way, weren’t so good ). I think nowhere is this more true than in very urban or very rural school districts.
Sure, these districts may have access to smart boards or Promethean boards. Heck, they may even have access to a computer bank in each classroom but without continued education for the instructor as well as a natural curiosity and a propensity toward being an autodidact on the part of the instructor our students are being short changed.
Perhaps teacher education programs should require aspiring teachers to minor in something “techy” or “artsy” so then can bring much more to the classroom than the stuff they were taught when they were kids.
Too often, ill prepared teachers use technology as a distraction rather than as a tool to truly create rich and engaging lessons much the same way ill prepared math teachers can use manipulatives to make math fun without actually increasing the learning that goes on within their classes.
Every year that I work at this teaching thing I get a little better and a little more comfortable in my own skin around my students.
I used to live by that old adage, “don’t smile until after Christmas” and more often than not I just ran into classroom management issues, combative students, standoffish and unreceptive parents, and all in all, a long year.
This year, I decided to take a little advice from Dan, Carver, Dwight, Jim, and Michael and the results have been phenomenal.
I don’t take bad behavior personally anymore because it’s simply part of the job. I’m able to be myself with the kids at all time and they are much more receptive to me earlier on than in any of my previous years of teaching. I do what’s right because it’s right and not because I’m a slave to the rules ( years 2 and 3 ) or because I’m dying for the kids to like me ( year 1 ).
Teaching is getting better and better every day. I even look forward to planning this year!
I used to blog about any and everything here and some of my topics were a bit risque for some of my students who might stumble across my neck of the internets. So, I’ve decided to revamp, reload, and otherwise retool this bad boy.
Welcome to Blogarithm. My personal spot on the web for all things math teaching related. Enjoy your stay and stay tuned for posts early and often.
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