This week in 486

Earlier this week, Alex and I gave a presentation on Delicious.  When we first selected our topic, I didn't believe Delicious would be very useful and thought the only benefit would be having your bookmarks stored online so they can be accessed from any computer.  After exploring the website more, I found many neat tools Delicious has like the tag clouds.  I think Delicious would be a good tool to use personally and with students for any internet assignments in the classroom.
We also looked at Glogster today.  This was a creative tool, but I really don't see myself using it ever.  I felt there are other tools that would be better for presenting math material in my classroom that have a more organized format.  This might be a good tool for students to use to create a digital poster for a presentation in class, but I probably won't use it as a teacher.
We have also started our first lesson plan in class this week.  I have made some lesson plans in classes last semester, but I still don't feel completely comfortable creating my own.  This assignment was unique from other lesson plans I have worked on because it requires more online resources than I have normally used, and because I am working collaboratively online with Judy.  This is actually beneficial because Judy is really sick, so we can still work together on this assignment without her spreading her germs!

Wordle & Twitter

Last week we learned about Wordle and Twitter in class.  I had heard of both before but had never used either one.  I think Wordle is a fun and easy to use tool, but I don't see many uses for it in my future Math classroom.  It also was more complicated than necessary to figure out how to insert the picture of your Wordle into a presentation.  Twitter seemed like a tool I might could use in my classroom, but not everyone has a Twitter or would want to use that as a primary source of communication for reminders, etc.  Also, most high schools have safeguards set up to block certain websites from being accessed at the school and usually all social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked.  Overall, Wordle and Twitter and two fun Web 2.0 tools, but I don't feel they will have much impact in my future classroom.

WebQuests

When we first looked at WebQuests earlier this week, I recall doing similar activities in high school, except the activity was on a sheet of printed paper and we looked up information on the internet to complete the activity (I believe it's the same idea though).  At first, I was a little skeptical about using this in a high school math classroom, even after we completed the WebQuest on WebQuests activity.  However, after I looked at some actual WebQuests for my area on Quest Garden, I found quite a few that would be great to do with my class one day.  Also, the WebQuests we saw during the WebQuest on WebQuests activity seemed to be very long projects (I know one of them even spanned 15 weeks) and I wasn't sure if the activity was worth that much class time.  I found a few today, though, that were just one day activities and seemed much more reasonable considering time, but also were still engaging and educational.  I don't know if I feel like I am creative or knowledgeable enough to create my own WebQuest for my classroom, but maybe I could find one online to use or edit for my classroom.

I Don't Want to Live in an Igloo

Right now, I am looking at the weather forecast again.  I try not to do this so much because it is depressing, but I can't help myself.  No, it isn't Knoxville's weather that is so intriguing, but my future home of Wisconsin (Go Packers!).  Tomorrow the high will be 7 F and the low is -7 F.  I have checked the weather forecast almost daily, and the high hasn't been above freezing in about a month and a half.  I do not like cold weather at all.  I received an e-mail this week that contained the following pictures, and it was funny at first until I remembered that I will be the one stuck in that miserable northern winter weather all too soon. 

 

 

 

My Thoughts This Morning

Earlier this week, I was sitting in on an honors Pre-Calculus class at Hardin Valley Academy and was amazed by the technology that was used in the Math classroom!  Before I came to UT, I had never seen smart boards used in the classroom, and up until this week, never in a Math classroom.  This teacher had prepared a presentation ahead of time, but during the lesson, she used the different color pens to solve the problems with the students and labeled each step in the coordinating color next to the problem.  She also had a program on her smart board that displayed a giant functioning graphing calculator on the board so students could see her typing in the problems on the calculator.  She then would drag the graph from the calculator screen into her presentation so a picture of the graph was next to the function.  At the conclusion of the lesson, she compiled the work she did on the smart board that day into a pdf that she uploaded to her course website.  This is just a few of the examples of the technology she used in her classroom, and it may not seem impressive to a teacher of any other subject, but I think in high school Mathematics it has not been very common for teachers to use any type of technology in their lessons.

On another note, I think Valentine's Day is a really lame holiday, and I don't even like chocolate.  Who really thinks that a good way to express love is by giving someone a bunch of sugary calories that will lead to obesity or diabetes?  Why do you have to wait for this one day to come around each year to show the people you love that you appreciate them anyways?  Why are stuffed animals considered children's toys 364 days of the year but are an acceptable gift for grown women on this day?  If you really want to show someone you love them, cook them a healthy meal that won't clog their arteries and go for a hike in the mountains.  Exercise is a wonderful gift--it says I like you enough to keep you healthy so you'll be around longer.