Week 2, Everything Google

I love being organized. For me to be really successful, I believe I need to be organized. Now, I'm not saying that I'm organized all the time; it's actually more the opposite. The things we learned in class will enable me to become organized and efficient, if I can take the time to set them up and get them going. As we were exploring iGoogle, I was amazed at how I could have everything I ever wanted at my fingertips on that one screen! The calender feature was also incredible. It's an agenda and day-planner, all online and also at your fingertips. Also very effective for becoming more organized, especially with different classes, different church activities, and possibly coaching volleyball and track. The google documents were really interesting to me. I had no idea we had this kind of technology so readily available, and it made me excited to play with. However, I was stumped for a bit, trying to figure out how I could incorporate all of this into a high school math classroom.

I think most of this benefit would be for me, just to help me keep track of all my classes and what I'm doing! The iGoogle will be very helpful for quick access to all the different tools like youtube clips, new information regarding teachers, new strategies for teaching math, etc. Becaue I have a tendency to be a little spacey, the calender on Google will work wonders in me keeping track of my schedule! Once I get is all set up, it will be an incredible asset to my day, because as a teacher I have to be on top of my game with these students! I also want to make sure I can be available to help my students, after school if need be. Remembering plans is not my specialty, so if I can quickly pull up my calender to see what I have planned, it will become a lot easier to help my student know when I'm available for help. Another idea for the calender is making it accessible for my students so they can see what they have to look forward to:)

As for the Google documents, I might have students develop story problems together via this tool, or post an assignment on a Google document and have them work in groups to complete it, assigning them each a specific part of the problem. Not quite sure if this will be effective, but I think it would be a good change for the students, instead of the traditional classroom lecture and homework (although I didn't mind that in high school--what a geek, ha ha).

Since these tools are now provided for me and I know how to use them, I need to research and continue brainstorming how to use them in a math classroom. I won't sugar-coat it, I feel like this assignment is going to be a little challenging! But I'm willing to try different strategies to help kids discover that math isn't so bad. I want my students to be successful, and I'm willing to try different things and impliment different tools to help them succeed.

VIDEO BLOG

I wasn't really a fan of this video. I felt like he was promoting his rapping skills more than his math skills. I felt like the rap went so fast, it was hard to even catch what he was saying. Students need a second to register what they are learning, and when he was rapping and talking so fast, I felt like there was no way any student was going to gain anything from just watching it one time. If he would have shown more than one example, that also would have helped. I did like that the numbers were colorful and big on the screen, and it wasn't boring, for the most part. I also liked at the end when he repeated what he wanted them to remember: "take the top number divided by the bottom number." That was catchy and very effective. So it was sort of affective, but I don't think it's something that I would show in my classroom.