Gettin' Triggy Wit It (WSHS Math Rap Song)

Closing Thoughts

As I look back on my opening post, I feel that I met all of my goals. Even though the course required a lot of assignments and hard work, I learned about technology tools that I will be able to use in my future classrooms and education. This course allowed me the chance to explore many ways of using technology in an educational setting and how to create lessons for students to develop their own technology skills. For example, my favorite assignment which I will definitely use in my classroom is the interactive spreadsheet. This tool was quite tedious to use; however, by following our exact directions, I was able to create an interactive quiz/assessment that will ease my grading and allow students to practice using technology. Also, the Web 2.0 presentations gave me a brief experience with multiple tools that a future teacher should try to use in the classroom. Overall, I will take many of the things I learned in this class with me through my internship and into my future classrooms. My apprehensions of this course where diffused quickly due to helpful peers and a great professor. Thank you for broadening my technology education and giving me so many tools to keep in mind as a begin my career as a teacher!

iMovie Project

This iMovie is for a Mathematics teacher to play to a class that asks why their Mathematics knowledge is important. I have heard many comments such as this in my experiences working with students; therefore, this video is something that may encourage students to make it through their Math classes. Math is useful, and this video can show a student that.
Overall, iMovie was a complicated tool, but after working with it, I think I understood it a lot better. I felt like iMovie was a much better tool than Windows Movie Maker at least in terms of ease. I don't think I would make another movie, but I am proud of the project I have done.

Interactive Spreadsheet

The interactive spreadsheet activity was really exciting for me. I do not use Excel very often so I did not know about this sort of feature. Even though making the spreadsheet work properly is sort of complicated, I could definitely see myself using it in the classroom. It is an easy way for students to be quickly quizzed or reviewed on the material while both students and teachers can get fast feedback. My example spreadsheet was a quiz on polygon properties that a Geometry teacher can use as a review or assessment before moving on to new material. The only drawback to the interactive spreadsheet, especially in a Mathematical setting, is that the answers must be one word, and there is not a way to turn in students' work; however, maybe a teacher could have students work equations on a separate sheet of paper and turn this paper in. I suggest the use of this great tool for any classroom.

Inspiration Web

Web 2.0 and Inspiration

Prezi is a tool to help diversify a lecture. Since it has a different structure than the standard PowerPoint, Prezi is a way to differentiate my instruction. Also, I thought this tool might be a way to begin the first day of class by making a presentation introducing myself to the students (I saw an example of this on the Prezi site).

I think that Animoto, Smilebox, and Picasa are great tools to use but I could not see myself applying them to my future Mathematics classrooms. It might be a great way to share field trip pictures, wedding pictures, or laboratory slides; however, I do not see an application I would implement in my classroom.

Google Forms are a great way to have students do a short quiz or fill out a survey for feedback on themselves/the teacher. I can get quick scoring through the spreadsheet feature and even share the results with parents or the students if applicable. The tool seems fairly easy to use and something I will try to use in my future classroom in a myriad of ways.

Voicethread would be a way for me to tutor students outside of classroom. For instance, if I have any special needs students and I know they are struggling with a particular concept, I could record a short video, email it to them, and let them listen. Then, the students could complete extra practice problems maybe for some extra points to re-teach the material without having to use class time. Since many students have disabilities or problems in Math, I will try to use this tool or something similar to help differentiate my teaching.

Inspiration has been a difficult tool to use in relation to Mathematics; there are not many concepts than can be build into webs. This tool is more likely to be applicable for English or History classrooms; therefore, I might show this tool to my students to use as a study tool or a practice for other classes. I would probably use this tool sparingly if at all in a Mathematics application.

Scavenger Hunt

This scavenger hunt activity required me to collect pictures that related to a certain theme which my group picked as Verbs. We went outside and acted out many different verbs. Then, we took pictures of each and added captions for what verb the picture is illustrating. Uploading the pictures and compiling the slideshow was an easy task. It was exciting to see the finished project especially since it was a fun activity!

A teacher could use this sort of activity in many ways. Students could borrow a camera from the school or use personal cameras at home to complete the activity for any central theme. For example, a Mathematics teacher in a Geometry class could have students take pictures of shapes in daily life. In general, this is a fun and easy activity where students can learn technology skills while gaining content knowledge through a hands-on assignment.