3rd Post 565 Best Invention of All Time?

The countdown is on. About 2 weeks of freedom left. My mind is full of what I need to do with those 2 weeks. I was going to use this summer to create a lot of content to engage my students.

I started looking at some things that were successful last year. If you have the time, look through some of the TED videos that weren't part of our work in this program. If you want a great one that I showed to my students, here it is (a little more than 9 minutes).

The way I used it with some of my students last year is I asked them what they thought was the most important invention of all time and why? Then I showed them the following video. It would be a great way to start the year!

http://www.gapminder.org/videos/hans-rosling-and-the-magic-washing-machine/

Take a look at the site that houses the video, gapminder. It is great for stats, social studies, health and other subjects!

2nd Post 565 Information Overload

As I stated in the title, I am the victim of information overload. When my students tell me their heads hurt from thinking so much (yes, they have said that to me!). I ask them: "What happens when someone goes into the weight room and lifts way too much for too long?" Answer - the areas of their bodies that were out of shape and exercised too much now hurt from atrophy. I do feel like I have been using my brain a lot this summer, though.

I have several new plans that I want to do once I get back to school. One plan is posting some of the great quotes I have read in the readings for this class and elsewhere. I will ask my students to tell me what they think the quote means. Another plan is to do "pop-up" drills of multiplication and division tables, then throw in some integers and fractions. I will be teaching freshman again (I had a vacation from them for the last 3 years!)

Having stated these plans and brainstorming on others, I have a practice of telling my students that, plain and simple, my job is to "make them think". I will continue to do this.

1st Blog of 565 - How I lead at my school or job

Quite a few of my colleagues come to me for help when encountering new technologies. Whether the problem that they are having relates to navigating, trouble-shooting, or just plain what it's used for, many times I find myself answering questions.

Knowing that I worked for a while in the private sector, some of my colleagues will also ask me about applications of which I know. Like me, they also often hear the question "When am I ever gonna use this?".

I have also been on several committees to select new text books for math classes in my district.

When I see an application that can help save others time and energy I will create and share it.

(Example - See Google Spreadsheet to tally the responses in the Leadership and Virtues questionnaire from session 1 work that I shared with everyone).

Furthermore, to the new teachers, I have always offered help before being asked and suggestions after.

Ohhh! How could I have forgotten to add this? I have taken the position for the coming school year as the "Online" Algebra 2 content teacher - the first one in our district. And, in fact, I have 2 online students right now who were approved to take the class early. On that note, I did agree to teach them on my own time, because I figured it will help me get the class set up before the regular school year starts.

3rd Post 555

In light of what you've experienced in creating your portfolio, how might you use portfolios professionally or personally in the future?

There is no doubt that one of the uses for my portfolio will be showcasing my abilities when applying for a new or different job. Another use will be to reflect on what I now know and where I wish to go with this knowledge. It will be shared with some of my colleagues who wish to see it. And, as it was mentioned in class, I will use it to show the furthering of my education for PDP's.

2nd Post 555

What important info is my portfolio missing at this point?

I have yet to write an introduction page. I now know why we were doing that for several of the courses in this program. I am also missing a few artifacts. I wish we could access all of the Angel and PBWorks sites from all of our former classes. While we were enrolled in the classes, I was thinking "I won't forget the gist of this class". But as with anything, the further away from something you get in time, the more the recollections are gone.

I mentioned it before, but I will again. Rereading all of the blogs I have written throughout this program goes a long way in remembering the important sights, sites, sounds and feelings/opinions that I underwent and evolved through.

Lastly, I am missing the idea(s) for my culminating experience for 599. I am still "brainstorming" that one. A few ideas that I have are writing/finishing websites that supplement the classes I will teach next year along with a battery of online assessments.

Perhaps I could propose writing some Q & A lessons where I poll the students and require them to answer via their cell phones (against my school rules).

1st Blog of 555

Since the answer to the question, “How have you or your schools used e-portfolios?”, is “We haven’t”, I thought I had better come up with my own subject to blog about.

I remember my first thoughts about blogging. I felt the vast majority of people in this world are uninformed about most things. Why would I want to read what most of these “uninformed” people write? And when I was told that I had to write a blog about my thoughts, feelings and opinions while being enrolled in this MEIT program, I thought who would want to read my blog? I am one of the uninformed.

Occasionally, some family, friends and/or acquaintances will ask me what I am learning in this program. It is difficult to go back to what I think of as the “Dark Ages” of my computer knowledge history. That is, once someone is exposed to and begins using all of these Web 2.0 tools, they become second nature. I have forgotten what it was like to perform my job without using these newly found tools.

It turns out that the one who can get the most out of reading my blog is me. While beginning my portfolio and thinking about artifacts that I should include, I began reading my blog entries and gained a new perspective and recollected the moments that I had epiphanies about how best to use these new tools I had gained access to.

Final Blog - 550

· My students are gaining 21st century skills by . . .

learning how to use spreadsheets to calculate statistical data, generate the graph and critical points (relative maxima and minima) of polynomial and trigonometric functions and how to apply these to real world problems.

writing and producing screen casts to explain how they solved a problem.

· I understand the Virtual Schools Legislation in Wisconsin and am excited about . . .

the idea of teaching online. My district has a meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 2^nd (I think) to learn more about the new virtual school in our district. I wonder how many in my district are certified to teach math online? I am concerned about the challenge of teaching a subject that seems to be lagging behind its F2F counterpart as far as student success goes.

· My district involvement in online learning includes . . .

only aspirations at present.

· During the module I was excited to learn about . . .

all of the features when being the facilitator/moderator in Elluminate. Furthermore, I am interested in how to set up an LMS for a class that shows students completed work, scheduled work, grades and so forth. It was incredibly convenient and informative to have that in this module.