Making the Argument

I did this same post in the D2L discussion posts, but in the grades it showed up as a blog so I thought to be safe I better post it in both places.


Baby-steps are the key!  Start with a small, well thought out plan that is easily controllable and work to bigger and better things.


I do feel that my school is getting to be more open with web 2.0 tools.  I know that our newly hired IT person has made a Facebook page for the school.  Although, it is blocked while at school—which I sometimes feel like that is not so bad.  I understand the point that blocking students does nothing for teaching them the right uses, however, I just think that there are other avenues that can do the same thing in the classroom that are more safe and manageable.  I hate being so negative, but shouldn’t the majority of this responsibility be the parents?  Why does everything seem to be pushed off on the educators?  There really should be parenting classes for the 21^st century child!


On that note our Google accounts have access to the same type of things and just seem to be more private and more convenient because they are all in one place.  There will always be students who try to abuse the system (like one of my co-workers has quickly discovered with students using GoogleDocs as a way to “text” back in forth in class).  This seems to me the same as passing notes back and forth just in a digital format.  Good classroom management is the key to avoid these types of things.  Kids will be kids and will always try to find ways around doing what they are supposed to be doing unless they are engaged  in what they are doing or have clear expectations and consequences. 


I love the idea of using blogs, class discussion forums, collaborative document/presentation/survey builders, web design in the classroom and quite frankly these are very easy to get the administrators on board with.  First of all, I have a plan (really that should always come first when wanting to use a tool).  When you have a purpose for the tool and standards you are accomplishing it makes it really easy to get their understanding.  Second of all, using ones that are “private” or more manageable make it easier for administration and technology staff to give the ok.  This is why Google for the school is such a great thing—we can control how private or public we want to make things.  I plan to start being very private just to see how things go and then as we find more and more uses we can start letting them be more public when appropriate or “safe”.   


I am a math teacher and this is a use that I am actually considering doing for next year.  I have already had the idea of doing my math journals as a blog post, but the following site gives a great way to incorporate communication and individual responsibility for discussions/blogs. 


http://apps.mrhiggins.net/how-we-blog-math


This teacher has one student in charge of summarizing the concept learned that day while incorporating other math tools.   They then are in charge of choosing who will be the next “scribe”.  The great thing about this is that it makes the student talk about what they learned.  The element I would like to add is having other students comment or ask questions—this way they can get a dialogue going.


I also like the idea Prof. Schroeder gave me about having students be responisble for explaining one of the homework problems to the rest of the class and then students can comment back and forth.  I would not do this with the whole assignment, but I do like the idea of picking one or two problems and having students responsible for those problems.  I also like the idea that this will motivate students to actually look at the discussion (it gives them help on a problem) and then if things are not clear they can comment back and forth.  This is a great way to get them talking about the process of solving the problem and communicating about the things that they are learning!  Great idea--thanks Prof. Schroeder! 

Twitter Revisited

I honestly still haven't thought of a meaningful use for twitter.  I just don’t get it and find that the whole thing is disorganized and full of useless blurbs of information.  Most times when there was something interesting I was directed to a website,  which made me think I could have done the same kind of search using Google.  I really don’t see how meaningful information can be shared in 140 words or less.  Or maybe it is because I talk too much and can’t fit in those restrictions.   Lastly, I found it very cumbersome trying to search for people to follow.   I really did try to give it a fair shot, but found most of the time I spent searching was a waste.  I even tried to “cheat” and checked out what other people were following and still didn’t find anything that I felt was useful.  I tried different key word searches, tried using the tag cloud, and even searched things from the interset category--still found nothing!  I would much rather use a blog or mini-blog to communicate.  I feel that blogs can be more organized and read using one of my favorite RSS feeds Google Reader. 

As for using Twitter in the classroom I thought of a way to use it--communicating with parents and students about upcoming events.  I could also have students tweet about summaries of concepts or vocabulary definitions, but once again I could do the same thing with the announcement page and mini-blog page on my classroom Google website.  I just like the idea of having every tool in one private and conventient place.

Personal Learning Network

I don’t think I really had a personal learning network before this class.  I mean I  searched the web for good resources, emailed people, and bookmarked things into my favorite’s folder, but that was about it.   I can honestly say that I never had read a blog, let alone create one.  I knew that there were Web2.0 tools out there, but would have never believed that there were so many great things out there that are easy to use, free, and great for emphasizing communication and collaboration.  I have discovered great ways to implement these things in a mathematics classroom and will continue to challenge myself to integrate more of the tools into my classes.   I do have to admit that I it makes me scared that once this class is over I will not have someone there pointing out all these cool tools available to me and encouraging me to try them out and talk about how I could apply them in the classroom setting.  Prof. Schroeder, would you like to be my PLN assistant (volunteer of course)?  Keeping connected and up-to-date on new technologies is almost a full-time job itself!

It is actually pretty crazy how much I have learned in these eight short weeks.  I am excited to use these great tools and resources to engage and motivate my students.  I would have to say that I have fallen in love with Google and all of its applications as you could tell from all my other blogs.  I found voice threads, flickr, and digital timelines to be very cool tools and hope to integrate those somehow.  I love the idea of having a classroom website with a blogging page.  I would also love to have a gadget on my site where I can communicate with parents about upcoming events in the classroom.   I will most definitely be replacing my paper math journals and transform that into a classroom blog page where students can respond to my prompts and respond to each other’s posts.  I will also (as part of my unit plan) have students making their own webpages about using math/algebra in the real world or  I also like the idea of having students make a tutorial website on a topic that they have learned in class as an alternative assessment.  I was initialing going to implement the plan next year, but once the students heard about my ideas they have asked that I let them do it this year.  

I love bookmarking with tags—I have been only using Delicious, but don’t know what I want to do in the future.  I really love Diigo because I really love all the extra tools that are free for educators and students, but I have built a network of people and resources in Delicious so I don’t want to lose that.  I know that I could use both, but I have to be realistic about things and know that I will not want to bounce back and forth.  (I do think there is a way to transfer over my stuff to Diigo, but I will have to further investigate that later).  I feel I am finally getting the hang of tagging and have found that connecting with others with the same interests and educational goals is easier than I thought.  I am not a social person by any means and usually stick to my small circle of coworkers and friends.  I never thought that I had the time (or need) for expanding that circle, but found that it is well worth the time spent making those connections.   

 

delicious—YUM!

I have actually talked about how much I love Diigo and its educator features that allow students to work in a collaborative community and allow them to tag, highlight, and add sticky notes on shared sites.  This can not only replace taking notes on notecards, but also provide a great way for students to talk about specific pieces of texts in a web site.  Students can add individual comments and/or comment on other people’s comments!  Wow!  I love the idea that students can do research as a group and share sites that they find that are useful, yet can do their research independently.  As long as students are responsible for bookmarking/tagging a site why not have them share what they are findin?  This really worked when Sommer and I had done our Wiki page on technology.  If I found a site that I liked it I tagged it and shared it with Sommer, this way when we finished our research we had a wonderful place to store and organize the information we found.  What I didn’t think of until recently is that students can even tag the sites with their group name as a way to even get more specific with their tagging. 

This could actually be a great tool for teachers in a small district like mine to connect with other math teachers that teach the same subject.  I am the only Algebra I teacher in the high school and it would be great to connect and share with another teacher in the same area.  I am not sure how to find these people or coordinate getting them signed up but just think of the possibilities of sharing and collaborating!

Connections, Connecting, Connected!

I actually didn’t realize the potential for connecting with others until we got this assignment.  I really thought of del.icio.us as just a bookmarking tool and organization tool for my own resources.  The most networking I did was connecting with people in my own circle that I knew and who had an account (basically just people from this class).  Sommer and I actually used sharing of tags as a way to conduct our research for the Wiki on technology.  (This is actually a great way to have students use this, but I will talk about that in the next post).  I never really thought of branching out and connecting with people with my same tags/interests.  I am really digging how I can search other people’s tags and sites that they have tagged (it even makes it easier when people have nice annotations because then I don’t even have to visit the site to see if it will work for me).  I have already added a “stranger” to my network because she has tagged numerous sites that not only include technology, but also mathematics.  Her ID is cee003519 I think she is most likely an elementary teacher but she has found some really great sites that can be used in the high school setting. 

Tag You’re It!

Well, I started just using tags that consisted of the Web2.0 tools we had discussed, investigated, or researched as I worked at home.  I then realized that I could start tagging things when I worked at school since I can log in at any computer.  The only downfall is that my computer at school is frozen so I cannot download the toolbar so I just use the sidebar option and that has worked out pretty well.  (I do plan to have my IT person install the toolbar for me eventually I just haven’t put in the order yet.)  I usually use at least two or three tags for each site depending on what it covers or offers.  I didn’t really use synonyms and most times descriptor tags showed up for me.  Once I started investigating other people’s tags I got ideas for tagging my sites.  I have now decided that when I research and tag sites for math lessons or activities I am going to add the high school tag.  This is because when I am searching other people’s tags it is a bummer that I don’t know what types of math lessons are available (elementary vs. middle school vs. high school).  I also really loved the annotations that people used.  I never really thought of doing that until I saw how they worked for other people.  I like how people just gave a quick summary or use for the site.  This can allow you to easily browse the sites and get to the ones that apply the best to what you are looking for.  Right now the sites that I am adding are fresh in my mind, but months or years from now it would be nice to have those summaries so I don’t have to go to the actual site to see why I tagged it.  I plan on going back and annotating my sites during spring break. 

I am now branching out my bookmarking and tagging for mathematics based sites and personal websites.  It really comes in handy when I come across something that I really like I know that I can tag it and I will never have to worry about forgetting where I found it.  I have been really consistent with my tagging that kind of goes with my obsessive compulsive personality.  My brain is just organized that way!  If I were teaching tags to students I would tell them to use tags as a way to identify the main purpose/ideas of the site.  I would almost go about it the same way I would have students organize their folders.  The tags that seem to be the most popular for me would be technology (not just because of this course), resource, and math.

Cool Tools

I actually looked at all of the cool tools so I will just write about the three that I liked the best (or that have the most potential for use in my own classroom).  These tools would be the online storytelling tool, image and video sharing, and polling and quizzing.  I feel compelled to say that my favorite tool would still be GoogleSites, but I do understand that I may be baised since that is the one that I had picked. 

The first tool that I really liked was the online storytelling tools.  This tool seems to be very similar to the Digital PhotoStory that I already have “tinkered” with.  I had created an activity for my Geometry classes (which I don’t teach anymore) in which students find photos of random things and describe the geometrical relationships that they see going on in the pictures.  For example, a picture of an orange cut in half could be used and students could talk about all the angle relationships that they see in the image (ie vertical angles, acute angles, supplementary, etc.).  This project would be at the end of the year so that students are allowed to synthesize and analyze all the things that they learned throughout the year.  How cool is that!?!

The second tool that I will actually be investigating this year (hoping to implement in the fall) is the video sharing tools.  I am hoping to get access to GoogleVideos (once again I think I may be Google’s number one fan), but do plan on using YouTube until I can get access.  I really love YouTube for obtaining tutorial videos (they even have fun videos that put mathematical concepts into song or real world contexts).  Until just recently, however, YouTube was blocked at our school.  We now have partial access where teachers can access it, but students cannot.  This does limit the uses on the student side, but I still think that educator uses are still great.  Currently I am recording my lessons and I would love to start downloading these lessons on YouTube so that my students can watch my lessons as a review or if they were absent.  (I even have students who have other teachers who have requested to get access to these videos because they like how I break things down).   Eventually, I would like to just embed those videos in my GoogleSite so that students can find them easily and access them from anywhere.

The last tool that I really liked was the polling tool.  I actually plan an using this next year in my Algebra IA class.  During my data collection and displays unit I have my students create a survey, collect the data, organize the data, and display the data so that they actually go through the entire process with relevant information that means something to them.  Normally what I have done is I have the kids go around an ask other students their opinions.  What usually ends up happening is that we get very biased sampling because most freshmen are not brave enough to ask people outside their circle of friends or current grade.  Something like Survey Monkey (or GoogleSurvey—I know I am obsessed) would give students the opportunity to conduct the survey in a more convenient and comfortable way.  This way they can get a better data set to work with which in turn will help with the rest of the process.

I do want to mention that GoogleEarth (once again Google Apps has stolen my heart) is actually a tool that I am really interested in and am somewhat bummed that it wasn’t talked about.  I will have to investigate this tool on my own because I believe that it’s applications for the math classroom is vast and varied.  I already have a couple lessons that I would like to try out so I will be attempting those on my own and hope to get them set so I can integrate them next year into my curriculum.

To Tweet Or Not To Tweet

Once again I have to be perfectly honest, I really don’t see myself really using Twitter personally or professionally.  Educationally speaking, I will most likely use my own class website and create a mini-blog on there, however, that being said I do believe that if I could find a good idea I think Twitter would be a great way to have students connect with people on a global scale.  I have spent the last hour searching in Twitter and have yet to find someone to follow (other than my good friend Sommer who is also in this class).  I searched math, education, technology, family and nothing really seemed interesting or worthwhile to me.  I think that if I could find the right people to follow I could possibly get into tweeting (especially for collaborating or sharing ideas) just finding those people seems like the hard part.  I thought about following a celebrity, but how can you really be sure that the tweet is actually from them?

I do think that I could see myself using Twitter over Facebook.  I was just talking with my students on Thursday (because they were yelling at me for not having a Facebook account when they know that I am so into technology) about not doing the Facebook thing because it would be one more thing that I would stress about doing.  I would always feel guilty about not updating or checking it or commenting.  Maybe once my life slows down (and knowing me it never will) I will have time to do something like Facebook.  Twitter seems to me more manageable and less intimidating—all my posts have to be small and that I could handle.  I still am not sure how I feel about putting things out there for the world to see—it just seems weird to me to write to this empty void.  

I really think that micro-blogging could be great with my math journaling that I usually do with my students.  I would also love to start having my students do math discussions which would be a great micro-blog application.  Once again, I would use my GoogleSites because of the convenience and privacy thing. 

David Warlick's "Technology Transformed Learining Environments"

One use of technology that works well in my classroom setting (high school math) is the use of Moodle.  I currently only have it up and going for one of my five subjects I teach because the classes are somewhat cumbersome to design and manage using this program (this is why I am researching alternative (more user friendly) methods to Moodle.  I love that I am able to have resources available to students as they may need them.  I have tutorials, online assessments that give them immediate feedback, practice problems, and enrichment problems available for all the students in the class.   For example, I SmartRecord my lessons and upload them to Moodle.  This allows students to play the lesson if they were absent, play the lesson over and over again without anyone knowing how many times they had to watch it to understand the concept, or play the lesson as a way to study for a quiz or test.  I also have enrichment problems that I post in which students can elect to work through.  They try solving them explaining their thoughts and then I respond with “great thinking”, “you’re on the right track, or I give them clues or advice.  I would love to add a discussion piece in which students can respond to given topics like I would have them do in their math journals and then also respond to each other’s comments.

Alan November's "Four things every student should learn...but not every school is teaching."

I agree, for the most part, with Alan November’s article Four things every student should learn…but not every school is teaching.   The thing that scares me the most is that I feel like at some point there is going to be a breaking point for me as an educator.  More and more parenting obligations are being pushed on educators along with the pressures of meeting state standards, expectations for no child left behind, and funding cuts.  (Do I dare mention the slap in the face we educators are getting from the legislation and its supporters.  It looks to me that empathy is something that our very governor is very much lacking.)  I think empathy in general is something that many people are lacking.  Many of my students are very “me” centered and have very little concern for the person sitting next to them let alone someone across the globe.  I have always been an empathic person and try to hit on that every day in my classroom.  I try to make students understand that respecting someone else’s point of view does not mean they have to agree with them—it just means you have to see where they are coming from and understand their point of view.  Sometimes I like to say we can agree to disagree, but we need to learn how to move on and learn how to work together despite our differences.  This is especially hard when you are teaching in a very rural and homogeneous district, where the culture of the community is very closed minded.   However, this will never stop me from implementing it in my classroom! 

November’s second point, in my opinion, is probably one of the most important (however I must admit this is something that parents should be doing not just leaving it to educators).  I believe that when we address bullying in the school we most definitely need to address cyber bullying.   I completely agree that blocking assess does nothing when it comes to teaching them how to responsibly use the tools.  How can we model the right uses of these tools if we are not allowed access at school?  This ties in with his third point about the permanence of information online and even more importantly the consequences of having personal information out there for the world to see. I have seen many students learn the hard way that when they are “journaling” their daily lives online that things eventually come back and bite them in the butt.    Take that and add the whole reappearing website trick and that could hopefully open a few eyes. 

November’s last point was actually something that many of our high school teachers are battling every day.  I think the topic about the order of appearance in a google search alone is something that every student should be aware of.  This statement sure makes me think about the research that I have done in the past.  I can honestly say that I myself don’t know how to determine whether a site is trust worthy (unless I am familiar with the organization or author from other sources).  It almost seems to me that there should be a class on the ethics of online tools that should be a graduation requirement.  I suppose, however, if every teacher takes one thing and addresses each year this could at least make some sort of an impact on students.  Sometimes I find myself struggling with ways to incorportate web 2.0 tools into mathematics let alone these technology lessons.  However, I have a substanial role in implementing PBIS (positive behavior intervention system) into our school district and cybe bullying and sexting could most definitely fit into our behavior matrix, school expectations, and goals. 

Diigo Versus Delicious: The battle is on.

Diigo and del.icio.us are both bookmarking tools that help you easily organize and save different websites by using a tagging system.  They also let you retrieve these bookmarked sites no matter which computer you are on, which works great for people like me that use multiple different computers a day.  The way the tools organize, tag, and share seem to be about the same with both tools.  One big difference that I have found, however, is that Diigo seems to have more cools tools besides just tagging.  I love that Diigo has a highlighter, sticky note, and shape maker option and what makes it even cooler is that all the things you do actually stay on the site.  Diigo also lets you archive a site so that if you really liked it you could save it just as it is and you know it will always be there.  I actually created an account with Diigo and applied for the free educators upgrade and received it by the next day.  I haven’t fully investigated all its uses, but I think it would be a really great tool for students who are doing research on the web.  Not only can they take their notes on the web page, but it can also be shared with you so you can actually monitor their progress and give them tips and ideas.  As for del.icio.us I really liked it when I was using it, but now that I have seen all the Diigo can do I will most likely use Diigo full-time (outside of this class) I am amazed at what types of things are out there that I had no idea even existed. 

 I really wish that I was able to download Diigo to my school computer so that I could start tagging, organizing, and sharing my on-line resources TODAY.  At my school our computers are frozen so anytime I download something it disappears the when I shut down.  There have been several times that I have been thinking of an activity and then I have to spend my prep period searching for the darn site that I got the activity or idea from.  I had this tool at school I could tag it (for example  Algebra II GraphingQuadratics worksheet generator) and then I could start compiling my resources and save myself a large amount of time.  This tool would have been great to have last year because I found a really cool math website and now I can’t remember what it was and haven’t been back to in since.  I think I will be getting my IT guy down to my room ASAP so that he can download it for me. 

I really think that I am going to have my Honors Algebra II class do a research project about a famous mathematician of their choice and Diigo would be perfect for them to do this.  I was also thinking of having my Algebra I students doing research on the use of mathematics in the real world.  They could bookmark their sites, tag them, and then take notes using just one tool.  How cool is that?  Diigo is like the modern day notecard method of doing research.

GoogleDocs—Love at first sight

What can I say—I LOVE GOOGLEDOCS!!!  I wish I could go to the top of the mountain (the nearest being Cascade) and tell everyone that I now have a new technology love, sorry Smart Notebook.  Maybe it is because it is February and everywhere I look I see hearts and flowers, but I am hopelessy smitten with GoogleDocs.  I am actually already starting to think of how I can get my Algebra II students doing a project.  It is absolutely perfect because we just converted to using google for our email for our entire district and is available to EVERYONE.  There are so many cool features that I don’t even know where to start.  I love that it is accessible to every student (and tied to their email account which they use every day).  I love that students can work on it together either at the same time (in real time) or when it is convenient to them.  I love that students don’t have to worry about compatibility issues.  I love that students don’t have to worry about relying on the other group member being present (as long as it is properly shared) to work on it.  I love that it has programs that students are already familiar with using (word, excel, powerpoint) but in a REALLY user friendly version.  I love that it is storing this stuff outside of our network which frees up space on our network.  I love that with igoogle it is like facebook in which everything is in one spot and easily accessible.  I love that it has info on when things were worked on last.  I love that there are “live” presentations and surveys.  I can’t believe I had access to all of this this whole time and had no idea it was there.  It is like putting on your winter coat for the first time in the season and finding a ten dollar bill that was there from last year!  For this alone I am thankful that I have taken this class and think that my money was well spent. 

Wikis?

I am going to be perfectly honest--I really don’t see myself using wikis in the future.  Maybe I just don’t get them yet or haven’t fully realized their potential, but I am just not seeing their importance when there are so many other more convenient, safe, and user friendly tools out there.  I joined a wiki when I was taking a class through the John Muir Academy and we used it to post our info, ideas, projects, and so forth so I sometimes go back to it when I want to access the resources, but that is about it.  I do, however, like the idea of using a wiki as a place for departmental “meetings”.  This would really alleviate the pain of going to meetings at a set time, but yet provide the opportunity to input ideas, concerns, and resources.  (Once again, I do feel the need to mention that this same stuff can be done using GoogleDocs and is probably the route I would go.)

Blog Management

Ok, I admit I am more faithful at reading the blogs of the people that I have a more personal connection with.  At first, it was just Prof. Schroeder because she is the “boss” and my two colleagues/friends Geri and Sommer. Now that I have worked some with Emily I am now interested in her thoughts (which are as equally as great as my original three).  So I think in a classroom setting the same types of things would happen—students would be most interested their friends’ thoughts and more inclined to comment to them.  So I am thinking that the best set-up would be a requirement to comment on someone you haven’t already commented on before.  I also think that for the sake of convenience I would just have one blog spot that the whole class would go to.  Even with my google reader organizing my RSS feeds for me and giving me a single spot for the various blog sites of classmates it is still a pain reading one blog at a time and then commenting on each one individually.  I like the idea of having a student each week start a blog and then the others would be required to comment to the blog (or the comment of someone else).  The only problem I see having (which happens with our wiki comments) is that if you are commenting towards the end it is very hard to come up with stuff that hasn’t already been said.  I would have to say that I like blogs much better than the discussion board on D2L because I can see everyone’s comments on one page rather than having to click on each separate comment in a different window.  Additionally, as weird as it sounds I am a visual person so it really helps to see the picture of the person commenting so I can make a more personal connection with them.  

Blogs versus Wikis

Like with every battle each opponent has its own strengths and weaknesses.  I think blogs are much safer than wikis.  I know that when I save a post that it will still be there waiting for me the next time I go back to my site even after someone else has commented.  I also think blogs are much more attractive than wikis.  I love that you can change the settings and themes to match your personality.  Blogs are more of a one-sided tool (for those of us control freaks this isn’t so bad).  Blogs unfortunately are not really set up to work collaboratively on something or to easily communicate back in forth.  Wikis, on the other hand, provide a single space where people can provide input and comment back in forth fairly easily.  (I hate the security process of commenting on a blog).  It is also more convenient to read everyone’s thoughts in one place rather than having to read each individual blog post at a time.  Wikis also have spots to organize other tools/sites which is a great convenience.  Unfortunately, this comes at the hefty price that your thoughts and hard work is NOT safe--a price that I am not willing to pay.  It must be the control freak in me!

What uses might you suggest that focus on 21st century skills and higher level thinking?

Any time you can get students to analyze, synthesize, or justify their thinking you are making them use higher levels of thinking.  Using the blog provides students with the opportunity to collaborate with each other and communicate their thinking to each other while using technology which is what 21^st century skills revolve around.    

I could really see myself using blogs in place of weekly journaling.  In the past, students would make a journal and then I would give them a weekly journal prompt.  Sometimes it would just be a silly one like “what geometrical shape best describes your personality and why?”.  Others take something we have learned in class and have them analyze it, for example “describe the method for solving systems of equations that you like best and state why you like it”.  The best part is that students would be able to see what others stated and comment on their posts.  It is like taking some of those great discussions that we have in the classroom and moving it to a level where students are not just communicating with me, but with EACH OTHER!

For what uses do you see teachers and/or the LMS using blogs in your school in the near future?

Blogs seem to me as an open journal, but with more room for discussions (almost a discussion forum).  Quite honestly the only thing I knew about blogs was from the movie Julie and Julia so my knowledge is limited.  Just from the few blog searches I did last week I see that blogs could be an excellent way for teachers to communicate and collaborate about their lessons or teaching methods.  I teach in a small district in which there are only two other math teachers in my department and I am basically the only teacher for the 4 subjects I teach.  I would be great to connect with some surrounding schools (especially ones with the same demographics as mine) so that I could share ideas, bounce off ideas, and get advice for some topics.  Realistically though, I just feel like teachers have so much on their plate that they wouldn’t be willing to try this out (even though I think it would eventually make their lives easier).   

I also think that as a tool for the classroom I could use blogs as a place for my students to discuss the mathematics they are learning.  The cool part about blogs is that they could allow students to discuss topics on their own terms and on their own time.  They don’t have the pressure of having to come up with their reasoning on the spot or before the bell rings.  I can really see my upper level kids going crazy with this; however, my lower level would need some guidance and prompting to get them used to the idea (which is exactly the types of skills that those kids should be strengthening). 

My Blog Search

I have never been really good at searching anything.  I always start to get overwhelmed and feel like I get lost in the vast amounts of "stuff" out there!  I sometimes wonder if anyone has ever turned up missing after getting lost during their search--maybe they could make a GPS for people like me that tend to get lost in their searches.  I was surprised though, with this search--I actually found something that I really like after looking at two things! (Call off the search party for me today!)

The first one that I have found is called The Education Technology Blog and is a blog that not only talks about practical ways to integrate technology into the classroom but also provides links to resources that we can use!  How great is that?!? 

http://www.educationtechnologyblog.com/

The second one that I have found is called The Intersection of Pop Culture and Mathematics and is a blog that blends everyday mathematics with popular culture that engages students.  Once again, I love that this gives practical ways to integrate technology into the mathematics classroom.

 http://popmatics.wordpress.com/

Ok, I have to admit after digging deeper into this blog I found that after a couple of site transfers this site really isn't the greatest.  Basically it directs you to a site in which you have to purchase the math program and here I thought I hit the jackpot for a truly great "free" resource.  Bummer!

What do you want to get out of this course?

I am a mathematics teacher and am really trying to integrate technology beyond just calculators and a SmartBoard.  I know that to reach my learners today I need to start reaching them through 21st century approaches.  I really would love to find was that I can use the communication and collaboration web tools as a way to get my student to start "talking" about the mathematics they are learning in class.