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.