Lesson Plan

My partner and I created the Lesson Plan "Operations with Rational Numbers". My partner did a wonderful job of presenting the material to the students. The only part of the Lesson Plan I found difficult was making sure we provided instruction for all learning styles. I hope in the future this challenge will become easier for me.

This class has been very informative for me. I have learned to use several types of technology such as blogs and wiki pages. When the semester started I was unaware there were so many types of technology that could be used in the classroom.

I would not change anything about this class. CK is a wonderful educator. I was technologically challenged at the beginning of the semester. She was so patient and helpful. I have been successful in this class because of her help.

I think teachers must have a knowledge of technology today. Classrooms of today are greatly enhanced by technology. If educators use technology properly, their students will benefit tremendously.

Week 7 Technology in Classrooms

Educators should moderately attempt to incorporate the technology their students use. Students can benefit tremendously from having access to multiple sources of technology. the key question is what technology will your school district support? Sometimes, teachers have wonderful innovative ideas for their classrooms without the resources to implement them.

I think online chats and instant messaging can be a great asset to the classroom as long as the teacher closely monitors the student's interactions. With close monitoring distractions should be kept to a minimal.

Asynchronous text based communication can be a useful tool for students who have trouble interacting or communicating with others. This form of communication will allow them to express themselves in ways that synchronous communication does not.

I think that using podcasts with students can help reinforce the curriculum they are learning. It gives the students a new way to be creative using the knowledge they have gained. It also gives them experiences they may not have had otherwise.

I believe video games do help develop your studying. For students with learning disabilities, video games may help them learn to focus, hand-eye coordination, and patience. I found the article very interesting. The article voiced many of the concerns parents, teachers, and others have regarding video games. I have four children. Out of the four, one plays games daily. I have witnessed the positive effect video games have had for my child.

According to Humanmetrics my personality type is ISFJ (Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging). The article "The Nurturer" described a lot of my characteristics. There was one characteristic the article listed that I definitely do not agree with. The characteristic of being a great gift giver and decorator. I definitely do not have those characteristics.

I do believe that learning styles are connected to personality types. Yet, I think learning styles are affected by more than someones personality type. Learning disabilities play a huge part in learning styles. Each student is different. Your approach to helping your students to achieve their full potential depends on you learning what each of your students needs are. You can accomplish this through using tools such as the Humanmetrics Personality Types, reading the student's files, talking to other teachers (make sure you keep an open mind when gathering this information), and diagnostic tests. I believe that when all of these strategies are applied you will be able to know your students better.

I think Humanmetrics can help you to start forming ideas about your students characteristics which will enable you to better understand the reasons behind the students behaviors.

Excel-Blog Post

Spreadsheets are very useful technological tools for the classroom or personal use. There are several ways spreadsheets can be used in the classroom such as gradebook, tracking your students progress, time management, and concept aids. The spreadsheet will be one of the technological tools I use in my classroom.

A graphing calculator is a necessary tool for mathematical and some science courses. As a teacher I can use spreadsheets to design material aids to help teach the multiple uses of the graphing calculator. Currently, one of the veteran teachers I observed uses an Elmo to teach the use of the graphing calculator. In my classroom, I could use similar methods along with the visual aids to help the students.

I have used excel for years for personal use. One of the ways I use excel is to organize my grocery list. I have designed a spreadsheet that calculates all of the items I purchase at different stores with their prices which includes the sales tax. This allows me to know exactly how much I will be spending when shopping. This spreadsheet allows me to stay within the designated budget.

Inspiration

I found the approach to using concept mapping in the classroom interesting. I found myself thinking of math projects that I could collaborate with other teachers such as science, technology, english or history. Using inspiration in my classroom would not only help the students to organize, create, and present their projects, it would also help the collaborating teachers to monitor the student's project, help the student, and grade the student's project. Hopefully, it would stimulate an interest in the student to continue learning after the project is finished.

I believe that collaborative writing makes the best use of technology in your classroom. Students who work collaboratively can use websites, blogs, and various other technological methods to communicate with each other to critique or research the subject they are writing about.

I worked at Paris Junior College in the Math Lab as a tutor for several years. When I first started tutoring students, I struggled to help the students grasp the concepts they were struggling with. I did not have a good grasp on the concepts myself. Overtime, I began to have a deeper understanding of the concepts. This understanding helped me to explain the concepts in various ways until the struggling student was able to achieve an understanding of the concepts they were working on. This experience has helped me to realize that as I teach I am learning right along with my students. This reinforces the old saying you learn something new everyday.

Carolyn Hiller

Blog Discussion

I think blogs can be a great source of information and feedback if used correctly. Blogs can be used in the classroom to broaden the students knowledge of other countries, history, and technology. The students can be exposed to a source of knowledge that would be difficult if done traditionally (old fashioned research). Blogs are great resources as long as the teacher researches and monitors the sight before and during use. The teacher needs to plan and create an activity to reinforce the strategies being taught in the curriculum. A teacher can use a blog to foster a desire in students to learn.

Other technologies, such as Wike, can be used to support the curriculum. The teacher could design a project to prove the pythagorean theorem. The students could include the history of the theorem. Also, Using geometer's sketchpad the students could draw and prove the theorem. The project could be made accessible to others by using Wiki. This project would hopefully stimulate the students desire to learn more.

Hello, my name is Carolyn Hiller. I am a mother of four and grandmother of one. My family is my hobby. I spend every spare moment with them. My major is Math Secondary Education. This is my second semester at TAMU. I commute from Paris. Hopefully, I will graduate in December 2011. I am excited about taking this class! I am not technological savvy. So, this class will be a wonderful learning experience for me that will help enhance my teaching abilities.