Saturday, June 5, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Cool Math
www.coolmath.com
This website is really great! It has great resources for both students and teachers.
This website is really great! It has great resources for both students and teachers.
Brain Boosters
I was looking around and found this site. It has some really good Brain Boosters but a lot of them would probably be for high school or middle school students. Enjoy
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/brainboosters/?pID=brain
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/brainboosters/?pID=brain
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Sorry
Hey guys... sorry I've been MIA the past 2 weeks!I have been working a lot on our group project but that is no excuse! I posted two things and I'll do better the next two weeks! Hope you are enjoying your last couple weeks of school!
Picasa
This is a collage I made using Picasa. Picasa is really fun and pretty easy to use. You can make different styles of collages or even make movies. You should try it out.
Simple Techniques to make you a good teacher
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126743261&sc=nl&cc=es-20100516
I really liked this article. I think everyone should check it out if you get a chance. Or, even better- buy the book :). The book is called "Teach like a Champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to College" by Doug Lemov. This article is just an interview with the author and it talks about some of the topics in the book. The author researched "good teachers" and listed out techniques they used to be successful. One way he found the "good teachers" was by looking comparing poverty levels to test scores- those teachers who had classes that were high in both he considered a good teacher. To summarize some of the techniques in the book, he says to teach kids how to pass out papers. This seems like a very minute detail, but he has seen papers get passed out in 10 seconds. This can save 41/2 days of teaching a year! Teach kids how to organize a binder. He has a technique called 100%- everyone follows directions and there are no excuses. Another technique is called "Cold Call"- just means to call on everyone, not as a punishment but to make sure all students are engaged. Positive Framing- Start by assuming the best from everyone and students won't quit on you because they know you believ in them. The techniques are more about teaching students to be lifelong learners- teaching the student, not the lessons.
I have this book on my list of books to read! I'll let you know how it is whenever I get around to it!
I really liked this article. I think everyone should check it out if you get a chance. Or, even better- buy the book :). The book is called "Teach like a Champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to College" by Doug Lemov. This article is just an interview with the author and it talks about some of the topics in the book. The author researched "good teachers" and listed out techniques they used to be successful. One way he found the "good teachers" was by looking comparing poverty levels to test scores- those teachers who had classes that were high in both he considered a good teacher. To summarize some of the techniques in the book, he says to teach kids how to pass out papers. This seems like a very minute detail, but he has seen papers get passed out in 10 seconds. This can save 41/2 days of teaching a year! Teach kids how to organize a binder. He has a technique called 100%- everyone follows directions and there are no excuses. Another technique is called "Cold Call"- just means to call on everyone, not as a punishment but to make sure all students are engaged. Positive Framing- Start by assuming the best from everyone and students won't quit on you because they know you believ in them. The techniques are more about teaching students to be lifelong learners- teaching the student, not the lessons.
I have this book on my list of books to read! I'll let you know how it is whenever I get around to it!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
My website
I added some things to my website. I work on it daily because I upload my notes for the day and I am always updating the calendar. I have told my students about it and they think the notes will be great. Next year, I'm going to try to figure out how to make sure students use it. I was thinking of having one assignment a week (or maybe an extra credit assignment) posted only on the website and not announced in class. Or I also thought that I could post something on the website and have a bonus question on a test or quiz relating to that post.
Let me know if you have any other ideas on how to make sure students take advantage of the website.
www.mrsmartinmath.weebly.com
Let me know if you have any other ideas on how to make sure students take advantage of the website.
www.mrsmartinmath.weebly.com
Friday, May 7, 2010
HippoCampus
http://www.hippocampus.org/Algebra%20IB;jsessionid=E6B1291AD9891A3C16E7171B591980DC
This website is great. There are lessons from almost every topic in Algebra I, as well as many other subject areas. The "teacher" does a really good job of explaining the topics and would be great for students to use to review.
This website is great. There are lessons from almost every topic in Algebra I, as well as many other subject areas. The "teacher" does a really good job of explaining the topics and would be great for students to use to review.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Online Education
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/netflix-founder-acquires-online-education-start-up/
This title really caught my attention. I would LOVE for students to be able to go online and learn for themselves! It would be so cool if I could assign something that students are to do at home on the internet. The founder of Netflicks (who is also a previous math teacher), came up with online games to teach math. My thought- games... really? Games never work in my class! I tried to get on and see what it was about, but learned that it is only for grades 2 and 3. I guess that won't work for me, but maybe someone else could benefit from it.
This title really caught my attention. I would LOVE for students to be able to go online and learn for themselves! It would be so cool if I could assign something that students are to do at home on the internet. The founder of Netflicks (who is also a previous math teacher), came up with online games to teach math. My thought- games... really? Games never work in my class! I tried to get on and see what it was about, but learned that it is only for grades 2 and 3. I guess that won't work for me, but maybe someone else could benefit from it.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Simply Box
So I'm going to set up a a couple scenarios for you. First, are doing a research project and you type into google what you are looking for. You find a lot of great sites but also a lot that aren't so great. You start writing your paper and forget to write down all of those websites. When you are ready to site your sources, you have to go back to google and find all of the websites you used again.
You are getting ready to go on a trip. You search for hotel rooms and flights. You find a great deal but didn't write down where you found it and kept searching. You try to go back to find that deal but you can't find it.
You are on a website at school and you find a great source. You don't write it down and go home to look at it again and it takes a half hour to find it.
Well, not anymore! Simply Box eliminates all of these problems. All you have to do is sign up and it is free! Once you are signed up, if you find something you want to keep, all you have to do is "box it" and it will be on your simply box account. You can have as many different boxes as you wish and if the boxes get to big you can make them into containers. These can store all the things you find online that you don't want to lose or forget where you found them. You can even email the boxes to friends and even if they don't have an account, they can still view what is in them. If your friends do have a simplybox account, they can add things to your box!
This is a great tool to show students- especially if they are working on some kind of research project. This could help them keep their information organized.Another idea could be for you to create a box of whatever information you want your students to see and email to your students to look at.
I set up an account and have tried it out a little and it is very easy. I am really looking forward to using it!
You are getting ready to go on a trip. You search for hotel rooms and flights. You find a great deal but didn't write down where you found it and kept searching. You try to go back to find that deal but you can't find it.
You are on a website at school and you find a great source. You don't write it down and go home to look at it again and it takes a half hour to find it.
Well, not anymore! Simply Box eliminates all of these problems. All you have to do is sign up and it is free! Once you are signed up, if you find something you want to keep, all you have to do is "box it" and it will be on your simply box account. You can have as many different boxes as you wish and if the boxes get to big you can make them into containers. These can store all the things you find online that you don't want to lose or forget where you found them. You can even email the boxes to friends and even if they don't have an account, they can still view what is in them. If your friends do have a simplybox account, they can add things to your box!
This is a great tool to show students- especially if they are working on some kind of research project. This could help them keep their information organized.Another idea could be for you to create a box of whatever information you want your students to see and email to your students to look at.
I set up an account and have tried it out a little and it is very easy. I am really looking forward to using it!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Arthur Benjamin's formula for Changing math education
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/arthur_benjamin_s_formula_for_changing_math_education.html
This video was awesome and I have to say that I happen to agree. I honestly haven't really thought that much in to it because I just teach what I was taught and what I am told to teach. However, it is true that most of math education is leading up to Calculus. Students always ask when they are ever going to use this and the truth is that a lot of the math ideas they wouldn't be able to apply until they get to calculus. If they don't make it to calculus they will never see how it is used and what the point of it is.
However, if instead of calculus, stats and probability was the big idea, I think students would get more out of the math curriculum that is taught in High School. I know that Westerville North has a stats and probability class that is only offered for half a semester and is not even for a math credit. Now that I am thinking more about this, I realize that this is kind of sad! I think students would benefit so much more from learning statistical analysis than learning how to solve a quadratic equation by completing the square because they can easily see how and when it is used in the real world.
This video was awesome and I have to say that I happen to agree. I honestly haven't really thought that much in to it because I just teach what I was taught and what I am told to teach. However, it is true that most of math education is leading up to Calculus. Students always ask when they are ever going to use this and the truth is that a lot of the math ideas they wouldn't be able to apply until they get to calculus. If they don't make it to calculus they will never see how it is used and what the point of it is.
However, if instead of calculus, stats and probability was the big idea, I think students would get more out of the math curriculum that is taught in High School. I know that Westerville North has a stats and probability class that is only offered for half a semester and is not even for a math credit. Now that I am thinking more about this, I realize that this is kind of sad! I think students would benefit so much more from learning statistical analysis than learning how to solve a quadratic equation by completing the square because they can easily see how and when it is used in the real world.
Top 5 Quiz Generators for Online Educators
http://web20teach.blogspot.com/2008/05/top-5-quiz-generators-for-online.html
When reading the synopsis of these quiz generators, they seem like they would be awesome. I was a little upset about the generator from "Quiz Center" because it said it was free but you need a passcode from the Discovery Channel. This would have been cool because it says you can create, publish and grade quizzes online. I would have loved to try something like this so if anyone can figure out how this works, let me know!
I don't think "The Easy Test Generator" would be as easy for math teachers as it may be for others. It doesn't allow you to type exponents or other math symbols so it wouldn't really be worth my time. However, the nice thing about it is that it allows you download the tests as a Word document and you don't have to worry about the formatting. It also looks like it would be easy to create different varieties of tests- multiple choice, short answer, true-false, fill in the blank. It also allows you to generate multiple versions with just a click of the mouse.
When reading the synopsis of these quiz generators, they seem like they would be awesome. I was a little upset about the generator from "Quiz Center" because it said it was free but you need a passcode from the Discovery Channel. This would have been cool because it says you can create, publish and grade quizzes online. I would have loved to try something like this so if anyone can figure out how this works, let me know!
I don't think "The Easy Test Generator" would be as easy for math teachers as it may be for others. It doesn't allow you to type exponents or other math symbols so it wouldn't really be worth my time. However, the nice thing about it is that it allows you download the tests as a Word document and you don't have to worry about the formatting. It also looks like it would be easy to create different varieties of tests- multiple choice, short answer, true-false, fill in the blank. It also allows you to generate multiple versions with just a click of the mouse.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
10 Simple Google Search Tricks
http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2010/04/02/02gigaom-10-simple-google-search-tricks-58674.html?src=me&ref=general
I enjoyed reading this article because I learned some very valuable information. I didn't know Google was a calculator- that is so cool! I also learned that you can use a "-" if you want to exclude any information and "..." if you are searching for a specific time period. I think these would be great tools to show my students so they won't need to search through a bunch of needless information when doing research.
I enjoyed reading this article because I learned some very valuable information. I didn't know Google was a calculator- that is so cool! I also learned that you can use a "-" if you want to exclude any information and "..." if you are searching for a specific time period. I think these would be great tools to show my students so they won't need to search through a bunch of needless information when doing research.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
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