I’ve learned more this past week about things that I didn’t even know existed than I thought possible. It’s a bit overwhelming and humbling what I still don’t know, but at least I’m more aware of what is possible. I do think that our students are not fully aware of the power of web 2.0 even as many of them are using some of these tools in their daily lives. They are certainly going to be working in a world that is much more global than when I enter the work force. They are use to that but I’m not sure they know how this will impact the kind of work they will do. Maybe they do. However, since they are digital natives, I suspect they will adapt quickly. It’s an exciting yet sometime scary time we live in. Never in my wildest imagination did I think when I entered teaching 30 years ago that I would be part of a global classroom. Thank you Alice for a wonderful class!
Comment on Room 208
July 21st, 2006 by cevrard2 · 95 Comments · HW
I was thoroughly impressed by the work of these 3rd graders after seeing their podcast. I’ve always believed that studens will rise to the level of expectation of their teachers but this amazed me. It does highlight that their tremendous gaps in our educational system where there are many students who do not have such a rich experience at any level.
Comment on biblioblog
July 21st, 2006 by cevrard2 · 4 Comments · HW
This was an interesting blog for a principal or learner area leader to use for professional development of staff. I do worry that if you have many blogs to look at that it could become overwhelming in terms of the amount of time you spend on these. On the otherhand, you don’t have to check them everyday.
Comment on an AP Calculus blog by Mr.K
July 21st, 2006 by cevrard2 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
I have to say that after seeing this math teacher’s blog, I began to see the possibilities of the power of using blogs in a math classroom. I’ll be interested to see how my students react to using a class blog and how well it will work.
Project
July 19th, 2006 by cevrard2 · 4 Comments · HW
Introduction: A few years ago I had a web site that became too time consuming to keep updated. Both parents and students found it useful. My goal in taking this course was to use First Class to construct my web site. Since my junior classes will have laptops, it would be convenient to have all my links that I will use in class on the web site for easy student access. I stated in an earlier blog that I was beginning to rethink if I should just use a blog and a couple of people commented that the blog was more interactive than a web site, which is certainly true. However, I think that parents and students are currently more familiar with teacher web sites than blogs. There are also some things in the web page, course outline, expectations that do not change so I think I will continue with the construction of the website but will include links to a blog that will serve as a class daily log and to my delicious account which will maintain all my classes resource links.
Need for change: In the past I have used journals because I think it’s important that students write about mathematics, however I was the only one reading and commenting on the journals, this way everyone gets an opportunity to read and comment on the each entry.
Expected Outcomes: I hope that by using student scribes to write a class log of daily lessons on the blog that it will serve the purpose of helping students who may not be the best note takers in addition to providing notes to students who are absent. I also hope that the daily blog will generate questions and comments from the other students.
How will I undertake this project? As far as the blog is concerned I plan to just start with one class so it makes sense to use my AP Calculus class since I only have one division of that class. I’m hoping to convince the other Calculus teacher to collaborate with me so that the students in both classes would be involved. It probably means each us having our own separate blog and having the students respond to both.
Timeline: My plan is to use this all year but I think it’s important to get student input along the way (perhaps once a quarter) to see if the blog is helpful and use the student input the modify if necessary. At the end of the year the students can evaluate the usefulness of the blog. Since it is an AP class, the results on the AP exam may also provide evidence as to the success of the blog.
Reflection on Generation M
July 19th, 2006 by cevrard2 · 4 Comments · Reflections
I found this article interesting and somewhat surprising. Although it confirmed what I already suspected as to the numbers of hours students spend using a variety of media and their access to these, it was surprising to see that the use of additional media did not decrease TV viewing. Watching TV is still the top draw but now kids are multitasking instead of cutting down on TV or listening to music. Listening to music is so much a part kids lives that they think they can listen to a person’s conversation or read a book as well as listening to their I-Pods. I doubt that higher-level thinking takes place when students are listening to music or watching TV while working on HW. They say they don’t find it distracting but I find it hard to believe that they are focusing as well as they could. It was also surprising to see that the frequent use of different media did not decrease time spent with parents or outside activities.
However, the media use is not going to decrease, even adults now find it hard to put down the laptop cover at meetings, refraining from answering cell phones while talking to others. Media etiquette needs to be taught….
I do agree with the article’s last comment that anything that takes up 25% or more of a student’s day requires our attention. Making better use of all the different media is a first step, but I’m skeptical that students will eliminate their other uses of the media. So the daily use of media will only increase.
Reflection on using new tools
July 19th, 2006 by cevrard2 · 1 Comment · Reflections
I came into the course with the goal of setting up a web page, and although that is still my goal, I now see how I could use a delicious account to keep track of all my links that I would want my students and my colleagues to access. I also see having a link to my blog as a means of having students become class scribes about what was taught in the class and giving students the opportunity to ask questions. Problem discussion could also take place here.
Reflections on Teaching Critical Thinking Through Online Discussions
July 18th, 2006 by cevrard2 · 7 Comments · Reflections
In reading this article it struck me that carrying good online discussions is not much different than carrying face-to-face discussions. The moderator must have the skills to lead the discussion in an effective manner. The list of critical thinking questions is the same whether carrying an online discussion or a face-to-face discussion. However, the main difference is that more people are able to participate. More participation allows for more thought provoking discussions. What is lacking however are facial impressions and body language which can be a good or bad thing, so clarifying questions become even more important. Some teachers are excellent discussions leaders but now that skill needs to be taught to a wider group of people.
Reflections on Blogs
July 18th, 2006 by cevrard2 · 2 Comments · Reflections
I’m trying to decide whether a web page or a blog is the way to go for my classes. My original thought was to set up a web page that would have links for each of my classes. I could also post assignments. Now, I’m wondering if a blog might be better but I’m not sure. I know what web pages can do and I’m more comfortable with those but would a blog be better? Maybe I do my web page and have a link to a blog for one of my classes and see how that works.
Reflection: Shift of Control
July 17th, 2006 by cevrard2 · 4 Comments · HW
When I first heard of blogs, just a few months ago, I thought, well that’s nice but it’s not very useful in the math classroom. Since then I have read some blogs posted by math teachers ( one is referenced in this article). Some didn’t impress me but others did. I like the idea of a class journal on a blog using a class scribe for the day. It would provide a class history of what was taught, a good source for absent students, and it might help clear up some misconceptions that students have. The good thing is that I wouldn’t have to be the only one responding, but I would have to monitor it. So time is an issue.
I could also see posting some problems in a blog and having students post their solutions or their progress in solving the problem. I’m not sure if I’m at a point where I will actually do this but I’ve gone from dismissing blogs for the math classroom to giving it some more serious thought.
