As a seasoned teacher, I have used and continue to use many of the learning strategies presented in this course. However, through this course I have learned how to enhance them. I feel that I now have some strategies for approaching various problems I’ve encountered as a math teacher. Some of these include:
-improper note-taking
-groups that become social outlets
-assignments not done properly
-students staring at me as I lecture but really being off in their own thoughts
-lack of critical thinking skills as well as the ability to synthesize learning
New to me is the creation and use of graphic organizers. What a great way to set the tone of a unit and keep students on track. These organizers also serve as a reference guide for students throughout a unit. Though I’ve always known about rubrics, I’ve never used with my students. With rubrics, students will know exactly what’s expected of them. They can also use them for self evaluation. With the use of Cornell note-taking templates and a discussion on how to use them, students can learn how to properly take notes. Additional nonlinguistic activities can serve to get students more involved in their learning—keep them awake!
Using the discussion and blogging tools included in the BlackBoard Learning System can serve to get students from the mechanical mode of math to the thinking mode. These tools also provide an outlet for collaboration. Including writing assignments in a math course for promoting critical thinking and as a form of mathematical written expression is important. Google Docs is a good tool for this exercise since it lends itself so well to collaboration. Since the presence of technology tools in MATC classrooms is lacking, any computer work would have to be done independently by students in one of the computer labs or on their home computers. This poses a problem since there are different levels of student computer literacy. But forcing students to use computers also forces them to prepare for today’s technological world. Finally, this course and all previous courses in this program have opened doors of exploration to me as an instructor. I am now aware of many wonderful sites to research and get ideas from so that I can continue to grow as a math teacher.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Final CEDO 525 Reflections
Saturday, July 11, 2009
A Review of Three Mind Mapping Sites
I reviewed Bubbl.us, Education Oases, and ExploraTree. All three sites are free which is a plus. All three sites deal with mind maps or organizers.
Bubble.us is the most basic of the three. There is a starting parent bubble and by clicking or tabbing on the bubble or any resulting bubble, sibling or child bubbles can be formed and connected to the other bubbles. Bubbles can be different colors, text can be added to bubbles, bubbles can be moved, and as the mouse falls on different features contained in a bubble, the feature is explained. The mind maps can be saved as an image and printed, e-mailed, embedded in a website or blog, and shared. One other feature Bubble.us has is multi-lingual support. I think this is a fun and easy to use site students can use to create their own mind maps.
Education Oases is a website that has 58 ready made graphic organizers. All of the organizers are in PDF format and therefore require Adobe Reader to view and print them. There are five categories of organizers and some of them allow text entry. I liked the organizers that I reviewed. I was not able to find one that I could edit and I was able to add text to only a couple that I reviewed. I suppose this could be a limitation. All in all I consider this to be a very useful and easy to use site for instructors.
Exploratree is a website that contains a variety of ready made thinking guides that can be easily and broadly edited to meet your needs. If desired, you can also create your own guide. To use this site Flash must be installed on your computer. There is a wonderful help tool included as well as how-to videos. When working with a template, there are three different modes you can work in—the Create mode, the Do It mode, and the Show It mode. Comments can be added to a guide, a guide can be sequenced, guides can be shared and the site supports collaboration. Of the three sites, I liked this one the best. It’s easy to use and has a lot to offer.
Bubble.us is the most basic of the three. There is a starting parent bubble and by clicking or tabbing on the bubble or any resulting bubble, sibling or child bubbles can be formed and connected to the other bubbles. Bubbles can be different colors, text can be added to bubbles, bubbles can be moved, and as the mouse falls on different features contained in a bubble, the feature is explained. The mind maps can be saved as an image and printed, e-mailed, embedded in a website or blog, and shared. One other feature Bubble.us has is multi-lingual support. I think this is a fun and easy to use site students can use to create their own mind maps.
Education Oases is a website that has 58 ready made graphic organizers. All of the organizers are in PDF format and therefore require Adobe Reader to view and print them. There are five categories of organizers and some of them allow text entry. I liked the organizers that I reviewed. I was not able to find one that I could edit and I was able to add text to only a couple that I reviewed. I suppose this could be a limitation. All in all I consider this to be a very useful and easy to use site for instructors.
Exploratree is a website that contains a variety of ready made thinking guides that can be easily and broadly edited to meet your needs. If desired, you can also create your own guide. To use this site Flash must be installed on your computer. There is a wonderful help tool included as well as how-to videos. When working with a template, there are three different modes you can work in—the Create mode, the Do It mode, and the Show It mode. Comments can be added to a guide, a guide can be sequenced, guides can be shared and the site supports collaboration. Of the three sites, I liked this one the best. It’s easy to use and has a lot to offer.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Feedback and Student Response
The article “Feedback that fits” was very informative and filled with common sense. I have always found that giving correct and positive feedback requires patience, tact, insight, maturity, and at times compassion—even if as a teacher you are having a bad day. The article points out that giving feedback is a craft that is learned over time. This is indeed true and it’s important to note that wrong or negative feedback can be damaging.
After reviewing two articles on electronic student response tools (Clickers: A classroom innovation by D. Buff and What I learned from using a personal response system by M. Butler) I’ve learned that clickers promote active participation, engagement, and discussion among all students, even those who might not participate in typical class-wide discussions. I’ve also learned that clickers can be assessment tools, providing students with useful and motivational feedback on their own learning while providing instructors with information about student learning that helps them respond to immediate student learning needs. I checked out two systems online: I>Clicker and Qwizdom Action Point. I>Clicker seems to be the easier of the two to use and questions can be written using any application. Qwizdom is only compatible with PowerPoint. Both packages have a “Questions on the Fly” option but I>Click can work with a large selection of textbooks. I>Clicker has a remote which is well-suited for students with disabilities. This doesn’t seem to be the case with Qwizdom. Students and direct purchasers pay one price for the I>Clicker remote and can use it repeatedly with no additional costs, ever. I>Clicker is very reliable and has a very small defective rate. It uses AAA batteries and users will not encounter any problems with wireless interference. Data from I>Clicker can be exported into HTML reports. Qwizdom users have the option of choosing different styles of remotes, they can discreetly ask for assistance, and they’re instantly provided with right/wrong feedback. Qwizdom also has interactive learning games. I did not see any prices but I’m assuming that Qwizdom is the more expensive of the two (just a guess). The only con I can see with clickers is one caused by the economy. I don’t see my institution investing in any new technology for a while. The math classrooms at my institution are not equipped with computers (student or instructor). This raises another problem. I personally would like to see clickers in action somewhere—especially in a math classroom. I’m sure they add a missing piece to student involvement.
After reviewing two articles on electronic student response tools (Clickers: A classroom innovation by D. Buff and What I learned from using a personal response system by M. Butler) I’ve learned that clickers promote active participation, engagement, and discussion among all students, even those who might not participate in typical class-wide discussions. I’ve also learned that clickers can be assessment tools, providing students with useful and motivational feedback on their own learning while providing instructors with information about student learning that helps them respond to immediate student learning needs. I checked out two systems online: I>Clicker and Qwizdom Action Point. I>Clicker seems to be the easier of the two to use and questions can be written using any application. Qwizdom is only compatible with PowerPoint. Both packages have a “Questions on the Fly” option but I>Click can work with a large selection of textbooks. I>Clicker has a remote which is well-suited for students with disabilities. This doesn’t seem to be the case with Qwizdom. Students and direct purchasers pay one price for the I>Clicker remote and can use it repeatedly with no additional costs, ever. I>Clicker is very reliable and has a very small defective rate. It uses AAA batteries and users will not encounter any problems with wireless interference. Data from I>Clicker can be exported into HTML reports. Qwizdom users have the option of choosing different styles of remotes, they can discreetly ask for assistance, and they’re instantly provided with right/wrong feedback. Qwizdom also has interactive learning games. I did not see any prices but I’m assuming that Qwizdom is the more expensive of the two (just a guess). The only con I can see with clickers is one caused by the economy. I don’t see my institution investing in any new technology for a while. The math classrooms at my institution are not equipped with computers (student or instructor). This raises another problem. I personally would like to see clickers in action somewhere—especially in a math classroom. I’m sure they add a missing piece to student involvement.
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