The Study

I am having difficulty finding a quality chunk of time during this busy time of year. School is extremely hectic as well as home with the passing of Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching. I also purchased the wrong cord for the camera. I think I have an introduction, but when I wanted to transfer it I found the cord didn't work. I had to exchange it today so I am hoping I can put the case study together. Next, I will need to explore the google site component of this assignment. I don't think I will understand that until I try it. We will see. I'm still praying for peace and quiet to finish this. Yikes!

Video Case Study - Continued

I did purchase a cord to download my video pieces to movie maker. I have a video of a class activity and a plan for my study, but I'm working on the introduction and the other little pieces of video. The introduction still isn't long enough. This is a large amount of work at an extremely busy time of year. I'm having difficulty finding quiet time at home or at school to pull this together. I'm not giving up until it is finished, but I'm praying a great deal!

Video Case Study

I am still trying to figure out how to pull all of this together to have something to turn in at the end of the semester. I have a better understanding of what is going on, but I'm still unsure of exactly how to accomplish the task. It was big to find that the camera I am using will download straight to Movie Maker, but I have been unable to locate a cord. I will work on that this week. I now have a better idea of what the components should contain, so I am planning on recording those this week. This semester has been educationally overwhelming teaching and learning.

Google Forms

I am interested in the students feedback about the learning environment, so I used Google Forms to create a survey. I'm having great difficulty figuring out how to link and embed the survey. Google Forms has slowed my computer to a near stop. I'm not sure what to do but I have worked on this for three hours and I think I will have to try again tomorrow.

Rubistar

I used Rubistar to create a rubric to grade word problems solved by Algebra I students. The templates do make the rubric easy to create, but I was disappointed that there were no templates for math projects. I guess you would have to create your own based on your project. Rubistar is very easy and convenient to use, but rubrics for math aren't easy to create. I will have to practice this skill.

Movie Maker

For this assignment I used the 65 slide powerpoint about math. I must say I am frustrated and confused with this assignment because I followed the directions and tried to use a free trial of wondershare but it would not work like the directions indicated. I also tried to upload to teacher tube to no avail and so I decided to take a hint from Debbie Dosier and use Mydeo. I'm hopeful it is going to work when I post this entry. I have spent too much time on this assignment. It is nearly midnight, I still have papers to grade and I must get up at 5:00AM and start again. I am not a happy camper.

Geometry Jeopardy

It was interesting to make a geometry jeopardy game. I have always wanted to do this. Again, with six classes and three different preparations I still find it difficult to spend so much time on one activity that reviews such a small portion of the CSOs. I find I must get the biggest return for my effort. While knowing these terms is critical, the students need to be able to solve problems involving these terms. I am anxious to try this out in class and assess the effectiveness. Because the assignment directions did not mention that we had to post the game to our blog, I did not realize the e-mail contained instructions for posting. So, here is my version of geopardy. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

The Magic of One

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

The Magic of One

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Ignite

For this assignment I chose to explore the idea that I think about all of the time and the title of my blog. The magic of one intrigues me and I observe many times throughout the day the positive little "ones" that make a difference. I choose to dwell on the positive examples of good in a day rather than the negative even though I know they exist. I was able to upload this project to slideshare on the first try this time and I consider that such a blessing. My hope is the embedding process will go as well.

Huskies A Photo Story

I have been the advisor of the spirit club at my high school for many years. I spend a great deal of time working with the students who call themselves Rachel Rowdies. We talk about the fact that the high school is only as good as the people make it. Tradition has been a big part of the success at North Marion, and even in the tough times we count on it to bring us through. I would use this photo story with my club.

Math

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Math

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Power Point Story

I enjoy learning about technology, and I am learning a great deal in this class. I am happy with my Power Point, but it is too large to upload to google documents, so I am not sure what I need to do. My concern is the time I spend on this class has caused me to fall behind in my real job. The time I would spend planning and grading for school I spend on this class. I hope this gets better. I am drowning. I do plan to use this Power Point with my students.

Pollock Creation

Well, the Pollock website was interesting. Again, I love the freedom of creativity, but I could not find directions or instructions on this website. If there are options for this site I did not find them. I simply enjoyed creating a design in orange. I wasn't even sure how to stop it from painting and then I remembered one of my favorite lessons in this class which was image capture and that was how I was able to post my creation to this blog. Again, it was a very relaxing assignment and a site students would enjoy.

Mr. Picassohead

I must say that Mr. Picassohead was a very relaxing activity at the end of a very busy day and in the midst of an extremely hectic school year. I really didn't encounter problems or issues, I just found it very enjoyable to tinker with the tools. Sometimes I just need a moment of silence.

Photoshop Express

Did I mention I love photography. It would be my dream career. I edited some pictures of my sweet Champion. She will be 15 years old in November and I see her failing, but I enjoy her so much. I had a great time cropping these photos. She is a great companion.

Web Photo Album

I love photography. My first teaching job was as a photography teacher! After graduate classes I am anxious to pursue organizing all the digital photos I have stored. I created a web album of a family trip to Alabama to see the Crimson Tide, my husband's favorite team, play in Tuscaloosa. Alabama Coach Nick Saban is from Marion County.

Kids Zone Graphics

Using the 4th grade math NAEP scores I created a bar graph (chart 1) and used it in a letter for my state wide program asking for funding to improve math skills. Next, I created a bar graph of the 8th grade math NAEP scores (chart 2) as well as a graph of the NAEP reading scores for the 8th grade. I purposely used different scales on these to graphics to better support my argument. It is true that data can be manipulated.

Crappy Graphs

Crappy graphics would be a fun place for students to graph the results of an experiment. I chose to graph the linear equations of parallel lines. See crappy graph

Image Capture

I chose to use Paint for an image capture because it is accessible and easy to use. I captured a picture of a fractal which is an example of chaos math. Next, I decided to capture other images of math art including a tesselation and a string art image. The students enjoy creating art using math concepts, so this would be a good way to make an instruction sheet and give them some options. Captured images. More.

Desktop Graphic

I had already been thinking about a graphic for my classes this year. I first looked at SmartDraw just to see what it offered, but in another technology class that I took this summer I was introduced to the SmartArt tab of Microsoft Office 2007. This program had a venn diagram that could be inserted to a word document. In math, students are expected to understand venn diagrams, yet the set theory unit where they are often used is not longer part of the curriculum. I wanted to use the venn diagram in a manner meaningful to class while at the same time exposing them to this graphic. I will use this graphic as a daily assessment about homework by projecting it onto the board and allowing the students to place their name on the diagram in the area that best describes their homework self assessment. Click hear to see the Venn Diagram.

Reading # 1 TPACK Reflection and Answers

Without a doubt, teachers must teach mathematics using instructional technology. I have known this for quite some time, but knowing it and doing it are two different things. I have spent a great deal of time searching for technology tools, training to use those tools, and preparing to use
those tools in the classroom. I also agree that we must understand how our students learn to make this process effective. Bringing all of this together is very time consuming, but it is getting better with each new experience.
I would have to say the major theme in mathematics is problem solving. Students are expected to use their knowledge of math concepts and math skills to solve every day problems.
Mathematics does rely on specific processes to problem solve because although there are many different problems to solve using math, they can be grouped by the type of problem.
Most of what I know about math is dependent on the way I learned it. I believe this is why it is so difficult to make the transition to using instructional technology. Most high schools and colleges do not teach students using instructional technology, so if teachers do not participate in the voluntary trainings they do not see this type of teaching modeled. Teachers must desire to change with the times, but they also should be paid to train and provided the necessary equipment. Much of the technology I use in my classroom came from going to trainings for which I was not compensated monetarily, but with equipment for my classroom. When you are trying to earn a living for your family yet educate your students in the best possible learning environment, there is conflict between the two.
I definitely think of my content as an integrated whole, but I find myself instructing some concepts by chapters. Again, I'm working every day to get beyond this, but it is a process.
I believe my knowledge of math does represent an integration of concepts and processes that connect them, because I have diligently worked to develop my skills.
We can marry instructional strategies and representations of content themes with technology with the proper training and tools. This is an ongoing process to which teachers and school systems must commit. We need to use technology in instruction to offer students better and more interactive models of the content while at the same time giving them the experience with the technology tools they may use in the work place. There is much support for teaching with technology including the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, as well as the 21st Century Learning Goals and the Teachers Teaching with Technology organization.

Introductory Post

My name is Andrea Neptune and I teach Math and Science (mostly math) at North Marion High School. This is my 24th year of teaching and I always hoped to earn a masters degree after my own children had graduated high school, so when this opportunity arose I accepted. I'm very involved at my high school, so I have found it challenging yet beneficial to go to school and teach full time, but I'm determined. I have wanted to start a blog but haven't found the time. The magic of one has been a phrase in my head for a while. First of all, the number one can be written in many forms in math and we use it all the time to simplify math problems at every level of mathematics. I wanted to extend this idea to share its magic in life. One person, one experience, one situation can make such a difference to people. I thought this would be a great topic for my students to ponder this year. We will see.