Ipad Apps

In class today we looked at educational apps for the Ipad. My partner (Jessica) and I found two that I would love to use in the classroom. First, we found a number line app that teaches students how to add and subtract using a number line. It has them move a cute frog to the correct point on the number line before they can move on to a new question. The other app is called Stack the States where students have to answer state questions and then get to take the correct states and stack them up to the line. Both of these apps have different levels to allow differentiation. They both are student friendly and are student motivated. Overall, I would love to use these apps in a classroom.

Excel

Today we worked on Excel in class. I have used excel in a variety of ways before. Because I am a math teacher, I use it for graphs and pictures a lot for my lessons. This year I also used it to create my seating charts. Today I learned how to do a grade book using Excel. Even though this is really cool, most schools have a grading program that they use and I also like to use a hard copy as a back up. Teachers can incorporate Excel in their lessons and use it to keep themselves more organized. How do you use Excel?

Social media in the classroom - reasearch paper

I was very interested in how social media could be used in the classroom for educational purposes, that is why I did my research paper on this topic. After looking long and hard, I found some great articles that talked about using social media in the classroom. In my paper I discussed how you can use twitter, Facebook, blogger, Wikis and Google doc. My top two were twitter and Facebook. Students use these social media's the most therefore I that the students would be most interested in using these in the classroom.

Twitter can be used in a few different ways. First, the teacher can create a classroom account where the students could communicate with professional people like authors or scientists. Another way would be to have students create their own accounts and use it to follow important people and the other students in the class.

Facebook can be also used a few different ways. First, the teacher could created a classroom fan page or group page where the teacher could post information about the class. Students could also have their own accounts on Facebook and post on the classroom page. Also a unique project that I found in my research that I thought was cool is to have the students create Facebook pages or accounts on famous people. They could include pictures, videos and important facts about the person. How much fun do you think your students would have doing this?

Overall,k social media can be used in a variety of ways. Teachers need to make sure they are using the correct social media for their lesson and that they are implementing it correctly. Lastly, teachers need to make sure that their students understand why they are using the social media and what will not be tolerated in the class like cyber bullying.

Diverse Learners

After watching the video and teaching every day, I have realized that students do not all learn the same way. As teachers we sometimes get frustrated when students do not understand something, which is often in my math class. For example, today we were learning about discount prices and marking things up in a store. Students did not understand the concept of doing this because they do not shop that much yet, which lead them to not understand the math part of the lesson I was getting very frustrated with them because I could only phase the answer a few ways. After explaining it another way they finally understood and we continued with the lesson. With the new math modules, there is usually only one way we are supped to teach, which is so hard when in math there are multiple ways to find a solution to a problem. Teachers need to understand that not every student learns the same way and they need to change it up. If they teach using different media like PowerPoint, SMART Boards, etc. they will be teaching for the diverse learner which all students will benefit from. I try to change it up (as much as I am allowed to) each day by doing different styles of notes and worksheets. How do you teach to the diverse learner in your class?

Visual Learners

Today's class was very interesting. We got to play with Inspiration 9 which is a program where you can create graphic organizers. This is great tool as a teacher to use for your visual learners. It allows them to see the information after you have taught it. I like Inspiration because I got to have a hyperlink for each bubble where the students could use it as either a web quest or use it as review after class. I did mine on unit rates, which is a math topic I am teaching right now in 7th grade. How do you use graphic organizers in your class.