I'm participating in another OTF Connects online PD session this evening. It's Part Three to a series I've been participating in, called "Working the Math Processes", and shares a variety of technology for learning.
Although I am still VERY new to using these in any concrete and comfortable capacity in my own classroom, I can see the potential for many of these. Below, I've shared a few from the session:
Although I am still VERY new to using these in any concrete and comfortable capacity in my own classroom, I can see the potential for many of these. Below, I've shared a few from the session:
| NearPod This is an online slide presentation tool that can be joined by students who have a code (so as a teacher I could post a math problem, for example, and students could submit their responses). I like the way this can be used for math congress or bansho -- the teacher can push out a student response to all screens. The only downfall is that you cannot share more than one slide at a time. (In a good problem debrief with the whole class, I'd want to look at multiple solutions simultaneously.) Dan Meyer Problems A Math Teacher known for TED talk on 3-act math problems; his philosophy is that in order to learn something, we have to challenge our current schema (oooh, I smell a Social Justice blog post here, hehe!!) He often posts his "real life" math lessons that
Kyle Pearce An Ontario math educator who runs the Tap into Teen Minds blog, and who has organized Dan's work as well as his own according to math strands for easier searching. Educreations A free app and website that allows students to draw, record voice, import pictures, etc. Here, our session presenter (Jaclyn Calder) intros a quick and dirty for how it can be used (20 seconds). Basically, it is an interactive whiteboard. I like that this is both a tablet and a laptop-accessible (web based) tool. Oh, I sooooo need more BYOD and reliable wifi in my classroom!!! I actually sort of like that there are a limited number of features. Keeps students who use it to create a presentation focused on the topic or concept, rather than getting distracted with the glitzy ppt. or prezi features |
Our session facilitator went on to talk about Google drive or docs or something, with equations, which sounded REALLY cool for math class... but I started to get glazed over at this point. Too many options, and not enough time to really fiddle with them. I want to integrate technology into my program more (indeed it is part of my OTF TLC project mandate), but I feel so clued out! And it seems like there is never enough TIME to get clued in! I need a week to just play and fiddle with this stuff and think about how it connects to the curriculum, followed by a day or two with the students to try it out in class, followed by a other week to refine it!!!
I am thinking I might use some of my computer lab periods to experiment with a few of these apps, and consider how they might be integrated into various subject areas and classes. And maybe next summer, instead of signing up for a million PD sessions, just choose two or three, and teach them to myself, and create a few lessons with them.
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