Rock 'n' Roll with Math..?

This Rock 'n' Roll Video Teaches Math
-Glenn Bull and Lynn Bell

Glen and Lynn talk about the ways of being able to teach math in a fun and exciting way, a way that engages the students to not just learn the material to ace a test, but to actually learn and comprehend the concepts. They talk about how digital video's can be used to present challenging mathematical questions or problems for the students. Math is usually such a visual concept, because of all the problem solving, and by creating and analyzing digital video's it is providing unique opportunities for "guiding this development." Video clips offers instructional possibilities for moving students from a passive mode of watching to active exploration in mathematics. You tube is also a very good source for video clips and short movies that will challenge students to watch carefully and engage in mathematical thinking.

Students need experiences that guide them as they learn to reason with mathematical concepts, they need opportunities to make decisions based on their analysis, which video clips help achieve. In high school, students develop insights into math's abstractions and structure by exploring the behavior of certain relationships between concepts, having a child make their own video demonstrating this idea can help them to comprehend the material more in depth.

I think if students are taught how to make videos to figure out concepts, it will teach them a great deal about how to figure out problems on their own, and of course what the concept is about. Children need more time to problem solve for themselves, as many rely on many of their teachers and parents to tell them how to solve a problem, creating their own digital videos can be a great start to all of this. Also, students will then be able to share their ideas on the video they made, which will hopefully make it easier for the rest of the class to understand their concept as well, coming from their peers point of view.

Social Networking

Web 2.0: Today's Technologies and Tomorrow's Learning

-Jennifer Grott

Have you ever thought about using facebook as a means to teaching? Many haven't but those few who have, have found it extremely successful. Often, students find that these

technologies, so prevalent in their lives outside of school, are unwelcome in their classrooms. Many teachers can tell stories about the disruptive influence of video games and "social networks" in their classrooms and schools. Educators, researchers, and designers are just beginning to explore the educational benefits of social networking technologies. By connecting students and teachers, they can create strong communities of practice, essential aids to good teaching and learning. Social networking technologies help teachers and students extend their learning into an additional space, as Grott mentions.

Some teachers look at social networking as a negative thing, that only disrupts class time and takes away from studying. The don't see the positive of being able to connect classroom time home time and it's more of a way for teachers to stay connected with their class. There are many networks that can open eyes to the students about what more is going on in the world around them. For instance, having a twitter account keeps you informed, from celebrities mainly, about events and fundraisers going on. It's making simpler ways for the younger generations to stay informed about news events.

Online Learning

Learning Comes in all Shapes and Sizes
-Thea Jones

Thea Jones is from Alaska, and realizes that with the harsh weather conditions that she and many others live in, it's sometimes impossible to get your kids to school and you to work. They took teachers out of "brick-and-mortar" classrooms and put them in virtual ones. They made sure teachers had all the tools they needed and, through video, they "re-injected” them back into the classroom. Students still receive direct instruction, but only now, their teachers are remote and have access to a vast amount of content. They looked at other programs in the state to see what did and didn't work, and they also took a very close look at their students. It's all about the audience, isn't it? They said their students are digital natives, and they feel just as comfortable typing on a keyboard as putting pen to paper. Which seems true for today's generation, of a technology based world, and on a positive note, they've seen student test scores improve.

This is such a great idea, and can make missed classes not such a bad thing. As I have personally taken online classes, I know it's not a stress if I can't get to class right on time because of something randomally coming coming up, everyone deal with interuption in their lives. If kids became sick or had a death in a family, they could still obtain the work done in classm and still complete assignments, all through going online. Not only does this make it so kids can access their class at any time, it's also giving them a boost in this technology based world. It would be easier to post assignment and project instructions online, and if there were questions about anything, the kids would have their parents or gaurdians at home to ask questions to as well. I think having virtual classrooms is beneficial for teachers, students and parents. Giving the parents access to the classroom at any time, too, and seeing what their child is learning.

Math and Technology? Who knew.

This Rock n' Roll Video Teaches Math

-Margaret L. Niess

Ever thought about using digital videos to teach your students math? I haven't. Niess explains that digital videos can give your students challenging math questions for you students, and the National Council of Teaching Mathematics adds, "That visualization is an important tool in problem solving." Niess thinks that by showing new concepts to the students through videos or presentations that the students will grasp the new concept at an higher level of understanding. Video's are more engaging that lectures and grasps the students' attention from the beginning. She goes on to give the example of Abbott and Costello's 28 donut example, where they try to divide 28 donuts among 7 people. Where could we find that video though? YouTube. These video's can help to explain concepts for students who are visual, auditory, or even kinesthetic learners by covering all areas of learning, it works for all.

I think this is a wonderful way to teach kids math, especially for someone like me who has no interest in math. Math is not my favorite subject, partially because it's hard to grasp which makes it boring for me. Bringing in funny and entertaining videos about the different concepts would engage the students in the new concept, and getting them to want to learn something new. These days YouTube has all the videos we could ever want at our fingertips. Another way I could bring this video concept is to break students into groups, and give each group a different math concept to explain to the class. They would explain this concept to the class through making a video that contains the concept. Not only do they then have to explain the concept while making sure they full understand it, they're making it more understandable for the rest of their classmates.

Pedagogical

An Effective Approach Based on Content, Pedagogy, and Teacher Planning

By: Judi Harris + Mark Hofer

Trying to incorporate technology into the classrooms has caused some problems, because of not producing the educational revolution that had been predicted by the "advocates" of technology. Now, we hear about a different way to bring the curriculum into a different side of the technology world. Technology integration efforts often begin with what's most unfamiliar to many teachers: the technologies themselves. Though it's true that we must first become familiar, comfortable, and competent with technologies to be able to integrate them into instruction effectively, doing this only does not ensure effective technologically being taught. Some things teachers can do to integrate technology more effectively, according to Harris and Hofer are:

1. Focuses on students' standards based learning needs rather than the specific features of particular tech tools and resources
2. Is easily adaptable to multiple teaching styles and levels of technological proficiency
Can be learned and applied relatively quickly, with few, if any, additional resources required, even in resource-scarce settings

Integrating all of these new technology strategies into a classroom could be very successful for me, especially with making sure to keep the pedagogical teaching strategy. I can understand how difficult it may be to bring technology into a class in a successful way, but with the new strategies they have come up with, it makes it seem much easier. I would love to have a classroom based on the regular teaching methods and standards, but bringing that into a technology way would be better for the students. They would learn several different way to get tasks completed, rather than just sticking to the pen and paper method. As students' learning needs and experiences develop, it will become much easier for them to work through the aspect of a technology based classroom.