Prezi

Prezi looks like a cool tool to use as an alternative to Power Point, but it seems to have many more capabilities. I use Power Points in both my PreAlgebra and Calculus classes to present new material on occasion. What I like about Prezi is that like my Power Points, once you develop a Prezi, you can put it into your toolbox as a teacher and use it again in the future making modifications as needed. Another thing I really like about it is how you can easily pull together multiple sources from the web or your computer into one presentation. One reason I don't see myself implementing this into my classroom this year is because I just don't have enough time to play with the tool. However, I could see it being very useful in the future and once I get a little more time to sit down and play with it. I also could see myself asking students to use this tool to present material in the classroom. Often times to see how students understand the material, I have them teach it to the class. This may be a good tool to introduce them to which will make their presentations more interactive and exciting.

Voice Thread

I very much enjoyed learning about VoiceThread. It was easy to use, and I think it would be an effective way for students to interact with each other, their teacher, and other students outside of the classroom. I could see this tool being very useful for many different classes, but I did not really find its applications in mathematics incredibly helpful. The examples on the website were mediocre.

After considering how I could use this tool in my class, I thought that it might be an effective way to test students knowledge of the sequential nature of certain mathematical processes. For example, when my Calculus I and II students graph a polynomial without a calculator there is a series of steps (at least 6) which they must follow. I could post a problem and require students to post different steps to the problem to develop a solution. This would require them to understand the material well enough to explain it to their peers and also force them to join the problems at different steps in the process.

While I do find many of the other tools of 14 Things to Tame more useful for my class, it is possible that I may use this one in my classes as well.

Check out the sample VoiceThread above, and explore some of the VoiceThread in Education examples
Sign up for a VoiceThread account
Add at least two comments to the VoiceThread I created, one of which must be an audio or video comment.
Write a blog post about your experience using VoiceThread, and how you might use it with students.

Creative Commons

As a math teacher, I never really considered copyright infringement (is that even what it's called?) as a problem. Most of my classes integrate technology through iPad applications for practice and as a resource for me to show the students new processes and skills. However, I do sometimes make PowerPoint presentations to present material to my classes, and I use pictures that I stumble upon online. I never really considered the fact that the way I was going about this may not be entirely legal. However, looking through creativecommons.org and at the blog you shared on 14 Things to Tame, I think I have a few resources to pull from for my presentations.

I also have my Mathematics in Athletics students create presentations on different sports involving statistics, physics, and other mechanics. It would be interesting for me to share the information I learned with them about citing the material and the pictures they choose for their presentations. It never really occurred to me before that the pictures on their cover pages or in their presentations belong to someone else. I think introducing them to this site will be helpful for the students and will be a useful tool for them to have at their finger tips as the move on to college next year.

Thing 10 - Glogster

Glogster seems like a pretty straight forward and easy to use tool. While it is not a tool that I think I will use often to teach, I think it is something that I may have my students use to present information on a topic they are studying. Specifically in my Mathematics In Athletics site, I think it is a great way for them to bring together videos of the sport they are researching, links to specific statistics of that sport, and display graphs and data for a presentation to the class. Glogster also may be effective in teaching my PreAlgebra students a new topic. I could include a Khan Academy video, and links to helpful websites on the Glog. It would be a good point of reference to ground my students in unit and I could link practice problems and quizzes to the Glog.

Google

When I was in high school and college, I often used google to search for research, interesting web sites, and clues to help me with an assignment.  Since I have become a teacher, I have found myself exploring the site a little more. 

During Winterim 2 years ago, I explored Picassa as a way to share the pictures we were taking of students with their families.  We also started a blog so that the kids could upload their journal entries and parents could track where we needed to be.

I also use Google in other capacities now.  For the classroom, I use it to search for Power Points, PDFs, or Microsoft Word files using the advanced search feature at the bottom of the page.  A few weeks ago, I also discovered the conversion application which I used yesterday in my Math in Athletics class to convert kilometers to miles. 

For my personal life, I also used Google Docs to track my wedding list so that it was accessible to both my husband and myself.  It allowed us to quickly update addresses, track responses and food choices, and keep track of gifts making Thank You notes much easier to write.  I also use Google to blog as I am interested in baking and as of late I use the RSS Feed on Google to track both educational and other blogs and websites that interest me for updates.

Some things that I plan to dabble with in the classroom and to prepare for my classes after looking into the site a little deeper today are the graphing feature and using the many different techniques presented to refine my searches.  The graphing feature looks to be very useful when trying to project a graph to my classes (much nicer than the Texas Instrument graphs, and it has color!), and when trying to print out graphs for activities.  Also, refining my searches will help when looking for pictures for my Power Points, and research for my Mathematics in Athletics class.  It will also help me to make sure I am getting reliable information in my searches and it will save me time in weeding out the unreliable sites.

I look forward to continuing to explore all Google has to offer, and still plan to check out the site daily to see how they dress up their logo.