Tonight, Twitter seems awash in links to websites discussing how to introduce Google Docs to your classroom. By awash, I mean that approximately half of Web 2.0 Clasroom's perpetually substantial number of links are to such articles, and Tom Barrett also tweeted a link. Many excellent ideas, including leveraging some newer (at least to me) features of certain Google products, including the form functionality of Google Spreadsheets. One of the links discussing how to integrate Google products into education actually goes to a Google Site. Moreover, the Secondary MATs have actually seen Professors use both Google Sites and a Blog as course websites this summer. The Google Site is probably ever so slightly more flexible / conventional. The attraction to such a novel use of a blog cannot be underestimated.
I wanted to focus on something a little bit different. Web 2.0 Classroom posted a link to this article,which discusses how to create a customized Google search engine. Apologies in advance: I am violating the number one rule of technology, namely writing about a tool before using / playing with / experimenting with it. Obviously, the theme (background, etc.) of the search engine can be customized. Moreover, this customized search engine can be embedded in one's website. However, most interesting, the customized search engine can be set to search only particular domains, and the search results can be customized. I assume that customizing search results probably just involves the ability to blacklist certain sites. However, I am not sure how effective such a mechanism would be, as the web is always changing. I'd be pleasantly surprised to learn that the tool is more customizable / robust than that.
I can envision a math teacher permanently embedding such a customized search engine on his / her course websites. It would be set to search the compendium of useful math tutorials, websites, blogs, and other online math resources the teacher had compiled over the years. Better yet, the math community could begin building one together. They could post it on the NCTM website, with a list of included domains in text form somewhere else on the NCTM webpage. Then, any math teacher could use this math search engine, with or without modifications (in particular, I can envision a middle school math teacher excluding college level resources, e.g.) Moreover, the community could collectively ensure the list remains up-to-date.
In this way, Google could cut down on some of the overhead of referrals. Instead of students constantly having to ask their teachers, "I am struggling with [x topic]; can you think of any useful online resources?", and the teacher having to provide the 3 resources they remember using on this topic, the students would know to go to the customized Google search and find approved resources without any explicit intervention from the teacher.
Finally, I have to geek out for a moment. Google's search engine was quite a novel concept. Instead of just looking at the number of times a search term appeared on a page, it thought in terms of the relationship (in terms of the "what links to this page" question) between and overall network of web pages. If the math community were to create a customized search engine, it may generate data on the useful connections between various topics in mathematics, which would bring us closer to being able to axiomatize the entire field (no pun intended). That would be awesome.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Steinmetz Academic Centre High School
For Professor Larson's SEC 525 class, Megan, Adam, Aaron W and myself examined the current state of Steinmetz Academic Centre High School, looking at its features, challenges, and signs of hope. We were able to visit the school and were very lucky to have the assistance of Tara Lydon and Perla Ocompo. We also subjected the school to the usual battery of online research. Our presentation, in two parts, is below.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
For a literature circle presentation, Professor McKnight assigned a group of us The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, written by Mark Haddon. One might describe this text as a murder mystery surrounding the death of a black standard poodle. More importantly, the mystery is told from the perspective of 15 year old Christopher Boone. Although never labeled explicitly as such, it is very likely that Christopher is a person with autism. The way he narrates provides much insight into the way people with autism construct the world. As a literature circle activity, we had to depict a scene in Glogster. The collage below, primarily a product of Chris Devlin's creativity, illustrates the beach scene.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Sun Times Notes
According to the Chicago Sun Times, the test is called "TeacherFit." Developed at a cost of $130,000 to the Chicago Public Schools, Of the 3,900 CPS teacher applicants who have taken TeacherFit since June, 30 percent have scored low enough to be excluded from hiring.
In the list of poor scorers are "Graduates of the Academy for Urban School Leadership’s teacher training program touted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a winner of a prestigious Golden Apple scholarship, and a special-education major who made the dean’s list at Michigan State University and was described as a 'dream candidate' by a CPS principal who wanted to hire her."
In other news, the Sun Times has reported that Mayor Emanuel has decided to send his kids to University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, prestigious private institutions. The move has drawn fire in the context of the Mayor's commitment to strengthen CPS during his campaign.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Fourth PLN Reflection
Devlin is National Public Radio's math contributor.
His twitter feed from the past couple of days has been kind of interesting. I'll isolate two links in particular. First, he posted a CNN article of which he said, "This is what you get when you elect innumerate people to Congress. They fail Econ 101 and Finance 101 as well." The article examines the problems with "Cut, Cap, and Balance." CNN argues that the plan distracts from the need to raise the debt ceiling, cuts spending in the middle of a recession which would just further depress the economy, is too vague on what to cut and too demanding in making cuts to a budget comprised of things that are either deemed non-negotiable (defense) OR very politically popular (Social Security, Medicare), and is unwilling to consider increased taxes as a solution.
The tweet is a powerful illustration because it involves a professional mathematician pointing out what happens when policy makers attempt to ignore the rules of mathematics. Moreover, the particular policy in question is very relevant to our Democracy. In that regard, it is exactly the kind of example that teacher should use to motivate the math.
Second, he tweeted his write up on multiplication, in which he fervently distinguishes multiplication from repeated addition. He isolates several problems with thinking about multiplication in this way. The details are probably interesting only to math teachers. Nonetheless, the combination of these two articles yet again illustrates the power of Twitter to find random, classroom applicable tidbits.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Third PLN Reflection
Couple of notes here: Some of them are not terribly useful to the Secondary MAT crowd. Some suggestions are for a slightly younger crowd. Also, some of the suggestions are better for learning about your students (new class bingo was used at the Meet & Greet, e.g.), whereas others are better for learning your students names (Alliterative job titles).
I'd like to focus on the latter. I think this material is really relevant to some of the concluding remarks from our 502/504 class, and much of what we do in Teacher Moves. In order to build an environment of mutual respect (and be that "no-nonsense nurturer"), we basically have to learn the names of 150+ students in a very short period of time. Much of the discussion of laying down the procedures, rules, and hierarchy of consequences (particularly the demonstration of any of these items) requires immediate access to, at a minimum, student names. There are several strategies in the presentation that link student names with categorical words beginning with the same name. Others involve sorting students (by birthday, etc.) in a way that allows you to form an order in which to remember your students, if only initially.
The other interesting note is that I saw this post early this week, and I believe it was 26 Interesting Ideas. Which is just to observe that this presentation really is a product of collaboration and includes ideas from teachers all over the world (Barrett is based in the UK) who confront the same issues we will. Excellent illustration of how twitter / our PLN can enable us to work smarter, not harder.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Second PLN Reflection
Lucy Gray posted this Catalyst article discussing how CPS is behind the technology curve.
The article discusses the plethora of high level advantages technology confers on schools. For instance, for kids with behavior issues, OR students in special education programs, technology can level the playing field. Moreover, as immersion in technology is a defining characteristic of this generation of school age children, using technology as a teaching tool has the potential to be much more engaging than straight lecture. Additionally, technology like blogs and wikis can boost student confidence by empowering them to create content for a broad audience. Experts agree social media can help "bridge cultural, economic and even geographic gaps to aid learning."
However, CPS seems to be behind in realizing these advantages. Sites like YouTube are banned by a network filter in the Chicago Public Schools. (Charters in the city are not subject to the same filter and therefore typically allow access to such sites as YouTube.) Unlike other cities across the country, CPS has no integrated technology vision. To the extent that CPS has a technology plan, it is only used for applying for State funding. It is disjointed and not implemented throughout the district. Finally, more than just having access to the technology, successful implementation also requires teacher training / professional development to explain best ways to implement it. In particular, CPS is short on technology specialists in its schools.
But there are signs for hope. The district is modeling other metropolitan technology initiatives (as part of its fight for state funding), and a new iPad program is enjoying wider implementation. Hopefully, CPS will be able to close the technology gap quickly, allowing it to best serve its students.
The article discusses the plethora of high level advantages technology confers on schools. For instance, for kids with behavior issues, OR students in special education programs, technology can level the playing field. Moreover, as immersion in technology is a defining characteristic of this generation of school age children, using technology as a teaching tool has the potential to be much more engaging than straight lecture. Additionally, technology like blogs and wikis can boost student confidence by empowering them to create content for a broad audience. Experts agree social media can help "bridge cultural, economic and even geographic gaps to aid learning."
However, CPS seems to be behind in realizing these advantages. Sites like YouTube are banned by a network filter in the Chicago Public Schools. (Charters in the city are not subject to the same filter and therefore typically allow access to such sites as YouTube.) Unlike other cities across the country, CPS has no integrated technology vision. To the extent that CPS has a technology plan, it is only used for applying for State funding. It is disjointed and not implemented throughout the district. Finally, more than just having access to the technology, successful implementation also requires teacher training / professional development to explain best ways to implement it. In particular, CPS is short on technology specialists in its schools.
But there are signs for hope. The district is modeling other metropolitan technology initiatives (as part of its fight for state funding), and a new iPad program is enjoying wider implementation. Hopefully, CPS will be able to close the technology gap quickly, allowing it to best serve its students.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
First PLN Reflection
Conceptua Math tweeted "Mathematicians want to say goodbye to Pi." from Yahoo! News.
The argument is not that the current estimate of the value of pi, approximately 3.14159265...; verifiable by accurate measurement, Power Series expansions, and other processor-assisted computations; is itself incorrect. Instead, Mr. Palais argues that that 2*pi, recently donned "tau" by his followers, is more relevant than pi. Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Tau is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its radius. C = pi * diameter = tau * radius. There'd have to be a similar reorientation of thinking about the formula for the area of a circle.
But the real advantage to tau is on the unit circle:
Despite the growing momentum of nascent movement, it is unlikely that the next editions of the textbooks will be rewritten to reflect this line of thought. Indeed, tau, all of its advantages notwithstanding, is likely to lose this battle. I am sure Betamax sympathizes.
However, this article remains powerful for teachers. Professor McKnight argues that breaking down the monolithic viewpoint of the textbook with supplemental materials is more engaging to students. Moreover, giving students choice is a powerful tool of engagement. I could envision a math teacher opening the lesson on the unit circle with a brief passage from the textbook and this news article, and then allowing the students to hash out which convention they would prefer.
I think the example also illustrates the power of Twitter for math teachers. It makes brand new developments and debates easily accessible to the teacher, who can introduce them to the classroom.
"I know it will be called blasphemy by some, but I believe that pi is wrong."opens University of Utah mathematician Bob Palais' 2001 essay entitled, "Pi is Wrong!"
The argument is not that the current estimate of the value of pi, approximately 3.14159265...; verifiable by accurate measurement, Power Series expansions, and other processor-assisted computations; is itself incorrect. Instead, Mr. Palais argues that that 2*pi, recently donned "tau" by his followers, is more relevant than pi. Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Tau is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its radius. C = pi * diameter = tau * radius. There'd have to be a similar reorientation of thinking about the formula for the area of a circle.
But the real advantage to tau is on the unit circle:
"There are 2pi radians in a circle. This means one quarter of a circle corresponds to half of pi. That is, one quarter corresponds to a half. That's crazy. Similarly, three quarters of a circle is three halves of pi. Three quarters corresponds to three halves! Let's now use tau. One quarter of a circle is one quarter of tau. One quarter corresponds to one quarter! Isn't that sensible and easy to remember?"A fact which would also pay dividends when it comes time to think about graphing transformations of trigonometric functions.
Despite the growing momentum of nascent movement, it is unlikely that the next editions of the textbooks will be rewritten to reflect this line of thought. Indeed, tau, all of its advantages notwithstanding, is likely to lose this battle. I am sure Betamax sympathizes.
However, this article remains powerful for teachers. Professor McKnight argues that breaking down the monolithic viewpoint of the textbook with supplemental materials is more engaging to students. Moreover, giving students choice is a powerful tool of engagement. I could envision a math teacher opening the lesson on the unit circle with a brief passage from the textbook and this news article, and then allowing the students to hash out which convention they would prefer.
I think the example also illustrates the power of Twitter for math teachers. It makes brand new developments and debates easily accessible to the teacher, who can introduce them to the classroom.
List of Tweeps in my Personal Learning Network
TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
Chris Fitz Walsh @fitzwalsh
Learn. Design. Teach. Dir @ New Tech Network. Co-Founder of Google Teacher Academy. Active in CUE & ISTE. Searching for perfect choc chip cookie.
Lucy Gray @elemenous
Education technology and social media consultant, Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Teacher, into global education, mobile learning
Sandy Kendell @EdTechSandyK
K-12 Inst. Tech Specialist with MEd. Hoping to build bridges between thinkers in the cloud & teachers in classroom. Tweets represent me not my employer.
David Nagel @THEJournalDave
Online editor for THE Journal, covering K-12 education technology
Steven W. Anderson @web20classroom
Educator, Speaker, Blogger, #Edchat Co-Creator, #140Conf Character, NOW Award Winner, ASCD Conference Scholar. Do You Use Social Media In Education?
isteconnects @isteconnects
International Society for Technology in Education
CITEd @TechnologyInEd
Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd). (RT or following do not imply endorsement)
eChalk @eChalk
Tweets about education technology, community engagement, collaboration, learning platforms, social learning (and eChalk).
Eric Schmidt @ericschmidt
Executive Chairman & former CEO of Google
Bill Gates @BillGates
Sharing cool things I'm learning through my foundation work and other interests...
Gates Foundation @gatesfoundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives, focused on global health, global development, & U.S. education.
Salman Khan @khanacademy
Trying to make a world-class education available to anyone, anywhere.
MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
Marcus du Sautoy @MarcusdsuSautoy
Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford
Dan Meyer @ddmeyer
I like to teach. Read Mr. Meyer's Math Blog (now dy/dan) @ http://blog.mrmeyer.com/
Jason Dyer @jdyer
Read The Number Warrior blog @ http://numberwarrior.wordpress.com/
Ricky Mikelman @RMMath
Mike Croucher @CarnivalOfMath
The carnival of math is a monthly celebration of the mathematics blogging community. http://www.walkingrandomly.com/?p=2214
Conceptua Math @conceptuamath
The premier cloud-based math tools and curriculum for fractions instruction. Educational technology.
NCTM @NCTM
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a public voice of mathematics education, providing vision, leadership and professional development to support
Math for America @mathteachers
Recruit, train, retain mathematicians to teach in public schools
Wolfram|Alpha @Wolfram_Alpha
Your official source of news about the computational knowledge engine, Wolfram|Alpha
EDUCATION IN GENERAL
AUSL @AUSLChicago
Teacher training and turnaround schools in Chicago.
Catalyst Chicago Mag @CatalystChicago
Award-winning, independent reporting on urban school reform since 1990. Published by Community Renewal Society. Sister pubs: The Chicago Reporter, Catalyst Ohio
Deborah Meier @DebMeier
Education Activist/Writer
Professor Katherine McKnight @LiteracyWorld
National Council of Teachers of English, National Consultant Author of 6 books on various literacy topics, Associate Professor at National-Louis University,
Taylor Mali @TaylorMali
Taylor Mali is a poet who travels the world writing & reciting poetry & teaching others to do the same.
Education Week @educationweek
Education Week, American education's newspaper and website of record.
Ed Week Teacher @EdWeekTeacher
Education Week Teacher: a leading source for K-12 teacher leaders covering instruction, school environment, classroom technology, curriculum, and more.
TeachHUB @TeachHub
TeachHUB.com is a K12 resource site By Teachers For Teachers. Share your fave ideas, tips, sites & stuff with the teaching community!
Discovery Education @DiscoveryEd
Connecting teachers to their most valuable resource... Each other!
Chris Fitz Walsh @fitzwalsh
Learn. Design. Teach. Dir @ New Tech Network. Co-Founder of Google Teacher Academy. Active in CUE & ISTE. Searching for perfect choc chip cookie.
Lucy Gray @elemenous
Education technology and social media consultant, Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Teacher, into global education, mobile learning
Sandy Kendell @EdTechSandyK
K-12 Inst. Tech Specialist with MEd. Hoping to build bridges between thinkers in the cloud & teachers in classroom. Tweets represent me not my employer.
David Nagel @THEJournalDave
Online editor for THE Journal, covering K-12 education technology
Steven W. Anderson @web20classroom
Educator, Speaker, Blogger, #Edchat Co-Creator, #140Conf Character, NOW Award Winner, ASCD Conference Scholar. Do You Use Social Media In Education?
isteconnects @isteconnects
International Society for Technology in Education
CITEd @TechnologyInEd
Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd). (RT or following do not imply endorsement)
eChalk @eChalk
Tweets about education technology, community engagement, collaboration, learning platforms, social learning (and eChalk).
Eric Schmidt @ericschmidt
Executive Chairman & former CEO of Google
Bill Gates @BillGates
Sharing cool things I'm learning through my foundation work and other interests...
Gates Foundation @gatesfoundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives, focused on global health, global development, & U.S. education.
Salman Khan @khanacademy
Trying to make a world-class education available to anyone, anywhere.
MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
Marcus du Sautoy @MarcusdsuSautoy
Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford
Dan Meyer @ddmeyer
I like to teach. Read Mr. Meyer's Math Blog (now dy/dan) @ http://blog.mrmeyer.com/
Jason Dyer @jdyer
Read The Number Warrior blog @ http://numberwarrior.wordpress.com/
Ricky Mikelman @RMMath
Mike Croucher @CarnivalOfMath
The carnival of math is a monthly celebration of the mathematics blogging community. http://www.walkingrandomly.com/?p=2214
Conceptua Math @conceptuamath
The premier cloud-based math tools and curriculum for fractions instruction. Educational technology.
NCTM @NCTM
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is a public voice of mathematics education, providing vision, leadership and professional development to support
Math for America @mathteachers
Recruit, train, retain mathematicians to teach in public schools
Wolfram|Alpha @Wolfram_Alpha
Your official source of news about the computational knowledge engine, Wolfram|Alpha
EDUCATION IN GENERAL
AUSL @AUSLChicago
Teacher training and turnaround schools in Chicago.
Catalyst Chicago Mag @CatalystChicago
Award-winning, independent reporting on urban school reform since 1990. Published by Community Renewal Society. Sister pubs: The Chicago Reporter, Catalyst Ohio
Deborah Meier @DebMeier
Education Activist/Writer
Professor Katherine McKnight @LiteracyWorld
National Council of Teachers of English, National Consultant Author of 6 books on various literacy topics, Associate Professor at National-Louis University,
Taylor Mali @TaylorMali
Taylor Mali is a poet who travels the world writing & reciting poetry & teaching others to do the same.
Education Week @educationweek
Education Week, American education's newspaper and website of record.
Ed Week Teacher @EdWeekTeacher
Education Week Teacher: a leading source for K-12 teacher leaders covering instruction, school environment, classroom technology, curriculum, and more.
TeachHUB @TeachHub
TeachHUB.com is a K12 resource site By Teachers For Teachers. Share your fave ideas, tips, sites & stuff with the teaching community!
Discovery Education @DiscoveryEd
Connecting teachers to their most valuable resource... Each other!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
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