Plan for Video Lesson Introduction

I think the best way to introduce a topic is to make it fun and interesting. If you keep the students on their toes and surprise them with what you do, you will have succeeded in getting them thinking about whatever topic you are introducing.

That being said, I plan on making a video of myself goofing around with some concepts in mathematics. Specifically, I will introduce a lesson on symmetries and transformations of the graph of a quadratic equation. I think the idea of just a voice speaking while the students watch things change on a screen is really cool, I just like the presence of a teacher for something like this. So I am going with a video.

We shall see how it goes. I am trying to have fun with this because math is something I love and it should be fun!

Legal Concerns

I guess when it comes to legal concerns for my future as an educator I think a lot about what my legal responsibilities will be and whether or not these responsibilities will be reasonable. Specifically, I am concerned with how they might begin evaluating a teacher's performance based on test scores and start basing pay, and job security on these evaluations. How innaccurate could these test scores reflect how well one fulfills their job as teacher and instructor? It is kind of a complicated topic but it is one that concerns me.

Presentation Tool Review

I kind of played around with Google Presentation, Google's version of Power Point. What really intrigued me about this program is the ability, like with Google Docs, to work together on one presentation from different computers. Getting students to work togerther and share ideas is reallu crucial to their learning. This tool makes that easy and simple.

As a math person I would like to see a tool that had the ability to type set mathematics that was easy like the toold we saw in class. Typing math is the worst, mostly because you have to use a seperate program to do it. If typing math could be incorporated into a program like google presentation, students could share ideas, and work together more easily! How great would that be?!?!

Article Review

Hello all.

The journal article I reviewed was titled "The Tech Effect." There is more juicy information about it inside the actual review. To read it, click here. Thanks!

My Educational Purpose

What is my educational purpose? That is a good question. I grew up in a family of teachers. My father, uncle, and aunt are all high school teachers at different high schools in my home town of Cleveland. I’ve been around education of some form or another for my entire life.

            In my opinion, a student can only learn if they first recognize and accept the fact that they don’t know something and, therefore, lack that knowledge. This makes a student very vulnerable. For this reason the relationship between teacher and student becomes vital to the process of learning. If students don’t like their instructor, or don’t feel comfortable with their instructor, how can they go through the process of learning? I don’t view teaching as a process of telling your students whatever stuff you are teaching and having them memorize it. It is a process of providing your students with the necessary experiences required for learning to happen. For this, good relationships need to be there.

            I have seen how rewarding teaching can be for the teacher. To see a student struggle with, get angry and frustrated at, and ultimately succeed in a topic you love is so incredibly rewarding. I love math, really. (I know….nerd, right?) I think it so cool, and I want to be able to share this awesome thing with students struggling just like I struggled when I was learning it for the first time. In a nut shell, that is why I want to be a teacher. (Oh…I don’t mind summer vacations either)

First Post

This is my very first blog post for my class, Tech and Topics. There will be many more fun and interesting things posted throughout the semester, I'm sure. Enjoy!!   :)