Last Week of Class

It always amazes me how other professions do not share as much as we do.  Other professions requires people to watch out for numero uno!  Educators recognize that sharing is and collaborating is one of the most effective and efficient ways to create the best possible lesson plan.  At my high school all the math teachers share a common office.  This was the best situation to come into as a first year teacher.  During my first year, not only did I have one mentor that was looking out for me, but I had seven other teachers there to discuss with, bounce ideas off of, and most importantly collaborate with.  That is how I feel much of what we have done in this class has been.  Through collaborative sharing and exploring different applets, technologies, and techniques we are becoming better educators.  I have really enjoyed examining  having the set time to investigate different applications, especially Rubistar.  I believe that providing students with clear expectations will allow the students to succeed and produce better work, but I never enjoyed making them.  This website has premade rubrix which can be modified and individualized. 

            Another interesting component that we looked at this week were WebQuests.  I think, when appropriate, these are a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom.  WebQuests allow students to take on some of the responsibility of learning as well as allow them to use and develop technology skills to become better 21st Century learners.  I will try to find different WebQuests and/or create my own which will work within my curriculum.  Most of the time WebQuests are not the most efficient and effective way to teach math, it can be a very useful tool if it can serve the same purpose as a lecture.  I look forward to incorporating these into my curriculum.  

The hardest part about not being in this class is the responsibility I will have to place on myself to seek out the curricular resources we were exposed to.  We were given the tools and know-how, now it's just putting that into practice.