The Journey

Thing 16

This summer for my birthday I went to a Coaching conference where I heard Charlie Strong speak.  You may know Charlie as the former Louisville football coach.  He has currently taken over the tasks of rebuilding the University of Texas program as their head coach.  I really enjoyed getting to hear him speak.   I uploaded some photos from that conference and that trip to Photo peach.  I made a short video of the clips and I like how easy it was to add  a video from YouTube and copy the embedding code. Check it out!

Birthday classic on PhotoPeach
The journey of creating my own blog for the 16 things assignment has arduous but not tedious.  It  has been difficult but enjoyable.  I really learned some technology skills that will be with me for the rest of my life.
lease give me your feedback on your experience by reflecting on your learning journey by blogging a few thoughts. Here are some questions to prompt you:

Please give specific answers for each question.

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?  I really loved learning about creating Podcast and other tools like Flickr online sharing.  I really had curiosities about creating internet platforms for sharing knowledge I have acquired over the years and I have really developed a basis creating and online medium.  I have enhanced my understanding of online tools in educational settings.  I was able to expand my knowledge of mediums I was already familiar with like YouTube, Google docs, and Skype.  This process has helped me overcome some hang-ups and self-made when encountering the internet and modern technology. the best is yet to come.


Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this 16 things exercises that surprised you?  i was surprised at how much I enjoy creating my blog posts.  Being a math oriented person I generally loathe writing in any form.  However, the creative process has really birth a desire in my heart to create.

4. What could I do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?  I believe truly a medium that not only connects posts with just words but maybe creating something where podcast YouTube presentations and other mediums are connected on a seamless medium. I don't Know its just a thought.
 

Thing 15

Thing 15:

Skype in the Classroom

Skype could be a great tool in the classroom to connect with those people and locations for which you do not readily have access.  You can use Skype to take a field trip that is cost effective and adventurous. Skype gave some great visuals of student's connecting with pen pal class across the waters. There were opportunities to see wild life live by explorers and up to the minute visual interaction of the things that were transpiring. It is also possible to bring in speakers for your class that you do not have access to during school ours.   Skype seems to be a more time efficient way of including visitors to your classroom.

I already had a skype account but I have not used it often to video conference.  I conference with Mizran and we discussed visually and verbally upcoming assignments for class. it seems to be best suited for project and communications that go beyond what can communicated through just voice or written correspondence.  Mizran and both used our Ipads because already had the application on our Ipad.  It was good being able to see and talk to the person versus on the phone. We could collaborate if necessary without being in the same building.

Thing 14

Thing 14:

Podcasts

I have had a pleasant experience learning about podcast. I searched out information about how students interact with math in education and the psychology behind their anxiety and their struggles. with it.  I built on the information I already new about podcast.  It has opened my eyes to the vast opportunities of creating my own podcast, which has been a desire of my mind.  The article on the definition of podcast was informative on the ease of creating a podcast and educational purposes.

 

I went on to look up podcast that already been created concerning the education gap between America and other countries.  It discussed how the regardless of race, creed, or other societal factors it benefited students to embark upon AP courses in in high School.  The podcast also discussed the production.  I also listened to a short "Science Update Podcast" on math anxiety the neurological effects it had on the brain. It stated that the parts of the brain associated with pain were activated whether person was good at math are not.  It stated that the participants did not feel actual pain, but nevertheless it is an interesting study.  I found many other great sources of information on podcast alley.

I also explored Texas education on Itunes U and I found it easiest to use on my ipad, of course.  I subscribed to profound understanding of Children's Mathematics.   One of the podcasts was called Geometry Jane.  Jane was a teacher who started as a special-education teacher who went back to get a math degree.  She stated that she then became a high school algebra teacher.

Thing 12 and 13

Thing 12 and 13
I looked through you tube to see if I could find out new things about it.  I definitely did not find new tools, but I did find interesting videos that I have never seen before that I can use in my classroom.  I also found out information I either did not know or needed a refresher from videos I watched.  The thing I do enjoy most about YouTube as an educator is that I can watch videos of ways that  other teachers present a certain topic  or subject.  I often steal ideas form the videos of fun ideas, games and techniques from teachers I see on the tube.  I really am encouraged by the cat that sharing of information is so accessible.  It encourages to make my own video and get my message out. I also sometimes may have gotten foggy on all the nuances of teach a particular subject and watching someone else struggle the process of teaching the same subject puts me at ease.  It decreases my anxiety to know that other have similar encounters with students.  It allows me to prepare better by assessing what happens before I teach a new unit.
One of the videos I watched was on slope which is what we are working on in my class at the moment.   I really enjoyed the gentleman style of teaching and he was part of a website called yaymath.com.    I embedded the video on this page.  It appeared he went around working with young kids teaching them new techniques for solving algebra problems. I went and checked out school math and and I thought it was a cool website that allowed you to troll education videos on a more censored website than youtube it probably is easier to get approved by your district for your student's use.  It also looked like it had I great deal of student uploaded videos from announcements to reality shows to newscast.  I actually watched one of their suggested videos on Andrew Jackson. It had great animation and was interesting and informative. http://bit.ly/16K6Bkh



I was able to upload a video blog to YouTube also.  I titled it "I Disagree" after this blog.
http://youtu.be/KKwsGB4N3pw 

Thing 5

I searched for many different Flickr third party tools and there were so  many to choose from that I could not easily make a decision of which one to use.  I also wanted to use a too that helped me mash-up my own pictures; however most of the tools helped you create mash-ups of other peoples pictures.  That shows you my self-centered narcissism.  I settled on Montager which allowed me to search a topic like math.  Montager took pictures from flicker associated with math and made the montage above.  I wish selfishly the montage was about me.

Thing 10

Thing 10

I tried using different presentation  software and had various experiences.  Well, the Prezi system I have heard so much about I did not get to do because they wanted my credit card information to do a free trial.  I did not want to give them that information.  So I move onto Kioza I created a Collag eof my trip to Europe and inserted below.   I also embedded a similar slide show below using the HTML function of Kioza.  I believe the thing I enjoyed most was the ease of using  the application.  I did not experience much pushback when making the slideshow or collage.  I also was able to use animations pretty easily.

Summer in Europe - Video Maker

THing 11 I just made a new Voki. See it here:

I just made a new Voki. See it here:



Here check out this Voki I made. It looks kind of like me.  I believe this is a great tool to use for students to create presentation in a fun andfexciting. way. ESL can type their message in one language and the Vokin cn translate into another message.  Students can use this to create p[project presentation and if they are shy it can take the pressure of presenting.