Thing 13

I chose a presentation on Games in Education. I learned several things during the 23 minute presentation. I thought I was going to get some games to use in class, but I ended up beginning to think more about why I want to have games in class. I like them because they are fun and a nice change of pace. The presenter, Sylvia Martinez, believes that games are more than that. They are tools, if used the right way, that can promote learning at a high level. She feels that games are misused in education and that they can do so much more. After her presentation, I would tend to agree. She even suggests "taking it up a notch" and having the students produce their own games. As a geometry teacher, I think this might be something I can attempt to do in my own classroom. I will look into her wiki and some of the websites she recommended (scratch and etoys).

Thing 8

I really enjoyed Vicki Davis' story of how wikis impacted her classroom and in turn impacted the entire school. I looked at the study hall wiki and the other course wikis to see how they were used by students. I found a useful study guide created by students for breaking down King Lear. I found this interesting and very applicable to my course, geometry. We have a great deal of vocabulary and a wiki might be a good source for my classes to compile their notes, vocab, ect. in one convienent place from which to study. I looked everywhere for a good geometry wiki and/or blog and thus far I have been unsuccessful. Maybe that will be enough incentive for me to create my own. I would have liked to see more pictures on this wiki, but I guess it suited the purpose for which it was created.

Another one of my favorite wikis was of elementary school math. In this wiki the teacher used geometric pictures from the environment to teach patterns. I think I would like this format to be used in my geometric classroom. I could have the students take their own pictures and upload them to the wiki for all to see. We could investigate patterns, shapes, solids, area, tesselations, etc and the best part is that the students are finding examples that interest them and they are learning at the same time. Of course, the downfall to all of this is you must trust the students will use the site in a positive and educational manner.

The third and best wiki I found was concerning Chemistry. This wiki was very good because it was totally student-centered. The teacher posted his notes and then asked his students to create their own timeline for the various atomic models. I am not certain how I would use this, but maybe I could have them do a project on tesselations and the various types. Students could learn about the types and find pictures on the internet. They could also take their own pictures to ensure that they know what the different types are and how they are different from each other. Overall, I see wikis as a very useful tool that I would like to incorportate in my methods of instruction.

I am even considering using a wiki in my other passion - woodworking. I will have to see what is out there first.

Thing 5

I found several interesting things while reading the feeds that I subscribed to. I would like to discuss the idea of a mini-term. This student seemed to really get a lot out of this project that deviated from the normal routine of bells and rotating from class to class. I think it would be nice to see something like this in my school, but I do see the drawbacks from a teacher standpoint. It would take away from critical classtime, takes a lot of creative thought, well-thought and detailed planning, and requires highly skilled and pationate teachers. The instructors would have to totally buy-in for the project to be successful.

Teachers would have to develop a "hands-on" project like the one described and be very well organized. I read a few of the comments on his story and one said that it was too teacher-centered. While I agree with that statement, I understand the reasoning behind that fact. It was the first time trying something like that before. If the program is deemed successful, then I suggest it become more student-centered as they modify and change the program to improve it.

I also really enjoyed the fact that the writer, Anthony, could assess his learning at such a deep level. He gets the big picture of learning. This idea would probably be a very successful move for those students that feel confined or are board with the routine found in a typical schedule. I am not sure how successful this program would be if it were done more than twice in a year. We would lose out on the time necessary to cover all the material necessary for a student to have the foundation for college. Otherwise, I like it and would like to try to find a way to do something similar.