Week 8 331-Impression of Fathom

This week we had another break with our technology and created a Module with Fathom. In this we completed 5 tasks and created a capstone task at the end that showed that we have learned about comparing graphs and summary tables in Fathom. One thing that I really appreciated was the fact I could compare multiple categories to one thing. For example, one activity was kind of like a census, and I could put where the children were from on the horizontal axis, but then multiple other things to compare on the vertical axis to see how many kids from each place got to school a certain way. I could also see how their age was distributed. Another thing I found about Fathom that I liked a lot was how I could copy and paste Excell spreadsheet information into a collection table in Fathom. I feel like when comparing this, I can more easily compare different things in Fathom over Excell. I also liked how you really have an infinite amount of space to place different things. If your collection table was taking up too much room, you could shrink it to such a size that it was just a picture of a box. I really think that Fathom would be useful in the classroom and as a way to analyze some statistical information in a future job setting. In Fathom, students can learn how to interpret information based in tabular form, and create conjectures about its graphical form and its overall nature. Although this has a lot of options, I feel that Fathom is more for understanding graphical relationships and how data can show such things. A lot of times it is like Excell, though a few commands are harder on Fathom. The recursive formula to make in Fathom would be almost impossible to figure out if you did not have it to begin with. In Excell, you can just press = and make an equation based on each cell unit. Anyways, I think that Fathom is a great resourceful tool and hopefully when I teach in the future, more classrooms will have this program for my leisure.
For my capstone activity I learned about the MLB American League salaries for each team during the 2003 season. Some of the conjectures I made, and would still make today are that the Yankees spend the most money out of any team in the American League, well the entire league for that matter, and that the highest paid players by position would have to be the pitchers. After reviewing the data I was right. Fathom is great for understanding data such as this. The funny thing about this data set is that I think I used it with Dr. Jones in Maths 335 for a previous class discussion we had. It may have even been the same year and everything. I don't quite remember but I just thought it was funny. I am also glad that the Fathom module wasn't as time consuming as I had feared. Overall it took me about 4 or 5 hours to complete the entire thing. I did this over two days. About 1 and 1/2 hours the first day and finished it off with about four hours last night. Tonight I focus on my reading and finishing the blog. Class was interesting today as well. I feel the importance of class was to show how module creating might help us in leading an online mathematics course. Modules don't necessarily have to be about technology, but we are doing them on technology for the purpose of this class.

Week-7 Smart Board/Geogebra

On Tuesday, the class we attended in the basement of the library was held, was all about a program called Geogebra. I thought this program was excellent. This really had me interested and pondering to learn more about the program. To me it is very similar to Geometer's Sketch Pad but it is a more user friendly version. In this program you can easily create parallel lines and use sliders to help students understand how a graph works. Of all the programs we have used so far in class, I find this one the most interesting. One big reason I like this program is the column on the left that shows you everything you have, without getting in the way of what you are working with, like GSP does. I really liked how the upper tool bar had multiple tools in each tool section, and you can highlight one to do multiple things with the same tool. I also liked how you can hide something in this program by pressing the "radio buttons" to the left of the object in the left column. I also like how everything is on a graph setting. In this you can put an equation into the input column and get yourself a picture. I loved how easy it was for a student to understand the concept of derivatives with this program by finding the tangents really easily and then just plugging in Dervativef(x) and it shows you the derivative. As you can tell my enthusiasm with this program shows that I may have wished to chose this technology at the beginning of the semester. The one downfall I see with Geogebra is that students may become too quick of learners with it and become bored as they finish their work sooner than the other students. This meaning the simplicity of the program is the only downfall I see. Also I think the girls did a very good job in selecting their topics and creating their worksheets for the tasks that were presented in class. I could definitely seeing them blossom into phenomenal teachers in mathematics and their execution should be noted and looked up to so that we have more teachers like them in the future.

When it comes to Smart-Board I had my pros and cons on the matter. My pros would have to be how many things you can accomplish with the program itself. Being able to represent pictures for your classroom in such a way can really help students see what is going on. I think this would be great for having images and typed words up there and then using Smart-Board to edit or add insightful things students have to say. My experience with this technology is limited so my reaction is thus limited in a way that I cannot evaluate it to my fullest capability. My pros can only be that it is too much fun!! I think I would spend hours on that thing amusing myself. I'm sure I am not the only one who thinks this, I just may be the only one who is willing to admit it. I really like the capabilities it has, but in a general sense, I am not too sure how I can implement it into my class right now. Maybe I just do not know enough about it to really give it a thumbs up or thumbs down. I do know that it has limitless possibilities that I have not even come to realize. If I were to chose between the two technologies we explored this week outside of our own would have to be the Geogebra program. I think the simplicity of the program will allow students to understand the material rather than trying to understand the program itself. If you have a program that is too difficult, say Mathematica, students spend most of their time trying to understand the syntax of the program rather than furthering their education.

Week 6

After all the work in week 6, I feel like some of this work is butting into my work on my TI-Nspire. I don't mean to complain, but it does seem like sometimes there is just too much work to also work on the technology we were assigned. A lot of times I don't have much time to devote 3 hours of stuff and get my other homework done for the week. So sometimes I push it to the weekend. I guess I should try to organize my time better. I have never been a very good organizer so this is troubling to me. Either way I still feel that this week, the work load was a lot more than usual. Two to three hours on one thing, a few readings and working on our technology. Some students have to prepare to teach on Tuesday. I can't imagine how they are. It's probably hard enough for them to meet up considering one of them participates in a sport. Sometimes it seems that I just cannot keep up with all the work in all my classes. I think the readings are important each week, along with the blog reflections and things, but with multiple assignments tagged onto this it just seems near impossible to get it all straightened out in a timely fashion where it doesn't seem like I am cramming everything onto Sunday. I do understand that this class is more of an experiment and I give it great leniency, but you (Dr. Shafer) give us great leniency. The main point of this blog is for you to determine what is good for the class in the future and what is not. I think that the Illuminations assignment was kind of a waste of time. It didn't really help me with picking out articles. One thing I do not understand is how this pertains to a technology course. We are just looking online and working with lessons that mostly involve a lack of technology, so it seems pretty pointless to incorporate a DP3 artifact on a rubric in a technology class about something that isn't really about technology. Also working with my TI-Nspire, I have noticed that there are endless possibilities when it comes to findign lessons and activities that will work for this. The one thing I don't like is how different the CAS version of the calculator is than the one i purchased. The CAS is a lot better and can do so much more. I do know now that the calculators we will be getting for the class are the ones that are identical to mine. In order to do many of these activities, we must upload programs onto these calculators. I have learned much about this technological device, but feel I could learn so much more without hours and hours of other assignments for this class. I have yet to post about the articles that I have found on the Nspire for my topic area (Triangular Trigonometry) because some of them I have misplaced on my computer. Once I find them again, they will be posted onto my ilocker and onto my google docs. I think this class is really progressing well, and I look forward to the next speaker.

Working in an Online School

Before hearing of Mr. Stanek being our presenter this week, I had never heard of an online high school. I thought "Really? This can't work. Online colleges work, but that's because people have already had proper instruction in a classroom setting." It was a real eye opener that you could actually do this. I figured students would not be mature enough to complete such a task in an online setting. I was wrong, for many of his students succeed in his mathematics classes. The only class, which I had predicted, that didn't really work at all was calculus. The reason I thought this was because no online collegiate course at Ball St. had calculus involved in the class. He basically used files for them to download which had specific instruction. I liked how he had online class sessions where he did teach and create inquiry, though it may not be live. The site they used, which I forget, is very similar to the blackboard program we use. To me, it seemed almost identical to blackboard, just a few different colors, but the options for it were the same. I did like how he used a program to conduct his class that was similar to ours. I feel like the adobe office works very well in conducting an online class every Thursday. I also liked how he had office hours, more like a collegiate professor rather than a high school teacher. This gave students a chance to bring up questions that could not be understood through email or technological applications. I specifically liked his precalculus example of polynomials. This, to me, seemed like an activity that we are doing for our technologies. It had complete instructions and good questions that can be answered. Also going to the online high school website was very eye opening. I thought his high school was an exception, and yet there are many online high schools throughout the country and world. I think this really applies when people are in a family where a student has to work in order to keep up with bills. This also works for those students who wish to leave the school a half-day early to go to jobs. Here they can go to school in the morning, still work, and take a few online classes that would be equivalent to the classes they will be missing by leaving a half-day early. Honestly, I don't think I would want to work at an online highschool. The main reason I wanted to become a teacher was because how much I love to interact with the youth of the world. I still feel just like an older kid to this day. Online school seems to me that there is little to no interaction between the teacher and the student. I think face-to-face is the best way to teach because you can ask more precise questions and answer them more fully when face-to-face. Some things you cannot answer in an email or in a short office hour time. I just feel that I would never want to teach in an online high school and hope that in the future I do not have to teach at one.

AHA!!

Honestly the biggest problem I was having for a long time was deleting a tab on the calculator. I just didn't know how to do it. After about two weeks, we had figured out that it was just pressing ctrl and then up on the directional pad, and it brings up a photographic list of all the tabs you have open and running. All you do then is clear or delete the unwanted ones. I seriously went ahhhh, because it had been something so simple but I just could not figure it out. Hopefully I have many more "aha" moments in that I can master the technology as a whole.

Changes in My Thoughts on Technology in the Classroom

Honestly, before I started this semester, I had thought about integrating technology into the classroom, but never really put an in depth brainstorm on what I am going to do. Since this class I have had my eyes opened as wide as the Grand Canyon. I just don't know how anyone can conduct a class without some kind of technology in the classroom. I am disappointed to have had a lack of experience with technology when being taught mathematics. In high school the most math I had ever used in a program setting was a bridge builder in my sophomore Geometry class. This really didn't teach me anything about math, or so I thought, but it did create a fun learning environment that year. Some teachers that have come to attend some of our online class sessions have shown me how they use technology in the classroom. SMART board was one really cool thing I saw, where you can sort of make a power point, and then draw on it so that it may be printed for later use. Technology is a great way for preventing kids from getting behind in class. I remember if I missed class, I would start to become behind, and would have to try and catch up on my own time. With technology like the SMART Board and even a simple Power Point presentation can eliminate the lag.
Not only have my thoughts changed on technology in general, but the amount of knowledge I have gathered about different technologies has vastly improved. I purchased a Ti-Nspire and have been working on it most of the semester so far, and yet I still have only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things I can accomplish with such a tool. Before this semester, the only programs I had even known about (and hated) was Mathematica, a little bit of Geometer's Sketchpad 4.0, and the use of Microsoft Excel. In Mathematical Models (MATHS 335) I learned a lot about what Excel can do in creating recurrence relations. In the 5 weeks I have been apart of this class, however, I have learned a lot about online classrooms, Geogebra, Tinkerplots, the Ti-Nspire, Geometer's Sketchpad 5.0, Terrapin Logo, free versions of Terrapin Logo like MSW and UCB logo, the use of PowerPoint in lessons, SMART Board, Voice Thread, and others that I am sure I'm missing.
If I were to gather my thoughts into a few sentences I would say I went from thinking technology can limit students and create dependencies to thinking how a class could function without some sort of technology. My main change of heart has come across the last two weeks of class, listening to how Mr. Reed and Mr. Pinkerton use technology on a daily basis, and say they feel like they could not conduct a productive learning environment anymore without the technology. Hopefully, this class will help me to become fluent in at least a few technologies that I can take with me into the teaching field and beyond. With all the technologies in the world, it's amazing how far we have gone, but have yet to gain any surmountable amount of knowledge.

Class meeting Thursday Feb. 11th

After listening to Mark Pinkerton in class today, I learned that teachers do actually use SMART Board and sort of how to use it. This technology, even though Mark doesn't use a lot of the interactive things, has many options and things that can allow you to write up a lesson, for everyone to see the next day, the night before. TI-Smart view seemed like a great addition and could be useful for my technology in the TI-Nspire. I think its really amazing the kinds of technologies that teachers don't bring into the classroom these days. The only technologies I had as a high school student was graphing calculators that we had to buy ourselves and over-heads. One great thing about this is that the notes can be saved, printed, and copied into a .pdf format for those students that may have missed class. Some, however, may not go to a .pdf format, for those that don't, there is a chance to download the free student version of smart board so that they would be able to work with it in their homes.
One thing I am worried about that he said is that he doesn't know if he could teach in another school without it. I would not want to be dependent so much on technology that we could not be able to teach without such technology. I worry that the children we teach will be so dependent on calculators and other programs like sketchpad and some of the other commonly used programs in our collegiate courses. I run a tutoring program for middle and high school students, and they all depend on their calculators. I know some that cannot multiply or divide by multiples of 10 because they have become so dependent on their calculators. As much as I like technology, this session let me know that some teachers and schools become too dependent on these great additions to the technology.
The research session that was presented by Dr. Fonkert, was very interesting in that it showed me the Core program, which just took away separated classes like geometry from algebra and just combined them both. I think this would be a great way to teach. Instead of trying to teach, in-depth, one subject a year, why not integrate multiple subjects at a time. This way you can start with the basics at first and then move on to more advanced things in all of the subjects of mathematics. I feel this wouldn't work in other content areas, and that it has it's advantages and disadvantages. The reason I bring this up in a discussion about the class session we had is because this research done by Dr. Fonkert was done in a very technological sound school. I feel like you cannot focus all your energy on learning technology as a teacher, because you do not know if you will be hired at a school with a lot of equipment or lack-there-of. Her research was about the core program and how it can be beneficial, but she had not been to a school that did not have great technological facilities, and it skews her findings and results.
After all of this, I believe that SMART Board can be integrated into the classroom with great ease. The only thing I think no teacher should do is use only this. Though Mr. Pinkerton did a very good job with this technology and it seems to be working for him. What happens if it stops working, or if he wants to do something that doesn't use sophisticated technology; will he be lost? In a middle school mathematics methods course I had earlier today, we used linear relationships using simple non-technological items, such as a slinky, tennis ball, or plastic cups. I feel that when you teach with technology and technology only, you get away from some of the connections you have with the students, thus creating greater barriers in the teacher-student relationship that must stay strong with, preferably, the least amount of barriers as possible.

A little late...week 4 journal

This week we worked with terrapin logo in class. I was dreading it for I just didn't want to learn yet another program that I probably was going to be unable to use in most classrooms, due to funding. After I was finished, I thought it was great! The things it can accomplish are awesome. The quilt I made was pretty cool, if I must say so myself, for it had a Sun and a basic triangular pattern that I created. Though the abilities on this were cool, the one thing I didn't like about this program was the fact that it took way to much time to accomplish such a fete(sp?). I feel like working with this in the classroom in a middle or high school setting would take too much time to truly master.
Well that is what I thought before Mr. Bill Reed came in to our virtual classroom on Thursday. It was amazing the info he had to inform us about. At first, his power point presentations were a little amateur at best, but then when he stated that he put in technologies every 3 weeks at the least, it astounded me. I never really got to use technology in high school, so when he said how often he implemented new technologies to give students a broad overview, I was listening intently. Some of the ideas he gave for implementing this technology was interesting too.

I would put this to detail more if the week 4 class meeting with Bill Reed were available to me to listen to again. I would really like to hear what he had to say for it was stellar advice.

After a weekend full of HW---Sunday Jan. 31st

What a weekend, I spent 10+ hours in the library working on Maths 331 HW. It was such a long weekend too. 5 hours on Saturday and nearly another 5 today. I did not really enjoy one bit of it. Half the time, we spent the time arguing with each other. I don't know why our group doesn't seem to be molding too well right now. It just sucks that we argue a lot. It seems like me and Christian are the only two that don't argue with each other. Anyways, I have learned a lot about the TI-Nspire over the weekend, the different capabilities, and how to actually use some of it. It still is really hard to use, I can see why it isn't used in the classroom too often. Sean Bird already responded to us, he thinks that a phone interview would be best, and he would love to meet with our class, but in a f2f meeting so he can do hands on activities. I think him coming in would be great for the class and for us as a group. We could learn so much from this man. He has multiple ideas and understands how important technology is to the group. I also found this great website with Tom Reardon, I think I mentioned this in my last post, but there is just so many fascinating things he has on his website. I downloaded a zip file with a bunch of applications that can be downloaded to the calculator as a .tns file. These can also be used on the computer format. I just couldn't believe how much this guy knew about this fairly new technological advancement.
Also, after seeing multiple responses to Chris's blog I realize the concern for the class. I think people went at the the completely wrong way. Overall I like the setup of the class, I just think sometimes a few more instructions would be beneficial. I mean no disrespect to anyone that responded. People are right though, we aren't gonna have our hand held or in Jenkins class, we aren't gonna be Spoon Fed the directions and how to do things. I just think that people are frustrated because there is so much to do and not a whole lot of time. I really like what I am learning in this class and hope to blossom as a future educator after this semester. The bickering and fighting within my group has become a real concern for me. I wonder if everyone else has similar problems? Probably not. It seems that some people keep trying to out-do everyone else in the group. It's not always about who did this or who did that, it should be about getting the final product in. Each group member will account for you if you did your part. If you didn't they will make sure to let the teacher know. Anyways I had a pretty awful weekend, well besides Friday night, where I enjoyed Penny Pitchers a little too much.

Saturday Jan. 30th

Today I have been working on Module 1 for the TI project. After a while of trying to look up basic activities online, I stumbled upon a great mathematics website that a man named Tom Reardon created. Here he has multiple things including great N-Spire activities for multiple classes and grade levels. There were great tools for classes and just fun things that I can incorporate into my future classroom. Also Module 1 is very difficult to complete because there aren't a lot of intro things to this calculator. The greatest contribution to Module 1 would be the examples in the calculator itself. However, these are self explanatory and seem to be difficult to create an activity based on these. The activity itself seems like it would be these examples in the calculator. One downfall is that we noticed differences in these intro lessons from the TI-Nspire and the TI-Nspire CAS. These differences, though, are very minute in the fact that the functions and numbers are different. There is a difference also in the TI-CAS that you had given Christian and the one Chris Braden has. These differences are much more noticeable and worse. Christian's calculator went off in a completely different direction, while Chris's did the same things as mine and Trent's. I think we will state this in activities and say that they are based on a certain calculator. In this case, I believe we are using the simple TI-Nspire that comes with the 84-plus face plate. We all agree that this module is very confusing, in that we are not entirely sure what exactly it should entail.

Plans Change Jan. 29th-2010

Although I am disappointed it had to happen, things do change and plans that have been made do get canceled on occasion. My plans this weekend were to go with my girlfriend to her home in the Fort, (Fort Wayne), and visit her parents for her father's birthday on saturday. Friday plans were set to go to the Fort Wayne Komets game. The Komets are their "pro" hockey team, and it was fun for the last game since they were the league champions the year before. Saturday was casino night at their church of St. Vincent's. Saturday was the night where Notre Dame football players come and visit to give autographs and hang out with the church folk. Either way I was excited as a giddy boy at 4:30 a.m. Christmas morning. Plans changed though, homework was assigned and must be completed. Group projects take over the weekend. Though what seemed to be a great and entertaining weekend, turned out to be nothing but homework filled. Preaching to the choir when I say this, but priorities are priorities and I have to put business in front of pleasure on this one. Though I am disappointed I do not get to enjoy a funfilled weekend in Fort Wayne, I do understand the importance of homework and graduating school with a well achieved GPA.

NFL Football Sun. Jan 24th

The playoffs, what an exciting time in the NFL. Unfortunately my favorite team, the Chicago Bears, are not even close to the playoffs. I am very disappointed in the way the Jets played. I wanted them to win due to how much I hate the colts. Either way I am rooting against them. I hope the Saints pull off the win against the Vikings because the Saints have never been to the Super Bowl....and I hate the Vikings..lol

Sunday Jan. 24th

Today I went into the library and worked on Voice Thread with Chris Braden. I had my account set up so I had previously taken a look at Voice Thread. Originally I thought the assignment was to make a video report on the website, but later learned that it was a written report. I thought many things were good about this website. I feel like it is like youtube, but in this you can comment with a separate video, a voice record, or a text. I thought the video doodling was the most interesting. With this you can stop an actual video and mention a comment, then the video will continue on. Overall I think this is a good use of technology that can be used in the classroom environment. However, as of right now, I believe that Video Thread is useless in the high school setting. For the most part, things are done in class and I think that this program would be most successful at the collegiate level.

I have just started my blog. I will be entering my journals and reflections into this format from here on out.