Thursday, August 13, 2009

Monday, August 10, 2009

Reflection

I hope that I can find some very fun and entertaining ways to use technology in the classroom.
I think that it's rather easy to implement NETS Standard 2 because using technology is a great way to make assessments. To me, the standard states that I have to find ways to use digital technology to assess where my students are in the class. For example, in PowerPoint, I can easily make question and answers more interactive. I can prepare my students for multiple choice type questions by showing them a problem on the screen and have them choose the correct answer before they move on to the next question. I think that making power points interactive with the students is a fun way to engage them in the work. Also, if the technology is somehow available, I can integrate clicker technology so students can give me real time responses. This meets the standards because I am using technology to gauge where all my students are and if I need to make any adjustments.
MS WORD is most easily applicable to standard 1: I believe the standard deals with letting the students use technology to beceom creative so that they can show their grasp on the subject. For math, that can mean that they have to research a topic that they then have to link to math and they have to write a paper and possibly give a presentation about it. By doing this, the students will have to demonstrate some mastery in WORD because they will need to enter graphs and visuals as well as finding the correct symbol notation in WORD. Students can also use the blogs or forums to share their thoughts and difficulties about the subject matter and possibly link interesting sites that I and other students can look at. I all of these above topics, students will be able to let their creative juices flow so that they can attack mathematical concepts from some interesting and clever ways that make sense to them.
As mentioned above, I would really like to get some sort of clicker system installed into my classroom. I really think that those systems help the teacher to get a sense of the students' understanding at any point of any class. Whether I have a power point in which the students are prompted to answer a question anonymously or I can just decide to write up a quick question on the board and have the students answer it and without having to call on each student, they all just told me that they all got it or didn't get it. I really think this ties in standard 5 because to me, 5 means that as teachers, we are always trying to push that wall of technology back so that our classrooms can run smoothly. As far as I know, almost no high school classrooms use this technology and I think that it would be nice to bring into my classroom.

Introduction

Hello Class!
Welcome to our class blog. I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself.
My name is Mr. Clancy. This is my first year teaching I am really excited to get to know all of you.
I grew up on the northwest side of Chicago in the Dunning neighborhood (right next to Portage.) I went to high school at Holy Cross where I played football, baseball, golf, tennis, and I wrestled for 4 years. After my high school years I went on to the University of Illinois where I majored in mathematics and just graduated in 2009.
I decided to get into teaching because I felt that I could do a much better job than some of my teachers in high school teaching the universal language. I always enjoyed the high school atmosphere and I hope that throughout my first year, I can really become a big part of the school community and share in everyone's excitement for school success.

I hope that I can make math as fun but not as confusing as the youtube video that I have posted down below. Thank you!

Friday, August 7, 2009

My First Blog

Wow, I'm officially a blogger. This is quite overwhelming. I had hoped that I could avoid this forever but I guess being a teacher has already made me make sacrifices...
What to talk about?

It's raining outside. I hope that I don't get too wet. I'm going to have to buy an umbrella in the shop, downstairs after class. I really don't want to get my new computer wet. I think that I should be fine I hope. I've got it in two cases.

Only 5 more days of summer class... so excited!

Go TIE 558!!!