Urban Mathematics in the 21st Century Classrooms

I learned a host of information about classroom 2.0 when I viewed the video discussion which was created and hosted by Steve Hargadon.

Classroom 2.0 is a replica of Facebook and I guess Twitter which will allow uses to share information, pictures and videos in the world of education. I am looking forward to joining the group and see how much resource material I will find in the area of high school mathematics. I am sure I will meet new people in the world of education and I will invite teachers that I have met in my 17 years as an educator to join the site also.

Today I read about using mind maps in the classroom. I have used mind maps mainly for when I am writing, and i use the figure like leafs on a tree to make connections to a idea and to organize and structure my thoughts.

I also use mind maps or some other graphic organized to link and connect old topics to new ideas, showing growths in basic concepts in mathematics.

I had a change to fool around with pageflakes, and it seems to have a lot of things to do there, however, I found the widgets “flakes’ to be visually overwhelming for me to look at. I will have to come back and visit this site in the future.

Using Google Docs was nice, it is really a played down version of Microsoft office, it does not have all the bells and whistles for someone who uses this software regularly.

I can see using Google Docs for collaborating with the teachers in my department, like sharing forms and common information to be added to a meeting agenda.

My students can use this to collaborate on their presentations also, so it will be given a try in my class this school year.

I am adding this post to share with you a great website to find math/science and real-world applications of Math, Science, Engineering and Technology, I tried the 14-day free trial and shared a few videos with my students when I taught geometry last year, my aim is to subscribe to the program so that I can embed the videos into my lessons.

http://stem.definedlearning.com/demo.cfm?id=1

I really have always enjoyed watching the videos on YouTube as well as TeacherTube, and I am looking forward to developing videos for my classroom. I particularly have always enjoyed sharing math videos with my class last year, however my students always insisted that I should present the information, it seems to them as if educational videos were not as entertaining to them. However, I plan to have some of the make math videos themselves. I can see how this will embed the properties in their minds for long-term use.

I have found a few math videos that I will share with you that I found very good about the history of mathematics this video is by  rosevillevideo

My experience with podcasting has to be the most rewarding experience in this program, I have always been technology savvy and I was searching for a new way to save my classroom presentations that I have made using Microsoft PowerPoint and I am looking forward to adding my voice to my presentations and posting them so that my students will have access to my work. Podcasting Rules!!!

Brain-Based Strategies for Classroom Instruction

Teaching is a journey that does not end. One major reason that I have chosen to remain in the field of education for over 17 years is that teaching has allowed me to grow as a person both professionally and socially. I have been given opportunity to meet the finest young men and women in the classrooms. These are the same students that society has labeled as “ghetto” and “failures”. It is my goal as an educator to support the students of Camden High School through their journey in life.

The topic that I am applying in my web 2.0 class is about urban mathematics and today this article I am discussing is about using Brain-Based Instructional Strategies in the Math Classroom.

So what is Brain-Based Learning?

The art of teaching to the brain, learning about how to make connections between the subject matter of what one is teaching and how another is learning or processing the information provided to them. Teaching is two fold, academic and emotional.

I just finished exploring a few podcast using iTunes, my past experience with iTunes was to download music for my iPod, so I am so excited that we can use the ITunes to create podcasts in Education and keep the students material updated.

I had the please to view a few math educational videos however I can see that there is not much done in that are. However, I plan to create a few videos for my students.

I logged on to the Library Thing and found a few books that I have read in the past, however it does not allow me to view or read the books and most of the sources are limited to Amazon.

I cannot see myself using the resource much in the math class.

Delicious is a popular website for social bookmarking and  allows internet users to store all of their favorite bookmarks online, so that this information is accessible to others. I plan to use my website so that the information I found is useful not only to my students, but also to the teachers that I work with in school.