Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

In my last post, I outlined my GAME plan for improving teaching performance in two of the areas advocated by the ISTE or International Society for Technology in Education (http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx):

2a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

4a. Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

To carry out my plan for indicator 2a, I need access to information about free software and Web 2.0 tools that will enhance student learning in my algebra classes next year. So far I have researched and downloaded a copy of GeoGebra (http://www.geogebra.org/), a free program written for geometry, algebra, and calculus that allows students to create and manipulate constructions and functions. I still need to make time to use and explore the software to determine how it can best be used in my algebra classes. I have also signed up for a two-day summer training workshop to learn how to use the Promethean board that I will have in my classroom next year.

To carry out my plan for indicator 4a, I will need to start citing all of the classroom resources I use as I develop lesson plans for the junior high Tech Essentials classes I will be teaching next year. I still need to research formatting styles for citations to determine which one(s) are currently taught by the librarian, English teachers, or other staff in our junior high. I will need to have that done before school is out on May 27, so that I can plan appropriately during the summer.

4 comments:

  1. Susan,
    Thank you for the link to Geogebra! I also have felt the pull to start citing all of the classroom resources that I use as I develop lesson plans. I write my own (thankfully), so there are alot. I searched 'my favorites' to find some resources that might help you out. I hope that you find them to be useful (See below).
    I really wish that I would have cited a quote that came from a few weeks back in our resources. If anybody out there knows who authored this awesome quote I would appreciate the info. When discussing the importance of modeling the importance of citations..."You teach who you are."
    Have a happy day,
    Cathryn

    http://www.teachingcopyright.org/

    http://creativecommons.org/

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z3EHIoa9HI Titled Stop, Thief! Avoiding Plagiarism by Paraphrasing.

    The Plagiarism Checker
    http://www.dustball.com/cs/plagiarism.checker/

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  2. Susan,

    I am not familiar with Promethean boards. I assume they use a different software than the SMART Notebook software. I have a SMART board, and use the notebook software. One set of tools that our system has purchased as an add-on to the regular notebook software is Math Tools. This has been very helpful in creating lessons with the SMART board. You may want to seek out to see if there are similar tools for the Promethean boards.

    Thanks,
    Bryan

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  3. Cathryn,

    I love the quote. And thanks for sharing the links! I look forward to checking them out.

    Susan

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  4. Bryan,

    Thanks for your tips about interactive whiteboard software. The Promethean boards use software called ActivInspire and I'm looking forward to finding out what its math tools are like!

    Susan

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