Tech Tools in Use

Last week, we learned about the tech tool VoiceThread. This was an interesting tool, which allowed one person to post images, or a Powerpoint online, and once posted, collaborators could post various forms of comments on the uploaded material, which would then play like a video with the original material playing, while the comments play through. This tech tool was very simple to use, and I thought it was pretty self-explanatory, which the presenters must have recognized as well, since they did not spend a lot of time explaining how to use their tool. The simplicity of this online tool is great for a classroom, because it means as a teacher, you can spend less time explaining how to use the tool and more time having students actually engage with the program. Also, because I would not need to spend as much time on instructing the students how to use the tool, I think the students may remember more about using the tool, since it is something they could figure out on their, almost like inquiry-based learning...but not really.

When first being introduced to it, I found this to be an interesting tool, but was skeptical about how relevant it would be across the disciplines. The presentation definitely made me think about how this tool could be used, especially since the presenters planned a group activity where we had to create a VoiceThread for our content area. After the presentation, I thought that VoiceThread may be good for recording a teacher's voice over Powerpoint slides, and have students comment on the presentation if they have any questions about specific material being presented. This could be useful in any subject area, with this specific use in mind.

Focusing on math, I figured it might be a great presentation tool for a more visual topic, like geometry or trigonometry. When I was working with the math group, we decided  to make a VoiceThread based on teaching students about polygons. This VoiceThread began with introducing some shapes that would be considered regular polygons. It then progresses through a variety of pictures, asking students to leave comments, in whatever format they choose, commenting on any polygons (no matter how abstract) that they identified in the images. Some images were patterns, or signs, and the final image that we had was one of a tiny piglet, which required students to be a little more creative with finding polygons.

One major problem with this tool is that you would need to pay for a subscription if you want to save anymore than 5 presentations, which would definitely be a problem for me if I were using this as a teacher. I would want to have these presentations available to my students throughout the year, for their midterms and finals, as well as for myself just to have a record for reflection on my students' past work.

Another problem that I am still wondering about is how easy it is to moderate the comments on the presentation. Does the person who created the VoiceThread have the ability to delete any comments, or block certain people from commenting on the presentation? When working with technology, I would readily worry about students abusing the tool, but I do not want this fear holding me back from using technology with my future students when it is appropriate.

Another limitation of this tool, as is the same with many of the other tools we have been introduced to this semester, is that it is dependent on having access to computers, as well as a connection to internet. At my current placement school, I know that students do not have the best access to computers. There are two computers labs for the entire high school, and only around 15-20 of the computers in each lab actually works. On top of this, WiFi in the school is very spotty, so  a student's ability to connect to VoiceThread would be uncertain. Thus, in order to use the tool, students would probably require that students work at home, which would require the assumption that students have computer and internet access at home, which I am uncomfortable with.

Although I think VoiceThread is an interesting and easy to use application, my use of the tool would be very much supplementary to my instruction. I may be willing to use it for student projects perhaps, or for introducing a lesson, just to introduce students to various tech tools, and to keep their instruction interesting and hopefully more engaging. It is still not something I plan on using regularly, but of course I am open to changing my mind about it with more teaching experience.

Exploring Creative Mathematics Lessons Online

On October 16th, 2014, Tom Ward, a Secondary MAC graduate and current high school math teacher at Greenhills in Ann Arbor, visited our classroom to share some of his ideas and strategies for creating engaging lessons. As a future high school math educator, I found this presentation to be the most interesting, because it had been so math focused. Actually, the first example he presented was to help students learn about quadratic equations, which is the next chapter my placement classroom will be covering! This lesson involved watching a video of a basketball practice, where fellow peers were shooting baskets. I thought it was such a great example, where students can see the parabolic shape of the position of the basketball as it is being shot, and with the right video tools, students could spend various lessons trying to calculate the trajectory of the ball, and whether it would go into the hoop.

Although Mr. Ward shared plenty of lesson examples, such as the basketball trajectory, a Mario Jump example, and a Vine example (not directly related to mathematics), what I appreciated most, was that he didn't just present ideas, but he shared how we could find creative ideas for lessons ourselves. He shared some of his favorite teaching blogs, such as Dan Meyer, Sam Shah, Fawn Nguyen, and Kate Nowak, and also provided us with websites (now linked on CTools), which were some more resources for us to check out. I thought this information was much more useful than just giving us three bloggers to follow.

I really enjoyed this presentation, and although Mr. Ward may not have been as enthusiastic as our first guest speaker, it was really interesting seeing a Secondary MAC alum, and hear about his success as a teacher. I also appreciated that he had taught in different states and different types of schools as well, which suggested to me that he would have various perspectives on teaching. Another aspect of Mr. Ward's presentation that not all of our other guest speakers did was that he provided his information so that we could contact him, as well as a list of his favorite resources.

For me, this presentation was very encouraging. I have worried about my ability to be creative, and make each of my lessons interesting and engaging for students. It is nice to know and be reminded how great of a resource the internet can be, and how it can act as an inspiration for many lesson ideas. I thought that Mr. Ward's presentation supplemented this Teaching with Technology class very well, and it will only help us as novice teachers discover all sorts of interesting and engaging lesson ideas!