Our Village on a Flat World

1. HISD Math/Science/Technology Summit February 9, 2008 Our Village on a Flat World • Increase one’s value for utilizing technology inside and outside of the classroom • Explore math websites • Describe the components of a weblog • Utilize a website to create own weblog • Explore options and revise personalized weblog Presented by Maria B. Benzon Madison Feeder Pattern, South Region Office mbenzon@houstonisd.org http://mbenzon.wordpress.com

2. Informal Survey Please respond on a scale of 1 to 5: • How important is it to integrate technology into your classroom and to use it? • How important is it to use technology in your personal life? • How competent are you with searching and surfing the internet? • How competent are you at Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)?

3. Forces that Flattened the World Finish your dinner. There are children in China and India who are starving. Finish your homework. There are students in China and India who want your job.

4. The Perfect Storm: The Numbers, Ambition and Education Gaps • The Numbers Gap • Retiring “Sputnik” Scientists • American students earning Science degrees has fallen to 17th in the world from 3rd (30 years ago) • Science & Engineering Degrees: • China = 60%; Taiwan = 41%; US = 31% • Engineering Degrees: China = 46%; US = 5%

5. The Perfect Storm: The Numbers, Ambition and Education Gaps The Perfect Storm: The Numbers, Ambition and Education Gaps • The Ambition Gap • When American CEOs send jobs abroad, they not only save 75% on wages, they get 100% increase in productivity. • Attitude of workers who take pride and are willing to do what’s needed to succeed. • American Idol Problem • My goal as an educator is to provide the best education on the planet (because of the competition overseas).

6. The Perfect Storm: The Numbers, Ambition and Education Gaps The Perfect Storm: The Numbers, Ambition and Education Gaps • The Education Gap • 2004 TIMSS: Advanced level of 8th grade math students • Singapore = 44%; Taiwan = 38%; US = 7% • In US: 60% of top Science students and 65% of top Math students are kids of recent immigrants • People want to do stuff that is fun. • No fun in algebra? • No fun in memorizing multiplication table? • No fun in advanced classes?

7. It is not the strongest of the species that survives… nor the most intelligent… but the one most responsive to change. Charles Darwin

8. Fun Math Internet Resources • Billy Bug: www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/BillyBug2/bug2.html • Math Dictionary http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/maths/dictionary.html • Math & Science Games http://education.jlab.org/indexpages/elementgames.php • Stop the Clock http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthec4.html • Speed Grid Challenge Multiplication http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SpeedGrid/Multiplication/urikamultires.html • Sudoku: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/sudoku_for_kids.htm SHARE: What other sites do you frequently visit?

9. What is a Blog? The main purpose of a blog is an online journal. Web + Log = Weblog = BLOG However, because of the editable templates, ability to hyperlink, add images and audio, & comment on entries, blogs have evolved into a plethora of uses. • Pin Oak MS: http://www.pinoak.us/academics-cluster_blogs.php • Math Playground: http://www.actionmath.com/blog/MathPlayground.html • Thoughts on how technology and math can be integrated

10. Anatomy of a Blog Blogs make integrating technology in the classroom easy: no technical knowledge is needed and users' thoughts are instantly published to the Web. Blogs also make it easy to give students feedback on their thoughts. At the end of each entry is a comment link for others to give opinions or thoughts about the entries.

11. Sample Blogs • Maria Benzon: http://mbenzon.wordpress.com • Sample for Today • Pin Oak MS: http://www.pinoak.us/academics-cluster_blogs.php • Sample Cluster Blog • Math Playground: http://www.actionmath.com/blog/MathPlayground.html • Thoughts on how technology and math can be integrated • Blogger.com • wordpress.com • 21publish.com

12. You Can Create a Class Blog to… • Post class-related information such as calendars, classroom events, homework assignments and activities. • Communicate with parents and invite their comments. • Post photos of class activities. • Invite student comments or postings on issues. • Publish examples of good student writing done in class. • Exhibit student art, poetry, and other written work. • Build a class newsletter using student-written articles and photos they take.

13. Use the COMMENT Feature to Enhance Student Learning • Assess student learning by posting prompts and having students respond. • Post photos and have students respond to them. • Gather and organize Internet resources for a specific subject, providing links to sites. • Post tasks to carry out project-based learning. • Create a parent/child blog with writing prompts for parents to work on with their children.

14. Student-Created Blogs • Post their own ideas, reactions and written work. • Post their reactions to writing prompts. • React to photos you post. • Keep a journal for class. • Keep a learning log for class. • Write about their ideas and opinions about topics discussed in class. • Keep a digital portfolio of their work. • Write comments, opinions, or questions on daily news items or issues of interest. • Showcase their best writing pieces.

15. Informal Professional Development You can read or create a blog to grow professionally: • Reflect on teaching experiences. • Write a description of a teaching unit. • Save links for later use. • Describe what worked during a lesson and what didn’t. • Get and provide teaching tips for other teachers. • Write about what you learned from another teacher. • Explore important teaching and learning issues. • Find out about professional development opportunities. • Get information on new learning technologies. • Collaborate with other teachers.

16. What’s On Wordpress.com? http://wordpress.com/features/ Blogger.com 21publish.com

17. Who’s in charge? How many blogs can you have? How long does it take to update? How reliable is it? Multiple Blogs & AuthorsInstant & Reliable

18. Who visits my blog? Will I get spam?

19. Spell-check, Docs, Photos, & Videos

20. Choose Your Theme Tags are Keywords Categories are like file folders

21. Widgets, Pages & Posts

22. Get Started! WRITE: Plan Your Blog • Who is your audience? • What is the focus of your blog? • What will you call your blog? (This is your title and becomes part of your URL address.) wordpress.com/signup

23. UPDATE: Users  Your Profile

24. Create Your Blog: PRESENTATION • Choose a theme • Choose widgets • Calendar • Blogroll • Search • Page • Categories • Archives • Extra: Snap Preview

25. Write Post Categories Discussion: Comments & Pings Write a comment about what you’ve learned so far. Include a web address or email address in the body Tags Save (draft) vs. Publish (upload) Write Page Write your classroom rules and procedures Write your “About Me” page Upload doc, jpg, ppt, etc. Create Your Blog: WRITE

26. Other things TO DO • MANAGE (lets you fix things) • BLOGROLL (load web links) • OPTIONS  General • Blog Title • Tag line • OPTIONS  Discussion Options

27. Houston ISD http://www.houstonisd.org Dallas County Schools http://www.dcschools.com/TAKS/default.asp Detailed analysis of every TAKS items Why are correct answers correct? What kinds of distracters/incorrect answers were used? How did students think/compute that caused them to answer incorrectly? What information will help teachers focus their instruction more specifically? National Library of Virtual Manipulatives http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html Available in Spanish and English Base Blocks Addition (Whole Numbers or Decimals) Color Chips Addition (Integers) Color Patterns Factor Tree (Prime Factorization and GCF/LCM) Fraction Rectangle Multiplication (Multiplying Fractions: does not show lowest terms) Rectangle Multiplication (Grouping, Lattice, Common Algorithms) Money Time – Analog and Digital Clocks ACTIVITY: Add these Web Links

28. Classroom Blog: Post Images • Posting Images - Digital images, in the form of photos or computer produced drawings, have the power to make mathematical concepts come alive. Teachers can post images to: • Connect concepts to the real world. (see a great example at the GCHS Blog). • Create problems to solve. (see example at think again! & 7th grade math) • Give visual learners a reference.

29. Classroom Blog: Writing Prompts • Writing Prompts - Teachers can write blog entries for their students in the form of writing prompts. By clicking on the comment link under each entry (all blogs have one of these), students can respond to the prompt. After each student has responded, all of the comments will appear on the same page. Of course, this creates new learning opportunities for students and teachers: • Teachers can quickly assess student knowledge of a current classroom topic by simply scrolling down a page full of comments. • Students can read the responses of other students. • Students who may not normally participate in classroom discussions can now respond to questions without being embarrassed. • http://verity7math.blogspot.com/2005/04/solving-one-step-equations.html