As Elmer Fudd would say, "I weally wove wikis!" My first experience with wikis was this school year. I was introduced to the Barrow County Schools middle school math resources wiki that the math teachers would be using to post lessons/activities/skillbuilders/etc. The site is protected so that only members can edit the pages. Before this lesson, I did not really understand the operations of this wiki, or any wiki for that matter. I somehow joined a 7th grade math wiki because I received an invitation. Now I know what that means! Since then, I have subscribed to the feeds of both these wikis and am joining the Barrow County wiki. I hope to be uploading math activities as I find/create them so that all middle school math teachers in the county can make use of them if they so choose. That's why I'm here.
Okay, back to the original questions. From the list of wikis Caroline provided, I chose the ones that had something to do with math. Primary math was just darling! The most awesome thing about this site is the way classrooms from around the world can participate! And it was so easy to follow! The kindergarten counting book was just as precious but not as interactive. There were a few discussion posts, but I guess the content is rather simplistic for much else. I was impressed with Math 12V Outcomes Portfolio. Mr. Lee says, "the objective of this project is to create an electronic portfolio that clearly and concisely explains these outcomes and connects each outcome with a sample problem. By using a wiki located on the world wide web, students can collaborate to develop these explanations and then share them with each other." I looked at several of the students' explanations, but the important parts to me were Mr. Lee's responses to his students' work and how students can learn from each other! How awesome is that? I also visited the TeachersFirst wiki and will certainly go back and read more carefully this content about setting up and protecting wikis.
Right now, I don't know what I would do differently or how I would make these wikis better. I need more exposure to and experience with wikis. I'll have to get back to you on that.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Thing 6
Wow! All I can say is "Wow!" I love having the ability to access my bookmarks from any internet-capable computer! Wow! I also love searching by tags! Wow! Talk about making a search more productive! Talk about having others help! Wow! Diigo makes it easier for me to locate/develop math activities and save what I find, whether at home, work, anywhere! Wow! Can you tell I'm excited? I'm sure that, as time goes on, I will have bookmarked everything pertaining to middle school math! Want to see what's going on? Here you go! https://secure.diigo.com/user/pgilreath Oops! No more time to blab, I mean blog! I've got more sites to locate and bookmark!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Thing 5a
I'm so dizzy! My head is spinning! I've been skimming and scanning on my reader. Caroline is right! You really do have to practice this skill! It's getting easier, though!
I finally found a site I like for math, http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/. Who would think that exemplary resources for middle school math would be found at a science site? Anyway, I found lots of links to math activities that I can use to assist our teachers and lots of articles on teaching math. One of the first articles I read was about writing in the math classroom, http://www.mathwire.com/writing/writing1.html. With this article were also further links, one of which was written by Marilyn Burns, my indirect mentor. Oftentimes, math teachers do not like to write or have their students write, but to truly understand mathematical concepts, students need to talk and write about them. Burns quotes William Zinsser, who states: "Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own." When children write in math class, they have to revisit their thinking and reflect on their ideas. And student writing gives teachers a way to assess how their students are thinking and what they understand (Writing to Learn, Harper, 1993). If we, as math teachers, can get over the thought that math is only about numbers, we open our students up to greater and deeper understandings of mathematics. Writing does not have to be long and tedious. Simple, written explanations that take less than 2 minutes may be all that is needed to help students make mathematical concepts their own.
There was also a link to an article on math games, http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/middle-school-math-science/2008/10/27/lets-talk-teaching-games-in-math-class/, with more links to the game sites. Even though students may not have access to a computer as often as we would like, I can sometimes use the ideas in the games to create manipulatives for use in the class without using a computer.
I could go on and on, but I bet you're not as interested in math as I am!
I finally found a site I like for math, http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/. Who would think that exemplary resources for middle school math would be found at a science site? Anyway, I found lots of links to math activities that I can use to assist our teachers and lots of articles on teaching math. One of the first articles I read was about writing in the math classroom, http://www.mathwire.com/writing/writing1.html. With this article were also further links, one of which was written by Marilyn Burns, my indirect mentor. Oftentimes, math teachers do not like to write or have their students write, but to truly understand mathematical concepts, students need to talk and write about them. Burns quotes William Zinsser, who states: "Writing is how we think our way into a subject and make it our own." When children write in math class, they have to revisit their thinking and reflect on their ideas. And student writing gives teachers a way to assess how their students are thinking and what they understand (Writing to Learn, Harper, 1993). If we, as math teachers, can get over the thought that math is only about numbers, we open our students up to greater and deeper understandings of mathematics. Writing does not have to be long and tedious. Simple, written explanations that take less than 2 minutes may be all that is needed to help students make mathematical concepts their own.
There was also a link to an article on math games, http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/middle-school-math-science/2008/10/27/lets-talk-teaching-games-in-math-class/, with more links to the game sites. Even though students may not have access to a computer as often as we would like, I can sometimes use the ideas in the games to create manipulatives for use in the class without using a computer.
I could go on and on, but I bet you're not as interested in math as I am!
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