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!
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I'm ashamed to admit, but it's a consistent state of my reader these days, that I have well over 1,000 unread blog posts. Given that fact, when I *DO* have time to get to my reader and dig through all of my (well over 150) subscriptions, that skimming is essential!
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that you have the Star that you can use to add blog posts to your Starred folder. I use this liberally for posts that I want to keep up with and read, but may not have time to read at that time. I know that if I star them, I can go to my Starred Items folder later and dig through them when I'm ready.
I'm so pleased that you found some valuable resources for Math! I know there is a lot out there, but that not all of it is great. Keep in mind, too that with an LCD projector you can make great use of 1 computer in the classroom.