Technology

After last Monday's class I went to my principal and asked for a Smart Board. Unfortunatly the school is not going to buy anymore, but they did give me an eIntruction Interwrite Mobi to play with. If anyone has seen one of these or knows anything about them please let me know. It looks pretty cool I just do not know how to work it yet.

Lesson

     A lesson that I have recently done with my Algebra classes does not deal with Geometry, but it did use Geometer's Sketchpad.  We are working with Quadratic Functions and right after the students learned how to graph them I took them to the computer lab and they used Geometer's Sketchpad to look at the graphs of quadratic functions.  They graphed five or six graphs on the same graph and looked to see what the a, b, and c-values of the equation had on the graph.  They were able to determine that the a-value told them if the graph opened up or down and also how wide the parabola was. The b-value told them if the graph was shifted left or right. Finally the c-value told them where the graph crosses the y-axis.  When we were finished my students were able to print off their graphs and put them in their binder. 

Monday 3-16 Class

I enjoyed measuring the height of the lamp and the Bell Tower. I have had my Algebra students do this activity before (when we were talking about proportions) and they really enjoyed it. Though I have never seen it done using a mirror or the protractor device. :)

Understanding Measurement

I read chapter 6: Understanding Children's Understanding of Linear Measurement to Inform Instruction. I thought it was a good article, it reinforced the idea of letting students figure things out on their own.  I liked how they approached 1/2 of a unit by looking at how old the children were. Some of the students were looking at something that was 4 1/2 units long as 5 1/2 units because 5 units were used, but the item only measured 1/2 the last unit. By looking at how old they are the students were able to understand that if they are 6 1/2 then they have not reached 7 yet. 

Spring Break Update..

We have made plans to go to Chicago for part of Spring Break (Mar 23-27) YIPPPPEEEE

Facebook....Masters Project?????

As my husband and I were eating lunch we began talking about Facebook and becoming friends with current students. We both agreed that it would not be professional to mix my personal life with my professional life (I really do not want my students to see the comments or pictures I post on my page or my friends pages). But this got me to thinking what if I could make a "Professional" page that my students could become "friends" with, what would be the advantage? What if I used Facebook just like our class is using Blogspot?? Many cell phones have Facebook applications so students can access Facebook with the push of a button and many students already actively use Facebook. 

The more we talked the more I got the idea to make a "Mrs. Olson's Algebra Class Fanpage" This fanpage would be very similar to the blogs we currently do. They could check daily for information, homework assignments, and reminders. They would also be able to post questions for homework that myself (or a classmate) could answer. I could also attach links to websites that would allow students to do graphing activities or even to the book website that would give them extra practice problems.

My question to those of you that follow my blog is "What do you think? Is this a good idea? Should I talk to my administration before a put it together? Are my students going to want to participate? HELP" (OH yea, could it be part of my Master's Project?)

Making Posters

   A few weeks ago I put my Algebra students in groups and gave them four problems to solve. This past Friday I picked one of the problems and their group had to make a poster. On the poster they had to put the original way they solved the problem, they then had to solve it by putting the problem into equations and make a graph. I continue to be impressed by the work they put into the posters. I feel they like the projects and are learning something (although some work harder than others). If you have never done this with your students I would encourage you to try it once.