In thinking about what I need to do to prepare my students for the 21st Century, I refer to the National Educational Technology Standards. The standard that I want to focus on this week is 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. The area that I want to focus on the most within this standard is "engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources". This is especially important to me because I think it is tremendously important for students to be able to apply the mathematics skills they learn in class to their everyday life. As much as I can, I bring in real-world examples and create real-life activities for my students to engage in. Also, I think with all the distractions that students have these days, it is vital to keep them focused in a meaningful way.
I would love to have my students complete a project in which they have to plan buying a house, car, or some other large purchase. I may do this for my project for this class. I would have students research the topic, budget, and create a plan to go about making a big purchase. One tool that I could use for this project are TeacherTube, and I could use this to show students video clips about buying a house, car, etc. Another tool that I could use for this same purpose is Discovery Streaming. I have also found a few Math webquests dealing with these topics on Teachnology.
I am excited to try using these tools with my students and especially interested to have my students become involoved in such a real-life type of project as this. Now I just have to fit it into my schedule! :-0
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Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI agree it is important to bring in real-world examples and create real-life activities for our students. I have trouble creating real-life activities because of my curriculum (ancient history). I like your project idea about planning to buy a big ticket item (house, car, or boat). I just recently learned how to embed a Teacher Tube video into a power point presentation. I would be more than happy to show you if you would like to learn how to do it. Kelly :-)
Jessica:
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be bold and venture away from the safe haven of English and head to your math world. I must say that I'm slightly nervous. :)
Actually, I wanted to come here to see just what you described in this blog: how to be creative given the new technology that's there for teachers.
I actually liked math in school, but my teachers rarely if ever showed how math could be beneficial to me. I know it's a common argument among students: why do we need to know this?
It's good to see how you are trying to apply math to real-world situations. One thing that comes to mind for me: my wife and I just bought a new car. We spent quite some time figuring out what would be the best deal for us: the 0.0% financing for 36 months, or the $1,500 cash back on the purchase. Hey! It's math! And I was really proud of myself that I was able to figure out the best deal for our family. I wonder how much fun it would be if you had your students set up a "service" for teachers/parents, where they could offer their math expertise when someone was deciding on a purchase like a car or TV or something.
Anyway, just a thought, and I wish I had you as my math teacher! :)