Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Use of a blog in my class
I teach high school algebra and geometry. The use of a blog for my classes would be to present extras such as additional examples, extra credit opportunities, greater depth coverage of topics we only have time to mention in class and puzzles. I could also post open-ended questions which students could respond and contribute to. I generally over plan for my classes and then have to leave out the extras. The blog would be a way to offer the beyond the curriculum information to interested students. An example of this occurred this week. I had the students generate Pascal's triangle and used it to produce the Fibonacci Series. It took longer than I wanted, so we had to leave out the golden ratio in nature discussion. This could be on the blog and the students could discuss on their own.
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A blog would be really great for students to gain additional insight into lessons. There are many, many great websites with materials for all sorts of subjects. It's easy enough to link to these on a blog and let the students explore them on their own. I think that this is a great idea to apply to your classroom, and I cant wait to see how it goes!
ReplyDeleteI don't think any teacher ever feels that they have been able to give the students all the material they need. The idea of using the blog space as a place that the students could continue the learning done in the classroom is great especially with all the links you would be able to use.
ReplyDeleteWOW! What an awesome idea. I wonder how this could be simplified for second graders. There are some parents who like to have extra practice for their children. Keeping it open-ended is the key.
ReplyDeleteHave a great day!
Mark
I like the idea of being able to provide students with links beyond the classroom. I love hearing my students say, "Can we do more of this?" or "I went home and tried this after class." It is frustrating to me as a classroom teacher that there is never enough time in a school day to take those ideas that students get excited about and run with them.
ReplyDeleteMy review of The Partnership for 21st Century website provided much food for thought. The fact that it is a joint endeavor between businesses, educational organizations and others highlights the importance of this new approach to preparing the work force for the future way in which we all communicate. The idea of testing with the CWRA in which the abilities to think creatively and analyze information is stressed more than the knowledge of separate concepts will definitely have an impact on the way we do things in public education. Or, at least, it should. As a math/science teacher, I have always wanted my students to think critically and not just memorize information.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that in Japan, math students study only 4 or 5 concepts for the whole year, but they study them in depth. This is quite different from the 2 or 3 concepts I teach a week, but only to a very limited and specfic degree.
Although I have not read extensively about Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, I don't agree with his use of the word intelligences to describe people's varying talents and abilities. I do think that most people have value and ways to contribute positively to society, but I don't think this makes everyone at the same level of intelligence.
As a teacher, I must continue to find ways to integrate ideas from many disciplines, while incorporating the various types of literacies that will be required for future work forces. Now, we are too often teaching the same topics year after year with the addition of some new concepts. For example, every year we go over working with fractions and yet students still have trouble with them. There is the need to teach more comprehensive lessons which use fractions in them in a interesting way.