My Final Post

Well the time we have been waiting for is finally here, the end of this program!

Taking in to account everything I have experienced through this course, it did take me a long time to figure out what I like and what I do not like. I really tried to hear both sides of any argument about new technology. I summarized my journey thought this course via a digital time line I created using Time Toast (www.timetoast.com). I was a neat experience to use something like this, it is very easy to use and it was the perfect fit to create the summative project. Time Toast does have some draw backs like: you have a word limit for each event you create, videos can be a pain to embed, and the site crashes many times (it does do a good job at saving your work). This program is free and you are able to publish your work after you are done for the world to see. This program could be used by students to create anything. I think my growth through the course can also be summed up by saying without it I would have never created something like this. I would have rather made something like a paper or slideshow. Hats off to you mike and all other presenters, you turned me.
Here is my summative project:



To all of you, I wish you the very best in you careers and I am sure you will all make great teachers. To quote Tom Skinner "good luck to ya!"

Copyright and Education

Instead of writing about our speaker (I missed him) last week, I will write about copyright and education.
I would like to start off by saying that I think copyright law have a purpose in today's society, they do provide some good. The real issue I have with copyright issue is in education and teaching students.

I do not think we as teachers should have the added worry about violating copyright laws when we teach our students. When we show our students video's or photos to try to help them learn, the last thing we think about is violating copyright laws, we care about the learning of our students. When I was in high school there was an English teacher who flat out refused to show movies because of copyright issues. Many schools today do not worry about copyright laws and just break them because the chances of getting caught are slim. All it takes however: is one person who is "passionate" about upholding those laws to make things difficult, but you will have to act as a professional and work with that person. We have most likely met one of those types of people, maybe during your placements.

What ever your view are on the subject, either for or against it will be apart of our teacher lives and we will have to deal with it. Let me ask this question: If you show a movie in to your class are you going to show the one that costs $25-35 or show the same movie that costs $200 so you adhere to the copyright law??

I know there is way more to this issue, this is just my opinion/rant.
Only 2 more days left!!!! 

Cool Apps

Here are two of my favourite education apps that are on my Ipod touch:

(1) ChemiCal: It a chemistry wonder it has: a periodic table with all of the parts, can figure out molar mass, dilution calculations, and it can find out the molarity of solutions. It can be useful in a chemistry class, but only if students can do the calculation on their own.

(2) Planets: Basically our galaxy in your pocket. It can tell you where each of the planets and starts are based on you location. It can be useful in any science classroom, more so in grade 9 science.

Online Course

I looked at the online course Applied Math 30S as I will be teaching it latter this mouth and have no idea for what I am in stored for.

The first thing I notice is the organization, it is very well done. The units are easy to find and each unit contains vast amounts of information. The unit I am teaching is Data management and Analysis, so I had a look. It provided me with information that is easy to follow and understand. It even offers me with questions and solutions, as well as some worksheets for the students. Doing a quick glance all of the other units offer the same sort of thing, which is great.  

Another interesting thing this online course has is software. You can use this software to solve questions that are presented within the units. You do have to download them, so I am not sure if
the school will let you.

Overall this is a really great course/resource, it can provide a teacher who knows very little about applied math some comfort. I do plan to use this course during my placement.

Presentations

The presentations that occurred this week were really well done. It was nice to see the different approaches taken.

All groups did a really good job presenting their topics, some of the things that were presented, I have never heard off, so I learned some new things. The creativity was also really nice to see. All of the groups could have easily taken at least 30 min to present because the topics were so broad, but everyone told us what we need to know.

Good Job everyone, the end of classes is near!!

What Can I do Now?

This week Darren Kuropatwa came into to our class and gave an excellent presentation. I do wish that all teachers would use the three principles of learning because I think that it is one of the best methods I have seen through out this program. I also think that all teachers need to be on the same page when it comes to how students learn. 

Having the students do some of the work is also of great interest to me, its not that I am lazy, it is just that students can learn far more from each other than they could with me. I would also work with my students, as a team. My classroom would not be a strictly student centered class room, but students will be able to provide input.

Two things that I keep hearing from our presenters: (1) blocking sites and (2) cell phones and/or "iPods" in the classroom. I think that these two points are major resistors for the technology movement into the classrooms. What are some of your thoughts?
  

A really good Chemistry and Physics blog.

http://tskinnersbec.edublogs.org/

This is an excellent blog for those of us that teach chemistry and/or physics. It is run by Tammy Skinner and she is a high school science teacher.

Why I followed: It is really tricky to find a good, up to date blog about chemistry and physics. Tammy gives so good ideas and resources that I or anyone could use in their classes. If you are unfamiliar with a concept, she provides excellent notes so you can learn it your self.