An Array of Media — Video and Audio Clips
1. JotForm Introductory Video 2. Article: College Lecture Classes Need Overall 3. Calculus Rhapsody (I know this isn't new, but... a friend who is teaching Calculus this summer asked for a link.) 4. Math: It's Everywhere 5. A Short List of Great YouTube Channels http://www.youtube.com/user/glenhamlen http://www.youtube.com/user/InspiringEducation http://www.youtube.com/user/wwwcomapcom
Using Virtual Tools to Solve Real-World Problems
I recently saw this video come up in my Twitter Feed. It is about a group of teenagers who are working on a project for Abbott Labs, and the story of their teacher who realizes that after working on this Real-World Problem, that the students will never be able to learn the same way ever again. Meaning, in the traditional sense, without the technology and virtual tools. I understand where the teacher is coming from. But as an educator, I don't think it should take a project from Abbott Labs for us to realize this. We need to realize this…
More Student Feedback.
I'm really happy to report that this is ALL of the student feedback from my Saturday class that recently ended: "Although I did not understand a lot of the material, the instructor was very informative and acted as if he had he students in his best interest.""Jon is a great instructor. He really takes his time to explain the topics with out getting behimd schedule. I wish more instructors were like him. The course should be a week or two longer to fully grasp all of the concepts that are being taught."
Encouragement for Any Teachers Out There…
I know it can be tough out there! I just finished two of the worst semesters I have ever had back-to-back. The students constantly had attitude problems and my supervisors scolded me for telling the students that their attitude was unacceptable for the classroom. Well, I just received the first good news I have gotten in a while: My online students (at at different school, that is) seem to like me. It's comments like these that make teaching worthwhile. If I could give one recommendation for future reference, it would be: "Nothing, I really enjoyed having this class with the…
Twitter Link Round-Up
Here's a recap of the links that I've posted on Twitter over the past week or so: 1. A friend told me that she used this Divisibility Rocks game from over at The Utah Education Network with her Developmental Math students and that it worked really well. It turns out that they have plenty of other great lesson plans as well. 2. Z-Type is a very intense typing game. It turns out that as a Math Instructor, I do have to teach typing, computer, and writing skills as well. For example: One student told me just today that he couldn't write…
Happy New Year!
I've really been trying to avoid it, but at this point I don't think I can help it anymore. I think that the TED Talk that was featured over at The Edge of Learning sums it up well why I don't like to give away many of my New Year's Resolutions. But I want to tell someone, so since you're reading this, you're going to bear the brunt of it:1. I want to continue to lose weight in the New Year. I took the month of December off so that I could enjoy the holidays with people, but now the holidays…
Mathematics Origami
This morning with a stack of blank, unused paper sitting right next to me, I was thinking about some new projects that I might be able to assign my students for next semester. Then it popped into my mind... Origami! I think an assignment on origami would be especially interesting to my students in art and design. I am looking forward to seeing what students will create in the semesters to come. By the way, below is a link to a related TED talk by Robert Lang. It could serve as a good way to introduce an entire unit on…
Thoughts on Teaching Statistics
There was a tweet in my feed this morning that simply said: "Now that's how you present statistics http://pop.is/24bos". I'm glad that I took this tweet seriously, because the next 5 minutes or so of watching Hans Rosling talk about the "Joy of Stats" was a real treat. I can only imagine what some of these talks would have done this semester if I would have showed them at specific points throughout the semester in order to show why statistics is even useful, or how it is even used on display in the world around us. Related Links: http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/whats-on/the-joy-statshttp://www.ted.com/speakers/hans_rosling.html
Using TED in the Classroom
There were a couple of points this semester when I could hardly talk and needed to fill a few extra minutes of class time to give my voice a little rest. I have heard about TED in the past, but hadn't really thought about how I could use it in the classroom. Well, I tried it and it worked very, very well. I showed Conrad Wolfram's talk "Teaching Kids Real Math with Computers" and then had students write a reaction to what they saw. I haven't finished reading all the student papers yet, but I can tell that I have…