New Probability Assignment

By Jon OaksFeb 20, 2013
Last week I posted this on twitter after I attended the Math In Action Conference at Grand Valley State University: However, I couldn't post the assignment online right away as I hadn't given it out to my students at that point.  Now I can.  Although I had lots of student questions about the assignment (more than I do a 'normal' assignment), I could tell that this problem had the students think outside of the box more than they would have had I not given them this assignment at all. I tried to manage the student questions by starting a discussion…
Uncategorized, ,
Read More

Using Virtual Tools to Solve Real-World Problems

By Jon OaksApr 05, 2011
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…
Uncategorized, , ,
Read More

Mid-Week Ideas, Anyone?

By Jon OaksFeb 13, 2011
A couple of things I came across this week.  Of course, there were more, but here are the highlights:1.  TI-Nspire Videos over at Atomic Learning - These are wonderful walk-through videos which cover the basics, graphs and geometry, lists and spreadsheets, data and statistics, calculator and data collection. 2.  TopicMarks - I heard about this wonderful tool this week in my Twitter feed that summarizes text documents for you.  This has wide implications, such as allowing more free time to read other materials, or to just simply give an abstract for one of your own works.3.  Inequality Match Game -…
Uncategorized, , , , ,
Read More

Twitter Link Round-Up

By Jon OaksFeb 03, 2011
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…
Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,
Read More

Non-Apologetic Promotion of Twitter

By Jon OaksJan 24, 2011
Update:  50+ Twitter Links, including a Prezi about Twitter in Education. There have been at least 3 times in the last week when I have showed a colleague this website and have gotten a surprised look of, "Where did you get all of these ideas?"  When I tell people that Twitter feeds a majority of my inspiration to go looking for things, they start listening.  But no one ever really seems to follow through by actually signing up for Twitter.  From what I can tell, it is a slight fear of just not knowing enough.  So, here I'm sharing a…
Uncategorized, ,
Read More

10 Potentially Helpful Resources

By Jon OaksJan 17, 2011
Here is the most recent set of helpful resources that I have sort of stumbled upon out of well over 200 hundred that I've looked at today: 1.  Broad Texter - This is a service that allows you to create a group so that your students can join so that they can receive text messages from you.  In fact, I've set up one for my students that I hope to use in the near future.  Feel free to sign up at the top of the page if you're so inclined. 2.  Smart Teaching Blog - My biggest advice when looking at…
Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,
Read More

Comment on a Few Useful Tools

By Jon OaksJan 10, 2011
This comment is more here for myself than for anyone else, as I keep on forgetting about them just because I don't have them documented anywhere: 1.  bit.ly - You would not believe (or maybe you would) how much this URL shortener has come in handy lately to quickly and easily customize URLs to give to my students.  At one point I customized something with the student's name because the student was afraid that he would forget by the time he got home.  You can't forget your name, now can you? 2.  zamzar.com - Free online file conversion.  I have…
Uncategorized, , ,
Read More