Math 371 Technology for STEM Educators

I always have the privilege of writing the last blog post of the semester for Math 371, Technology for Math Educators.   I like to use this opportunity to reflect on what went well during the semester and what I need to improve.   Things that went well: Desmos Art Project:   I couldn’t be more proud of the work they did on their Desmos art projects.   Several students spent lots of hours working on their project, and it was only worth 15 points. They didn’t work hard because of the points involved, they worked hard because they took pride in their work. It didn’t hurt that there was an online vote for the best project.   The top three students received gift cards to Jimmy Johns and a pair of Desmos socks.   Special thanks to Desmos for getting the socks to me so quickly! Videotaping Lessons:   Recently our department acquired a Swivl so we could use that to record our students’ teaching lessons.   My colleague, Dr. Chris Larson, has...

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Jessica DeNeui, and I'm a senior at SDSU. Today I'm guest-blogging about how Math 371 did and didn't help in the classroom. This semester I student taught at the Brookings High School. The school is one-to-one: every student has a two-in-one tablet computer. Access to technology was no problem (unless the internet crashed). I was pretty excited to see what we could accomplish with the computers.  One resource that I frequently found myself going to was Desmos. I was really glad we'd played around with Desmos in Math 371 so that I was up to speed. One really cool aspect of Desmos I hadn't known about before is that teachers can create an activity that takes students step by step through a process and it records their answers. It was amazingly helpful to be able to look back at my students' answers after they left class and see what they understood and what they didn't. Another way I felt Math 371 prepared...

Greetings students of Math 371! I first want to mention how honored I am to be a guest blogger.  I am envious of you being students of this class.  I wish my undergraduate degree would have included a course title “Technology for Math Educators”.  I hope that you are enjoying this class. When I started to brainstorm what I wanted to blog about, a number of topics came to mind: ·          Things a person heading into the teaching profession should know. ·          What technologies I frequently use my classroom. ·          How much technology is too much? None of these topics were quite right.  This blog deserves better.  So here we go… Why it is an exciting time to be a mathematics teacher. There is a revolution sweeping across the nation.  A mathematics revolution.  A mathematics teaching revolution.  A gr...

            Have you ever joined a conversation at an awkward moment? People interpret messages in different ways based on how they understand the words that are being used. Anything that is said or written can be taken out of context.  Context is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as 1)   the words that are used with a certain word or phrase and that help to explain its meaning , or 2) the situation in which something happens: the group of conditions that exist where and when something happens.  Right now of the little news that I look at, the majority of it is politics. It is important to be well informed on each candidate and what they plan to do if they are elected. For example one of Donald Trump’s statements pertains to building a wall on the United States-Mexico Border. This is a link to his site and his stand on the topic:   https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform . Skimming through this ofte...

“UGH! UGH! UGH!” This is a phrase often repeated (in my head or even out loud) when I’m working with technology. Whether I’m using my laptop, email, smartphone, iPad, etc., I frequently find myself sitting in a state of frustration. My computer freezes, emails get “lost,” text messages get delayed, apps don’t download or function properly, and those are just to name a few. I grew up exposed to an exponentially greater amount of technology than my teachers, though I’m afraid I’m already falling behind my future students and the amount of technologies to which they are/will be exposed. It is obvious that to be a developmentally responsive teacher, integrating technology into the classroom is a must. When I chose to become a teacher, I chose to be a lifelong learner. I am fully aware that tons of information I have yet to learn will come from my students, especially regarding technology. Even if I have my class explore a technology, such as a math game app, that I am already fami...

Brandon Whitmyre I have learned many lessons in college but I think the most important one is that your expectations are almost never what reality is.  Coming into college I knew that I wanted to be a civil engineer, I was sure of it and that was what I wanted to do.  But my third semester into it I realized that that wasn’t at all what I wanted to do because the reality of the job is not what I expected.  Even though I was told what the job would be and it sounded good at the time it wasn’t right for me.  After I learned this lesson I knew that it would also change my approach to teaching. In class we are always being told how teaching is going to be and what to expect but regardless of how much we are told we won’t be ready for the real work.  We will be very well prepared and know how to teach the material and how to prepare lessons but until we actually have that class in front of us and they are OUR students we won’t know the reality.  Now und...

By: McKale Bakken My time spent in Belize over spring break fits perfectly with the title of this blog “Slim technology.” During this service learning experience, I was able to get into the classroom in Belize. With little communication through SDSU and the school in Belize, it was tough knowing what to expect in the school. I was told that I’d be co-teaching a fifteen-minute lesson on insecticide, three different periods.   I was also told that I would be able to observe the mathematics teacher in their school. I was looking forward to this experience and ready to see the school in Belize! The first day in the school we held a teacher in-service day for the teachers in the Belize school. This was a full day of school in Belize, from 8am to 3pm. During this in-service we were able to understand their school and teach them a few things about our schooling back in South Dakota. The Belize teachers had many questions based on the technology and the lesson plans that we creat...