We are in store for a busy semester!

Welcome back to the SDSU Technology for Math Educators blog.  We have had 2 days of Math Technology class so far this semester and I can tell that it is going to be another busy semester with a lot of learning happening! 

Yes, this will include me learning new things. This reminds me of my proud moment from Monday’s class.  I had assigned some reading prior to the first day of class (yes, they love it when I do that).

Sarcasm Emoji

 

One of the readings was an article entitled The 10 Skills Modern Teachers Must Have.  I asked them two questions about this article: which skill do you think is the most important? And which skill do you think will be hardest for you? The majority of the students listed the most important as “remain a life-long learner.”  This was a particularly proud moment for me as I truly try to model that skill when I teach and it seems that they recognize its importance so I must be doing something right.

On Wednesday, we talked about the types of technology that they want to learn this semester.  We have a very long list (see below) and while I don’t know if we can get through all of it, we are going to try.  Some of these topics are going to push me to truly learn new things—and I am excited about that!

·         Promethean Board & SMARTBoard

·         TI-Nspire

·         iPad—how to use these in math

·         Free online math resources—Desmos, Geogebra, Plot.ly

·         Physical manipulatives—what is out there

·         Infinite Campus

·         Online Course management—Edmodo, Schoology, Moodle

·         Wikispaces

·         Google Classroom—

·         BYOD—Bring Your Own Device

·         Flipped Instruction

·         Personalized Learning

·         3D printing

·         Coding

Most of these students were in my Geometry for Teachers course last semester so we already have a great dynamic in the classroom.  I am looking forward to another semester of learning the best practices for using technology to help students learn mathematics.