Math 371 Technology for STEM Educators

After spending two college Spring Breaks at home on the couch, I decided that I needed to push myself out of my comfort zone and use college as an opportunity to experience new things. Last Spring, I learned about an opportunity to complete a ten-day course called “Educational Leadership in Service- Learning: Belize” through the College of Education and Human Sciences at SDSU. This Spring, I completed that course over my Spring Break with eleven other SDSU students and twelve Brookings community members. I never expected this trip to have such an impact on my life that I would shed a tear when I had to part ways with these amazing people who became like family over the course of this trip. Not only the people that I served with impacted me so greatly, but also the children, adolescents, and adults whom I met and worked with while in Belize. It has been eleven days since we have returned and I am still trying to process this life changing experience. I had two goals for this trip. ...

     Recently in one of my courses we had the privilege of receiving a visit from the 2017 South Dakota, Teacher of the Year, Beth Kaltsulas. To our liking, Beth just so happened to be a fellow math educator at the middle school level. While visiting our campus, Beth was able to visit and present to many different content areas of the education department, and fortunately to our math class as well. Dr. Vestal gave a brief introduction and then Beth took the floor. Coming into our class she had up to three different presentations prepared to share with us young, future educators and you could feel the energy within her as she was realizing her reality at the moment.      As Beth began speaking and sharing her experiences and stories, I found my mind wandering (sorry Beth) to the same questions over and over again: What did she do differently that set her apart to become teacher of the year?   As a young educator, did she set this ...

     My 13 year-old son has been sick this week.   He has a soccer tournament this weekend and wanted to play tonight so last night he decided he would go to school for part of the day.   This is what he said to my husband, “Playing soccer is easier than going to school.   If I can go to school, I can play soccer.”      While I found his comment amusing, it also made me sad. I think he was saying that sitting in school all day in classes is hard for him. Knowing how active he has been since he was little, it doesn’t surprise me.   Even now when he watches TV, he is either kicking a ball or throwing a ball—never sitting still unless he doesn’t feel well.      Last week, he asked me if my classes were the same every day.   I said that it depended on my class, but one of them was never really the same any day.   He then said that he doesn’t like school and thinks it is boring because his cl...

            With over 150 million active users, Pinterest is full of ideas on everything from crafting to baking, to clothing. But it’s useful for more than picking out that perfect teaching outfit. Pinterest also has a solid community of educators using it to share ideas. There are activities, worksheets, and lesson plans ready to be found and saved, or ‘pinned’.             What I love about Pinterest is I don’t have to go on with a specific mission, I can go and just browse. If I find something I like, or that intrigues me, I can save it to a specific ‘board’ for me to look at more closely at a later time. Boards are essentially named folders, with the bonus of you can include a short description of your board. It helps me keep ideas organized and all in one place so that I can easily find them again. For me it’s better than a sticky note with a web address scrawled on it. With a picture and a sho...