Infectious Training...

Ok, so all this training has caught on with my family.  My kids have now caught the OCR (Obstacle Course Racing) bug as well!  George, my 14 year old son is running Warrior Dash and Rugged Maniac with us at the end of September on back-to-back Saturdays.  Morgan has signed up to run the Spartan Race kids' race at Fenway Park with us in November!  Now we are all running, training, and climbing to reach our goals.

This has to be some of the most exciting time for us...Here's to running and being healthy - AND conquering our fears!!!

Training in Earnest

Okay, so I have never considered myself a runner...I am still not sure that I do, since I just began.  But I have committed myself to this journey and will see it through.  My first mud run is 26 days away...and I am starting to be nervous.  But I guess I should start at the beginning.

My husband decided that he wanted to run an obstacle/mud race, and convinced me to sign up with him.  So...I did. Warrior Dash, I have been told, is a great entry-level race to get one's feet wet (pun intended) for obstacle races.  With a length of 3.1 miles it should be a manageable run especially since there are several obstacles to break up the actual running.  Mud, walls, tires, barbed wire, mud, cars, fire, and oh yeah, mud are all included in the course.  Runners have to scramble over, under, and through obstacles in order to complete the race.  It will be interesting to compete - I am looking forward to it with some trepidation.

I have been working with a personal trainer once a week for about two months, now.  My body looks and feels the best it has in years, and I am looking forward to continuing the transformation.  I never knew how strong I really could be until I flipped a tractor tire for several feet!  Today, for the first time, I have run almost a continuous mile.  I continued on my chosen course (total length of about 2.5 miles) by running intervals until I returned home.  It was one of my greatest achievements - I have never run like that in my life.

Tomorrow I hope to push myself to run at least 1.5 continuous miles (I would like to push for two, but boxing class is tomorrow night, and I don't want to be exhausted before the fun begins!)

I hope to complete Warrior Dash with a roar in my throat.  In September, Rugged Maniac awaits...and next year the Tough Mudder beckons (for my 40th!).  Perhaps, sometime in the near future, I will work up to a marathon.

We'll see...one mile at a time.

Final Reflection - EDUC 6713

Creating a GAME Plan for integrating technology in my classroom was a great way for me to organize my thoughts and ideas to create a plan for bringing technology to my students and to utilize Web 2.0 technologies with my students.  At the beginning of this class, I was pretty skeptical about some of the things we used (especially digital storytelling!)  Math does not seem to be a subject that lends itself to many things other than worksheets and LOTS of practice; however after watching the class videos, I definitely feel that digital storytelling has a place in my classroom.  My students can use it to create their own story problems or even to demonstrate how math can be used in everyday life.

I have definitely learned to keep an open mind when it comes to technology in a math classroom.  Prior to working in these courses, the only technology we used on a regular basis was a TI-84 graphing calculator.  Now, I feel that I have so many learning tools that I can give my students to help them learn, understand, and even find extra help!  Currently, I am limited by what is available within my district (and our very small budget...).  I hope to work to include more technology use into my classes and know that it will be a slow process.  That actually is a good thing, since I tend to want to do everything all at once, and being limited forces me to take it slow and not bite off more than I can chew.

Collaborating with my colleagues through the use of our wiki was a great way to give and receive feedback on lessons, and can be a very valuable tool for my own students.  They can share ideas and work together just as I have to learn more about bringing technology into the classroom.  Students have been excited about the prospect of using a class wiki - but every step of the way, we have been hampered by hardware issues and, most recently, a virus on our network servers.  This has also taught me to have a back up plan ready - just in case...  Sticky notes and a big whiteboard served as a pseudo-wiki when our internet was not available.

I guess the keys to being a good teacher is to keep an open mind, always have a back-up plan, and to be flexible.  Students can learn to take things in stride if we model that behavior in the classroom.

Slow but Steady...

A small success!  I have finally been able to locate and speak to my building's IT professional about getting computers in my classroom for student use!  After he deals with the huge list of issues to resolve, he will try to locate a computer or two for my classroom, so I can FINALLY implement the use of my class wiki!  YAY!  The students have been asking for it, and I will be able to open it up to their use.

I have not had the chance yet to research any tech grants for my school.  I'm hoping to spend some time on that this week.  Hopefully if I can find us some funding, I can get us some great tools for our students to learn.

Also, I am working on finding relevant real-world problems for students to solve and explore.  Since we are mostly reviewing pre-algebra concepts right now (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing real numbers and simplifying algebraic expressions by combining like terms), I have not really been searching as diligently as perhaps I should.  My focus has been on getting some learning tools for students to use, and I guess I have to take things one step at a time.  While researching potential grants this week, I will start looking for good tools and problems for students to learn solving equations.

This process is making me more aggressive when it comes to getting what my students need and would like to use.  Talking to my administrators has become a little easier - they are understanding that I am working with my students' best interests at heart, and I am trying to improve our school a little at a time and in my own small way.  It's quite gratifying when students give you a big hug and tell you that they, "...wish there were more teachers like you at this school!"  Hopefully we'll just keep, "baby steppin'" our way to success...

Frustrated and feeling inept...

So far, I am not doing well with using technology in my classes.  Unfortunately, our district has many "antiquated" notions of what encompasses technology.  Being able to utilize our schools' computer lab is difficult (this week is already completely booked - except for during my prep period...go figure).

I have tried meeting with our building's IT person to discuss whether or not we can put an older computer in my room for students to use.  Of course we have only one IT person, so he is busier than a, "one armed paper hanger."  Our building houses both a high school and a middle school, so understandably, he has his hands full! When trying to find anything out I am told to post a "TrackIT" work order, but there are no options for adding computers to my room.  This is something for which I need to meet face to face to discuss!

I am frustrated and trying to find other options.  Too many of my students do not have internet access outside of school, and this makes it difficult to include them in working on any internet-based projects.  If I can get some kind of internet enabled technology in my classroom, I would give them time to work on projects in class, but getting that technology is proving harder than I would have thought.  Working to get approval for using cell-phones/smartphones is taking longer than I would have expected... Bureaucracy is holding my students back!!! EEK!

Keeping abreast of different learning technologies is a bit easier, since I follow several teachers on Twitter and in my Google feed.  There are so many great learning tools out there - I just wish I could make them more available for my students.  Working in an impoverished district can be so emotionally rewarding, but at the same time, so incredibly frustrating.  I want to do so much better for my students and give them the best of everything, but we cannot get it or administration does not even want to try.

I guess you can see that it has been a pretty frustrating week...I am hoping to make some strides in a better direction as the week moves on and into the future...Maybe I can find my IT guy???  Suggestions anyone?!

ISTE NETS-T: Standards for Better Teaching

Looking at the ISTE NETS-T, it is easy to gain a sense of where I stand as a teacher with regard to utilizing technology in my classroom.  Most of my strengths lie under the standards of modeling digital-age work and learning, promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility, and engaging in professional growth and leadership.  Networking with other teachers in order to learn about new technologies and share my own knowledge of technologies is one of my passions.  My students are very excited about the prospect of using technology in the course of learning math, and have even enjoyed a behavior tracking system that I found through my network.

Honestly, the biggest areas of challenge for me include getting my students to reflect upon their learning using collaborative tools, and also designing or adapting lessons to include digital tools.  It would be great to have my students share their thinking and understanding  with their peers in order to engage in discussion and have them work out and clarify any misconceptions as a group instead of looking to me for the "right" answer!

To improve in the area of having students collaborate, I have started my first class wikis.  I am still working out exactly how I will use them, since many students do not have internet access outside of school.  Posting questions and having students discuss their strategies for solving the problem in the discussion section of the wiki is one possibility, but this is hard to work out logistically, since we do not have a one-to-one laptop program and so many students do not have access at home.  I am still working out ways to include my students without internet into the conversation (any ideas?)

In order to improve in the area of designing/adapting lessons to utilize digital tools, I will continue to research and look for ways I can modify my lessons and still remain true to our curriculum.  Most of the technology I currently use in my classroom is the graphing calculator.  I have used our computer lab to show the students Geometer's Sketchpad, but accessing our one computer lab is sometimes difficult, since it is often booked.

I would also like to improve in the area of finding relevant, real-world applications for the content I am teaching.  Students will often look at a problem and ask why they should care, since they are all going to be professional basketball players…  This is a big issue that I would like to work on.  Part of the problem is not having enough time to complete all of my tasks/responsibilities and still have enough time to be creative - right now there are not enough hours in the day…but that will change in a few months!

I plan on keeping abreast of advances in technology by keeping in touch with my network and looking at research.  I will also make sure to keep an eye out for applications of math concepts that would be interesting to my students…I will keep learning as I would like my students to do.


References:


NETS for Teachers. (2008).  International Society for Technology in Education.  Retrieved September 12, 2011 from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx.

MATH for Charity!!! SO COOL!!!

My daughter is raising money for a great cause - using MATH!!!  If you can help out, please click the link(MATH!!!) to donate...

Thanks!