Getting to Know the Technology

Read Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 from "A Teacher's Guide to Using Technology in the Classroom" (second edition)

Due January 28th.

1) Complete activity 3 on page 15 and bring it to class.

2) One of the fundamental technologies you will be using as a mathematics teacher will be a grading management system. Many of the school districts around this area as well as schools I have taught in use PowerTeacher (formally PowerSchool). Since PowerTeacher does not have a demo feature, we will be using a similar free online grading system called Thinkwave. Thinkwave is fundamentally set up the same way as PowerTeacher.

1. Sign up for the free version of Thinkwave grading system.

2. Give your class a name, ex. Math Period 1 or Algebra 1 P1.

3. Set up your class to follow KSC's two semester calendar and grading system.

4. Include 4 categories for your assessments with the following percentage values: Homework - 30%, Projects - 20%, Quizzes - 20%, and Tests - 30%

5. Make up a class of 10 students. You can use fake names or those of friends.

6. Make up 4 homework assignments, 2 projects, 2 quizzes, and 1 test. These are all fake, you will not actually making/grading them.

7. Give all of the students grades for the assessments and generate a report card for the students (click on the tab reports)

8. Save the report cards as a PDF and have it ready for class (Jan 28th). You can save the report card as a PDF by clicking on the "download it here" link on the top right of the page. (See image)

Due January 30th

3) Topic paper 1: (to be handed in)

How can mathematics teachers learn more about current instructional technologies?

a) Provide at least three ways teachers can gain knowledge to help them learn how to use technology and implement it in their classrooms.

b) Which way do you think is the most effective and why?

c) Which instructional technology do you think is the most critical for mathematics teachers use and why?

Topic papers should be at least two pages long (double spaced) and written as one coherent document that addresses all of the statements/questions above. The italicized question should be used as the central theme of the paper. Make sure to reference your reading and other sources for support as you answer this question.

Due January 31st

4) Online Discussion: You will find on Canvas a discussion assignment opened with this topic. What I got out of the reading. You should discuss at least two technological terms or features you learned from the reading and how they could be useful in the teaching of mathematics. After you have completed this assignment, read and make a comment on two classmates blogs.