TinaMo

After reading chapter 3 in the Empowering Students with Technology book, I have found that my worst fear in dealing with educational technology is shifting control. I thrive on being in control. I have found comfort in being the “teacher that gives the problems” as the female student puts it on page 46. It has become apparent to me that I need to change from being a lecturer 100% of the time in my calculus class to empowering my students to take the initiative when it comes to problem-solving. • How will I overcome these fears and use technology for empowerment? I have already begun my plan to manage my fears on using technology for empowerment. Last week I attended an AP Calculus workshop and I was so glad that I had read this chapter in our textbook. I intentionally looked for opportunities to use technology to overcome my fear of shifting control and discovered that with a little work on my part, I can overcome this fear. After seeing examples of collaborative learning, calculator ...

Wow!! What a journey we have taken in class this week. We have been exposed to so many new avenues of attaining information more efficiently and some really exciting ways to communicate using the internet and PowerPoint. I must admit that I have always been very conservative when using the internet for fear of personal information getting into the wrong hands. Well, look at me now! I am a blogger. I have subscribed to numerous sites and found them to be reliable thanks to Dr. Wickersham. I’d like to share some of them with you. First we were introduced to www.bloglines.com which is a Rich Site Summary, (RSS) that allows you to view all new entries from sources that you have selected from the internet. These sources must have the RSS symbol displayed on the site to work correctly. The host site is referred to as the aggregator and the sites that you choose to add are called feeds. What a time-saver! I have included several web sites that show new gadgets as they become available. Each ...

As a math teacher, I tend to lecture a lot. After learning about the difference between being an automator vs an informator, I have a strong desire to learn how to become more of an informator. I am specifically looking for examples of informators in a math class and I have noticed that none have been given thus far. My goal is to create ways to become more of an informator in my precalculus and calculus classes.

One of the most important things that I have learned this last week is that being information literate is not just being able to find information on the internet, but it is being able to find reliable information. We have been given great information in class that we can share with others to help us determine if our sources are credible. First of all, look at the URL to determine if the site was created by a single user or a trusted organization. You can watch for the persons name in the path preceded by a symbol like ~ or %. The Alta Vista search engine can be used to determine sites that are linked to the site in question. Just type link: and follow it with the URL to see them. You can view these sites to find why they are linked. This is referred to as following digital threads. You can also find out information about who owns the web site. Just go to http://www.register.com/ , select the WHOIS tab, and type the URL in the text box provided. You will be given information about who ...