I am not going to make any promises to post more often or anything like that.  It seems that as soon as I do that, I am destined to not follow through.  Let us say that last year was a trying year.  I am trying to put it out of my mind .  There were major changes at the school that I am teaching at and not always for the best.  I think what was most frustrating was that not enough of substance changed.  Anyway, I am looking forward to the new year and I am hopeful that we can move forward as a school.

On another note, I have been asked to join the Board of Directors of CCTM, our state affiliate of NCTM, as their technology integration specialist.  My duties include their new website, and increasing the groups web presence.  As part of that we have a twitter account @cctmath and a facebook page (Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics), and a wiki where I hope to have a dialog and sharing between math teachers across the state of Colorado.  If you have any ideas how to build this community I would love to hear them.  And, I hope to post more.  Thanks.

Sorry, but I had a bad link in the last two posts to my presentation.  It has been fixed.  Sorry.

Thanks to all who came to my presentation on integrating Web 2.0 Tools in the Mathematics Classroom on Friday at the CCTM conference.  Despite technology problems (ironic huh!) I think it went very well.  It seemed like only the die hards stayed for the last session of the day.  A special thanks to Elizabeth Allen-Hatcher for the moral support and Ann Summers for letting me borrow her computer.  I hope that teachers of mathematics will begin to use the social networking tools that are out there to benefit their teaching and their own lives.

Tomorrow I am presenting at the Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference (CCTM).  My presentation is on Web 2.0 tools in the teaching of mathematics.  At NECC this summer many bloggers and others including Will Richardson and Bud Hunt mentioned that we (as proponents of 21st century learning and Web 2.0) need to start going to conferences that don’t center on technology to preach the benefits of using technology in the classroom.  Well, this is my effort in that call to action.

Check out my presentation.  Thanks if you attended my presentation, I hope it was worthwhile and that you can take something away from it to use in your classroom.

It seems that time is always against us in the education business.  I feel like I have less and less time every year to accomplish more and more stuff.  There are continuing pressures to improve test scores, to make relationships with students, to be involved in the school, join committees, and by the way stay healthy and take care of your self. Not to mention the outside pressure from politicians and pundits to improve education in this country.

It seems to me that it is almost impossible to do all of these things in the constraints that we are under at our school.  Let’s look at some numbers:

Number of hours I see a class per week: 3.75

Number of weeks: 18 minus 1 for final exams

Total number of hours in a semester:  63.75

So overall, I see students for about a week and a half of a full time job.

Even more shocking is that a typical student in my high school is in class for only three 90 minute blocks in a typical day.  That is only 4.5 hours a day!  If you include 6 classes on a Wednesday (we have eight 47 min periods on Wednesdays) that makes 22.5 hours a week in school.  That is barely a part time job.

My point with all these numbers (sorry if I bored you, but I am a math teacher after all) is that if we really want to improve test scores, improve schools, and improve the US education position in the world, I have a simple solution.

Make school a full time job for kids. That’s it!

If kids were in school for 8 hours a day (not including lunch), think of the level of depth that we could have in all subjects.  We could have 8 hour long periods a day that would be 5 hours of math per week for every kid.  That would be a 33% increase in contact time per week.  I think that might make a difference, especially for struggling math students.  They would benefit from seeing me every day and getting consistent math instruction.  What do you think?  How does your school compare to mine?  I would love to know.

Sorry for the vent.  It has been a difficult first few weeks of school.

One of the greatest things about education is that there is a renewal every year.  Every year the school year ends, summer begins, and we get to recharge our batteries, learn new things, travel and get ready to begin all over again.  We begin again with new students, new classes, forever tweaking our practice so that we can inspire our students.

I figured that since my summer hiatus is over I should put my goals out for the world to see.

1. Continue having my students blog (imp4-2008.blogspot.com/, One for Calculus coming soon)
2. Use the TI-Nspire in all of my classes.
3. Inspire other teachers to use more technology in their classes.
4. Try to bring my summer learning into my classroom.

I think that these are reasonable goals to have.

Blogging in class had a set back last year.  I had difficulties with my students seeing the relevance of it.  I am working with other teachers so that the posts that my students make will have an outside audience.  I think having an audience that is outside of our class and school will make students own the blog more.

I think that the TI-Nspire has the ability to significantly change mathematics educaiton.  I was trained over the summer on its use with a few of my colleagues and am in the process of getting a User Group started at LHS.  Hopefully, working together we can make positive steps toward using it in the classroom.

This is the second year of the Technology Study Group at LHS.  We have a principal now who is giving us a forum to talk about technology.  We have time during the first faculty meeting to talk about our group and get people excited.  Between this group and the TI User group I hope to get more teachers at LHS excited about using technology.

Lastly, this summer I spent a lot of time working on myself.  Through yoga and meditation I found a calm that I didn’t think was possible.  The new school year and its stresses will challenge me to keep this calm, it is my hope that I can continue to maintain what I have learned and push further during the school year.  I am hoping to live in the moment and focus my energy on what I have control over.  Wish me luck!

Now that the summer is over, I hope to write and reflect much more.  Thanks for reading!

Four of my colleagues and I went to a three day TI-Nspire training about a week ago.  The TI-Nspire is the latest handheld (notice how I didn’t call it a calculator) from Texas Instruments.  It comes in both a CAS and non-CAS version, and the great thing is that the non-CAS version also comes with a TI-84 faceplate that can be put in and the handheld will work like a TI-84.

So why am I writing here about a product like the TI-Nspire?  Well because I think that this product more than anything that has come out in the realm of technology for the mathematics classroom has the potential to change mathematics education.  The reason for this claim is ability to create and modify documents.  Remember I said that this wasn’t a calculator.  The truth is that it is more like a handheld computer.  When you turn on the Nspire you get a document that you can add pages to, including:  a calculator, lists and spreadsheets, graphs and geometry, or a notes page.  These pages can be created ahead of
time for students to work through, discover mathematics and answer questions, all in the handheld.  Check out the screenshots throughout the post.

My plan for the beginning of the year is to have pre-made activities for my students to explore, and worksheets that they can put answers on.  As soon as TI releases “Connect to Class”  a piece of software that will allow the teacher to send and receive files and keep track of answers and grades, like the TI-Navigator, I will use it to keep track of my students performance.  Connect to Class will be free to teachers, and a TI-Nspire Navigator will be available later in the year. I will also have tutorials and screen casts posted for students to use outside of class to create their own documents.

The most notable thing that is happening this year is that my colleagues and I are going to start a User Group for the TI-Nspire. We will meet once a month or so to share activities and help each other trouble shoot.  THIS IS HUGE!!!!  My colleagues in the math department have always thought of me of as the crazy technology guy, but now we are going to meet to discuss the use of technology in the classroom.  Granted we probably won’t be discussing Web 2.0 tools,  but we will be talking about formative assessment, investigation, and student achievement and how the TI-Nspire is aiding all of these.  It’s a start! I hope that maybe if this group is successful, they might jump in and start trying to integrate other technologies in their teaching.

Got back from NECC 2008 in San Antonio last night.  I have been trying to organize my thoughts since we left, but it has been a bit overwhelming.  I was impressed by the community, the sessions, by the river walk, and by the people that I met.  Here are my notes from the sessions I attended and conversations that I had:

The Key Note – James Surwiecki

James Surwiecki blew me away.  This is not just because he used a bunch of mathematics in his talk, but because of the powerful message that he had.  I haven’t read it yet, but his book “The Wisdom of Crowds”, has the premise that diverse large groups of people are smarter than a few experts.  This has huge implications for teaching and learning, and professional development.  If crowds are smarter than groups of experts (as long as the crowd has a way to aggregate their ideas, they are diverse, and they are independent) then we need to take advantage of this idea in schools, and our professional lives.  I can’t wait to to try the Jelly Bean experiment that he talked about in class this year. This for me was the first in a series of talks that resonated for me and related to the PLC model for professional development that we have in Littleton Public Schools.  I think that in order for this model to be really effective we need to tap into the wisdom of crowds and make our PLCs reflect the characteristics that James Surwiecki believes make a smart crowd.

• Be willing to have real disagreements. The best decisions rise out of conflict.
• Offer opinions simultaneously.
• Lookout for talkative people.
• Have a devil’s advocate.

Some advice for the next president whether it be Barack Obama or John McCain, whatever you do, resource a diverse, independent and well informed group of people before you make an important decision.

Moovin to Moodle – Rodney McPherson

This was a great session that gave us an overview of how to use moodle.   Moodle is a system like Blackboard but it is open source and FREE!!  It was really nuts and bolts type stuff, but I cam away with enough info to really be able to explore more on my own.

David Warlick – Our Students, Our Worlds

Most of David Warlick’s presentation was stuff that I knew about already, however he was energizing and inspiring to listen to.  I especially was impressed by his discussion of the changes in how workers are expected to work and how that relates to how schools work.  He said that when we had classrooms with rows and the tasks students were given to do were repetitive, we were preparing students to do repetitive manufacturing jobs.  Now “We are preparing students for a future that we can’t describe”.  This is a powerful statement that as educators we need to think about as we try to change what we do in our classrooms to fit this new paradigm. The other big take away for me was the idea of creative class job creation that he sees as the heart of the new economy.  I really need to read Richard Florida’s “Rise of the Creative Class”.  We need to train our students to be able to function in this new economy that really doesn’t create a product, but rather is able to see new ways of doing things that are revolutionary. Check out his website and blog, for more information and the presentation notes and slides.

Technology and Differentiated Instruction – Bill Dolton, Lower Merrion School District

The take aways from this sessions were:

• DI: Maximizing learning for all students to increase engagement, efficiency, an learning.
• You can differentiate without technology, but you can’t use technology without differentiating instruction.

Here is a great resource tech4di.wikispaces.com.  As teachers we need to give our students varied experiences, opportunities for access, and allow for a variety of interestes when we use technology in the classroom.  One size does not fit all!

Powerful Learning Practice – Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

I always really enjoy Will Richardson as a speaker.  He has a way of motivating you that many speakers lack.  This presentation was a call to change how we do professional development.  The old way is dead!  Just showing teachers how to use tools does not significantly change their practice.  A couple of a-ha moments for me were: Students should be able to create personal learning networks and use them effectively and ethically. Creating on the web is not hard, what you do after is. Longer term immersion is essential to professional development.This ties in to the discussion of PLCs above.  In order to make our PLCs more effective we need to be sure to have ways for the time to be extended and work to be done outside of the 2 hours we get everyday. Below is a quote from the Monday Models blog

.

Re: NECC Day Three (A)

By Chris Marchetti on 7/1/2008 3:08 PM

Today I have been to a few sessions, two not so good, informative but did not give me any new insights or Ah ha moments. But when I went to Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum Beach’s presentation about Professional development, I saw something that was immediately applicable to the PLC model that we have adopted at LPS. One of the big complaints that I hear from teachers is that there is not enough, or too much time face to face. The not enough time folks say this because they feel that they have to many things to look at, data to analyze or common assessments to make and not enough time to do it all and talk about how to change their teaching practice. The too much time folks say that they need time to process and having two hours becomes not as productive because of the lack of process time. Richardson and Nussbaum Beach advocate a system that has some face to face time, but adds collaboration in virtual modes in between so that the conversations are continuous and the work done is continuous. This would satisfy both of the sets of folks and their complaints. I think their model is worthwhile to look at closer as we continue to implement PLCs. Check out www.plpnetwork.

All in all NECC 2008 was a great experience.  I think that more than any session that I saw, having converstaions with other folks who see the importance of technology in the classroom, was the best part.  Talking with Keely, Kent and Mary Kay from LPS, who I traveled with about what we saw.  Talking to Bud Hunt and Dean Shareski in the Bloggers Cafe about privacy for teachers and the implications of blogging and your online presence made me think and reflect about how I behave online.   I can’t wait to explore the things that I learned begin to apply them to my teaching.  Most of all though the experience has solidified my resolve, and I know that I am doing good work, and the right work to improve education. Look for more on the sessions at NECC 2008 at the a wiki of our experiences at the conference.

I just returned from an amazing trip to Glacier National Park.  I know that this post is sort of off topic for my blog, but I needed to share this trip with you.  We drove up through Wyoming to Grand Teton and camped overnight in Jackson.  The Grand Teton Mountains are amazing because they just rise up from the plain without any foothills in front of them.

We had a great campsite in Jackson at the Snake River KOA.  Our campsite was located at a point where the Snake River and another smaller river met.  It was beautiful and the sound of the rushing water put me right to sleep that night.

We then made our way through Yellowstone.  I am sure that I could spend at least a week at Yellowstone by itself, but we only had part of a day so we could only stop a few times.  We saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and some very beautiful landscapes as well as the aftermath of a huge forest fire.

We arrived Sunday in Montana and spent the next few days running around Glacier National Park.  I think that Glacier is more pristine than any of the national parks that I have been in.  The mountains, lakes and rushing rivers and waterfalls made the park like no other.  We wound up having to use 3 different entrances to the park in order to be able see most of the park because the Going to the Sun Road was closed due to over 50 feet of snow still covering the road near Logan Pass.

Later however we were able to see all of the park from a helicopter.  It was the best way to see the park.  I don’t think I blinked for the entire ride because I was afraid that I might miss something.

Our ride home was pretty uneventful other than the herd of buffalo crossing the rode in Yellowstone which cost us 2 hours in traffic.  The photo on my flickr stream shows my reaction.

Overall we saw some pretty amazing things on our trip includeing, big horn sheep, grizzly and black bears (the grizzly had a cub with her), mountain goats with kids, moose, mule and whitetail deer, pronghorn, and some mountain orchids.

I am writing about this not because it has anything to do with technology or education, but because I think that everyone should take opportunities to explore and learn about the natural resources around us.  Exploration is a part of education that we often forget about when we are so focused on test scores and essential learning outcomes.  Even if it is only on a summer vacation we need to continue exploring as educators and bring back the things we learned about to our classrooms.  Maybe we will inspire some students to do the same.

Well it is official, school is out for the summer.  As is the case every year, I want to take some time to reflect on the year and plan out what I want to improve/change/do next year to improve my teaching practice and to integrate more or different technology into my teaching.

I have had a tumultuous year.  During the first semester I had a crisis of conscience and almost decided to leave the profession to follow other avenues.  I was pretty much fed up with a lot of things about education in the US right now and at my high school in particular.  I reached the abyss, looked over the edge, and decided that I would reevaluate and decided to stay.  I decided to stay in education, and made the pledge to myself that I would make an effort to better myself as a teacher, and to actively pursue a job in educational technology as a technology coordinator or the like at a school or a district.  I feel like shifting the focus off my perceived problems with the educational system as it currently exists, and onto how I can better myself as an educator, has made all of the difference. This blog is part of my change as an educator.  Although I haven’t been writing as often as I had hoped, I have been more active in the community.

The name of this blog marries two of my favorite things; educational technology and running.  I have to be honest that running has not been a friend lately.  My focus this summer is going to be much more inward, than training for a triathlon or race.  I have decided to commit to practicing yoga instead.  I will let you know how that goes.

Other summer plans include:  NECC, TI Nspire training, and a trip to glacier national park in Montana.  I will post pictures and twitter my experiences as I travel, train, and practice yoga.