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

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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.