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.

I have to say I was totally impressed with the students on the panel. They have taken control of their own learning, and have given themselves opportunities to be successful. They were motivated, smart, articulate but they were not the students that I wanted to here from.

Don’t get me wrong, they represent the best of what we, as teachers, see on a daily basis. Unfortunately more often than not a majority of our students are not as motivated to learn and are not willing to extend their learning outside of the classroom. Before the conference I posed a question to the panel, but I realized quickly after their introduction that they were not the students that I really wanted to have answer it. Here it is:

The conventional wisdom for teachers who think that technology will reshape teaching and learning, is that students find using blogs, wikis, and other Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom more engaging than traditional teaching methods because most students use technologies such as MySpace and/or Facebook, and are texting all the time. Is this actually the case? Thanks.
–Christopher Marchetti, Littleton High School

So, I want to pose this question to the blogosphere. What do you think? Will “regular kids” by in just because technology is involved?

Also, during the round table discussion the math/science group talked about how we may have to scaffold our kids to get them ready to interact in a professional way in a social network centered around learning. I think this is the challenge that we face and I wonder how others have tackled the issue.

This weekend, I spent my Saturday at Arapaho High School at an unconventional conference, Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation. While I have been to many conferences about mathematics teaching, educational technology, and others, I have not had an experience like this. It wasn’t life changing or anything like that, but rather, affirming. The things that I am trying to do in my classroom and the things that I am trying to help other teachers bring in to their classrooms are good things. Technology is powerful.

The things I am going to take from the conference are these.

• Have my own blog (here it is). Reflection is an important part of growth for our students and for us.
• Grow my professional community.
• Good teaching is good teaching. Technology shouldn’t be used for technology’s sake.
• Balance is important. Sometimes the choice not to use technology in the classroom is the right choice.

I think these ideas need posts of their own. More later.

I want to thank Ben Wilkoff for allowing the great conversations at his session. Also, the math and science teachers at the round table discussion and the students who came to talk about the power of technology in their education. It seems we are all struggling with bringing Web 2.o to our classrooms and even wondering if we should. The group from Adams 14, who talked about Professional Learning Communities and their importance both within our schools and districts, and outside in the greater world. And last, Dan Maas, Mike Porter, Bud Hunt, Karl Fisch and everyone who put on the conference.