NIU Math Education Students - great news for schools

This week I had the privilege of working with Northern Illinois University Math Education pre-service students. As has been my experience with students in past seminars, these students were attentive and excited about learning to integrate SMART Boards and calculator technology into classroom instruction and activities. I could work with them for hours and hours.

Altitude on the Hypotenuse Theorem

I must say again, what an outstanding bunch of energetic and enthusiastic young adults! We had good discussions about how to accomplish certain tasks with SMART Notebook Collaborative Learning software and the best practices for integrating this great tool into the math classroom. With each activity, we must remember to ask ourselves "Why and when do we do this?" You can know how to do something with the technology, but you need to ask how using it in the classroom helps students learn? How can I show the visual side of what I am trying to teach? How can I get students more involved in their own learning?

It is worth repeating, keeping students excited about learning requires good teaching. Their NIU teachers/coordinators are Mrs. Renee Olsen and Mrs. Bonnie Kersten. You could not ask for two more dedicated and excellent instructors. Having worked with both of them in my tenure at DeKalb High School, I always admired their passion for teaching and their skill at getting the best from their high school students. Renee and Bonnie, thank you for sharing your expertise with tomorrow's teachers!

Change is always happening in education. These students will enter schools that are working hard on implementing Common Core Curriculum Standards. They may have to teach differently than they were taught. What an opportunity awaits these new teachers and their students in the classroom. Technology in students' hands can do so much to make learning relevant and powerful, while giving teachers responsibility to address that power and make it productive.

Here are some web sites that might help you get started.

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/mathresources97 

http://www.tinyurl.com/janetteachessmart

http://www.pinterest.com/janetteaches/for-the-love-of-learning/

With so many paths to learning today and so many ways to collaborate and share, it is an exciting time to be a teacher.

Good luck to all of you - Jeremy, Scott, Joy, Stephanie, Brian, Allison, Abby, Ethan, Ashley and Don!!! Have a fabulous student teaching adventure.

SMART Training and Professional Development

Great Youtube videos for learning to use the SMART board. See more SMART resources on my SMART Symbaloo at

http://tinyurl.com/janetteachessmart

Good luck, NIU pre-service math and science teachers!

When I retired from my job as a full-time secondary math teacher, I guess I wanted a bit of a rest. I wanted to spend more time with family.

I also thought I would finally spend some time learning more about using new technology in classrooms. Weird, huh? Most people would probably want to step away from those things that had consumed so much time. But I do still love learning new things and sharing.

Over the past couple semesters, I have had the pleasure of working with math and science pre-service teaching students. I think back to those days when I was a new teacher. (Most of the parents of these college kids were babies at that time or not even here yet.) Two of my very good friends and former HS teaching colleagues are teaching these students at Northern Illinois University. They were excellent high school teachers, and I respected both of them for their subject knowledge and dedication to teaching.

My underlying messages to these new teachers - More learning takes place outside of the classroom than inside. Much of what you learn about using the advantages of technology you will need to learn in your own time. You are teaching at a very exciting time, yet with many challenges. Keep your passion alive.

One thing I do to help is sharing web sites that should help them get started. Good luck to these future teachers. The future is bright!

http://tinyurl.com/scienceeducniu
http://tinyurl.com/matheducniu
http://tinyurl.com/janetteachessmart

(Symbaloo is a great tool for sharing collections of web sites. One of those tools that every students should know about.)