Google Docs Totally Rocs!

So this past weekend was filled with me trying to catch up in this class from suffering a horrible illness.  What was worst was that I became ill in  the middle of my FIRST ever online collaboration project!  I was partnered up with my awesome math-education girl, Whitney and I couldn't help but show up to class Thursday morning -- like I said, it was my first online group project, so I didn't feel comfortable not talking to Whitney about our lesson plan.  We finalized our plans, and I bolted out of class after 30 minutes of trying to sit still.... And then I begin to work on the lesson plan...

It was the funniest thing. I went onto GoogleDocs and Whitney just so happened to get online at the same time.... and we pretty much chatted for at least 30 minutes on our activity sheet: it was the craziest thing I had ever experienced! I saw exactly where her cursor was and it was so much fun seeing her type up her sentences -- I never realized how much we sometimes STOP in order to think about what we should say next (or how we want to put our thoughts into words) and how much we end up deleting because of typing mistakes. The experience made me realize that I should've never been too scared to stay at home with a nauseating fever.... GoogleDocs was such a great tool for Whitney and I to communicate.  It was the best of both worlds: We were able to talk about the project and edit it at the same time. This experience with the lesson plan has definitely changed my resistance to technology/internet-based assignments tremendously from the way I felt about it earlier in the week... I'm not scared anymore *laughs*

As for the new websites introduced last week, Delicious and Glogster, I don't have much to say about them because I see no real benefits with these sites when it comes to teaching my math students. I have to say one thing, though: Whitney and I actually used her Delicious account in order to bookmark the websites that we wanted to use for our lesson plan! I remember when Whitney and her partner started to complete their wiki page on Delicious, and I think I remember us laughing about it because we had no idea there were websites out there specifically for people to save their bookmarks... little did we know that we would need to turn to Delicious in order to help us with an important project.

I think I'm getting used to this technology stuff. What a glorious day!

Wordle & Twitter

Wordle:  I'd like to sum up this Web 2.0 tool with one word:  AWESOMEST.  This online program is so much fun... I mean, look at what I created by copying and pasting a paragraph from my first, autobiographical blog (To the right).  Pretty cool, I know.  Obsessed with arts-n-krafts, I absolutely love things like this... but as for classroom use, there's no reason as to why I would present this to my high school math students.  I don't like saying that, because it makes me think about the fact that I just learned about this fantastic website at the age of 24 -- and I wish I could tell everyone about Wordle, but it would seem inappropriate to bring up something that has absolutely nothing to do with my math subject... So how do I "spread the word(le)?"  No need to linger on this question, so let's move on.



Twitter:  This is definitely a medium for communication that has taken over the world!  I have a facebook, but I've only logged onto it no more than 6 times in the past 2 years... I learned last Thursday that Twitter is different from myspace and facebook in that it is largely based on updated information of a person's interests (i.e. following famous people, the news, friends, businesses, etc.).  I can see myself being an obsessive tweeter, except I feel as though many people that have a twitter are more likely to have a fancy phone where a twitter application can be accessed through at all times of the day... and a fancy phone with internet access is something that Judy Tran has never had and cannot picture having.  When it comes to possibly using Twitter for my math classes, I can see it being useful for my students and I to be able to interact and ask/answer any questions pertaining to an assignment or project during out-of-school hours.  I find that I almost learn more when I do math in a group, because it's helpful to see different approaches to a math problem... so I can only imagine that creating a twitter page for my students would be just like having my entire class physically work together on problems and learn from one another.  However, there's still the situation with twitter-update-alerts in that I should not expect all of my students to possess what I consider a small, mobile computer (i.e. iphones and any other wireless devices that can fit in one's pocket).  What a world: we have little computers that can actually fit into our pockets.  I really hope I don't have to learn how to deal with a "Zoolander" phone (Exhibits A & B below) in my near future...

Exhibit A

Exhibit B



Inquiry-Based Learning

Last Thursday, I learned about inquiry-based learning through an activity that served as an example of how this type of learning could be integrated into my teaching practices.  I ended up loving it.  Frankly, I enjoy having exact directions on how to complete a specific assignment.  I don't feel that it traps me in a box... In my opinion, I was not only able to learn about the topic (rocks/minerals) which is one of our main goals as students, I was able to discover that I absolutely loved looking at the different rocks and minerals that nature presents to us.  Therefore, inquiry-based lesson plans give great step-by-step instructions, and although it asks us certain questions to answer, it still left room for creativity because that's what the internet allows us to have - CREATIVITY.  I actually ended up googling "the top 10 most beautiful rocks or minerals," and that's how I came about choosing my mineral, rhodochrosite -- because the internet allowed me to have the freedom to perform more tasks than what my assignment asked for, while keeping me on track with the topic and questions that I needed to answer.  Using the internet also allowed me to discover more pictures of my mineral than what the suggested webpage had already posted... So in the end, I was able to do more research on rocks/minerals using the internet than what a book could ever offer.  The funny thing is that I spent two hours looking at other websites that had rocks/minerals for sale, because I became so fascinated by its beauty... and I want to warn everyone that the prices for nature's beautiful accidents do not fit into our recession-budget, so go out there, dig, and dicover these treasures yourself:)

On another note, I feel that inquiry-based lesson plans are very similar to WebQuests... they both serve as a platform for teachers to create engaging activities that include very descriptive directions in order to achieve the ultimate goal: to facilitate the learning process through technological means.  If I were to have to state a difference, the only thing I can truly come up with is that WebQuests have more of a similar structure with one another when it comes to the makeup of the webpages than 'facilitation plans' do... but then again, many WebQuests are based off of  a "pre-set" webpage from a few websites like questgarden.com

WebQuest and Ramblings...

I entered the world of WebQuests last week, and I've come to this conclusion: How amazingly awesome!  I went onto this website (which I think is the best page for WebQuests) and it made it so easy for me to search for my specific topic because it has it's own "search engine."  So I went on and chose "Math" for "9-12" grade, and found an awesome WebQuest that I actually did for my Geometry class my Freshman year!  What a great idea:  I remember my teacher giving us this assignment, and the instructions were covered in two pages... WebQuest is that solution that all of us who are sensitive to "tree-killing" need!  In addition, WebQuest allows teachers to add a lot more information than what a couple of worksheets can offer.  The assignment consisted of making up a fictional geometry story, so I used The Wizard of Oz as my inspiration.  The main idea of my story was that certain shapes (i.e. triangle, parallelogram, square, etc.) were needing to see the great, wonderful Oz in order to fix something, whether it be a shortened side length or an angle that needed to be changed... Anyways, this website gave students EXAMPLES of mathematical story books that have been published out in the real world and so much more things that my freshman Geometry teacher never showed because giving instructions on paper has its limitations.  At first, when we got into WebQuests last Tuesday, I didn't think it was all that great... but after playing around questgarden.com that following Thursday, I see all its benefits and why it's so great.  The only problem I can think of is dependent on the students themselves.  Should we expect every child to have access to the internet?  Is the school that I will be working for going to provide every class with at least one computer for those who cannot access the internet anywhere else?  WebQuest is such a great idea, but are we getting a little ahead of ourselves in wanting to implement internet-based technology when there are so many children (and schools) out there that cannot afford these specific commodities?

On another note, I've figured out what super power I want.  When I was younger and had more of a "bad side," I wanted to be invisible.  My family and I lived in Philly and we were pretty broke... So broke that I constantly asked myself, "why did my parents have 5 children? That's too many!"  Therefore, I wanted the ability to be invisible... so I could steal money and get away with it... Thank goodness I grew up and developed many-a-morals.  So in my teens, I wanted the ability to fly -- Who could deny that capability?  Now, after this past, strenuous week, I want the ability to manipulate time.  I wish that the Earth really did move much more slowly.  How do we do it-- as students, I mean.... How do we keep up with our responsibility of being pretty much the "perfect student" when there are so many other tasks that need tending to... like working and making money in order to survive and have some sort of roof over our head... and don't forget about the times when LIFE HAPPENS... like, your car breaks down... or your family who's 3 hours away has a horrendous emergency.  I wish I could just FREEZE time... to just stop everything.  Sometimes I think teachers (especially professors in college) are invincible and just plain NOT human--  There's never been a time in my college career when "life happens" to my professor and he/she had to cancel class -- they're PERFECT (like robots!), and it shocks me as I continue taking classes semester after semester after semester...  This is the way society tells us to be, and that's what we are: multi-tasking students -- we have so many responsibilities, and it amazes me that we're able to do all that we do at such a 'young' age.

The Year Of The Rabbit

(The red envelopes above are 
called Lì Xì in Vietnamese)

I usually go home to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family, who are in Franklin, TN.  As I write this blog on my laptop in Knoxville, TN, I am extremely homesick.  Chinese New Year is such a fun and special day for me.  I can picture and smell the special celebration food that my mom cooks every year... and every year I cannot help but sneak in a tiny nibble of something before she presents the food to our ancestors, who are represented through the Buddha Shrine that we have in our 'prayer room' -- Today is a day that I'm usually surrounded by over 30 relatives ranging between the ages of 3 and 78... I already miss those red envelopes filled with money that the "adults" of the family hand out to all of us "children" (yes, I'm proud to say that I get to continue being a 'child' until my career as a teacher kicks off... and all my life, I've tried to prove to everyone that I am just SOOOO GROWN;  however, I enjoy being considered the kid in this case:)... Coupled with these red envelopes is the usual "talk"...

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The Stages of The Talk:

(1)  The adult pulls out a beautifully decorated 2011 lucky red envelope filled with a mystery monetary amount [remember, there is a recession, so forget about what you got the year before]

(2)  The adult slowly hands the envelope to you

(3)  You reach for the envelop, grab a hold of it, but you know to never pull back right away... Note that the adult's hands are still grasped onto the envelope.  Therefore, the envelope should now physically be in your hand as well as the adult's.

(4)  As the envelope stays floating between you and the adult, it is now time for you to open your ears and respond with a "yes ma'am/sir" as the adult lectures you about the following:

  (i)  Continue to work hard in school in order to build a bright future for yourself
 (ii)  Be nice and respectful to your elderly
(iii)  Try your best to make the right decisions in your life
(iv)  Fill in the blank -- Remember, your family is unique... so who knows what unique lessons/morals they'll reveal to you!

(5)  After agreeing to be the best person you can be, the adult will release his/her kung-fu grip on the envelope and you may now respectfully thank the adult and walk away... Make sure to not open the envelope in front of the adult -- Obviously, you are more appreciative of "the talk" than how much money the adult decided to give you

(6)  Open the envelope in a discrete place and break out into your personal celebration dance!  Don't forget that the amount of money you get should never be compared to the amount of love the adult has for you.

(7)  Spend your money wisely, especially in this economy... May I suggest you start up a $avings account?

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Chúc Mừng Năm Mới (Happy New Year)

High School: To Prepare or Scare

So I just found out that we needed to write a post BEFORE class started today, but I swear I checked the website and somehow overlooked this request... Ah-ha!  I found the "problem"-- the blog assignment was written under announcements rather than in our Section 004 classroom website under February 1st (which is what I'm used to, but I'm not going to point any fingers... *cough cough* Beard).  I only kid -- it is my job as a student to make sure I complete my assignments in a timely manner.  Now let's see what's going on in this noggin of mine...

HIGH SCHOOL:  I realized something a long time ago when I was a freshman at UT in 2004... I don't think high school really prepared me for the fundamentals of college life and education.  I remember my teachers telling me things like, "You better know how to write in cursive because it's crucial for you to carry over this skill into college" and other statements that made college seem very strict with rules and regulations.  Instead of saying so much nonsense throughout my four years in high school, I wish they warned us about the TRUE foundations of college.  For instance, when I become a high school math teacher, I will make sure that I share my college experiences with my students in the best and most honest way that I possibly can... So instead of scaring them with all of the "you gotta do this and that and this, and also that," I want my students to realize that I am, what the young generation calls, keepin' it real.

So let's "keep it real" right now, shall we?  Before going to UTK, I would have loved it if my teachers warned me about the grading system in college since it is extremely different from high school.  From 9th to 12th grade, I was able to make straight A's... Because I was a genius? I think not.  I made the grades that I made because I had so many chances to "up" my test grades (the ones that I obviously did not make an A on) by acing the many, many, MANY quizzes and homework that the teacher assigned us.  In college, however, most of my overall classroom grades were strictly based on 3-4 exams... Wait, let me repeat that: 3 to 4 exams! Thanks for the warning senior teachers.  I truly cannot wait until I can share with my future students about what college is really like:)

Website Evaluation

This particular website while having a great aesthetic layout would not be a suitable resource for information simply because it is incomplete. What reading is available is useful but would have to be supplemented by the students by a site that is not in construction and therefore has complete,detailed, and accurate information. There is also a slight issue of possible dated material since this site has not been updated since 2007. Most likely there has been little or no new enlightening data on the subject since it is history but would still use caution and search for a more updated or perhaps currently relevant site. A positive aspect of the site is it does include an in-depth photo gallery, along with copyrights for the texts and pictures. All in all this would be a great resource if it is ever updated to the point of completion. As it stands it is simply a generalized overview of a very limited depiction of a partial history of Henry VIII.