November Entry

• Experience with math story problem exchange – Unfortunately my dog ate it. Actually I did not participate in this because a lack of time and resources for the students.  Also a connection with another high school class would be interesting for a select few of my students in Geometry and Algebra II.

•  Lesson Plan experience – Jerry Loveday and I worked on a lesson plan that was suitable for middle school and high school students.  It was designed to apply knowledge of areas to solve problems in determining the amount of paint necessary to repaint the classroom.  Additional benefits of the lesson included experience in measuring and comparing costs to evaluate painting options.  Websites were found to supplement the lesson.  I used the basis of this lesson plan last week to emphasize the use of Geometry in each student’s life.  This lesson is very effective and the students work well in groups of three to measure, record, calculate, and evaluate the results.

Currently my classes (Algebra II and Geometry) are organizing into three person “companies” complete with CEO, Secretary, and Treasurer.  These companies will help each other in understanding course material an “bid” for projects that pay bonus points which will add extra credit to the student’s final grade.  Suggested projects include participation in related Internet projects.  From this approach, I expect several students to be involved on Internet projects. 

One project that the students will bid on will be the keeper of the classroom web page.  These students will be responsible for design and updates.  Active involvement is expected before Christmas. 

Other Projects:  Another project that we are considering is development of tessellations for presentation at the Knoxville Museum of Art in cooperation with the art and science departments.  Computer software will be used to aid in developing and presenting the tessellations. 

January  Entry
The Algebra II and Geometry math companies that were organized last month have been doing business as expected.  Growing pains and corporate management difficulties have been experienced as is normally found in new company startups.  The bright spot, however, is that stock worth for most companies is up, and peer pressure is alive and well. 

To obtain bonus points at the end of the semester, companies must submit bids for projects that apply the knowledge they have gained in class.  One of the more attractive projects is to serve as a mentor to middle school students using the network and e-mail to answer questions and pose special problems.  Contacts with middle school teachers are expected this week with mentoring services available by the first of next week (January 17). 

A handy use of my laptop and PowerPoint is the kiosk style advertising of possible bonus point projects.  While students finish assigned work, a one page description of each project is shown on the big screen TV with PowerPoint, continuously cycling through the projects at a preset time interval.  I have found this to be very effective in getting the information to the students in the most effective manner. 

February Entry
Unfortunately, I missed the last CyberExchange meeting because we started a new semester with new courses and students on the block schedule.  I felt it was more important to get the new classes started.  My apologies. 

A problem with the block schedule is the discontinuity in classes.  I now teach two Algebra I classes and one Algebra II class.  This does not give me the opportunity to continue with the problem area in Geometry that I identified in the TLG submission.  I would still like to finish the TLG submission based on activities completed last semester. 

With the new students, I use PowerPoint to identify important steps in solving math problems.  The novelty of displaying the information on the TV via the computer seems to catch the student’s attention more, leaving a more lasting effect.  To follow the Algebra II text, I use Excel to demonstrate the use of spreadsheets.  This will be used more in the future to model real-life phenomena learned at the Adventures in Supercomputing Workshop I attended on March 4. 

A bonus in the classroom is the math toolkit supplied with our new textbooks.  This enables me to quickly and clearly graph equations for the class.  We can examine shapes of curves describing various functions with little drudgery. 

March Entry

April Entry
TLG Experiences 
What a mess and lack of success.  I had a hard time understanding the process to follow to complete the TLG activity.  With my trusty wife by my side, I tried to make one last attempt at finishing this project (late on April 9 of course.)  The TLG said I had no track, but I could access the track I had set up in Cyber Exchange by going through the county web page.  The track would not let me go in to modify.  Frustration built and I finally gave up.  The developers of the TLG spider web had won. 

Internet Resources 
I have explored some of the websites shown in the county web page and found several that will prove useful.  The website provided by BBC has really been a hit with math games that are designed to improve basic skills. 

May Entry
One website in particular (http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/) proved to be a valuable source of information.  The games and activities presented in the site were creative, educational, and entertaining.  This has been used by Algebra I students in the classroom to reinforce topics with which they should be familiar.  On-line math games attracted the students as well as other math teachers with their offbeat sense of humor and proved to be challenging in their required math skills.  The site also contained worksheets that were used as classroom activities.  Other sites on the Internet were helpful in planning individual lessons.

Usage of the Internet was up considerably over the 1998-99 school year.  Access to the Internet in the classroom was not available until late in the 1999-2000 school year, but the short time that it has been available coupled with the training received in this project has opened the door to a greatly increased use of the Internet planned for the 2000-1 school year. 

The lesson plan developed in this project was used to teach students a practical use of area and volume.  Research on the Internet revealed other research and ideas in the same area.  As a result, more objectives were achieved and the students were given a better opportunity to learn practical applications of their Geometry lesson.

The use of email and ICQ were an essential part of this project.  Communication using this medium is very effective.

Frequently (approximately once per chapter) I use PowerPoint to emphasize important points in a form that is appealing.  The many features of PowerPoint make it an attractive tool for the classroom.  As we get more computers in the classroom (and at home), I envision an extremely large increase in PowerPoint usage.

The county website is used to obtain the latest information on activities and schedules.  As the planned computers are received for the 2000/1 school year, I expect the classroom website to become an important part of the classroom for announcements, schedules, sources, and make-up work.  Home-bound students will be able to stay in touch with the class.

I have improved steadily in the use of technology because of this project.  Part of the reason is the instruction received, but another part is the interaction with other teachers in the same area.  The enthusiasm and motivation displayed by the teacher and fellow students was contagious.

Since I had access to another laptop, I did not use this particular computer.  The laptop has been invaluable in organizing information and planning lessons.  Since I have no computer in the classroom, the laptop serves as the classroom computer also.

Unfortunately, the students have had very limited access to the computer.  In individual practice, the students have been able to improve their basic math skills.  The lessons learned in this project will reap rewards next year and the next as we obtain more and more computers for the classroom.  This year has been a transitional year for me.

The most beneficial aspect of participating in this projecthas been the chance to leave the classroom for one day a month and with the support of motivated colleagues, improve my personal abilities to incorporate the computer into the classroom.

This is definitely needed by the teachers to improve their ability in the classroom and to keep up with the students.  The future will bring the computerized classroom whether or not the current teachers are ready.  To be prepared, we as teachers need to maintain a reasonable level of computer skills.  I would suggest more classes for departments to ensure that each teacher is exposed to the latest technology.