Carolyn+Rukas

Carolyn Rukas

1. List the name of your favorite Web 2.0 tool from today's class. Describe why you liked the tool and how you would use it in your class.

My favorite tool is the screencast-o-matic. I like it because I can ceate/'write math problems to demonstrate to students online. I would use it with individual students that I am tutoring outside of school. I think you will really like this tool and will use it a lot!

2. Regarding technology in your classroom, school and/or district, do you feel like you are keeping up?Is it important?

I feel that to a great extent I am keeping up with the technology at the schools I work at. It is important to me as I want to be the preferred substitute for the teachers I work for. I also enjoy surprising the students that they have a "math" teacher as a substitute and I am very aware of what they are doing. What do you think your students are thinking about technology at home/at school? What are your thoughts? I often hear comments from students that would not be spoken to their regular teachers. They like some of the technology. I know they enjoy using smartboards. They also dislike some of the technology. In one school where they are using their own laptops they are annoyed with some of the non-math material they are expected to complete in a math classroom. I also see that they can easily get off task in the classroom and it is difficult for teachers to stay on top of what the students are paying attention to.

3. Do you have any questions about anything we did today? Please list them and/or bring them up in class.What do you want to be sure to learn during the rest of the course?

So far my questions have been answered in class. I do want to be sure I've listed all of the resources I could potentially use as a tutor and in the classrooms I substitute in.

DAY 2 1. After taking this class, please reflect on what you, as the teacher, need to do to make sure that you and your students can successfully use the tools that you have chosen to incorporate into your class. Think about hardware, software, network, student skill set, teacher skill set, time, etc.

For starters, I need to spend some more time exploring the additional tools that were briefly introduced on day 2. So far I have only done face to face tutoring and I am interested in begining to do some online tutoring and explore the possibility of "teaching "online. A quizmaker might be especially useful. I also really like animoto though I'm not sure how I would use it. If I begin teaching online I think a wiki could be very useful and embedding music and animoto's could make the wiki much more interesting for students. If I teach online, my students would necessarily have computors and web access so student hardware and software should not be an issue.

I definitly need to spend more time learning to use the screen cast as I know that could be very useful, and although it was not discussed in class I want/need to investigate the use of a "smart pen". That might be a useful tool for students as well, as math instruction does not lend itself as easily to "typed" communication.

I really enjoyed this class and learning about so many additional new tools that are available to educators. One more thing "I" specifically need to do is make some choices about what I will spend my time on s I have a tendency to want to learn everything, but I know I can't possibly do that! I agree that it is best to focus on a few tools and get good at the ones that you want to integrate into your class.

I would say this is it for me for this class. I'm done.

But, Chris, would you mind if I contact you if I have any questions I think you could help me with? Definitely feel free to contact me with any questions. My email is: clonge@wi.rr.com My 1st question would be How long does/can a page on the wiki get? Wiki pages can get very long. I see this page is getting quite long, Is it a good idea to begin a new page for example have "Carolyn Rukas pg 1" and Carolyn Rukas pg2" or..... I think you get the idea. I think it's a good idea to do exactly that when you feel that things should be more concise or compartmentalized. The easier you can make it for students to find the information, the better. Best wishes for a great school year! Chris

Thanks !

Carolyn