Mattanelson's Blog

Fantasy Football Math Class

mattanelson — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:16:44 +0000

This is an article from Eglin, Illinois about a teacher using fantasy football to reach her 7th grade students and get them engaged in math. Students use computers or their own cell phones to check stats for their teams and players, and seem to really be enjoying themselves, even the girls. While no new technologies other than the internet and hand held devices such as phones are being used, this is interesting because the teacher is using existing technology to make her activity work. This is important because many teachers may find themselves in schools where the latest and greatest technologies are not available, and must use what little is at their disposal. This teacher has found a way to reach the majority of her students through football, and the others through using technology and tracking statistics to try and win each week. The teacher has made this activity in her curriculum a competition amongst the students, and it has really excited many students who cared little about math before the start of the school year. This is an excellent way to get students to do math and enjoy it without even realizing that they are in fact doing math.

Synonym Toast

mattanelson — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:57:26 +0000

This is a fun game from WordGirl, and is meant to help strengthen students’ vocabularies. For grades 3-12, this interactive game shows a word on a toaster sitting in the bottom corner of the screen, as several pieces of bread fall down from the top of the screen, each with a different word on it. The objective is to drag the pieces of bread with words on them that are synonyms to the word on the toaster, which changes every fifteen seconds or so. Bad pieces of bread are rejected, and matching words ring a bell and give points to the players. This game seems more fitting for the younger crowd, but can also be used for secondary students struggling with their vocabulary.

Playing Video Games in the Classroom!!

mattanelson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:05:00 +0000

Video games are starting to become popular in many classrooms across America, and this website tells all about the rise of video games in the curriculum and how many teachers feel about it. All of the educators interviewed for this article seem very optimistic about the use of video games in their classrooms, since it is a way to get the students engaged and interested, even if they don’t know that they are learning. One history teacher uses a computer game and gives his students roles as ancient Roman generals, and his students have to control the character in the correct historical context, which involves intense critical thinking and a high knowledge of history. Another teacher is using the technology from the Nano pets, which became popular with young kids about ten years ago, to supplement his lesson in biology. This is a very interesting article for anyone who has ever wished that they could be home playing video games instead of sitting at school being bored.

Mobile Learning

mattanelson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:37:22 +0000

This website offers great links to articles and workshops telling teachers how to integrate IPod tehnology, or as the site calls it, “mobile learning”, into the classroom. This site explains in its introduction how teachers are using iLife and iWork on Macs “to create customized educational materials”. Students can always be seen around college campuses and also in many secondary schools in America sporting their IPod or IPhone, and this website from Apple allows teachers to harness that inevitability of having students using this technology and use it in their teaching methods. The site explains how teachers publish their own lectures onto iTunes, and from there the students can download the lecture and carry it with them anywhere. “Suddenly, any place…can be a place to learn”. This website is great for any teachers or students interested in incorporating their beloved IPod into their education-they might as well be put to use for things other than rocking out!

Homer Simpson on teachers’ strikes

mattanelson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:09:11 +0000

Evolution trumps Creationism in this classroom

mattanelson — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:19:47 +0000

“Clickers” in the Classroom

mattanelson — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:15:51 +0000

This is an article about the use of “clickers” in the classroom, which the author describes as the same type of technology used in the “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” show. With this technology, teachers have remote clickers for each student, usually with buttons for A, B, C, D on them, and a receiver at the front of the classroom. The teacher can pose a question to the students about the lecture material, and have the students push their answer on their keypad. Once all the answers are shown, the teacher can then gauge how his/her students are handling the material, based on the number of correct or incorrect responses, and can focus time reviewing all of the areas that students are having the most problems with. This technology can be great for any subject, and seems like it would be especially handy for quizzing students before a big test during review time. Although this article from Pacific Lutheran University is from 2006, it is still relevant to today because this type of technology will only become more and more popular as more schools get access to newer technologies.

Why Geography Education is Essential…

mattanelson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:15:47 +0000

John Stossel on America’s Schools

mattanelson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:14:08 +0000

Differentiated Teaching

mattanelson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:12:12 +0000