The website that I picked as my fav-o-rite is zillow. I used this handy dandy website when I recently purchased a new home. I found prices of other houses in the area, found out what the current owners paid for the home, and other vital information. Compared to realtracs, which is what I've always used in the past, zillow is more helpful and more user friendly, especially for people like myself who tend to avoid spending more than 30 minutes in front of a computer screen at one sitting. The search options are better, and you can even get mortgage advice from this site.
As far as a school application, this would be a good tool to let students see what houses actually cost. In the past, I have done an assignment that teaches them how to calculate interest rates. Maybe I could send them to this sight and let them pick out their "dream home" and then let them figure out how they are going to pay for it.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thing #5
School 2.0. What does it mean to me?
*Disclaimer* I have one heck of a headache. And I've had a rough day. Not to complain, but you know how sometimes you're just in a bad mood, and you probably shouldn't answer subjective questions in that frame of mind? Here it goes...
I teach high school math. I teach Algebra II and Calculus. Here's what I encounter everyday, thanks to calculators.
"Ms. Spicer? What's 2 x 0?"
"What do you mean what's 2 x 0? It's 0. Anything times zero is zero."
"Oh. I forgot my calculator. Sorry."
Or better yet...division, multiplication's tricky little friend.
"Ms. Spicer? What's 5 divided by 1?"
"Are you kidding me???"
"No. Billy borrowed my calculator."
"For the love of Pete, it's 5!!!"
I won't even get into fractions.
My issue with technology is this: it seems to me that students learn to rely on it to the point of throwing basic fundamentals out the door. Call me old school. Call me a teacher with a massive headache right now. Whatever.
Let me play devil's advocate for a moment. I graduated from UT Knoxville with a degree in mathematics. Guess what we were NEVER allowed to use on a test? Graphing calculators. (Don't have a heart attack, Dr. Wall. Just hear me out. ) The logic behind this rule was simple. We were forced to learn the material first. Old school. Pencil and paper. Straight up lecture. Books that smelled like mildew. What they had the wisdom to see was that once we learned the material, it wasn't a gigantic leap to THEN incorporate technology and expand our horizons. But first we learned it. And we learned it the hard way. It wasn't always fun. It wasn't always entertaining. It wasn't supposed to be. In some aspects, I feel we are spoiling this upcoming generation by constantly trying to stimulate them with graphics and other web tools. What happened to picking up a book and reading it? Or listening to (gasp) a 33 LP on a record player? For those of you who don't know what an LP is, allow me to broaden your horizons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LP_album There is something to be said for the sound those scratches make, and the way it makes you feel when you hear them. I just hope as we move forward in education, we don't lose sight of where we came from.
*Disclaimer* I have one heck of a headache. And I've had a rough day. Not to complain, but you know how sometimes you're just in a bad mood, and you probably shouldn't answer subjective questions in that frame of mind? Here it goes...
I teach high school math. I teach Algebra II and Calculus. Here's what I encounter everyday, thanks to calculators.
"Ms. Spicer? What's 2 x 0?"
"What do you mean what's 2 x 0? It's 0. Anything times zero is zero."
"Oh. I forgot my calculator. Sorry."
Or better yet...division, multiplication's tricky little friend.
"Ms. Spicer? What's 5 divided by 1?"
"Are you kidding me???"
"No. Billy borrowed my calculator."
"For the love of Pete, it's 5!!!"
I won't even get into fractions.
My issue with technology is this: it seems to me that students learn to rely on it to the point of throwing basic fundamentals out the door. Call me old school. Call me a teacher with a massive headache right now. Whatever.
Let me play devil's advocate for a moment. I graduated from UT Knoxville with a degree in mathematics. Guess what we were NEVER allowed to use on a test? Graphing calculators. (Don't have a heart attack, Dr. Wall. Just hear me out. ) The logic behind this rule was simple. We were forced to learn the material first. Old school. Pencil and paper. Straight up lecture. Books that smelled like mildew. What they had the wisdom to see was that once we learned the material, it wasn't a gigantic leap to THEN incorporate technology and expand our horizons. But first we learned it. And we learned it the hard way. It wasn't always fun. It wasn't always entertaining. It wasn't supposed to be. In some aspects, I feel we are spoiling this upcoming generation by constantly trying to stimulate them with graphics and other web tools. What happened to picking up a book and reading it? Or listening to (gasp) a 33 LP on a record player? For those of you who don't know what an LP is, allow me to broaden your horizons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LP_album There is something to be said for the sound those scratches make, and the way it makes you feel when you hear them. I just hope as we move forward in education, we don't lose sight of where we came from.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Thing #3
Who knew that it would take a full 15 minutes to register this blog?
Yeah...15 minutes. You know why?
Its not because I'm a technological idiot, although I am pretty close. It's because of lack of sleep.
You see, in my family of five, no one told me that the stomach flu could run through three children a total of five times in one month. For those out there that don't like word problems, this means that oldest daughter began vomiting and didn't stop for three days. Then middle son followed suit. Finally, youngest daughter decided she couldn't be left out, and there you have it. But were we done? Oh, no! Oldest daughter and son decide that once wasn't enough, so they opted to do it all over again. Throw in the fact that I got a RAGING case of strep throat somewhere in there, and the bottom line is that I'm getting very little sleep. AND I'm tired of cleaning up vomit.
The breaking point for me was when my daughter threw up on the cat. Guess what cats do when they get thrown up on? THEY RUN THROUGH THE HOUSE!!!
Anyways...it took me 15 minutes to register because you were supposed to express the date as MM/DD/YYYY. I was so tired, I didn't notice YYYY. I typed 09 a half dozen times before I realized the problem. I think some profanity was uttered as well.
Yeah...15 minutes. You know why?
Its not because I'm a technological idiot, although I am pretty close. It's because of lack of sleep.
You see, in my family of five, no one told me that the stomach flu could run through three children a total of five times in one month. For those out there that don't like word problems, this means that oldest daughter began vomiting and didn't stop for three days. Then middle son followed suit. Finally, youngest daughter decided she couldn't be left out, and there you have it. But were we done? Oh, no! Oldest daughter and son decide that once wasn't enough, so they opted to do it all over again. Throw in the fact that I got a RAGING case of strep throat somewhere in there, and the bottom line is that I'm getting very little sleep. AND I'm tired of cleaning up vomit.
The breaking point for me was when my daughter threw up on the cat. Guess what cats do when they get thrown up on? THEY RUN THROUGH THE HOUSE!!!
Anyways...it took me 15 minutes to register because you were supposed to express the date as MM/DD/YYYY. I was so tired, I didn't notice YYYY. I typed 09 a half dozen times before I realized the problem. I think some profanity was uttered as well.
Thing #2
I created an avatar. Very exciting. I feel high-techy.
My son has a toy avatar. He likes to pretend that his toy T. Rex eats it.
My son has a toy avatar. He likes to pretend that his toy T. Rex eats it.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Thing #1
As a mother of three and high school teacher, I am blessed with ample opportunities for learning as I go through my routine. I learn from my children and students daily. I look forward to this blog as a way of organizing my thoughts and processing the many observations and feelings I experience. Too often, we can get caught up and not take the time to meditate upon and digest our experiences and to examine them from a professional frame of mind. My hope is that this blog will be a successful part of my effort to become a more reflective practitioner of the profession of education. Having just watched an online video about the seven and one half habits of lifelong learners, I feel challenged to take a more active role in pursuing the ideal of being a lifelong learner. Of the habits listed, I feel most confident in my confidence... so to speak. I have always enjoyed learning and have been and continue to be a successful student. I am proud to be a part of a math department that has been praised by administration for its effective collaboration. We form a tight knit group that eats lunch together daily and continuously communicates. This has been a great boon to me in my young teaching career. As a matter of fact, two other teachers are assisting me this week in installing a projector for my computer in my classroom. This is good because I feel the weakest of my seven habits is technology. Thank goodness for helpful people when it comes to leaning about things that can seem frustrating. Technology definitely falls under that category for me. Still, I am making progress. I just started my first blog. Wow!
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