Rockstar MathTeacher Twitter

Rockstar MathTeacher posts a lot on Twitter.  She posts multiple pictures of the activities she has the students working on.  She had the students working on a Socrative team task where the students were using white boards. She also posts multiple pictures of the paperless tasks she uses.  I really liked her one post of one of her students' "ticket out the door."  It was a reflection on how they did in class that day.  The student wrote that they were proud of themselves and will be working even harder tomorrow.  I think it is a great idea to have the students reflect on how they did during class.  It really gets the students thinking.  I also liked how she actually had them write a reflection instead of just rating how they thought they did using a number scale.  When a student had to write out a few sentences, they actually have to think about how they thought they really did.  I also really liked another post of hers.  She said her students needed a mindset boost so she gave them a writing prompt.  She had the students finish the sentence, "I can persevere through struggle when learning is not easy by…"  She gave the students a sticky note and they wrote their answers and then she posted them all on the board.  I thought that this was such a great idea.  Sometimes students need a little boost halfway through the marking period, or towards the end and this is a great way to take a quick break from math and have them reflect and think.

Dan Meyer's Blog

I began following Dan Meyer's blog.  He has so many different posts.  He will post on a certain topic or describing an activity he did during class and then someone will answer with another activity they did during class that was similar to his.  There are so many ideas on his blog about so many different topics.  He posted about an activity that he did with expressions and equations.  It is a very interesting and engaging activity and I think all students would be interested and surprised by it.  Another teacher responded to his post with another activity for expressions and equations that was just as interesting and engaging.  I really find all the different activities that other teachers use very interesting and I will be keeping them all in mind for my own use in the future.  Another thing I like about Dan Meyer's blog is how he does not just blog about activities he does with his students; he also blogs about things teachers are experiencing.  Every blog I have read has referenced Dan Meyer in some way and he seems to be a very influential person in the math education community.  I will definitely continue to follow his blog.

twitter follower

I began following Dylan Kane and he tweeted a link to a description of a new way he was giving homework. He began giving his students a worksheet with 10-15 problems on it.  The problems are completely mixed practice and mostly involves lower skilled problems.  He wants the students to be able to practice all math and not just the stuff they learned that day or are learning in that unit.  I really like this way of giving homework.  When homework is made simple for students, there is normally a better chance that they will complete it.  It is also very important for students to practice math that they have learned and not just the math that they are currently learning.  Another thing I like about it is that students can still complete the homework if they missed class and have no excuse to not do it.  He says that the new way of giving homework has been really successful.  He finds it most important that students are at least completing the homework and this is happening. I really enjoy his twitter because of the links he posts. I finally found a twitter person I really like!

Rockstar Math Teacher Blog

I really like how this teacher uses guided notes.  Not only does she use guided notes, she also color codes them.  The students find this really helpful.  She also uses color coded wall charts.  She color codes the wall charts to match the students' notes.  She also uses paperless tasks using Showbie and these normally take multiple days to complete.  She can look at her students' work every night and give them feedback so that they are not doing it wrong the entire time.  It is a great way to check for understanding.
She also has pictures posted of her classroom and I really like the layout of her classroom.  The desks are set up into partners and they're all tilted so that the desks all are facing towards each other.The class is very bright and I could see how it would make students excited.  This teacher is very exciting and I really enjoy her blog.
blog

Rockstar Math Teacher on Twitter

I am following Rockstar Math Teacher on Twitter and she has been using Socrative in her classroom. She uses it a lot in the classroom and I enjoy reading all the way she's been using it in the classroom.  She uses it for group both activities and individual activities.  She teaches 1:1 math classes and math support classes.  She also uses a lot of paperless tasks in the classroom.  The students all use iPads.  One of her tweets stated that she does not like math games so she uses Socrative, Showbie, and ClassFlow.  I will have to work with Showbie and ClassFlow to see what a teacher can do with these.  She seems to use Showbie for all her paperless tasks.  It just seems to be a worksheet that the students complete on an iPad.  Students can pick different colors to write in which makes solving things a little easier sometimes.  I enjoy the pictures on her twitter and plan on trying the different apps she has mentioned.

Twitter

I began following Rockstar MathTeacher on twitter.  She does a lot of different things with her twitter account.  Her classroom allows for the students to all have iPads so she uses these regularly and posts pictures of the students doing paperless worksheets.  She recommends multiple different apps and posts things that she has used and what works for her.  The apps she uses look really cool and fun and I would love to try them out in the future at some point.  She also posts some of her favorite responses to her end of quarter poll.  The students talk about their favorite apps they used, what they learned in class, what they had trouble with in class, and other things.  It was really interesting to real students' responses about her class because you can kind of get a feel for her and how she runs her class.  She also posts links to her blog which is also very interesting and goes over her ideas in greater detail compared to just a twitter post.  I look forward to reading more about Rockstar MathTeacher.

Social Media in Higher Education

I really liked the different arguments for social media.  There are always arguments made against social media, but it is unusual to read arguments for the benefits of social media.  I felt that the article made some really good points.  I really liked the point of even though social media has decreased face-to-face interactions, it means that people are more focused on the discussion and what is being said rather than the person who is saying it.  Social media takes away people judging conversations based on appearances and how people talk. I also related to the idea that reading is now taking different forms.  Print is obviously not as popular now, but blogs and online articles have risen in popularity.  People get most of their news from the internet.  People also read things that interest them online more because it is so accessible which does not mean that the amount people are reading as gone down, the content has just changed.  I also really liked all the different ideas for using social media to better higher education.  I feel like a lot of these ways of using social media are already being used which is very exciting. I really enjoyed the article and enjoyed the positive spin on social media for once.