Reed,+Robert+Isaac--Cool+Tools

The information and content provided at the NLI was definitely some of the best professional development that I have received since I began teaching over a decade ago. The ideas presented were informative and innovative and were presented in a way that made them practical to use in the classroom.
 * Cool Tools Reflections**

On Tuesday, I really enjoyed the cool tools carousel. This was a great way to gain information on many different tools without getting bogged down on any given one. I liked the way that we were traveling from room to room after a short time because this helped me to better pay attention to each of the presenters.

Although I knew about some of the tools previously, I did learn about many more new ones. I also learned of ways to incorporate them into the classroom that would help to engage the students and make the lessons more dynamic.

I have heard people talk about Google docs over and over, but this was the first time that I had anyone actually give me a description of how to use them. I like the idea of allowing the students to work collaboratively on a document that they all have access to and can edit accordingly. I feel like Google docs, paired with something like tricider will allow for students, who do not like to speak up in class, to have a voice when classroom discussions are taking place.

I am intrigued by blabberize, sockpuppets, and toondoo. As a math teacher, I tend to be very practical and try to avoid "wasting" time. However, I feel like each of these could inject some energy into the classroom without losing much ground. Each of these is fairly easy to use and the short clips that the students will create will make for a more dynamic learning environment.

I have heard of Glogster and Prezi before; but after the presentations, I feel like these could very well find their way into my classroom. I am sure that the student would enjoy creating multimedia presentations, incorporating Google image searches, to display their content mastery on any given topic.

After the carousel on Tuesday, I then attended the Problem Based Learning discussion. Although I did not get a lot out of this presentation, I did see a need for its incorporation into the classroom. (I felt that the example given was very elementary as the math element was counting and measuring. As a Calculus teacher, this didn't do much to help me understand the process.) The future of teaching involves real world problems and applications, and going cross curriculum with them is a fantastic way of allowing the students to become completely saturated with the content. I definitely see the need to design authentic task, although I feel that this may be a bit of a challenge. As long as the end goal of a course is "student performance on standardized tests", I feel like the creativity of the classroom is taken away.

On Wednesday, I attended the Cool Tools for Learning Math session. I really enjoyed this session because it was engaging and very hands on. The fact that we had to estimate a real world problem based on collecting data was very fun and could really get the students involved. It was done in such a way that there was lots of mathematics involved; as well as a fun experiment. I feel like the one thing my students are typically lacking is the ability to be creative and to problem solve. I think that problems like these would be useful in helping expand their abilities.

The core math tools and the CPMP tools are good as well. I like the idea of using spreadsheets for formulas and data collection. It is important for our students to gain these 21st century skills as well as the problem solving skills that come with them.

I would have liked to had some information on the other listed tools on the course page; such as shodor, SAS, and Illuminations. However, I can look those up for myself.

Overall, the cool tools discussions were very well done and very informative. I really appreciate learning new tools that I can use in my classroom and I am sure that my students will appreciate them as well. I am looking forward to getting back to school this coming year and trying to implement some new ideas.


 * Application Lesson Plan**

__Linear Functions.__

I will start out the lesson by giving the students a sample problem that involves a linear curve. For example: Joe is selling hot dogs to the fishermen at the carp lake. He spend $100 dollars on supplies to get ready. He will sell the hot dogs for $2.50 each.

Using excel, the students will write a formula to model the situation. They will then create a table and make a graph to plot the data. From this, they will be able to answer questions about slope, intercepts, and break even points. Discussion about profit can also come into play. As we progress, we will change the scenario (adjusting different supply amounts; changing the price of the hot dogs, etc) and will be able to analyze the effect that the changes have on the data as well as the shape of the curve.

Next, students will be placed in pairs to come up with their own real world scenario. They will create a toondoo cartoon to illustrate the components of their problem. These toondoo cartoons will then be passed to other groups randomly and the groups will work out the problems and answer questions about slope and intercepts. The groups will use excel to create a graph and a table as well.

Once students have a good idea of how slopes and intercepts change the shape of graphs, they will be asked to create a glog on Glogster that displays their knowledge. This glog will incorporate Google image search as the students find different graphs and include them. Student will also be shown how to take a screen capture and crop it so that their excel work can be used in the glog as well. The students will then write descriptions of each image in their own words as they tie together the relationships between the problem, the function, the graph, and the table. After the glogs have been completed, a virtual gallery walk will be set up in the classroom so that the students can view each other's work.

As a wrap up project, the students will be asked to create a 30 second clip on blabberize to summarize their knowledge of linear functions. These will be projected on the front of the classroom so the entire class can view them.

Some common core standards that this lesson incorporates are Interpreting Functions F-IF 4. For a function that models a relationship between two quantities, interpret key features of graphs and tables in terms of the quantities, and sketch graphs showing key features given a verbal description of the relationship. 7. Graph functions expressed symbolically and show key features of the graph, by hand in simple cases and using technology for more complicated cases. ★
 * Interpret functions that arise in applications in terms of the context **
 * Analyze functions using different representations **

Linear, Quadratic, and Exponential Models ★ F -LE 1. Distinguish between situations that can be modeled with linear functions and with exponential functions. a. Prove that linear functions grow by equal differences over equal intervals, and that exponential functions grow by equal factors over equal intervals. b. Recognize situations in which one quantity changes at a constant rate per unit interval relative to another Interpreting Categorical and Quantitative Data S-ID 7. Interpret the slope (rate of change) and the intercept (constant term) of a linear model in the context of the data.
 * Construct and compare linear, quadratic, and exponential models **
 * and solve problems **
 * Interpret linear models **