Taylor,+Donald+Eric+-+Cool+Tools+Review

During the New Literacies Institute, I found the Cool Tools Carousel to be very informative and well-planned. I liked the fast pace of the sessions and the wealth of web 2.0 tools presented in such a short amount of time, although the pace and amount of information verged on becoming overwhelming.

Because our school had only three participants, our group was only able to participate in three of the Cool Tools sessions in the second round on Tuesday. I selected to go to the session on Google Tools for Schools. I found the presenter helpful and very informative for beginners, but I feel that I made a poor choice in attending this session. The majority of the topics presented, such as Google Docs and Forms, were not new to me, and I feel that I could have spent my time more wisely elsewhere.

On Wednesday, I appreciated the opportunity to learn about some web 2.0 tools that were targeted at math teachers. Although I am a member of NCTM, I was not aware of the Core Math Tools application on the NCTM website. Of all the new tools I learned about over the week, this tool will, by far, be the most beneficial in my classroom. Nearly every lesson any algebra or geometry teacher covers can connect with the Core Math Tools. I greatly enjoyed this session.

Finally, I have created a lesson on election theory for my Discrete Mathematics students that uses several of the tools I learned about (or learned more about) this week-- Glogster, Poll Everywhere, ToonDoo (or any of the other digital cartoon options), Google Sites, and YouTube. Please follow the link below to access the assignment:

Election Theory Lesson Plan