SLIDESHOW ANIMATIONS

Today in class we messed with powerpoint more and in powerpoint, we used animations.  It is neat because the thing I did was have a car drive over a smile hello face.  It's cool how you can use powerpoint to display certain things and make game boards.  I am excited to see all the abilities powerpoint can provide that can help in the assistance of teaching math.
Today, Thursday Oct 28th, we finished up our slideshow Animation.  We used tools like regrouping, action buttons which include hide and show content, creating hyperlinks within slides to take you to other slides.  Basically you aren't tied down to the order of a slideshow, you can create buttons that take you anywhere you want. 



This entire assignment can be tied to teaching standard 4b)address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources.
Students have powerpoint available to them.  With this they can create, animate, and manipulate slideshows to express their own creative thinking.  It is neat because it can help students do their own thing and be able to express their own interest when creating a slideshow. 

POWERPOINT

This week's assignment was to create a powerpoint and upload it to SlideShare.  This is just a website that can help publish powerpoints online.  I decided to do my slideshow on Car buying.  I focused on some things to consider and included some facts about cars like gas mileage and cost and features.
Articles that I used were as follows:

•http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/almanac.html

•http://www.reliabilityindex.com/

•http://www.rmiia.org/auto/teens/Teen_Driving_Statistics.asp

•http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=435228

•http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/stats.html

Using these I was able to get the information I felt I needed.  Also the instructor provided some online resources to help create an effective powerpoint.  One was Presentation Zen.  This helped me see some example of boring powerpoints and what I needed to do to spice mine up.
We then uploaded our presentation.  It can be viewed by clicking here MY POWERPOINT
The outcomes for this assignment were "Student can create, download, upload, and archive a graphic image.Students will be able to publish presentations in a variety of formats. Students will be able to select appropriate digital formats for publishing."
This assignment fits with teaching standard 4a: ~advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources~
Creating and publishing a powerpoint can allow students to share information legally while citing references and using technology to do so.

INTERESTING RANDOMNESS

GEO MAP

Today we created a map with all of our classmates locations.
Here is a link also to give a bigger view. 
MAP
and the map can be viewed below.



The learning outcomes were to "create, store, and share a web-based map through a variety of ways including embedding in a blog post and hyperlinks." We entered a map of information into the site  http://www.batchgeo.com/.  It is a neat tool to create your own personal map. 

This can be tied teaching standard 3D.
-model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning-

Students can use this tool mainly in a history or geography class that works with maps.  They can create a legend and show the variety of distances people have from each other.  This is a digital tool that students have access to and this can help them learn more about mapping.

This assignment also works with the 21st Century ICT Skills. 
      "Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information
Use digital technologies (computers, PDAs, media players, GPS, etc.), communication/networking tools and social networks appropriately to, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, share, and create information to successfully function in a knowledge economy."

I used Google Documents to access a shared document created by our instructor.  I put in my information and then copied Everyone's information to the website BatchGeo. (which is linked above). 

Professor's Calendar

This can help the teacher make sure the students are up to date with assignemtns and class lessons that are due.

This can meet technology standard 3C.
-communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats-
Having a calender accessible by the students is an effective way to ensure they have constant reminders of tests, homework, and projects.  It also can be beneficial because the parents can have access to it.  Parents are able to make sure their kids are up to date with all the information needed for the class they are involved in. 

RESUME

Today, I created myself a resume and published it to the web.  Here is a link.
RESUME

The teaching standard this goes with is 3a.
-demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations-
A virtual resume allows anyone to access it anytime, and it shows the knowledge and skills someone has to be able to publish it to the web, even if it does use google docs. 

MY CALENDER & WEBSITE

Today we created our own Calender and Website.  Using Google, we were able to make all of the connected.  Here is the link to my calender.  And here is the link to my website.

National Council of Teachers of Math

The next conferences will be held on:
1-Denver, CO • October 7-8, 2010
2-Baltimore, MD • October 14-15, 2010
3-New Orleans, LA • October 28-29, 2010
In Denver, they will be participating in more than 200 sessions and gallery workshops.  One workshop is titled "Why video games are the perfect medium to learn school mathematics". 

This can meet the technology standard 5 a.
"participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning." 
These conferences give teachers the opportunity the gather nationwide to explore new ways to teach and help students learn the tools needed in math.  Gathering together can give math teachers a feel for how other teachers get across the much needed curriculum in a fun and neat way. 

2nd Excel Assignment

So today we did yet another Excel assignment.  We had to create a formulas to determine a letter grade for a given score.  We also had to find the maximum and minimum values for given scores using the built-in max and min functions.  The next thing we did was found the range which was subtracting the min value from the max value.  We then had to format and make the cell worksheet look, in my words, fancy.  I had to upload it to google docs, but the formatting changes didnt occur.  I don't know why, but they didn't.  It might have to deal with the way I saved it.  So then I saved it as 97-2003 format and then uploaded.  The changes stuck.  So I guess you need to save it as a lower version of Excel.  To aid us with this assignment, we used the HELP box to construct an IF statement to calculate the Letter Grade for each final average.  Below is the link to view my assignment online. 
Other things we did was colored the tabs.  We also had to calculate a final percentage for each student.  Assignemnts were 25% of the grade, tests were 50% of the grade, and the project was 25% of the grade.  We had to create a formula based upon this information.  A neat tool we used was the "drag handle" which can copy a formula to a new cell.  It saves you from having to type the whole thing in again.  It is pretty cool.  To help spice up the table, we added borders to help organize everything. 

The Technology Standard this would go with could be:
2. a.
"design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity."
This excel assignment allows the students to use the built-in tools excel has to create and design formulas to solve equations and find out answers.  The cool part is the student can make up their own formulas and use them for the future. 
WORKSHEET