The Podcasting Gap

After our first "podcasting" class last week and talking to Lucia, I realized how easy it would be to implement podcasts in my math classroom.  Each year for PreCalc, we have students create something that is not a poster or an "ordinary" slide show.  The students have been really creative with this, but I have yet to receive a podcast.  I asked two of my classes about their experiences with podcasts, expecting them to give me the same look they give when I ask how the homework was ("What homework?!") but they all just nodded, told me they have done them before, and it did not phase them.  I was shocked!  They have been using podcasts for years apparently, which I had no idea.  I was talking to another teacher about this, and she observed the same thing with her younger sister, who was using podcasts in class for the last several years for projects.  We decided this was another generation gap that we missed out on, and hence the title of this blog.  I am looking forward to trying out this new tool in my classes!

Wiki Who?

When I first heard about Wikis, I thought it was some crazy social media waste of time that I would never be a part of.  My narrow-minded self also did not fully understand what the amazing new internet resource, Wikipedia, really was.  While teaching in Cleveland from 2009-2011, I wanted a website my students could visit for daily notes and homework assignments.  Our district did not have Blackboard or any other site like it, but a co-worker of mine introduced us to PB Works during a PD day at school.  This was a classroom-changing tool even though I am now realizing it was not used to its full potential.  I used PB Works to include RSS feeds on information and cool math/history facts (well, I thought they were cool) as well as a calendar of our topics to be covered, assignments, and assessments.  I linked everything to PDF files of the Smartboard notes from that day, as well as blank note papers for students who were absent to print out.  Essentially I only used my page as a dumping ground for all of my documents, but it was very useful even just as that.  Now I am realizing I could give students access to a page where they could create the review documents as well as support one another on topics that are difficult.  I am enjoying that I get to learn-through-doing with our Wiki sites!

Becoming a Blogger

I have always enjoyed looking at blogs other people have written, but with the task of actually becoming a blogger, I am not sure the best approach.  It is exciting but also a little concerning, because of how public blogging is.  What if my principal reads this?  What if that parent who disagrees with my teaching strategies finds my blog?  What if this actually becomes popular?!

Last year, I had a student who was "famous" on social media.  She would post frequent video clips and pictures that would make people laugh, and before I knew it, my freshmen were explaining to me that this senior was a "big deal".  I was amazed at this student's creativity that she used to express herself online and also surprised at how fast things could spread.  She had tens of thousands of followers, which was both good and bad.

I asked this student if she had a blog or if she knew anything about blogs, as I had been thinking about making one.  So many things happen at school that I want to share, both good and bad.  This student was a study hall tutor in my room so she and I shared a lot of these experiences.  We always talked about how funny it would be to write these stories on the Internet, and decided a blog would be best.  However, as we continued to talk about this idea, we realized the cons outweighed the pros, and dropped it.  While this idea could certainly get a lot of reactions and popularity, it was not worth it in case the anonymity failed.

Here I am, a year later, exploring about blogs and discovering through experience.  I am learning about linking in blogs, creating a blog, and making this something that represents me.  As someone who considers herself to be relatively selfless, I am most struggling with the notion that this blog is about me.  In my opinion, if I want to share things with people, I do!  I share them with friends and family.  Is it necessary to post my life online?  I do not think so, but it is pretty popular on numerous social media sites.  Therefore, I am going to try my best to make this blog a combination of my learning, my teaching experience, and everything else going on in my ITS program.  (There it is again, the word "my" in every part!  ha!)

Hi all!

My name is Maura and I am a math teacher.  I grew up in Buffalo, NY and still visit often.  I went to John Carroll University in Cleveland Heights, OH for my undergraduate degree, where I majored in secondary education and math.  During my year of student teaching at Cleveland Heights HS, I grew to love those students enough to take a position teaching and coaching lacrosse as soon as I graduated in 2009.  I was at Cleveland Heights for another two years until I decided to move somewhere a little warmer in 2011.  I have been at West Potomac HS in FCPS since then, and I currently teach Algebra 1 and Pre-Calculus.

I love being in the classroom but I cannot stand the nonsense that comes with teaching outside of that.  I care about my students feeling cared for, and knowing that their efforts and their learning are important.  I think that teaching is a teeter totter in every sense of the job.  Some days you are appreciated, others you feel stomped on.  At times you feel on top of the world, and there are those moments you feel defeated.  I care about teaching being a job that everyone understands and prioritizes, as it is something we all need and participate in.  I feel we need to share with others all of our joys of teaching so we can recruit top teachers and strong supporters.