My Classroom Website

I had a lot fun designing my classroom website. I changed the content and template of my website several times, and, each time, it was exciting imagining how the final product was going to look. There are still a lot of features I would like to add to my website. However, I do not have enough time to do this because the end of the semester is quickly approaching, which means finals and therefore a lot of work for these last days of school. Nevertheless, I did add one extra page to my website, which is a page that I am going use to post practice tests for my students. In this way, I feel pretty satisfied with my classroom website as it is for now. No doubt, I am going to use my classroom website in my future classrooms. Just as I said on the homepage of my website, I am going to use this site to inform and communicate with my students and their parents. In this way, the main purpose of this website will be to help my future students and their parents as well as myself have a better experience throughout the school year. Therefore, even though I am happy with what I have done so far on this website, I will continue improving my classroom website as much as I can, adding new pages and features.

Digital Story



This is a movie or digital story I created using Windows Live Movie Maker. This is the first time I have ever made a digital story. I started this project using iMovie, but, after discovering that Movie Maker is a lot of easier to use than iMovie, I changed to Movie Maker with which I finish my project. I am really proud of this work and definitely going to use it in my future classroom. I think it is an excellent educational work to be used, not only in a math classroom, but in any classroom. However, I am disappointed of Google Blogger because, as you can see, it displays a poor quality video. That is, the original video I have on my computer has much better quality than what my blog shows here. Therefore, whenever I use this video in my classroom, I am going to use one of the media players on my computer to show it and not my blog. In addition, as I have been expressing in this blog, I believe that visuals really enhance learning. Therefore, this is not the only video of this kind I will be using in my classroom. Since now I know how to use Movie Maker to create videos like this one, I will create different videos of this kind for each of my classes.

Interactive Spreadsheets

This is a screenshot of an interactive spreadsheet I created using Excel. It allows the user to answer the given questions, and then it provides feedback about whether or not the user’s answer is correct. In particular, this spreadsheet is a quiz that any student with access to the file can take. It was fun working on this activity, except the part about putting my chosen state standard in footer in the spreadsheet. Now, even though I think students would have fun using an interactive spreadsheet like this to learn school material or be tested, this is not something I will be using much in my future classroom. However, I will sometimes use interactive spreadsheets like this one to tests students on math vocabulary. In this way, for now, I see the use of interactive spreadsheets not very useful in a math classroom.

Inspiration

I love this tool, and I’m going to definitely use it in my math classroom. It’s a lot of fun using this tool, and a teacher can really do great things using this tool to improve instruction and enhance learning. I believe that images and pictures can highly improve teaching and learning. Therefore, a diagram created with Inspiration can help a teacher enhance learning because in Inspiration one can create diagrams that include all kinds of images and different ways to incorporate text for example. In this way, a diagram created in Inspiration can make much easier for a teacher to explain and illustrate ideas, processes, and patterns along with connections between ideas, concepts, and processes. For instance, in my TPTE project for this tool, I created a diagram that explains and illustrates the connections and relations between the fundamental theorem of calculus and the two main branches of calculus, integral and differential calculus. In this way, from this diagram, one can learn one of the fundamental facts in calculus and therefore in mathematics, which is that integration and diffentiation are inverse operations. From this diagram, one can also learn that this fundamental theorem relates to area of a region plane and that it’s what connects integral calculus to this kind of area. Fantastic!!!! Therefore, I see myself using this tool in my future classroom in most of my lessons!!

Web 2.0 Tools

Some of the last Web 2.0 tools we learned how to use were Smilebox, Voicethreat, and Animoto. I think all of these tools are fun to use, but I do not see myself using them much in my future classroom. For now, I do not see how I could use smilebox to improve my math instruction and therefore to enhance learning in math classes. Thus far, I see that a teacher may use smilebox to create photo albums of field trip pictures and slideshows for lessons, but I do not see how these could help me improve my teaching. I think Voicethreat can be useful in the classroom. For example, as a math teacher, I could assign groups to work on different problems. This would be very beneficial for most students; the students with high math skills could start the problem and give hints to the rest of the students. By doing this, they would surely benefit from thinking how to begin a problem, without actually solving it, and help others understand the process of solving the problem. Similarly, students having trouble with math would definitely benefit from the assistance of other students to solve math problems. However, I would not use this tool much in my classroom because I think wikis are better for this kind of activities of having students collaborate. Now, I think Animoto could be very useful in the classroom. However, I would not use it much in my future classroom because thus far it’s not totally free to use and has several downsides; I think a teacher could do big thinks with this tool to enhance learning if it were not this limited to use.

Google Forms

For this Web 2.0 tool, I worked in a project with one of my classmates. I learned how to use it pretty well, and I’m going to definitely use it in the classroom. Moreover, this is one of my favorite Web 2.0 tools thus far, and I believe it’s going to be one of my favorite tools in my future classroom. This could be very useful in the classroom. One of the uses in the classroom for this tool is giving homework and tests/quizzes online in and/or outside the classroom in form format. You just need to make your form with questions you would use in a regular test/quiz and email it to the students. Each of them will receive it and have the opportunity to fill it out and submit it online. The questions can be a multiple choice question, true/false, text paragraph, or a mixture of all these types of tests/quizzes questions. You then obtain each of the results with each of the responses, where you can see each answer and the question.

Another use for this tool would be to collect students’ information. For example, you can create a form with questions asking students for name, email, address, phone number, and so on. More importantly, you can create a form to evaluate instruction. For instance, you can create a form to use weekly with questions asking students about the class and instruction up to that particular point in the semester. This form could include questions what went well during this week in class? What needs to be improved? What helped you learn the most? What did not help you? Also, we can use a form to get to know our class. This could include questions about likes and dislikes and a little bit about their background.

Inspiration Diagram

Scavenger Hunt

PicasaAlbum

Lesson Plan

During this week, we learned about lesson plans. In my previous education courses, I learned that planning is essential for effective and efficient instruction. Therefore, I think that learning about lesson planning is very beneficial for a future teacher, as myself. In this way, I’m always interested in learning about designing lesson plans, especially when this includes actual practice. Therefore, working on the design of a lesson plan during this week was of particular interest and excitement for me, especially because our lesson included the incorporation of technology. After designing this lesson plan, I know I’m definitely going to incorporate technology in my planning and therefore in my instruction when I start teaching. As I already said before, I really believe that technology can make a difference in the classroom; that is, technology can greatly help improve instruction and learning. In this way, I think that planning that incorporates technology is one of the tools that will help me be an effective and efficient teacher.

Wordle and Twitter

During this week, we learned about Wordle and Twitter, which were Web 2.0 tools totally new to me. Before this week, I didn’t know anything about these tools, except that Twitter exists. Because I heard many people talking about Twitter, I always said that I was going to sign in and join Twitter “world.” However, for one reason or another, I never did. In this way, at the beginning, just after we were taught in our class how to use these tools, I couldn’t think in a use for these Web 2.0 tools in the math classroom. Nevertheless, after trying them for a while, I came out with some ideas. I think Wordle would be useful in my math classroom in helping students get familiar with important math words or vocabulary. For example, I could provide my students with a list of the vocabulary they need to know or be familiar with for a certain lesson or unit and ask them to play around with these words in Wordle. To make this activity more effective, I could repeat the words in the list according to the importance of each word for the lesson or unit at hand. Learning mathematics without the appropriate math vocabulary is sometimes extremely difficult. Therefore, I strongly believe this activity would be an effective and fun way to help students get familiar with the vocabulary they need for each lesson or unit. Now, outside the classroom, I think Twitter would be a very helpful tool to keep students updated on class announcements, homework, and websites, which the teacher considers helpful and appropriate to use for a specific assignment, unit, or the entire course.

WebQuests

At first, I thought that WebQuests were a good tool to use in the classroom. Now, because of what I have learned about WebQuests during this week, I think they are one the best web 2.0 tools a teacher can use in the classroom. The WebQuest I found for our today’s activity allows students to work in groups and learn about basic geometric shapes and their real world applications. In this site, the project is to look around our world for geometrical shapes; that is, students will look for examples of Geometry in nature, art, architecture, and fashion. The site provides students with a list of websites where they will search for the figures and asks them to write down the name of each shape, number of dimensions, where it is found, and how it was used. Then, the students will search the internet for more examples of geometric shapes, which appear in other areas of our life such as sports, science, and transportation. Finally, the students will present their findings using Power point. A WebQuest like this would allow my students to explore the nature of basic geometric shapes and their real world applications, which students miss most of the time. Moreover, I could use this WebQuest for almost any geometry course, up to high school level, to make the learning of geometric shapes fun and efficient. I could also use this WebQuest in other math courses to expose students to some of the applications of mathematics in the real world.

I’m definitely going to use Webquests as one of my teaching tools, in and outside the classroom. Moreover, I already have some great ideas to create some of the best math WebQuests ever!!! The WebQuest I used for our activity in our today’s class, “The Shapes in our Lives”, and other WebQuest I found about Pythagoras and the Pythagoras Theorem inspired me to create and use WebQuests in my future classroom. I believe that a great part of mathematics can be learned in a fun way; so, I’m always looking for tools to teach mathematics in ways that students like learning this subject. In this way, WebQuests will be one of these tools. Now, I, myself, enjoy learning trough WebQuests. For example, this was the case in our WebQuest about WebQuest activity.

What a week!!!

This week has been incredible for me!! I was supposed to fly and get to El Paso, Texas last Tuesday, and then come back Today, Thursday. However, this was impossible because of the awful weather in Dallas. After waiting for about 7 hours in the airport, I was able to fly to Dallas. Next, all the flights from Dallas to El Paso cancelled for that day, so I had to spend the night there in the airport. Then, on Wednesday, due to the bad weather, but now in El Paso, all the flights to El Paso cancelled again. So, I tried to come back to Knoxville as soon as I find out that I wasn’t going to be able to get to El Paso (and Ciudad Juarez) as I was supposed to. However, the weather in Dallas was still terrible, so I wasn’t able to fly back to Knoxville. Everything was crazy in Dallas!!! I just wanted get out from there! So, I requested to fly to Nashville and this worked out pretty well compared to what had already happed. I arrived to Nashville at 9:00pm and got home at 2:00am on Thursday. Now, because I was not able to get on time to my appoint in Ciudad Juarez, I came back earlier which allowed me make it to my TPTE 486 class today, Thursday. So, the only good thing for me of all that much snow in Dallas is that I only missed two days of classes instead of three or more

My reflection on website evaluation

This activity reminded me that we need to be very careful when using the internet. In particular, we need to be very careful when using a website because it might not be what it looks like. Moreover, from this activity, I learned that, before using a website, we need to check for characteristics such as reliable, accurate, accessible for everyone, and well designed. In this way, before this activity, I did not know how to evaluate a website; so I ignored most of the characteristics that a website needs to have in order to be a reliable source of information or reliable online tool. Almost everybody can put information on the web; so it’s up to us to find the right information and not just anything that’s up there. Furthermore, thanks to this activity, I learned that there are many sources to help and guide me find the right websites. In particular, now, I feel more confident and able to evaluate and find the right websites for my personal and professional use. Therefore, now, I know where and what I need to look for when looking for websites to use in my classroom to enhance instruction. In this way, as an educator, I will use a website in my classroom only after I evaluate it. 

Website Evaluation

Here is a very good website to evaluate the internet Evaluating Websites. I think this website is an excellent resource to evaluate websites or the Internet in general. In particular, this site would be very helpful for middle and high school students. This site first explains, in readable English, a little bit of why it is important to evaluate the Internet. It is divided in the following three parts: Basic guidelines to evaluate websites, introducing students to website evaluation, and additional resources. In the basic guide lines part, this site addresses four main steps to evaluate websites, which are Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness and Support and for which raises interesting questions to help the readers understand such steps. Also, this site uses the following mnemonic to help readers remember these four steps: CARS = Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, Support. In the introduction to students part, this site provides students with some readable suggestions to evaluate websites and with a section about Rubrics for Evaluating Websites Finally, this website provides with some additional evaluation resources, and briefly explains how each of these resources work. Therefore, this site does not only teach how to evaluate websites but it also provides some links to other website evaluation sites. 

Wikis

I didn’t have a good beginning learning how to work on Wikis. The instructions on
the package were very confusing for me, so I wasn’t able to properly follow
them. In class, I also had trouble following what we’re doing. To me, it was a
lot of instructions and work for a short period of time. Plus moving from one
website to another website is not easy for me; so I had trouble going from opening
an account in one website to transferring a word document to google docs and
read information in another website to going back to the first website and
follow more instructions from the website and the package. I lot of
instructions and work. However, I learned that all these difficulties are part
of the process of learning in this course and that sometimes we do not have to
finish all the work in class. If there is something we are not able to complete
in class, we can work on it outside the class. What was very helpful for me
regarding all the work we had to do was our course section’s website, which has
an outline of everything we need to do. 

What went also well was that I did learn how to create my own workspace and personal
wiki page, which I can share with others. Therefore, even though this assignment
was confusing at first, it was also a good practice to learn about wikis. Now,
during the second class working on Wikis, everything went much better, as our
instructor went step by step showing how to do certain things in our Wiki. So,
I was able to finish my wiki page this time. Now, next time, in order to do
better in class, I will not only read the instructions of the corresponding
assignment before class but I will also try to make sure those instructions
make sense to me before class.  

I'm considering using this tool in my professional practice and/or instruction with
students by making groups and assigning each group some math exercises to be
done collaboratively on wiki pages. In this way, students do not have to be in
the same place and/or at the same time to work corroboratively on their group
homework and keep learning after class. Instead, to do their homework in
groups, students only need a computer and an internet connection.   

My Expectations

I really like learning about technology, so I’m so glad I’m taking this course.
More importantly, I’m very glad I’m going to learn how to use technology in the
classroom. I’ve always believed that technology can be used as a teaching tool
in any subject; so I believe that any person who wants to teach will benefit a
lot from learning how use technology in the classroom. On the other hand, even
though I love using computers, I’m worried about this course because I’m slow
using computers and I’m a slow learner. However, I know I’m going to do well in
this course because I’m going to put as much effort as necessary into this
class. This is not going to be very hard for me because I have good studying
skills and, like I said, I like technology. In this way, I’m going to learn
enough material from this course as to go to the classroom and be able to make
my instruction more accessible and efficient to everyone thanks to the use of
technology. Furthermore, I already feel good about this course because I
already learned how to use google documents and blogs to share information.
Therefore, I strongly believe that at the end of this course I’m going to feel
very confident to use technology as one of my best teaching tools.

Welcome to my blog

My name is Manuel Cuevas-Sanchez and I’m originally from a small city in Guanajuato,
Mexico. I’m the oldest of four children, and my whole family came to Lenoir
City, Tennessee when I was 18 years old and we’ve lived here since then. When I
first came here, I started working for the Monterey Mushrooms company, and I
stay there for about two years. After that, I went back to school: I got my GED
and start college.

I earned my GED through the High School Equivalence Program (HEP) at Abraham
Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia. In this same college, I
obtained my associate degree in mathematics. Then, I transfer to the University
of Tennessee where I’m a senior pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and
a license to teach.