Podcast

This is the link to the script I used for my Podcast. The written lesson plan can be found here. I am using a webquest for my lesson plan. This is a webquest I have used in the past and it is one the students can really get into. Click here to hear the audio portion of the lesson. (Be patient it takes a while to load). I created this recording using the link provided in the lesson plan. After making the recording I saved it as a wav file. However, I kept getting a message that read "voice logo" will be recorded, and sure enough as my audio plays a "voice" comes across my recording saying "avs4you". To get the audio into by blog I saved the file to our FTP web space ( just like we did for the Jeopardy game). I then was able to upload the audio from there. When you click on the link it does take several minutes to load, but it will eventually open on the itunes site. I'm not sure how to clean-up the audio and get rid of the "voice" that keeps intruding over my voice, however, I am happy that I figured out how to upload an audio to my blog.

Google Forms

This is the link to a survey about social networking. I teach a statistics course and I occasionally need data for the students to analyze. With Google Forms I could have the students create their own surveys about topics relevant to them. The data could then be used to create histograms or normal distribution curves. The student could also interpret the mean, median and mode of the data. Feel free to take the survey! After submitting your answers you can check out the answers of other participants.

Rubric

This is a rubric that I have used in the past to evaluate a poster project for my Concpetual Math classes. The students, in groups, are required to create a park using proper scale. The project also includes a budget and a written proposal. The rubric was created using the Rubistar website and was uploaded through Google Docs.

Movie Maker

Ths is a link to my Credit Card movie which is just a re-vamp of my original PowerPoint. After creating the project I saved it as a web document following the steps provided in Movie Maker. I had to sign up for Mydeo which is a media storage and hosting site. Once the movie was saved to Mydeo I was provided with a URL that I hyperlinked to my blog.

Geometry Jeopardy

This is the link to my Geometry Jeopardy. This is a game I would use in my Applied Geometry classes, and I have used similar programs in the past.

Ignite

This is the PowerPoint we were to create using the Ignite format, which is 20 slides that should move automatically after 10-15 seconds. The Ignite site seemed to have a more humorous slant, so I tried my hand at a little "tongue-in-cheek" humor. I hope you enjoy my take on a Day in the Life of a Teacher. I used PowerPoint to create this presentation, and when viewed in PowerPoint my slides did change every 10 seconds, and I also had the presentation looped so it would play continuously. Once completed I used Slide Share to upload and post the PowerPoint. Unfortunately I lost the 10 second transition and the viewer now must click to advance the slides. I ran into a similar problem with our previous 65 slide PowerPoint. I liked the idea of a shorter presentation and the Ignite format is one I would encourage students to consider, especially if I had a lot of presentations to get through. This type of format would force to students to focus on what was important in their work.

Teachers Day Power Pt

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PhotoStory - Homework in the Math Classroom

This Photostory is from my Action Research Project this past spring. The original project was a PowerPoint and it had a more dry and technical approach; it was full of statistics, research and literature reviews. With Photostory I created a "movie" version of the PowerPoint, added some things, and then deleted all of the statistics and research to make the movie less clinical. I hope you enjoy it. I liked creating the Photostory; I found it easy to use and upload. I did notice that I have some feedback on my microphone on the few slides that I narrated. I probably should have bought or borrowed a plug in microphone instead of relying on the microphone in my laptop. As for my students I believe they would have fun with this type of presentation as opposed to PowerPoint. Any assignment that could be created with PowerPoint could easily be transferred to this format. In my classroom I would probably give my students the option of using either one.

Financial Math Power Pt

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PowerPoint & Google Presentation

My Google Docs PowerPoint presentation covers a topic I cover every year in my Conceptual Math classes - the Pros and Cons of Credit Cards. I spent a good deal of time just playing with the program; figuring out how to import images and format the slide backgrounds. After completing the presentation I saved the PowerPoint as a Google Doc so it could be uploaded to my blog page.(I did this before I realized that the next assignment was a Google Docs Upload). I noticed that I lost the slide transitions and the sound effects in this process. I found this VERY discouraging, considering the amount of time I spent creating the original PowerPoint. I then used Slide Share to upload the presentation, and that is the one you see above. I still lost the slide transitions and the sound effects, however, it still copied better than the Google Docs. I have used pre-made PowerPoints in my classes, and I have had my students use PowerPoint presentations on certain projects. After completing this PowerPoint I feel much more comfortable with the program. The presentation I created for this assignment will be the first self-made PowerPoint I will use in my classes, though I will use the original PowerPoint and NOT the one I saved to my blog. Also, I am concerned about the length of the PowerPoint. The number slides required for this assignment seems excessive. If I take time to engage in a class discussion with each slide, this presentation will take days!

Jackson Pollock

What a challenge this was for someone as artistically challenged as me. The site gives you no warning and no directions, at least none that I could find. The first time you move your mouse an explosion of orange follows it. I finally figured out how to click and clear the screen and finally maneuvered the mouse into a corner. It also seems that the speed at which you move the mouse affects the thickness of the line. Just play and have some fun. I decided to use this site to create a logo for DoshierMath. Can you see the D and the M? I used the Screen Print to capture the image and then added some color and text using Paint. I am hard pressed to find a math connection for this site, however, it would be a fun place for my students to go and play. I would be curious to see what some of my more artistic students could do with this site.

Self Portrait

This Self Portrait was created using the Mr.PicassoHead website. This was an exercise in creativity, something which is not my strong point. However, since the Picasso style is abstract in the extreme, I found it easy to "express" my inner self. I've always wanted to be a redhead with green eyes, so thanks to Picasso I am. Creating the image was easy, but I would recommend visiting the gallery first to get some ideas of what is possible. After completing the portrait I saved it to the gallery and then entered my email so a link could be sent to me. At this time the link has not been sent, instead I kept receiving a server error message. To circumvent this problem I created a link to my portrait after searching the gallery for my image. If the server error is corrected I can fix the link later. I sometimes have my students do biographies of mathematicians, and I could see them using this site to create a portrait to accompany the their work.

PhotoShop

This is the link to a photo that I edited using PhotoShop. This is a single photo of my daughters at Disneyland. I also created a small photo album of some special events from the past few years. The picture at the right is one of the photos in the album before I did any editing/decorating. This was one of the "fun" assignments and I could see myself using the PhotoShop website for both personal and professional reasons. Though it was nice to be able to edit photos to improve their quality, I actually enjoyed the decorate feature the most. I believe my students would have fun with this site as well. I could see using the site in a geometry class to edit photos of geometric examples in architecture.

Web Album

This album is a collection of photos from our family's trip back to Oklahoma to visit my husband's family. And yes, the rattlesnake is real and was killed in the front yard, the alligator is not real. I downloaded the Picassa3 software through my Google account, and found the process so easy that I created a second album of my girls in their sports activities. After downloading the software Picassa3 searched my computers for photos that already existed and imported them for me. It was then just an easy click to create a new album and drag and drop photos into the album. One more click and the album was synced to the web, a URL was created and then I hyperlinked this URL in my blog. Easy!

On-Line Graphics Part 2

In the second part of this assignment I used the data from NAEP to create two more charts using Excel. This time I used the 8th grade math scores and I used two different scales to illustrate how data can be manipulated, depending on what you want the data "to say". Continued...

On-line Graphics

As a concerned member of the statewide assessment team I have created a chart to illustrate the ranking of West Virginia students compared to the rest of the nation. The information in this chart was collected from the National Assessment of Educational Progress website. I am concerned that if West Virginia's students continue to lag behind the nation in their progress. Continued.....

Crappy Graphics

Finally an assignment I could complete in less than an hour! Crappy Graphics was a fun (if naughty) little site that was extremely easy to use and navigate. Click here to view a larger version of my line graph and to link to the Crappy Graphics website.

Image Capture - Screen Print

I used the Paint application to crop and resize images that I had captured using the Print Screen function on my computer. Click here to see the images. After capturing the images with Print Screen I opened the Paint program and pasted in the images. Click here to read the entire entry...

Desktop Graphic

My desktop graphic is a Hierarchy of the Real Numbers that was created using Word97. Click here to see the graphic. I chose to use Word97 and its SmartArt feature because it is a program that is readily accessable on most computers, and as it turns out SmartArt was extremely user friendly. Click here to read more....

Technology In My Content Area (TPACK #1)

As I read this article I have a variety of thoughts whirling through my brain, some positive and others not so positive. My content area is High School Math; specifically Algebra II, Geometry and Conceptual, which is a hodgepodge of topics such as Algebra, Geometry, Finance, and Probability and Statistics. Continued...

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