Tech in Room C-322

First of all, lets get something taken care of right off the bat.  I AM A KING and my classroom (C-322) is my Castle!  I absolutely love my classroom because of the flexibility and creativity it affords me.

 I remember two years ago when I was first hired.  I walked into Stoney Creek High School on the first teacher work day and my assistant Principal, Larry, greeted me at the door to take me up to my new room.  We walked up the stairs together chatting casually while my stomach turned to knots of excitement.  When Larry opened the door and flicked on the lights I looked around at all the empty desks and just soaked it all in for a moment.  Then,  I turned to Larry and asked him "How should I set the desks up?  Maybe rows of 4?"  When I asked this questions Larry's face twisted up into a slightly devilish grin and he said something I will never forget.  "However you want Ryan.  Its all on you now."   He walked out the door chuckling to himself and I knew from that point on I was in the big leagues.  Trial by fire starts NOW!

One of the first things I did in my classroom was hoard as many tech toys as I could get my paws on.  In that first year I was was able to get a projector, a document camera, and some graphing calculators.  I started off simply with the document camera and the projector.  I would use the combo to show answers to the previous nights homework.  This was very nice because I didn't have to print transparencies.  I was still using my boards to do all of my teaching though.  Then, I ran into an issue.... I was starting the chapter on three dimensional shapes in my Geometry class and my art skills were not making the grades.  I was so frustrated that I called my sister and vented to her about my problem.  She listened patiently and then called me and "idiot" for not remembering about the #D renderings we had made together back in high school when we took some CAD/Engineering classes together.  After that, everything started to line up. I talked to my building tech. facilitator, got the proper cords to connect my PC to my projector, and started my tech adventure.

As soon as I brought the 3D renderings into class you could see the information I was trying to pass on immediately click in my students.  It all started to make sense.  The students didn't have to look past my crooked drawings and abstract hand gestures.  They could see exactly what they needed to see and they were satisfied.

Since that time, I have brought a number of different kinds of technology into my classroom.  My next move was to bring videos from all over the internet into my class.  I had my Trig. students watch videos about the Unit Circle and the development of the Radian.  I also had my Algebra 2 student make power point presentations to explain simplifying square roots.  Then, I found out about SMART boards.

I was very eager to use one in my classroom but I ran into some problems.  after being introduced to the SMART board I could see all of the wonderful things it could do but I struggled to find a real need for it in my classroom.  All the technology I had integrated up to that point had because I absolutely needed it in order to convey the message I was after.  The SMART just seemed a bit like a big fancy bell or whistle.  I decided to wait on using the board until I could find a lesson that really warranted it.  That lesson came this year when my Algebra 2B class started A trig identities lesson.  I knew from past experiences that the logic based lesson was challenging for most students and they would need every advantage I could afford them.  The SMART board would allow me to physically drag different items around the screen and that simple aspect made all the difference for students.  In the past, I would always point at things and try my best to show my classes where different things were comming from but it was never good enough though.  I would always perform the next step, and ask for questions, and I would always have to reexplain the whole step all over again.  The SMART board allowed my students to really track things visually and that really helped them.

That is when technology is at its best.  When it saves you and your students from a headache.  There are times when I could use technology in my classroom just to use it but I would rather use it when it is at its most effective.


Here are some helpful tech links I discussed here or have used in the past few years.

Draw 2D figures: (FREE)
Geogebra

Draw 3D figures: (FREE)
SketchUp

Pole your students via TXT message: (FREE)
 Pole Everywhere

Simple online presentation tool: (FREE)
Prezi


I hope you enjoy these.  If you have some links of your own please leave a link in the comments section