Hi! My name is Jill Casey and I am a mathematics teacher in Indian Prairie School District 204. I have taught mathematics at Waubonsie Valley High School since 1995, with three years off when my first daughter was born. I can't believe I am about to start my 20th year of teaching!
I have taught a variety of levels of mathematics. I currently teach Geometry, Honors Precalculus and BC Calculus.
I started taking ed tech courses in the fall of 2016 in order to help be more prepared for the district roll out of 1:1 in the fall of 2017. I feel that this has helped tremendously. My comfort level with technology was already pretty good; now I am willing to try almost anything with technology in my classroom.
My current favorite tech tool is probably EdPuzzle. I like the possibility of using it to flip the classroom. I am sure my favorite will be in continual change, since that is also what happens with technology in general.
One of my favorite EdTech success stories would be my first use of a Hyperdoc in my BC Calculus class. The students used the Hyperdoc to first view a video on Khan Academy, work through some examples on Desmos, and then post examples of their work on a Google Doc. They seemed to learn a lot from this activity.
There have been a lot of EdTech Failures for me as I have tried to implement them throughout this year. Since we are just about to go 1:1, we have had to use laptops brought in on carts to get the kids online. Unfortunately, there are only 20 laptops per cart and I have 28 - 30 kids in each class. I had planned an activity using Desmos for my Honors students which, if everyone had their own computer, would have worked great. However, they had to share. So, I couldn't tell whom from the pair was doing the work. I had students making obnoxious comments because they had the anonymity of not using their own computers and logins.
Hi Jill,
ReplyDeleteEdPuzzle is such an awesome tool, but I am also glad you mentioned hyperdocs. They seem so simple, but they really can transform how your students learn. Sometimes simple is better!
Aren't High School students great! Both of my daughters (one is middle school and the other is high school) are using 1:1 technology in all of their classes and have been for about 4 or 5 years now. They actually get the Chromebook they are issued when they start middle school so I think that is a plus. My oldest just have her Chromebook replaced with a Surface and like it better. I like 1:1 technology because we no longer have snow days!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post. I'm looking forward to learning with you.
Hi Jill. I'm Tanya. Nice to meet you! I also work in 204, but at the other end of the spectrum... elementary! Thanks for sharing your success story. I will have to explore Desmos... first time hearing about it! I really like the idea of practicing math online (v. paper pencil) because of the instant feedback. The downside of the traditional math approach is that if a student doesn't quite understand a concept, he/she goes home and incorrectly practices it many times on a worksheet, making it much more difficult to "undo" the incorrect learning. Online, students are able to learn from their mistakes before they become a habit.
ReplyDelete