tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34608284159193840972011-07-28T19:24:57.357-04:00I created this Blog as a result of attending David Warlick's presentation on creating Personal Learning Networks. &nbsp My goal is twofold. &nbsp I want to record my ideas so that I can recall them when I have an opportunity to act on them. &nbsp And, I hope this Blog will provide a forum that fosters collaboration between teachers.Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-4490853524416113132010-04-09T22:45:00.003-04:002010-04-09T23:56:55.142-04:00

In an attempt to find and implement effective strategies to differentiate instruction in my classes, I purchased "Good Questions: Great Ways to Differentiate Mathematics Instruction" by Marian Small. I purchased the book from the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) web site.The Good: The book does a great job giving examples of open questions and parallel tasks that can be used for

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-51812850520626045412008-08-24T16:40:00.003-04:002008-08-24T18:19:56.972-04:00

ORGANIZINGEvery year, one of the first things I do to get ready for the new school year is import student data into a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet serves many purposes throughout the year. I mail merge student names into a label document to print out labels for student planners and take-home folders. I record assignments of textbooks, calculators, locks, and lockers. The formulas feature makes

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-82238776621414240402008-08-19T22:44:00.003-04:002008-08-21T13:14:13.061-04:00

Today, I submitted my first DonorsChoose.org grant for the school year. I submitted a need for a video camera and tripod for my classroom. I've had great success in the past with DonorsChoose.org grants. Over the past three years donors have bought some excellent technology for my classroom. Thanks to the generosity of various donors, my classroom has been equipped with a Bluetooth wireless

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-79731591673998180472008-08-18T18:45:00.004-04:002008-08-21T13:15:36.425-04:00

Had a great conversation today with one of our P.E. teachers. He was looking for a way to integrate fitness data with the math curriculum. We discussed ways students might electronically store their fitness statistics. (Heart rates, # push ups, # sit ups, running times, ... etc.) It was a fortuitous discussion because I have deliberated several times over the past year about ways to used data

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-75242664708935821242008-08-16T22:57:00.002-04:002008-08-16T23:34:22.906-04:00

I've been contemplating ways to enhance my teaching this year by using video. I'm determined to make video cameras a staple in my classroom this year. Nothing seems to excite students more than the prospect of being in pictures.One idea I've been mulling over involves students acting out a script to teach a math concept. Even if they don't really understand what they're teaching, I think they

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-30456656905752231882008-08-15T10:33:00.002-04:002008-08-15T11:20:39.361-04:00

I have returned to blogging after an extended break. As I get ready for school to start, I've decided to return to blogging. I'm taking a different attitude with my blogging this year. I became somewhat disappointed last year when I felt like no one was reading my Blog. I wasn't getting comments posted and took this to mean that I had no audience. While I would like to have an audience completely

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-40725804215491121512008-02-01T21:58:00.000-05:002008-02-01T22:06:21.879-05:00

I've finally done it. After putting together a few hours of uninterupted time, I finally managed to put together my first teaching video. It's no masterpiece, but I don't think its horrible for a first attempt. I've posted it to Teachertube.

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-75239255549634898072007-12-17T21:16:00.000-05:002008-01-13T10:04:38.790-05:00

Today representatives from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) visited our school to videotape our team's (Garry, Mike, and Curtis) collaboration meeting with the school's media and technology facilitators(Gina and Julia respectively). I felt that the meeting went exceptionally well.This was our second collaboration meeting relating to our interdisciplinary unit on "Change

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-28736101985776062182007-12-12T20:16:00.000-05:002007-12-12T20:47:05.881-05:00

This post is actually a comment that I left on dy/dan's blog entitled "Careful Now: 21st Century Edition". The comment ran on so long that I decided to post it here as well. (I also noticed a few typos that I wanted to clean up) It was funny to see your post about 21st Century Classrooms and particularly making the transitions in Math classrooms. My own blogging for the past two days has

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-60980114896442402442007-12-11T20:38:00.000-05:002007-12-11T21:12:35.915-05:00

Part two of commuter conversations revolved around the concept of textbook free schools. We all found the idea rather intriguing. Like children at Christmas time, we began calculating the amount of funding that could be redirected toward enhancing the technology offerings in classrooms. It's certainly worth considering. Take for example a grade level of 225 students. Estimate textbooks at

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-42154767192607169582007-12-10T20:43:00.000-05:002007-12-11T00:53:28.855-05:00

This morning I had a very interesting conversation on the way to work. I need to preface by saying that I'm very fortunate to work at the same school with my wife, Gina. She is an excellent Media Coordinator and wonderful teacher. She has been teaching for over 15 years and has been my mentor (unofficially of course) since I started teaching 5 years ago. Today, she and our Technology

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-75349947385349365482007-12-07T15:49:00.000-05:002007-12-07T16:27:42.302-05:00

The on-going argument for vouchers and/or tax credits for parents who opt to send their children to private school has been an ongoing debate for several years now. It really starts to boil around election time. Guess what? It's election time again and the same old rhetoric surfaces yet again. It amazes me that so many people cabbage on to the concept of paying for private education for their

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-73412256872039946682007-12-05T21:23:00.000-05:002007-12-05T22:00:58.485-05:00

This Blog post is in direct response to Matt Christiansen's posting "Communication in the Math classroom" and the comment posted by selias22. I agree with selias22. "Dumbing it down" is a terrible idea. One of my greatest challenges with struggling 8th graders is getting them to think beyond the operations represented by symbols on their calculators. This will never change if I don't

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-21555086614738169012007-12-04T22:59:00.000-05:002007-12-04T23:28:21.446-05:00

Scott Elias' "Presentation on Presenting" provides excellent advice to teachers who find themselves struggling to keep students engaged with their slide presentations. The presentation provides excellent concrete guidelines and clear strategies to avoid the pitfalls of Powerpoint.My school purchased data projectors for almost every classroom in the school this year. The 8th grade Math teachers

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-65754587618107665402007-12-04T20:26:00.000-05:002007-12-04T21:06:27.902-05:00

I created a wikispaces wiki page today. The URL is http://WMSMath.wikispaces.com. I chose to create a protected wiki since the purpose of the wiki is to provide a centralized location for Walkertown Middle School math teachers to share resources and collaborate. I may even need to part with a little cash and establish it as a private wiki. I'm a little concerned with posting some of the items

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-2659721453215662452007-12-03T20:13:00.000-05:002007-12-03T20:54:05.397-05:00

Today I shared the "Wikis in Plain English" video with my teammates and with the Math department. It generated considerable excitement. As a result, I am now in charge of finding a Wiki service that will let us create accounts for our students without requiring them to provide an e-mail address. Someone suggested at the North Carolina Educational Technology Conference (NCETC) that PBwiki

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-12526072942310118712007-12-02T09:02:00.000-05:002007-12-02T10:39:28.467-05:00

During David Warlick's presentation "The Art and Technique of Wikis" at the North Carolina Educational Technology Conference (NCETC) he showed a Youtube video that illustrated the use of wikis. &nbsp The video was done by Lee Lefever and is entitled "Wikis in Plain English." (See attached link) &nbsp This video is very cleverly done. &nbsp It occurred to me a couple days after the conference

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-69148543382330828572007-12-01T21:34:00.000-05:002007-12-01T21:38:29.303-05:00

I loved this idea that I got from the UNC-Greensboro presenters. &nbsp They played a video (vodcast?) spoofing Mad Money and using a staged call to explain the concept of Economic Profit. &nbsp I found myself actually anxious to hear the explanation. &nbsp I think this could be done on a small scale to teach almost anything. Imagine capturing students' attention by imitating pop culture icons. &

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-44670641147938966732007-12-01T21:10:00.000-05:002007-12-01T21:32:48.892-05:00

One of my favorite tools that I learned about at NCETC 2007 were wiki's. &nbsp I thought that one excellent use would be for a teacher to start a wiki with a simple paragraph or page about a general topic. &nbsp Within the paragraph, many of the key words should be created as links. &nbsp These keywords are then assigned to students who would research the keywords and fill in the wiki with data

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3460828415919384097.post-47581255329100504212007-12-01T20:46:00.000-05:002007-12-01T21:30:58.848-05:00

Another idea that I absolutely loved from David Warlick's presentation on video gaming. He stated that some schools had hosted a gaming fair. What a magnificent way to get students excited about a school event. Students were invited to bring in their gaming systems and they demonstrated to parents and faculty the many aspects of the gaming world that are foreign to many adults. This would also be

Curtis Websterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01856413059476072743noreply@blogger.com0