Posted by Malik on May 2, 2009
If you thought that I was going to talk about Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., I apologize in misleading you.
However, I just briefly wish to share what I saw at the Texas Instruments booth during NCTM09. The photos below seemed to be all that really caught my attention.
On the left, I got my hands on the new TI-73. This model was designed for the middle school. The updated version of this calc has an increased space for memory to load more apps – where the previous version did not allow. Also, it is officially now sexy like the TI-84s.
To the right, you have the Navigator system designed towards the TI-Nspire. As you can see, the wireless hubs are actually attached to the back of the calcs instead of having the calc hooked up to the wireless hubs. That data cable is gone! Click on the image for additional information and to find out when this system will be released.
T.I.’s theme apparently was “Math Rocks!” I had the opportunity to take a picture beside an autographed guitar signed by the Jonas Brothers. Woo hoo!
The New & Improved TI-73
Wireless TI-Nspire Navigator
Posted in EdTech, Education, NCTM, graphing calculators | Tagged: calculators, graphingcalculators, Math, nctm, nctm09, texasinstruments, tinavigator | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Malik on January 25, 2009
Today was my 2nd experience with an unconference. BarCampCLT allowed people to bring topics to the people, and through a voting process organized the sessions. If you are a very structured individual, you might have issues with this conference format. However, I had the opportunity to sit on the following presentations. Here are some major points to share with you.
1. Twitter
- This tool is considered as an information buffet; Only take what you need!
- tweetdeck was overwhelmingly the apparent the choice of twitter client
- Be weary of the disruptive elements if you use twitter under your brand – People are known to falsely retweet
2. OLPC (One Laptop Per Child)
- XO2 is not under development yet – still considered as an artists rendering
- OLPC discovered that $$ was not an issue for customers
- Recommended reading: End of Poverty (Jeffrey Sachs) & Innovator’s Dilemma (Clayton M. Christensen)
- Before OLPC, there was NO netbook market
- Strength: Cannot beat it’s rugged design & run on very little power
- Weakness: Networking aspect – Not stable when networking 20-30 XOs; glitch discovered at a conference
- SW developers & educators are in demand with project; Have you tried XO’s GUI? Get Sugar today!
3. How to make $$ online
- You should have been here!
4. LinkedIn & Facebook
- What is your brand?
- Discussed usage of FB & LinkedIn
- FB limits you to only 5000 friends; fan page is unlimited
- In conclusion: Who you are=FB What you do=LinkedIn
5. Resume Killers
- Resume should go no farther than 10 years back
- Know your niche
- +1 versions of resume; customize for market
- If still employed, you can post anonymously to job search sites and should ask for at least 10% increase
6. Videocast/blog
Look for audio from the above sessions later over here.
Posted in BarCampCLT, Conferences, Technology | Tagged: BarCampCLT, charlotte, Technology | 3 Comments »
Posted by Malik on January 23, 2009
Today is a teacher workday in my school district. So I am taking an annual day to reorganize and refocus. Tomorrow I will be attending a BarCamp conference to take a small pulse of local nerdom or nerdativity in Charlotte. So far, I have not seen any topics posted on the BarCamp blog related to education; possible podcasting and video usage, maybe… However I will take good notes as usual and try to do a decent write-up on this event.
Posted in BarCampCLT, Conferences, Technology | Tagged: BarCampCLT, Technology | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Malik on January 3, 2009
I am really enjoying myself at the NCCTM conference this year. As a math educator, I cannot afford to miss this conference each year as compared to the national conference (NCTM). I find that I have more applicable “take aways” as compared to the other conference, not to put it down; However that has been my experience. It seem like all the sessions that I attended focused on theme (maybe except one I attended) of Habits & Experiences.
Here a list of the sessions that I attended. Please comment if you wish for me to share the info from any of these sessions.
Day 2
Using Formative Assessment for Problem Solving to Improve EOG/EOC Performance
Michael Gallagher – NCDPI
Revisioning Mathematics for Teacher Education
C.E. Davis – NCCU
KEYNOTE:Engaging in and Reasoning About Important Mathematics
Glenda Lappan – Michigan State University
The Mathematics of Decision Making: MINDSET & AFM
David Royster – UNC-CLT
Developing Algebraic Reasoning in the Middle Grades
Anthony Sapp – NC Teacher Academy
Beyond FOIL – Alternative Methods for Multiplicating and Factoring Polynomials
Todd Rackowitz – Charlotte
____________________________________________
Day 3
Using the Last Five Minutes Constructively
Cindy Myers – Thomasville
Fun, Fast, and Fabulous
Anna Crooke – Caldwell
Co-Teaching in the Middle School Math Classroom
Leta Hartley – Caldwell
City Planning for Middle School Students
Patrice Cook & Donna Dodson – Chapel Hill
Web 2.0 Technology and Tools in the Mathematics Classroom
Victor Leith – UNC-Charlotte
Brain Based Teaching Strategies: 10 of the Best Strategies of NC Math Teachers
Teresa Costner – Catawba
My Favorite Mathematical Arguments Plus a Few Bad Stories and Jokes to Help Middle School Students Learn
Wayne Drummond – Buncombe
Posted in EdTech, Education, Math, NCCTM | Tagged: afm, Math, mathematics, ncctm08, promethean, wiki | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Malik on January 3, 2009
Three presenters came to share their though and set the tone of the conference.
The Key to Effective Teaching and Professional Development
Murrel Hoover – Teachers Development Group
Preparing Students for 21st Century Mathematical Sciences
Dr. Jere Confrey – NCSU
21st Century Mathematics Education at the National University of Singapore High School for Mathematics and Science
Dr. Hang Kim Hoo – Principal, NUS HS
Posted in Education, Math, NCCTM | Tagged: ncctm08 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Malik on November 15, 2008
I had the marvelous opportunity to attend Charlotte WordCamp held at the Charlotte Observer.
Here are the main points that I picked up from all the presentations….
1. Keep it simple (theme, layout, plug-ins, & posts)
2. Be patient for WP version 2.7 – It rocks!
3. Blog until it hurts
4. Twitter is not evil
5. Allow others to input as guests or the usual via comments
There was more that was received, but if you wish to hear for your self, audio clips can be found at my server here. Peace!
Posted in Wordpress, cltwordcamp | Tagged: cltwordcamp, Wordpress, wp | 4 Comments »
I was very fortunate to be in the attendance of BarcampCLT2 at Area 15. It was great being around people that are so much more geeky than me. And to think that I was once on the path of coding righteousness. I don’t regret being an educator but I do miss the joy of debugging code and troubleshooting network/server issues.
