Wow, I learned a few things today in math. I've thought about using math journals both as an interdisciplinary tool and as a way to check for understanding, but must confess that looking through all of them each week, sounds daunting, not to mention potentially out-of-date with where they are now. Today we talked about using online journaling thru RSS feeds. That makes them seem more relevant to me. I can find out the same day they write about their confusion and address is readily. I appreciated learning that they should never be graded - I hadn't thought about that yet. I mainly wanted them to help inform my instruction.
We also learned a few more tools to add to the toolbox:
* Fathom - a very dynamic graphing software that can even use data sets from the web!
* Data and Story Lab - on the web for finding interesting data sets. I liked the idea of inspiring our students to be "data detectives."
* Geometer's Sketchpad - we hope to get a demo of it next week.
We talked more about the "Using Creative Writing and Literature in Mathematics Classes" article today. The idea of using multiple disciplines to get students to show their understanding excites me. I'd love to give groups a video camera and have them tell their story or even explain how to do the math, so that the writing isn't even a block for them. It could be illuminating and entertaining!
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