Super Base and All I Do is Solve: Parody Raps That Teach You Math
The Westerville South High School math department has been creating a stir on the Internet with their autotuned math raps. Last year, math teacher Tracey Kearnes created a parody to Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" with the help of her students from Westerville South High School in Westerville, OH which has gotten over 200,000 views. The parody's revised lyrics highlight the basic algebraic principles behind exponents and how to calculate them. The video features visuals that reinforce these rul…
Interview with Taylor Mali
What do poetry and the recruitment of 1,000 new teachers have in common? Taylor Mali. After working as a teacher for nine years, Mali decided to step out of the classroom to make his living as a full-time poet and performance artist. He is a vocal advocate for teachers and for the nobility of the teaching profession. Drawing on his experience in the poetry slam movement, Mali has combined perseverance, eloquent powers of persuasion and a passion for education to motivate at least 1,000 people to embark on the adventure of teaching.
In 2000, Mali committed himself to what he called The New Teacher Project (since renamed the Quest for 1,000 Teachers). Why does Taylor Mali want to bring so many people into the te…
MathAlive!
Math is all around us. It is in everything we do, from sports and exercise to video games and design concepts.
MathAlive! is an exhibit designed with that principal in mind. It aims to show students just how fundamental math is and how fun it can be. MathAlive! brings mathematics education to kids in interactive, imaginative and enjoyable ways. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (known as STEM) all come together in MathAlive! exhibits: 40 unique interactive experiences for children of all ages. Visitors will be able to ride snowboards, program robotic arms, design and play with their own video came characters, toy with camera lenses and design a ska…
Cell Phones in School: Contraband or a Classroom Tool
Text messaging has become one the fastest and most popular forms of communication. Just a few years ago, cell phones were seen as the newest teenage addiction. Today, however, they can be an important classroom tool, although some schools regard them as disruptive, distracting, and have implemented policies that prohibit using them on school grounds. Most parents are okay with cell phone use, the students are more than okay with cell phone use, yet schools have adopted zero tolerance policies. The reality is that students still use cell phones in school even if they are banned. According to the PEW Internet and American Life Research Project, 58% of teens from schools that forbid cell phones, use them during class anyway.
Some teachers worry that cell phones will increase cheating, lead to sexting, decrease use of proper grammar, and be a distraction to learning. While I can't disprove these concerns, I …
Today’s Teachers Must Become Connected Educators
By Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
We live in an age of fast-paced change and, unfortunately, economic downturn. Most schools and school systems are not able to give us the kind of professional development we need, as often as we need it. But the good news is that we also live in an era of great technological proficiency, where many useful learning tools are available for free -- tools that are safe and fast and easy to use: information-gathering tools, knowledge-management tools and, best of all, tools for collaboration. If we are connected educators and we know how to leverage this ubiquitous technology to connect to other people who share our interes…
How to Break the Ice: 5 Creative Ways to Get Your Class Talking
This article was orginally published on BusyTeacher.org.
Icebreakers are important when getting to know your students. They are even more important when your students do not know one another well. Depending on how your school organizes its classes, you may use some of the following activities at the beginning of the school year to help you and your students become familiar with the entire class. You can also adapt these icebreakers to introduce new students who happen to enter the class mid-semester.
1. Learn the Names In order to learn s…