The Introvert and the Social Network

Working in the (aptly named) information age has changed a lot of the ways we do things. Instead of an event being remembered and talked about for years and years, the events are quickly overshadowed by other events and fade into the background in a matter of weeks. For instance, the earthquake in Haiti which devastated the country and killed thousands of people is now being overshadowed and forgotten by the disastrous earthquake and tsunami in Japan. This fast paced loss of information as new information is put in place tends to remind me of my stance on the nearly limitless information bombarding us, and how we need to step back and think for a moment.

On the other hand, I too have been part of social networks, mainly message boards, for years. I started using them at 18 when I started playing the Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game Final Fantasy XI. I found a website where members of the community interacted, asked questions, bragged, and supported each other through message boards. These message boards encouraged me to keep playing the game in down times, and let me support others when they needed it as well. It is also how I ended up meeting my wife! So yes, message boards and social media have been a major part of my life for years.

Much like the MMO FFXI, teaching has a message board where people can come together, get advice, give advice, get support, give support, and generally chat about the things important to them and their career. This website teachers.net has been a saving grace to me while going through the wonderful time of getting interviews for teaching positions, and prior when student teaching had me at my lowest. It is there that good advice about student teaching, lessons, and some humor helped to push me through my time.

I still post there, though not every day, as the identity sponeil. There I have found excellent web resources, most of which have been posted elsewhere on this blog, and it is where I’ve gotten some idea of the kinds of people I’ll be working with. For instance this link: (Beginning Teacher Advice) has helped me overcome some of my own anxiety about what happens in my classroom. It is here that some good advice comes through, and while it is directed at another teacher, I can still gleam wisdom from the errors of others.

The other social outlets: Blogging, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc. don’t appeal to me very much. I am an introvert, and according to the personality test taken in high school prior to joining the military, I’m an off the scale introvert. I can’t stand being around large groups of people for long periods of time, as I find it very draining. I find teaching very draining, and being around a class of 40+ students sometimes makes me claustrophobic. However, I have learned to adapt and overcome, as the rewards of seeing a student jump out of their chair in excitement of discovering something amazing makes all the draining, all the pain, and all the fear I have to fight daily worth it. (Yes, this actually happened when I showed a BC Calculus student how to draw and see a 4 dimensional cube. It is still the highlight of my teaching career.)

Thus my personality, and method of “recharging” makes the social networking area of the internet nearly off limits to me. I know that such activities as Facebook and Twitter are helpful, and I’m sometimes tempted to join in, but if I did, I know that I would reach burnout much faster than if I “let sleeping dragons lie,” and stayed away from them.

Even so I encourage all of those who are not as introverted as my wife and I are to participate, and embrace the social networks. Having moved 29 times in as many years, with move number 30 in a couple of months to Tennessee or Texas, or Florida, or Idaho, or Washington(state), or any of the hundred places I’ve applied to, I know the value of keeping in touch with friends. I miss my friends from my time in the service, my time in FFXI, my time in all the places I’ve been and all the people I’ve met. Having moved so often, I normally would have no way of saying hi to Hack, or Doc Brown again, but with Facebook, it is easy for me to reunite with them, if only for a short time, and only when I’m rested enough to be able to handle the stress of working with others.

Social networking: An example of what is great for some people, isn’t so good for others.

More on Mobility in the Classroom: Experiences and Common Problems

Individualized Education Project:

Working with Mobility in the Classroom

Previously, I developed a method that allowed me to use two computers, one tablet PC, and one anything, that would allow me to write on the board from anywhere in the classroom. There were many places that things could go wrong, for to quote Scotty from Star Trek “The more complex the plumbing, the easier it is to stop it up.”

After developing the method I decided to use it in the classroom and looked at the results. For the most part, things run smoothly, even though my wife’s computer is getting up there in age (it is over 6 years old and ageing), it is still strong enough to handle the LogMeIn and relay the images from my tablet PC. However, it still has some hiccups.

If I start the LogMeIn process prior to swapping the computer screen around on the Tablet to turn it into a writing surface, the LogMeIn will automatically disconnect when the screen on my Tablet blanks out as it rearranges itself. This also occurs when plugging into a projector, or doing anything other than just write on the Tablet. Sometimes the disconnect occurs when I plug the Tablet PC in to recharge it when the batteries run low. This means that both computers are forced into a system where neither one can multitask. While this normally wouldn’t be a problem in my day to day teaching, it becomes difficult if I want to run any graphing programs, swap between the 2-Computer method to the camera for examples with Graphing Calculators, swapping to a video, or anything other than the old fashioned “write on the board” style of teaching.

But even with this drawback, I believe that the 2-Computer method is a strong teaching tool as I can break the plane between the front of the classroom, interact with students, and allow students to actually show me what they’re talking about when they’re having a problem with one of the questions.

To prevent the problem of the disconnect I’ve found that having the Tablet PC up and ready to go before I even open LogMeIn prevents most of the disconnect mishaps. Also, having the Tablet PC fully charged before starting the day is of paramount importance as the batteries won’t last forever, and the older the computer gets the faster the batteries will deplete. The batter life can be extended by getting 2 removable batteries and a charger for the classroom. That way you can have one battery charging while the other is in use.

Another major problem that arises is a new addition to the LogMeIn program. The program automatically disconnects if the remote controlling computer does not receive a manual input of some kind every 15 min or so. This can be disabled by going through the settings of the program, but can be quite frustrating the first time it happens.

The only problem that I have with the 2-Computer method has been lag. Sometimes the WiFi in the school is down, or slow, and that means what I write on my Tablet PC is not given as a real time display by the remote-controlling computer. This can lead to completely disabling the system altogether as WiFi internet is 100% necessary for the system to work in its current form. I believe that if we could develop a Bluetooth technology adapter whose sole purpose is to receive Bluetooth information from a tablet and send that information through to a projector the 2-Computer method would be reduced to the Mobility-Method with only one Tablet PC, the adaptor, and the computer. Until then, we’re forced to work through the internet.

A piece of the lag problem can also be attributed to my wife’s aging laptop. I believe if we upgraded to a better PC that the problem of communication between systems could be resolved and that lag would be reduced (though nothing would completely eliminate lag, but it’d be so short no human could perceive it).

What Have I learned?

Using this system in the classroom has shown me many things, including how much people text in the class. Being able to stand over a student who isn’t paying attention, who feels left out, or who is texting MOM “n clss txt l8tr” lets me know for certain who is and isn’t paying attention. Its benefits have been tremendous in the classroom, and I believe any teacher could benefit from the use of this method no matter what they’re teaching.

I’ve also worked out a lot of the bugs of this system of teaching, as detailed above. Having seen the bugs I can quickly eliminate them, or prevent them from occurring, by making minor changes to my routine. I can do most of my troubleshooting without help, but sometimes I will have to call on others for assistance. In this case, GOOGLE is your best friend. There have been dozens of problems I’ve solved with a quick search in GOOGLE which has saved me hours of work. And if GOOGLE fails there’s always the “Ask a friend” and “Try it yourself” techniques that I believe everyone who works in a technology based environment should become acquainted with.

All in all the experience of using the 2-Computer method has been the most positive aspect of my MAT classes, especially the Tech-based one as I’d of never tried to create this method if it hadn’t been for an assignment. Mobility, being close to my students, seeing over their shoulders when they think I’m somewhere else has all lead to a more productive and more fun classroom environment, one that does wonders.

Resources on the Web!

 NCTM

Teachers

MathFour

Fellow MAT Gateway

If there's anything that the MAT program teaches it is that we are not alone. We are not educators spread across several continents where a single letter takes months to reach one another. With e-mail, cell phones, and satellite communications we are literally a thousandth of a second away from anyone we need to talk with.

It has been a joke amongst the MAT students that the letters really mean "Master's of Arts in Thieving" rather than Teaching. This is woefully true as the majority of my Pre-Calculus lessons have been stolen... er... borrowed from my Host teacher. This has allowed me to cut down on prep time for that class while still letting me put my own spin, order, assessment, and presentation style to best suit the needs of my students. It has proven to be an exceptional way to whet the appetites of my Pre-Calculus students to the point they have become voracious learners, going above and beyond what normally takes place in the Pre-Calculus classroom and finishing the entire Pre-Calculus book a month ahead of schedule. The trick has been having a small classroom, students who have a strong connection with their teacher, and their own inspirations to become not only better math students, but better people. Yet I couldn't have done this without the lesson plans of my host teacher for reference.

With that in mind, and it being part of yet another assignment for the Technical Education class from UAS, I have compiled a few sites that are beneficial to any Math teacher, and some to any teacher of any subject.

The first is the NCTM website, or the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Awesome place, filled with a lot of powerful ideas and subjects. I think being a member of NCTM is nearly mandatory for all math teachers who actually care about their students.

NCTM is used mostly by signing up, and then singing up for the mailing list. They will send ideas for teaching math, techniques, methods, projects, group projects, and other useful tools for getting the math learned. Also they'll increase your personal knowledge of the subject of mathematics, for while we know a bit, there is nearly an infinite amount of information, tricks, and techniques in the world of mathematics making it so that no one person could possibly know all of them.

The second website is one that has proven to be the strongest tool for me as a teacher as it offers not only good ideas for class projects, assessments, and techniques, but also gives emotional, moral, and motivational support for teachers everywhere. While not nearly as "mandatory" a location as NCTM is for Math teachers, I find the website teachers.net to be incredibly powerful. I've been an active poster and reader of the boards since the beginning of the semester and many of the websites and resources that I've used in my classroom have come from suggestions by teachers on this site.

Use of the website is easy enough that a cave-person like me can muddle through it with little difficulty. The main area that worked for me was the message boards. You don't even have to make an account and sing in to use them. Instead you're 100% anonymous, hit the "reply" button and type away to post on the board. Just make sure to put a name in the name box as that is all that is required. I typically use the name sponeil on the site. In summary to use teachers.net you: Read, Post, Learn.

The third website is one that is a fellow blogger, another teacher who has some excellent ideas about mathematics and teaching, after all... math is NOT a four letter word! It's m-a-t-h-e-m-a-t-i-c-s! 11 letters!

This is another blog-type website that is just like any other website. Once you find something you're interested in, click click click away. It is intuitive, with the most recent material first, and later material second, third etc. There is a navigation board on the left that is also intuitive, and she even makes sure to have a little area where you can read about what should be in each section prior to going into it. Very easy to use, and has a lot of good material and presentations.
And last, but certainly not least, is a gateway website into the classes of all my fellow MAT students. These guys are (using the words of some of my students) the shiznit for rizzle! They're awesome people who know and understand teaching far better than I do. I can only hope to emulate some of them in the future, and pray that I can keep up.

These four websites (actually more like 11 with the MAT gateway) have helped me through my arduous first year of teaching (which isn't over yet! Muahahaha!!!) and along with a great sense of humor, and the help of my gorgeous wife we've all been able to overcome some extreme diversity, including the death of Kevin O'Neil, my father, and the man I respected most in this world. Without help from others I couldn't have made it through this time.

For that I thank every one of you, and every one of those who has helped me.

Thank you.