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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.