Telling Time

Over the course of my clinical placement the students have been working very hard on learning to tell time. Learning to tell time is a very difficult concept for students to grasp. Last week my cooperating teacher introduced telling time by the quarter hour. This concept was very difficult for students to understand and was also very frustrating to teach. The students now have had many more opportunities to practice telling time to the quarter hour and they have become much better at it. Knowing how to tell time is a very important concept for students to grasp and one that takes a long time to master. The students in my clinical placement love to play math games so I was looking for some games that the students could play that would help them to practice telling time. I found a few games that I think the students would really enjoy.

I found some very interesting activities and games on a website called Teaching Time which is especially dedicated to teaching students how to tell time. There are two games on the website that I believe students would really enjoy, the first is called Stop the Clock and the second is called Bang on the Time. Both games ask students to read a specific time and match it to a clock or stop a clock that is moving on the specific time that is given. I believe that students who have a fun time playing these games and would be able to self-assess their own understanding.

I found one other website called Time for Telling that provided a game that students could play with a partner using dice. This game is called Just in Time. The game board would need to be printed for students to use. This game would be more difficult for students to self assess but it would still be very fun and valuable for students.

Stem Cells

The use of stem cells is a very controversial and debatable topic in today's society. There many people who are strongly in support and many who strongly oppose stem cell research. I am not entirely sure of what my opinion is. I do not believe in the possibility of cloning people because it takes away the value of a human life. However, I am in support of stem cell research if it leads to the cures of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, or any other major health issue. It will be very interesting in the future to see what happens with stem cell research with the advancement of technology, and the constant human goal to cure diseases.

I already knew that stem cell research has been done on animals and even created clones, like Dolly the sheep. I did not think about any other possible benefits that stem cell research would have for animals. The Voice of San Diego which is an independent news organization released an article on November 30,2009 titled Stem Cells' Next Use:Fighting Extinction.


The article describes the possibilities of using stem cells in animals to fight against extinction through the prevention and curing diseases and the breeding of animals. I am still not in strong support of cloning any living thing, but the use of stem cells to prevent the extinction of animals would be quite valuable.

Stem Cells' Next Use: Fighting Extinction


Polar bears are one animal that may be facing extinction due to small amounts of sea ice as a result of climate change. Could stem cells be used to help prevent the polar bear and other animals facing the same fate from becoming extinct?

Thanksgiving Fractions

Fractions are a concept that I have always had a difficult time completley understanding. I am a very visual and hands on learner and as I grew up it was very difficult for me to understand how fractions worked because I was never really given any good manipulatives. With Thanksgiving and many other holidays that are coming up I was thinking about how math could be incorporated. Many families and friends come together for different types of celebrations and at these celebrations they prepare food by using recipes. Many times recipes use various fractions to measure specific quantities of ingredients that needed to be included. It is also very possible that recipes need to be adjusted to fit the needs of the group that is being served. All of this involves manipulating and using fractions. Using measure cups and spoons is also a great way for a hands-on visual learner to recognize the difference between the size of the fraction and how the fractions relate together as you follow through on the recipes. I think it would be a really neat project for students to work together with a group, find a recipe, and then produce that recipe for a class project. Students are working with fractions as they are following the recipe and they can see that there are real word examples of when they will be using fractions. It could also turn into a neat project if the students planned a dinner for their group, the class, their grade, and the school to really practice manipulating fractions. It may also show them what school cooks go through to plan meals for the entire school.

Educate to Innovate

The New York Times published an article on November 23, 2009 which discussed a new campaign for education that is being pushed by the White House. The campaign is called Educate to Innovate and its goal is to enlist companies and non profit organizations to spend money, time, and to volunteer effort to encourage students, especially in middle school and high school, to purse science,technology, engineering and math. Members of the White House have already recruited Elmo, Big Bird, video gamers and thousands of scientists to work on this new campaign.

President Obama announced that as a part of this campaign there will be an annual science fair held as the White House. As President Obama spoke of this new campaign he is quoted as saying, "If you win the N.C.A.A. championship, you come to the White House. Well, If you're a young person and you've produced the experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too. Scientist and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models, and here at the White House, we're going to lead by example. We're going to show young people how cool science can be" (New York Times).

I really like President Obama's statement on showing students how cool science can be and that scientists and engineers should stand at the level as athletes and entertainers. I think it is very sad and unfortunate that so much attention and money is poured into sports and entertainment. More money and attention should be paid for intellectual activities. I hope that this new campaign is successful is getting students more excited and involved with math and science.

New York Times: White House Begins Campaign to Promote Science and Math Education

Math and Music

I loved listening to music. I may not be great at sining or writing songs, but I love to listening to music. Kids love listening to music. There are countless times in the classroom where I have heard children singing or writing down popular songs from the radio. Even for myself, there are times I catch myself singing in my head. I can still remember the lyrics to hundreds of songs from my childhood. So why not use music to our advantage when we study math. I think it would be really neat to write songs with important math concepts intertwined within it. We could ask students to write math songs for us as an extra credit or extension assignment. So as I was thinking about how I could incorporate music into math class I searched on YouTube for possibilities that already existed and now I have one of the refrains stuck in my head!

Math is Fly

"We do math, subtract, you know this (PEMDAS)
Multiply, divide, exponents
Math is fly, no lie, its easy (PEMDAS)
Left to Right, oh my, stay focus"

I love this song! It has a great message and the middle school students in this video really seem to enjoy it.

I also found some other great math songs...check them out!

Middle School Teachers created this video with their students:What You Know About Math?

California teacher using math raps to engage students: The Math Rapper

I am definitely going to use music in my math class as it seems to have some promising results!

Biodiversity in the Ocean

Over the past few weeks we have been looking at the biodiversity of local land sites that we (as a class) are familiar with. This was a very interesting project and I took a lot out of it but what I really enjoy studying is the biodiversity of the ocean. I am very passionate about protecting our world oceans. The ocean feels like just another part of my soul as I explore it while scuba diving.

The world's oceans are a great place of biodiversity. There are thousands of organisms and living things that depend on each other for survival everyday. It is amazing to look at only a small section of coral reef and look at the number of organisms that live on it, in it, and other living things that depend on it's existence. There are currently a number of problems that our world oceans are facing including coral bleaching, overfishing, and shark finning. These are all very critical problems that need to be addressed and solution need to be found in order for the world's oceans to remain a healthy ecosystem with great biodiversity. But out of these issues I am most concerned with the problem that exists with shark finning.

Sharks are an incredible important part of the ocean's ecosystem. Sharks keep the ecosystem in check by eating their prey and balancing out the population. Without the sharks many different population species would explode resulting in a shortage of food for the prey species putting pressure on the entire ecosystem. Sharks are unfortunately one of the most misunderstood and feared animals. Sharks are often fished for and killed for sport, killed because of a shark attack, or killed through the process of finning. Currently finning is one of the biggest problems that is effecting the shark population.

Shark finning is the process of removing and retaining the sharks fins while the remaining carcass is discarded at sea. The shark is often still alive when it is tossed back into the sea and because it is unable to swim, slowly sinks to the bottom and drowns or is eaten by other fish. Any shark is currently being taken regardless of its sex,size, age, or species. One pound of dried shark fin can retail at $300, the industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Shark specialists estimate that 100 million sharks are killed for their fins annually (www.sharkwater.com)

Rob Stewart a photographer and biologist released the documentary Sharkwater in 2007. This documentary looks at the devastating effects that shark finning has on the ocean ecosystem and overall shark population. He also explains the misconceptions about sharks and encourages views to make a difference. Please take the time to view his documentary(it's right online) or his website. You need to check this out, I can almost guarantee that if you have a fear of sharks or an misconceptions of them this documentary will clear them all up.

Sharkwater Documentary

Sharkwater Website

Don't believe Rob Stewart? Check out this article posted by CNN on December 15, 2008

Shark Fin Soup Alters an Ecosystem

Please protect the sharks!

I took this picture on a recent trip to the Exuma Islands in the Bahamas..

NCTM on Facebook?!

I decided to look around this evening at the different types of resources that are available on the NCTM website. Everyday I am getting closer to student teaching so it is a topic that is often on my mind. The NCTM has a short article that lists some ideas of how to start the student teaching experience successful.

The first bullet point reads "Realize that you are not Alone" the point of this bullet is to encourage the reader to collaborate with peers and cooperating teachers. It also encourages the students to become very involved with social network suggesting the NCTM group page on Facebook as a starting place. Who knew that NCTM was on Facebook? I joined the NCTM group page on Facebook and I am hoping it will be a valuable resource for me to use as a student teach and in the future.

The article includes many more good pieces of advice for future student teachers. I will be sure to refer to these tips as I am student teaching

Start Student Teaching Successfully!