Car Pooling - Energy Conservaton Project

My commitment to student teaching this year has put a damper on my extra spending money. I have been pondering the question, "how can I save money when I'm not really making money?" Frustrating. As I considered how I spend my money, I realized that my car was one of the biggest expenses. Given that gas is at sky high prices, and I only live five miles from school, it made sense for me to start carpooling. My fiance, Scott, who conveniently drives by Houston Middle School on his way to work everyday will be my mode of transportation for a week.

Questions:

* How much money will I save by car pooling for a week???

* How much money will I save by car pooling in my car versus Scott's truck???

Assumption:

* I think that I will save $20.00 a week by car pooling to work

Requirements for my Research:

* I first will need to figure out how many miles per gallon my car gets.

* I will also need to figure out how many miles per gallon Scott's truck gets.

* I will drive to school to and from school for one week.

* I will then car pool with Scott to and from school for one week.

* During this two week period of time I will keep a record of my data and my results that I find.

Anthro-Tech Assessment

Going undercover and being detective at Houston Middle School wasn't very easy for me since I blew my cover the first week. I had the opportunity to cover a class one day (sub didn't show up) and the lesson was presented using a Promethium board. Needless to say I was a digital immigrant. I knew absolutely nothing on how to work the board. There was even one point during the day when I tried to use a regular pencil on the Promethium screen. The good news is that I walked out of class knowing more about the technology that HMS offers, which helped me in my research for this project. This experience opened my eyes and enlightened me to the technology advances that has been made since I have been out of school. Promethium boards are fairly new to HMS and teachers are still having some training to this day on what they offer the classroom.

Since I have had a month of practice since my flop expericence, I feel now that I have had adequate training on the Promethium board and am becoming a digital native. The students enjoy the tools that the board offers and absolutely love the opportunity to come up to the board to solve math problems. I'm excited to learn more about the Promethium board and the other capabilities is has to offer!

Full Report on Houston Middle School's Technology
Houston Middle School's Handbook

Tools for the Mind

Overview

In her article, “Tools for the Mind,” Mary Burns disputes that technology is being used inappropriately in the classroom setting. Districts have focused on training teachers on professional development when they should be focusing on training teachers on computers. Burns also mentions that an observation done in 1999 and 2003 through the South Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium indicates that schools do use Microsoft Office as well as the Internet in the classroom setting but to be aware that the content is reduced to a “sight bit” where the focus is on color and visual stimulation. Burns recommends that teachers use technology that will help students develop high order thinking such as spread sheets and databases. Burns offers a solution to schools and school districts which is providing professional development for teachers. Teachers teach critical thinking first and technology later. Students and teachers must become creators of information and ideas, not simply users of technology.

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