Millie's Math House: Educational Software Review

Student's Perspective: From a child's perspective (age range 4-5), I believe I would find Millie's Math House to be quite engaging and entertaining. There are a range of activities that are fun, and filled with neat characters to guide me through the different activities. I would enjoy the voices and sound effects, but I think I may also be a little confused or lost if I did not have an adult to guide me, particulary in the early learning stages. I would need someone to help me get from activity to activity, because this transition is somewhat unclear. It would be fun to play with the different characters at each activity, but I may get bored quickly, and move on to another activity. It would be fun to make cookies with jelly beans, and create my own creatures, and learn some fun math concepts at the same time.

Teachers's Perspective: I would likely incorporate this game into a junior/senior kindergarten classroom. Although it could be used at a grade one level, I believe that most students would be beyond these basic math concepts by that point, and may find the game somewhat unengaging. I think this is a good game for building basic math concepts at a kindergarten level, and to promote the use of thinking skills. Millie's Math House will introduce students to basic math concepts, such as counting to 30, recognizing and reading number sentences (such as simple addition an subtraction), recognizing shapes, and differentiating between sizes, quantities. It also provides basic patterning and sequencing practice at level appropriate for this age group.

Millies Math House would be a good addition to any classroom environment in kindergarten. However, this game would require teacher assistance until the child learns the game, to ensure the student can operate the game and benefit from the instuctional value. It would also be appropriate for ESL students, or other special needs students, as no reading is required, although the students would need to be able to recognize numbers. I do believer, however, that many students would become quickly bored with these activities once the basic concepts are mastered. There could, perhaps, be more current, engaging and interactive games available in today's educational technology market.

Here is a link to a review of Millie's Math House....take it for what it's worth!!!! http://mathequity.terc.edu/gw/html/MillieReview.html

Tech Article in Professionally Speaking

Hi everyone,

There is a really good article in the Professionally Speaking magazine, a publication put out by the Ontario College of Teachers. The article, "Building Success: Fresh ideas and new initiatives in Ontario's technical education", found in the December 2008 issue, highlights the current status of technological education in Ontario, and what needs to be done to meet the demands for skilled workers in our province. The article focuses on lack of funding and leaders, the stigma associated with this type of education, and what needs to be done to address the needs of all of our students, not just the 30% who will go on to a university education. There are still copies in the student lounge if you are interested.

Blog Blog Blog: My feelings on blogging

Well, what can I say????? Wow.....I have my very own blog!!!! Who would've known! Anyhow, setting up the blog was surprisingly relatively simple!!! It was much easier than I originally would have thought. This is likely because I am intimidated by a lot of technological "stuff", only because I am unsure of it. Activities, such as setting up a blog, show me that once I do something once, and it's relatively successful, I feel much more confident about it! Keeping this blog is a neat way to stay connected to the course, and my classmates, and will help me to stay in-tune with blogging.....should I ever need to blog again! Who knows???

The current class that I am in is actually a Learning Disability class of grade seven and eight's, with only 11 students. It's actually pretty amazing! These kids are unique and incredible to me! I enjoy these kinds of challenges - I suppose that's also why I chose to take this course. There is actually a significant amount of technology within this particular classroom, versus other classrooms within the school. There is a computer for every student which has some sort of assistive technology associated with its use, for example writing programs such as Kurzwell, and Dragon, a voice recognition system. It is so amazing to watch the students use these tools to show what they really know, and to be given the opportunity to express themselves in a way that they would otherwise not be able to do.

I found Stephen Downes' blog article, "Things You Really Need to Learn" somewhat enlightening, but I think many of his ideas were obvious. When he talks about the things we really need to learn, there was not one that I already hadn't thought of myself. I too place great importance on all of these ideas as they relate to learning, or what is important to learn in life. I especially agree with the comment that we must not only learn, but learn how to learn. This is where I think the role of the teacher or educator is absolutely crucial. We as educators have the more demanding task of taking children under our wings, and teaching them how to learn as best they can, and at the same time always thinking in a critical manner, constantly questioning and when need be, challenging an idea or information.

Here is the link:
http://www.downes.ca/post/38502