Honestly ... there is a part of me that preferred just hooking up in the MSSunFun and the Made4Math weekly postings. Any other ideas I needed I caught through my feedly blog list.
I love reading about the lessons everyone is teaching. I love the sharing of ideas.
The Twittering is really a lot ... I can't keep up with that although I do enjoy checking in daily to see what is being discussed. A couple of times this week I thought about letting that account go ... but then I wanted to tweet to ask for ideas! It's easier to get responses from tweets than in blogs! I wish that were not so ...
The weekly "chats" and the Global Math meetings are awesome ... but really ... I have to have time to get other things done! So I usually choose to catch the recordings ... that way I can listen/read to as much or as little as I need.
So yes ... it is too much of a good thing ... and no ... I need it all! So I'm learning to let go of keeping up with every idea ... and instead, listening in, asking for help with my specific topics.
But organizing the ideas ... that's a tough one. I'm trying two methods ...
During the summer when I had a little more time than I do now, I blogged a "round-up" series where I made note of the cool ideas I was finding online (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Just this weekend I went back through those blogs and found one idea I need in my next unit plan. So finding a way to keep track of all the good ideas is essential!
I have a virtual filing cabinet - multiple drawers - A1, A2, Great math sites!! I taught Algebra 1 last year; I organized a list of links for that course based on our curriculum. This year I'm teaching Algebra 2. As I finish a unit I am going back through to note the links that helped. I do have a tendency to save too many links ... only because when I teach one or both of these again I may need slightly different materials. I am a hoarder of ideas! I like the filing cabinet method the best for organizing.
I hope others will talk about their organizational methods ... love to learn new tricks!
Wow. You're A1 virtual filing cabinet is like finding gold to me. I just linked it to mine so that I can sort through it when I've got more time and add specific links from yours to mine. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Mary Ann ... glad the collection is helpful to you! I look forward to visiting your site as well!
DeleteI find using a site such as diigo or delicious is a great complement to a blog reader. When you come across something you like, just save the link in diigo and tag appropriately. Then you don't have to think too much about where to put it, and you can just search for the tags when you are looking for that topic.
ReplyDeleteI have an old delicious account ... hmmm ... maybe I should resurrect it!
Delete(Spying the previous comment) I'm a huge fan of Delicious, and wrote my own MTBoS entry on it.
ReplyDeleteI like your filing system... What's your strategy for keeping it constant, cleaned up, and differentiating the pages?
Never heard of Delicious but you all have me curious. Going to check it out. Organization is my biggest issue. Enjoyed reading about what you are doing. Going to share your file cabinet with a friend that just started teaching Algebra 1 this year.
ReplyDelete