Over the hump

[image credit]

I always looked forward to getting to the end of Term Two - the hump term of the year - the shortest day has been and gone and by start of term 3 the days are longer and summer feels like it is is on its way again.

Early in Term 2, I was lucky enough to go to TEDx Auckland. With a line up of 16 awesome speakers the day delivered much more than I was expecting. A selection of the talks are now on youtube.
Tama Iti, spoke about Mana & the power of knowing who you are.
Hong Sheng Chiong, received a standing ovation for his work in fighting preventable blindness with $20 and a smartphone

Shaun Hendy's talk on innovating struck a chord and I have been wondering how his thoughts around the need to connect to share ideas in order to innovate can be applied to teaching & learning in our maths classrooms.  By using our number 8 wire approach and the power of the internet maybe we can bring teachers together, a bit like the water cooler effect; when working in companies you meet people at the water cooler that you often didn't expect to meet and over a conversation you may find your ideas being advanced or possibly being sent in a new direction.
New Zealand has a relatively small dispersed population, meeting at the water cooler is not so easy but maybe we can use social media as our water cooler.

Recently  Paul Little NZ Herald wrote a handy guide to the Big 5 of social media. His definition of social media being digital media that enables users/members/followers to share information largely at their own discretion

Being a digital novice not a digital native, I am slowly navigating my way through the maze of social media and how we can best use this to our advantage.

Facebook
We have  NZ secondary teachers sharing and supporting each other through Facebook groups.

• Stats teachers
• Calculus teachers
• Maths Teachers  for everything else

3 gems from these groups over the term

1. Michael Jordan's Hang time from TedEd.
   There are so many great lessons ready to go on this site
2. Resourceaholic ; free resources for secondary maths. (UK)
3. A quick guide to spotting graphics that lie from National Geographic

Twitter
I have yet to get to grips with twitter. I have been told I should be there .... a couple of groups currently operating that might be of interest..

#Maths ChatNZ
#edchatNZ

both meet fortnightly on Thursday evenings at 8.30 pm




Pinterest
Despite this being described in the NZ Herald recently as for someone who wanted to get into scrapbooking but couldn't cope with the messy glue Pinterest is a quick way to keep track of those websites that you come across when browsing the web and then can never find again.

I started using pinterest earlier this year. To avoid it being like a teenagers bedroom floor have set up boards for different topics. It has been useful in that it gives me a central place to check back for sites I have come across.


Is there a better way to keep track of all those sites with good ideas?

The Maths & Statistics ICT community page may be found here

What other groups are out there for New Zealand teachers ?




How do you share ideas & resources with your colleagues within your school? your region ?