While perusing Derek's blog I noticed a particular post about an HP Touch Screen Computer. The listed uses immediately made my synapses fire and think about how I could twist this to a math bend (I'm getting really good at doing this!). What I came up with is using Geometer's Sketchpad in concert with the touch screen to give the students MORE tactile interaction with it (actually getting to pull the figure around with your fingers, lots more fun than a mouse) as well as making it into a notes/homework repository. The students could (similarly to the Tablet PC) do all their homework on the computer and e-mail it to the teacher so *GASP* its legible! (They can convert it to text and send a copy of the 'hand written' so the teacher knows its their work.)

Reading multiple postings of Tiffany's blog I can really tell how excited she gets about Second Life. Due to my computer's limitations I haven't gotten to play with it very well, but I can think up a couple uses for it. For example, I've heard students constantly whining about 'when are we going to use this?' in relation to math. Imagine if I had a boundless net work of people who could get me individuals around the world who know exactly how different branches of mathematics can be applied to everyday life and work. I could then arrange for them to get on Second Life and meet with me and my students during class time (and maybe outside of class time as an extra credit incentive too) to discuss these things. It would give the students a much broader scope of what could be done with math, and maybe even get some of them interested in doing more with it. (It would also spark an interest in technology, I'm sure.)

Reading through Sarah L's blog and what she mentions about how blogs can be used in the classroom (as well as what she's mentioned in class) have made me think about how I could use blogs in my future classrooms. I think it would be a great place to put up further explanations of the day's lessons as well as linking to scanned notes and other useful sites. It would also be an additional way for students to get in touch with me if they're working on homework and get stuck (sorry, parents aren't always great at helping with math homework). Plus it would be a way to get the students more interested in learning.
I can just see it now, me telling students all the usual things on the first day of school, then adding that I have a blog that will give further insight into the day's lesson, list homework, and that kind of thing. I'm sure they would all just stare at me in shock, not sure if they can believe that an adult could be so cool. :D Okay, I'm pushing it a bit, but I'm sure some students will think its nifty.

Mathgrad Podcasts

The podcast I found was from mathgrad.com. It has a lot of interesting podcasts on real life applications for mathematics. The first one that I listened to was The Famous Monty Hall Problem. It discussed the statistics of the game "Lets Make a Deal." It was interesting to listen to because it clearly explained a concept that many people have problems grasping. I really think that these podcasts are going to give me some really great ideas for my theme's requirements and how to use the technology. (The page doesn't actually list the episode, but there are several options including ipod and RSS feeds to listen to it.)

Blog to look at.

I found the Math Mojo Chronicles while searching for blogs related to my theme. My theme is based off technological applications for math and jobs requiring mathematical backgrounds. In short, the application of twenty first century skills in relation to mathematics. The Math Mojo Chronicles discusses mathematics in many aspects, what lead me to it was the blog titled getting kids to love mathematics. Its interesting and I hope it will give me many good ideas for how to integrate technology in mathematics along with links to other information regarding the same.