I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July this past week. I enjoyed the time off with my family, and ended with a birthday luncheon today. Before I could begin preparing for all of the festivities, I attended a T^3 Texas Instrument TI-Nspire Calculator training at my local service center. It was 3 days of intense calculator usage, and I am very thankful for attending.
Receiving Our Calculators and Discussion about Operating Systems
First thing that happened was we received our own personal TI-Nspire CX version calculators and teacher software that we would be using during the workshop. Since I have been using these in my classroom this past year, I wasn't too overwhelmed with the new technology. However, I was pleasantly surprised that my calculator had the new updated version already uploaded! Now this means that I have some work to do before school begins with my classroom sets, since they are all running the older operating system. They are just like a smartphone. They need to be updated every once in awhile, and it is a good thing to keep up with the operating system changes. My plan is to do a check for this during the winter break and then again during the summer break, so I am not taking away from actual class time to update the calculators.
Getting to Know the Calculator & How to Use it in the Classroom
The entire 3 day workshop was dedicated to getting to know the calculator, reviewing activities that we may use in our classrooms with our students, and even using the teacher software to make our own lessons and activities. Texas Instruments has created a solid library of teaching materials regarding many (if not all) of the standards that we are required to teach. To see all of their activities, visit them at the TI Math Nspired Website. This website is specific for the math activities, but they also have a sister page that lists science activities.
We covered many activities that are useful for introducing the TI-Nspire calculator to your students, Algebra I activities, Geometry activities, and even Pre-calculus and Calculus activities. You can search by subject, by standard, or even by textbook! This is a great feature, because TI has made a list of activities that you can use in conjunction with whatever textbook you are using in your classroom. This helps to really create a blended learning environment.
Making Your Own Lessons with the Teacher Software
The part that was the most useful to me was using the teacher software. The teacher software allows you to interact with a calculator on a Promethean Board or a SmartBoard. The students can see what you are doing and follow along as you are learning to use the calculator. This is a great feature, instead of hoping that the student understands what you are saying! The teacher software allows you to create and edit any lessons and activities. If you are not able to find exactly what you are looking for, the teacher software has the tools that you need to create your own. I started working on a few different activities that I will be using in my classroom, and it was exciting to see how easy it was to make. All of those files that are listed in the TI Math Nspired website are very easy to create, and can be done with only a few clicks!
I enjoyed this workshop very much. If you have the opportunity to attend any of the T^3 sponsored trainings, or can see a presentation at a conference, I would recommend that you do so. The technology that Texas Instrument has available is phenomenal, and it will help transform your classroom.
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