ICTM Mathematics Conference

On Friday, October 15, 2010, I was able to attend the ICTM Mathematics Conference in Springfield, Illinois. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when arriving at the conference. After signing in, my job was standing at the top of the stairs in the Lincoln Hotel and direct people where to go. This job wasn't horribly difficult, and it was really nice because I was able to talk to a high school math teacher and a math professor who works at Eastern Illinois University. They were both speakers and were waiting for their room to open up, so we chatted while they were waiting. It was really great to talk to the high school math teacher because she was explaining an activity she uses when teaching algebra. She used manipulativs and she said it was easy to manipulate the activity to the ability of her students.

After I completed my volunteer shift, I decided to go to a lecture on SmartBoards. The reason why I chose to attend this lecture is because I know it will be really useful because SmartBoards are becoming a "staple" in more and more classrooms, and I need to become more familiar with them. I liked this workshop because the speaker went through the basics and then introduced us to some more original options that the SmartBoard provides. My favorite 'app' that was presented was setting up math problems with your voice. The speaker programmed math problems in the SmartBoard and once she told the board to begin, it would solve the problem, showing all of the teacher's work. This would be useful because as you are presenting the topic you can have eye contact with students and have them see the work that goes along the problem. Overall, it was a great experience, and it was nice to connect with other mathematics teachers, of all levels. I felt like I learned a lot, and will be able to use this new information later in my teaching career.