Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach recently created a post on the PLP ning called "Ten Tips for Creating a 21st-Century Classroom Experience" that I've been struggling with lately. (Here's a link to the article she was referencing.) I've struggled with a lot of the ideas that have been listed. Don't get me wrong - I love the technology and using it in class, but this seemed to be more of a push towards the idea of discovery learning... always a tough thing to do in a math classroom. I definitely believe that you need some direct instruction - how else do you learn the formulas? But maybe I'm being too old fashioned (I think my student teacher would agree with me, which is ironic because he's 6 years older than I am!).

I've also been pointed towards Darren Kuropatwa's direction several times (whom I was already following on Twitter and subscribed to his blog through my Google Reader!)... I may try the scribing with my precalc classes next year (I think we'd have a major rebellion if I tried it now... especially with a student teacher). I set up a blog over the weekend to help me get started. My next plan is to actually contact Darren to see how exactly he runs his class. From what I've read on his blog, I really don't think that there are any major differences... he presents problems, talks through them, then posts his slides on the blog. The kids then summarize each class day. I need some more info before I draw any additional conclusions, I guess.

Just signed up for diigo... we'll see if I like it better than delicious (which I like, but maybe change is good. :) ). That'll give me something to play with today while I'm observing my student teacher.