Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to receive information in an easy to use and fun way.  You can get podcast through iTunes.  Listening to podcasts about math has certainly helped me as an educator get tips and develop strategies to use in my classroom.  The first podcast I listened to it the Math Dude quick and dirty tips to make math easier.  This podcast gives different strategies and techniques to help get ahead and stay on track in math.  Each episode features a different topic.

The topic that stuck out for me while listening to most of the podcast was the episode about patterns.  I am creating a unit about patterns so this was especially helpful for me.  In the episode, it told students to start on a small scale investigation of the pattern in order to figure out what the pattern is.  The math dude said students can make problems easier by simplifying the numbers by rounding and finding patterns in multiplication facts.  In a different episode, he gives hints on how to memorize numbers.  He does thinks by turning the digits of a number into consonant sounds and then adding vowels to make words and images.  By picturing this image in your head, you will remember the words, the consonants and the digits in turn which will make you remember the number.  All of the episodes give off specific and helpful tricks to make math easier and more enjoyable.
Other episodes feature:

• how to quickly check your answers
• how to use math to make estimates
• how to make and use venn diagrams
• ways to remember standard deviation formula
• what the batting average for a baseball player means

The other podcast that I followed was Discovering the basics- Math podcast.  It got teachers to think of their instruction in their students point of view.  This will help the students out more because they will be taught according to what they need instead of what the teacher is willing to give them.  

In one episode, a teachers explanations are not always helpful because they are based on our own experiences and observations.  Students need to make their own through inquiry to really understand the topic at hand.  The importance of fast facts were discussed in another episode.  It said that the students who memorized quick facts were a step ahead of those who are not.  Math fluency is important in math in the future because students will be able to skip steps and get more problems done.  This podcast was helpful in math instruction.  It discussed the reasons behind instruction and why these topics are important when teaching students.  It puts the educator in the students shoes through examples.