Questions

I have some questions I forgot to ask earlier:
1. Has anyone ever played runescape and is it hard to learn?
2. Has anyone use the slide maker in wordpress blog page. I seen it and thought I might be cool to use and download onto a CD for christmas presents, but don’t want the whole world to se them. Let me know what you think. I only viewed a demo, so if it is hard or doesn’t work well with macs let me know.
3. Does anyone have any cool activities to do with basic multistep equations. I am to the point of a test and need something to get the ones that won’t do anything motivated to at least try.

Some closing the week thoughts.

I have been looking into all these new things, but feel that they are all geared towards communicating across classrooms. I haven’t really seen a tool that jumped out at me that would be good to teach math with. Maybe I just don’t see it, if that is the case please let me know. I really feel like if I was a spanish, foreign language teacher or english teacher I would have hit the gold mine, but math is not easy to type into a computer.
Seems to me that these tools are all use to make distance not feel so far away. I have used IM with my father a long time ago, but he is a slow typer so that was short lived. We even called each other free on the computers through a phone service that I can’t remember now. Again really great tools for english or foreign language, but I don’t see the number connections. I am not complaining because I love these tools and I may need them to finish out my educational technology degree, but i will probably not use them in a math classroom.
I do thank you for your comments clarifying the skype data. I looked it up on the wikipedia that it was a video email so I am now officially understanding that it isn’t ALWAYS accurate, but until then it always has been.
Ok, here are some things off of the subject, but thought they would be a great idea. Some ideas that I’ve thought of just reading through your blogs:
using Second life by having the students log on with you and giving them problems to do as they find you. for instance, they must find you complete a problem (for math) then in order to get the next question they have to tell you the correct answer and find another person for a question or move location and ask another question. Not really great, but a change from the normal.
use a wiki by creating a math vocabulary page where student can add or change the definitions as they see fit.
A classroom blog on what they did that week that required math. This would not only allow them to reflect, but to almost create a journal of the students activities for the week. This could later be printed out into a book for the student to keep as a reminder of that year in their life. I’m sure someone could tell me how to print them out. Also, maybe make a CD of the whole class and burn it for the class to take with them at the end of the year. This may be better for elementary or middle school.
ok, these are just some things I thought of, please alter or change them to help me out in anyway you see fit and let me know. I am needing new ideas for teaching. I have a very live, unruly bunch of students that are dying to do something cool, but I am not able to do it. Please help?