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Monday, April 18, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Promethean Pro
Promethean has now come out with a new board where you can use the traditional Promethean Pen or your fingers! Check out the example in the video below. Though it will likely be years before I could see one in my classroom, but I'm still excited about it.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Technology In Math Classrooms
As an intermediate math teacher in the 21st century, it is impossible not to ignore the possibilities of using technology in the classroom. During my second year of teaching I had the opportunity to attend a demonstration on the Promethean board and was excited about the possibilities it held for use in my classroom. The next year, our campus was able to purchase four Promethean boards and I was lucky enough to pilot the board for the math department. Since, at the time I was the youngest math teacher, I was also the most willing to try new things. With that being said, I have now become one of the main “go-to” people when other teachers on our campus have trouble with their Promethean boards.
There is a distinct difference in how younger teachers use our new technology as compared to our more experienced teachers. “Technology should enhance learning. There is no value in just having access to it but more important how it is used.”(Lam, 2010). I feel that some our teachers, despite numerous staff development opportunities, are reluctant to learn new techniques. In today’s increasing technological society, we must all learn how to adapt at some level so that our students, the future leaders of our country, can be more successful. It is not enough for every teacher on our campus to have a Promethean board, projector, and document camera if they are just using them as glorified projectors. While we still have access, there are several websites that have short videos that could be used in the classroom; however, many teachers are reluctant to use them because that is not how they learned.
There is a distinct difference in how younger teachers use our new technology as compared to our more experienced teachers. “Technology should enhance learning. There is no value in just having access to it but more important how it is used.”(Lam, 2010). I feel that some our teachers, despite numerous staff development opportunities, are reluctant to learn new techniques. In today’s increasing technological society, we must all learn how to adapt at some level so that our students, the future leaders of our country, can be more successful. It is not enough for every teacher on our campus to have a Promethean board, projector, and document camera if they are just using them as glorified projectors. While we still have access, there are several websites that have short videos that could be used in the classroom; however, many teachers are reluctant to use them because that is not how they learned.
One of the more common questions I have heard when we introduce a different or new technology is, “How exactly do I use that in my lesson cycle?” It’s not enough to show teachers, especially math teachers, how to use the equipment but we must include example lessons or methods that can be taken from the training and used as is in the classroom. Goldberg says, “Moreover, the right questions about technology are not broad ones about which hardware or software to use, but about how each works in a certain curriculum, right down to its effect on how individual problems are posed to the student” (p.1). Now the question, to me, seems to be, who will create these examples? With teachers used to different styles, the way I create a flipchart, may be different than how another teacher would do it. If teachers are not willing to take something and edit it to their purpose, will technology be truly utilized to its full potential in that classroom? I try to encourage teachers to explore Promethean Planet, a great website with thousands of free resources and already created flipcharts they could download as a starting point.
One way to incorporate technology and writing in math could be to use Wikis in math class. As mentioned in an article I found about the use of Wikis in math class, the ideas are only limited by the creativity of the teacher (Wetzel, 2008). Teachers could bring word problems to life by having students find visuals to go with a given problem situation. Once the students have found what they were looking for, you could have them explain why their visual helps explain the problem and how it helps them remember the concept. Knowing we have a certain amount of information to present to the students in a limited amount of time, a project like this would be great to try out toward the end of the school year. Once you have done it in several classes you can work out the kinks for use the next year and try to have students do a similar project each semester.
I have always enjoyed the process of math, though I have come to realize that relating my love of the subject to 11-13 year olds is not the same as when I was in school. Though challenging, I have been willing to overcome the difference in how I learned and adapt it to how many students today learn. I know it will take a while for technology to be fully utilized in schools, though it is a change that everyone will have to embrace.
References
Goldberg, E.P. (2000). Thinking (And Talking) About Technology in Math Classrooms. Retrieved from the website: http://www2.edc.org/mcc/pdf/iss_tech.pdf
Lam, J. (2002). Technology in the classroom. Retrieved from the website: http://www.teach-nology.com/tutorials/teachinclass
Wetzel, D. (2008, September 8). Using Wikis in Math Class. Retrieved from the website: http://www.suite101.com/content/using-wikis-in-math-class-a67900
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