Vision and Mission Statement
Our world is changing exponentially. We are more connected, more tech-savvy and better informed on global events. As teachers, we see the results of this in our classrooms every day. Students lives revolve around technology. They are texting, sharing, downloading and communicating throughout their waking hours. Except when they are in school. Education has been slow to embrace this new world. “We have not yet become good enough at the kind of pedagogues that make the most of technology; that adding 21st-century technologies to 20th-century teaching practices will just dilute the effectiveness of teaching” (Keeling, 2015). The skills they need. Instead of teaching students what to learn, we need to teach them how to learn. My students constantly ask me why they need to learn algebra. The truth is, they don't. I am a special education math teacher in charge of getting my high school students through the state exam so they can graduate from high school. None of my students will ever need to know how to factor a quadratic equation in their future lives. Nor will they need to put an equation into y=mx+b form. I am teaching them how to think.
My school has a fifty percent poverty rate. All of my students live in poverty. They are all on the wrong side of the digital divide. Many of my students have no access to the Internet outside of school. Few have cell phones; even fewer have smartphones. To level the playing field, every student in my high school has a Chromebook provided to them. All of my students use them almost exclusively to message each other via Google Hangouts and watch videos on YouTube. It isn't that they refuse to use them for collaborative projects, or to help themselves. They just do not know how. Shockingly, over half of my students had no idea how to access their school email, compose a message and send it. They require exposure, not just to mathematical concepts, but also to technology. Without this exposure, my students will continue to fall behind their more connected peers. Technology can and will help students become better problem solvers. With this in mind, one of my roles is to provide a technology-rich learning environment.
Many classrooms are still driven by the objectivist method of teaching. The teacher is the “sage on the stage” imparting knowledge through direct instruction. Students are seen as vessels to drink in all that the teacher has to share with them. Classes have been taught this way since the beginning of education, and while the elders of society like to state that it worked for them, that it was a good solid education, they are not seeing the big picture. In the words of Marc Prensky (2001), “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.” What has worked in the classroom in the past no longer prepares students for the jobs they will be working in the future. Employers need workers who can function in this increasingly connected world. They are looking for employees that can think and problem solve. This epic shift is forcing teachers to adopt a more constructivist style of teaching. Inquiry-based learning is student-centered, leaving the teacher as the “guide on the side”. Learners are expected to drive their own knowledge through project-based learning. These classrooms look very different. The teacher is not the focus; the learning is. These teachers facilitate instead of lecturing. Students are not seen as a blank slate but as the sum of all their life experiences and prior knowledge. Constructivists believe that these experiences should drive project-based learning, making learning more meaningful. This method of teaching helps students learn problem-solving skills, flexibility and perseverance.
The best classrooms offer a blend of these two methodologies. According to Roblyer (2016), "Proficient technology-oriented teachers must learn to combine directed instruction and constructivist approaches and to select technology resources and integration methods that are best suited to their specific needs" (p. 49). Technology in the mathematics classroom makes abstract ideas more tangible and approachable for students with learning differences. By making the math more accessible, learner engagement and confidence increase. My students can spend more time applying what they do know, while relying on technology to help them overcome what they don’t know.
Resources:
Keeling, B. (2015, September 15). Technology in classrooms doesn't always boost education results, OECD says. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/technology-in-classrooms-doesnt-always-boost-education-results-oecd-says-1442343420
Prensky, M. (2001). "Digital natives, digital immigrants" On The Horizon, 9.5, 1-6.
Roblyer, M. (2016). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (7th ed.). Massachusetts: Pearson.
My school has a fifty percent poverty rate. All of my students live in poverty. They are all on the wrong side of the digital divide. Many of my students have no access to the Internet outside of school. Few have cell phones; even fewer have smartphones. To level the playing field, every student in my high school has a Chromebook provided to them. All of my students use them almost exclusively to message each other via Google Hangouts and watch videos on YouTube. It isn't that they refuse to use them for collaborative projects, or to help themselves. They just do not know how. Shockingly, over half of my students had no idea how to access their school email, compose a message and send it. They require exposure, not just to mathematical concepts, but also to technology. Without this exposure, my students will continue to fall behind their more connected peers. Technology can and will help students become better problem solvers. With this in mind, one of my roles is to provide a technology-rich learning environment.
Many classrooms are still driven by the objectivist method of teaching. The teacher is the “sage on the stage” imparting knowledge through direct instruction. Students are seen as vessels to drink in all that the teacher has to share with them. Classes have been taught this way since the beginning of education, and while the elders of society like to state that it worked for them, that it was a good solid education, they are not seeing the big picture. In the words of Marc Prensky (2001), “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.” What has worked in the classroom in the past no longer prepares students for the jobs they will be working in the future. Employers need workers who can function in this increasingly connected world. They are looking for employees that can think and problem solve. This epic shift is forcing teachers to adopt a more constructivist style of teaching. Inquiry-based learning is student-centered, leaving the teacher as the “guide on the side”. Learners are expected to drive their own knowledge through project-based learning. These classrooms look very different. The teacher is not the focus; the learning is. These teachers facilitate instead of lecturing. Students are not seen as a blank slate but as the sum of all their life experiences and prior knowledge. Constructivists believe that these experiences should drive project-based learning, making learning more meaningful. This method of teaching helps students learn problem-solving skills, flexibility and perseverance.
The best classrooms offer a blend of these two methodologies. According to Roblyer (2016), "Proficient technology-oriented teachers must learn to combine directed instruction and constructivist approaches and to select technology resources and integration methods that are best suited to their specific needs" (p. 49). Technology in the mathematics classroom makes abstract ideas more tangible and approachable for students with learning differences. By making the math more accessible, learner engagement and confidence increase. My students can spend more time applying what they do know, while relying on technology to help them overcome what they don’t know.
Resources:
Keeling, B. (2015, September 15). Technology in classrooms doesn't always boost education results, OECD says. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/technology-in-classrooms-doesnt-always-boost-education-results-oecd-says-1442343420
Prensky, M. (2001). "Digital natives, digital immigrants" On The Horizon, 9.5, 1-6.
Roblyer, M. (2016). Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (7th ed.). Massachusetts: Pearson.