Brian K. Ashton, in his article entitled “Teaching with Tech: Engaging Youth in a Digital World,” speaks to a general audience comprised mainly of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who often find themselves teaching religious subjects to youth in Sunday School classes. While his audience does not exactly include those aspiring to be secondary mathematics teachers, many principles he discusses throughout his article are relevant and applicable to any classroom seeking to learn using technology. Ashton gives advice on how to best utilize technology in the classroom. First, we must learn about the technology. “As... teachers [become] more skilled in using technology, they also became more excited about using digital devices to study... and the issue of digital devices being a distraction in the classroom largely [goes] away.” By learning more about the technology as teachers, many positive effects are likely to ensue, including a renewed excitement to learn as well as less technological distractions during class. In addition, Ashton says, “I rarely find students using their cell phones inappropriately in classes where teachers [help] the students [become] involved in the lesson.” Typically students start to zone out or try to multi-task (i.e. pulling out their smart phones to scroll through social media) when they are not thoroughly engaged enough in the subject matter. Overall, as Ashton asserts, there must be a balance in the use of technology in the classroom. If technology starts to be the focus of the lesson instead of the important mathematical concepts to be learned, the students are missing out on precious learning opportunities.
After reading and studying Ashton’s article, a group of my classmates gathered together and discussed some of his most striking assertions. I was reminded that my students can teach me about the different ways to use technology if I do not already know. I should embrace the technological advances as they come and always seek ways of incorporating them in my classroom. In our discussion, we heavily emphasized the need to help students engage with the material in productive ways, such as looking up a definition of a word they might not know, message a friend to ask for notes or due dates, or explore alternative manipulatives to describe the same mathematical concept in a different way. One last point we discussed was the importance of incorporating technology in our own homes to ensure our future children are better prepared in their classrooms at school to use technology in productive ways. This will help facilitate and support their learning both at school and in the home.
Critique:
One student pointed out that establishing trust with students is one of the most powerful ways we can help students use technology in productive ways. She suggested we explain principles conceptually first, then teach them a faster and easier way to do it on a calculator. In this way, she said, the students can complete the mathematical task both ways. I disagree with this idea based on personal experience as a student. If a teacher spent thirty minutes explaining something conceptually and then follow up the explanation with a simple technique on the calculator, I would relax and stop trying to learn how to complete the problem conceptually and rely on the calculator the entire time. I would then give myself permission to forget the “why” behind the concept from my mind, knowing I can instead “arrive at the correct answer” in a faster and easier way, which hinders my learning in the long run. However, along the same lines, this student also suggested something I do agree with—that teachers should build trust with students by being real. For example, a student might complain, “Why do we have to learn this the long way, when I can just punch these numbers into a calculator?” If we respond with, “Well, you’re not always going to carry around a calculator in the real world!” then we lose all trust with the students because today, most of us carry around our smartphones with a built-in calculator on it. The students might then consider us out-of-date, or irrelevant, and stop trusting us with accurate information on which they can rely. On the other hand, if we explain that it is important to know how to compute by hand because it further develops mental math capabilities, estimation accuracy, and more, then the students are more likely to trust that you are teaching them to assist in their lifelong learning rather than punishing them with busy work.
Connections:
In considering even more ways I can apply what I have learned from this article and class discussion, something stuck out to me that I want to always remember when I am applying for jobs as a mathematics teacher is to ask whomever is interviewing me, “What kinds of technology is available to me in math classrooms?” Based on their response, I can gage not only how much technology I would have available to me to use in my class, but I would know how much the school cares about providing their teachers with appropriate resources to teach the students. I know as I make a sincere effort to incorporate technology in the best ways in my classroom, learning processes will develop instead of being hindered.
No comments:
Post a Comment