Professor Burger

I can't believe my student teaching is almost over, my UCI education is almost complete and I am on the verge of becoming a teacher. I feel like this day has taken so long to get to and there have been so many twists and turns that led me here. In honor of this momentous occasion, I have one last blog post in me reflecting on how I have incorporated technology in these last few weeks of teaching. Our district pays for access to the online textbook for all Math 6 and Algebra I students. This allows them to leave their textbook at school and go home to use it online. They can print pages if they need to go somewhere and would prefer not to lug their book with them. There are also interactive math games that help them learn concepts and practice them. They can do additional practice problems and even take the online test for additional practice AND extra credit (something that is hard to come by in this class). My favorite part about this website are the tutorial videos done by none other than Professor Burger. Do you remember him?! I do! I watched him during my Calculus class to get a better grasp on some of the more difficult concepts. Professor Burger has short tutorial videos explaining every section of the textbook so if a student misses a class and does not want to get behind, or just needs to hear the lesson one more time, they have access to this any time! While the school pays for this feature (the online textbook) not many students use this resource to its fullest advantage. During class these past few weeks I have taken it upon myself to show students how to use the website and what a great tool it can be. We played games to help them understand slope and graphing, listened to some Burger and even looked at the practice test for extra help. Students seemed to be interested in this and some even went home to investigate the site a little more. Technology is our friend and I am glad that I was able to show the students this resource and even more glad that they took the time to use it!

What About Interaction?

Technology is great! But is it the best choice for schools and learning? After reading through some of the message board posts, I started to rethink my opinion on technology in the classroom. Does the use of technology take away from the interaction between students and their peers or students and the teachers? I think, like all things, if it is used correctly and used to supplement topics, technology is great and does not take away from that interaction. If technology is used in place of direct instruction, classroom discussions and any other type of interaction that might occur between students and teachers, then it is not a benefit to the students. When thinking about mathematics, I have seen teachers use technology (powerpoints in particular) to try and teach the students. This is no better than direct instruction where students are sitting there listening and maybe taking in information, but there is no interaction. Other types of technology can have this same effect if teachers don't give students time to interact and discuss what they have just seen.

In order to be used to its full potential, teachers need to be knowledgeable about their technology, and plan time for students to interact with one another during, or after the technology is seem or used. This requires planning on the teachers part and beginning with the end in mind. I think it would also be a great idea for the teacher to give assessments based on the technology they incorporated into their lesson. If the students use technology during the lesson, they should use it during the assessment in order to show what they have mastered and how they can use this new technology. Overall, I think that technology does not take away from interaction in the classroom if the teacher prepares the students properly and allows then to have that interaction during the lesson and after the lesson.

Is Technology Illuminating?

My school site recently began using a system call Illuminate. This system can grade tests instantly and print up a detailed report on commonly missed questions or areas where a teacher should focus on more. It also provides a place where teachers can easily access previous STAR test results, CELD Test results and a number of other statistics or data about their students and school as a whole. It connects teachers and provides a place for discussion about students, teaching styles, exams and much more. While this is all great in theory, this technology is not a big hit with anyone. When they first heard that we would be using this system, teachers were very excited to see how connected everything would be. But after spending several weeks just trying to get it to work, that excitement died and bitter resentment was born. The system was just not performing as intended. There were also difficulties for teachers who had older computers that would not support the software. We later learned that this was a Pilot Test for our district! So not only had this not been tested out before, but we were required to use this to give out all of our district mandated benchmarks. After weeks and weeks of grief, multiple visits from tech support and very disgruntled teachers, there seemed to be some hope. Almost all of the teachers have given the first benchmark and successfully used the Illuminate system to upload the scores. While the idea is great, I think that before implementing it into a school and requiring that teachers use it, the company needs to make sure that it works properly AND the district needs to make sure that they have the necessary technology available for all teachers.

To powerpoint, or not to powerpoint...

Technology is great on so many levels. It is what keeps our world progressing and functioning. Some say you can't live without technology anymore. And I think that for the most part, if you want to live comfortable in the world, then this is true. In regards to education, I think technology, when used appropriately is a wonderful thing. I have seen many teachers, especially math, using powerpoints to teach! At first, I was all on board with this idea, thinking, "Wow, the students will be more engaged because things will be moving in a sequence and there will be more interaction between teacher and student." I was very wrong. All I saw with the powerpoints were teachers standing at the front of the room clicking through the slides and students either furiously copying down every single word, or students staring off aimlessly. I know that technology is supposed to be a great thing, but I do not seeing it being used effectively in many classes, especially math. My school provides slides for every section in our textbook and it is my goal as a teacher to look through these slides, decide if what they provide is beneficial to my students, or if it will only complicate things or fail to hold their attention. I have used them a handful of times when dealing with slope, something that is a very visual concept, and graphing, again, a visual concept. When used in these respects I told the students ahead of time that they would not be copying down any notes from the powerpoint, but only things that I wrote separately on the board. This worked out well and kept the students focused on the visuals provided and I was able to have them interact with me and the powerpoint. It is important not to lose site of the educational goal when using technology and I will continue to use this method when it enhances the education of my students.