How do we apply 21st century technology to our curricula, classrooms and schools all of which are still set up for 20th century learning?
This conundrum is a problem so many teachers in our schools, districts, states and country are facing. The easy solution would be more money! Buy all the technology! But of course this isn't going to ever happen. So then what can we do? When I am plugging away, trying to get work done for my students, I keep in mind what Therdore Roosevelt, "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." I think many teachers use this idea, and keeping this mantra in mind, we can produce 21st century learners. Would I like to do more, of course. But this is my start, year one, on the journey to a 21st century classroom.
The following are a few things I do to make my class more 21st Century at virtually no cost.
Before each unit begins I create a calendar of the nightly homework assignments, and the dates of all tests and quizzes in that unit. This calendar is posted on my classroom website so students (and parents) can access it at home or on their phones. At the time I post the calendar I'll send an email blast home to parents with the calendar as an attachment. This helps with accessibility and organization. After the initial set up of the website and email list, it only takes about 10 minutes to post the calendar and send the email.
We do quite a bit of work throughout the year on TI-84 graphing calculators. The calculators cost about $100. We "urge" students to buy one however (and understandably) many students can't. In the past the students who can't buy one, have had to stay after school and borrow one of my calculators to complete the homework. This year I found a website students can use to perform the graphing calculator operations. Additionally I found a free iphone app students can download and use in place of the graphing calculator for their homework. This helps with accessibility to the curriculum.
The new common core standards requite students to use a graphing program when performing applications of linear programming. All students need to download CoreMathTools and then use the computer program to perform linear programming problems. Most students could go to my website, download and run it from there. But of course a few don''t have internet access or for whatever reason their computers couldn't download it. I loaded the program on two usbs and had those students take it home and install it from the usb. It took three nights, but after three nights all 54 of my algebra II students had it loaded at home and have been using it very easily throughout the year.
So that's where I am now, looking to add more as the year progresses...
Katie it sounds like you are doing a lot with the resources that you have. I think it is great that you were able to find a website and app for students to use in place of graphing calculators. I remember those being a huge expense when we all had to buy them in high school.
ReplyDeleteI agree, you have to do what you can with what you have. I like the way that you use your resources. Most students now have a smart phone, so the ability to utilize it for math is a great way to avoid the Ti-84 issue.
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