Powered By Blogger

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

First Tech Blog

I am a Junior planning on being a High School Math teacher. Technology is important in all subjects and math is no exception. Math technology goes beyond the calculator. I worked in the math computer labs here at IWU and in doing so learned a lot about the different types of software available. Software like Mathematica, Java, Latex and more are very helpful. However, at the high school level the Texas Instrument calculators are the most common form of technology. The TI-83, TI-84 and the TI-86 are very popular and useful for high school students.

Teaching with technology means using technological resources to improve and enhance your teaching style, making it better for your students.

One of the biggest challenges regarding teaching with technology is to make sure your students do not completely rely on the technology. For example, in math you do not want your students to HAVE to use a calculator for everything. They need to have skills of their own, while still knowing when to tap their technological resources.

There are several benefits to teaching with technology. One is that most students are interested in technology and it makes the material more interesting to them. Also, it can help speed up the processes used in your classroom with presenting material.

From this course I hope to learn how to use technology in an efficient and effective manner for my future classroom. I want to learn about technology specific to math and also in a general teaching setting.

4 comments:

emc2teach said...

I enjoyed your entry Lisa. I think you made an excellent point about technology. I completely agree with you that it is important to be able to use technology but we should not have to depend on it. It will be an interesting time trying to use technology but still making sure that it is not being depended on, espeically in today's world!

BasSoc320 said...

I really liked the fact that you mentioned that it is important that the students not completely rely on technology. It is extremely important that students know how solve basic math problems with the simple tools of pencil and paper. However, we are moving more and more into the technology age, and technology is becoming a bigger part of our lives whether we like it or not. I think that as teachers, we will be walking on the fine line of teaching our students how to use technology to their advantage while still teaching the basics that don't include technology.

sbptchr said...

I agree with you that students at times rely too much on technology and not enough on themselves to do the work. When I think back to my days in math, I would have loved for a teacher to do something with technology and change up the lessons once in a while from the same lecture lessons. My dad is a math teacher and he has started to use a Smartboard for his lessons and I have talked with some of his students and they say it has helped to make math for fun and interactive than just sitting and learning the facts.

Jenna Passananti said...

I agree with Lisa in that while it is important to teach with technology, it is also very important to make sure that the students are not completely relying on technology. Technology should not be used as a crutch or an easy way out of assignments but rather as a way to enhance the learning experience.