Margaret Nerney
EDU 583- Cohort 1
Chapter 7- Perhaps a matter of imagination: TPCK in mathematics education
Due: March 18, 2009
Reaching deeply for connections in this chapter, I found myself connecting more through the struggles and frustrations of my dear friend Renee, the quintessential math teacher. She is young, brilliant, and of the technology age; yet even Renee faces those very questions raised in this chapter.
Understanding that certain areas of mathematics are both interesting, important to her field, and connect to real life, Renee still questions how to teach these things, such as fractals, how much is too much, and how can it be justified. It was almost déjà vu when I read about the fractals and their importance. Renee has been working on the inclusion of this new concept all year. It doesn’t quite fit into her regular lessons, and she has the added pressure of teaching to a particular test, but they validate mathematics and its creativity for her. I am certainly going to recommend the NCTM 2005 Yearbook, which provides 23 articles on technology inclusion in math classrooms. She may be the MLTI integrator in her school, but everyone can benefit from the experiences of others.
Where is the line between technology being an aid and technology being a crutch? Of course Renee goes back and forth over the calculator question with her more basic courses, but it is required for her more challenging AP and BC calculus courses. But I know that she questions the equity and reality of life in a computer age. I face a similar dilemma with spell check and grammar check. One would assume that English teachers everywhere embrace these devices with open arms, but I question the skills that these kids are losing. I don’t see them improving through the use of these devices because they don’t have the necessary background to fully appreciate what it is correcting. They don’t even seem to learn from the consistency of certain issues in their work. So is technology the aid that students need to be stronger writers or is it the answer to the lazy writer’s prayers? Are students in English class being assessed on their ability to write effectively or their ability to use spell check and grammar check effectively? These are real questions that probably will never be answered, but these are the real challenges of the teachers today, even the TPCK teachers.
Although this chapter presented more of a challenge for connections than others, I know that it also offered more validation for the integration of technology in all areas. Technology breathes new life into the core of our subject areas, including the tried and true practices of those mathematics formulas and manipulations that have been around for thousands of years.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Response to technology links:
ReplyDeleteKim:
I noticed that the elementary link (http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/category_g_2_t_1.html) offered a way to use pie charts and other spreadsheets. I would love to have my students work on including these important visuals in their research papers and to suggest PROOF for their views! This would make the creation of those charts a lot easier.
I also really want to try creating a PortaPortal space. I am constantly sending my kids links and then they delete them etc. I would just love to have a place where nothing is deleted and the kids always have access to their resources. (http://www.portaportal.com/)
I really LOVE the creative interaction in the kids' math video! This is the sort of thing that I would love to see more of in my school. I am certainly going to pass that on to my colleagues and friends who teach math. Kids need to be creatively engaged in all areas!
I have found that the math links often lead around to a site that lets me get to English sites! I found research paper rubrics which will help me with my student's genetic research paper right now (http://www.eduplace.com/cgi-bin/schtemplate.cgi?template=/rdg/hme/rubrics/8/research/index.thtml&grades=6_8&alt=6-8)! I am certainly going to enjoy exploring the Houghton Mifflin site (http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hme/6_8/). I see grammar quizzes and a host of other things. All of your links are amazing. I will definitely send them on to my best friend, Renee. Thank you for sharing!
Lisa:
I found the frog word builder at (http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/) and think I could certainly use it with my fifth and sixth graders. They are just learning the correlations between words and would do well to practice in this more engaging game. I know the fifth grade loves it when they play games with the kindergarten kids. I liked that it was able to be tweaked to their personal speed as well because my fifth graders are not at the same level. This will certainly allow for more differentiated instruction.
Maggie,
ReplyDeleteI am glad that although you don't teach math you found something useful in my presentation! I will need to go back and explore with the language arts parts of that website more. That same website was great at giving info when the games were done- for the math ones they give you problems missed and problems solved per minute. I hope you enjoy using it!
Maggie,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you found several things useful. I like your idea about including data graphs into research projects. My students just finished their persuasive essays and many of them could have included some type of data representation. Great idea!!!
I really like the portaportal and I think once you set it up, you will see how much time is saves in setting up for a lesson or activity on the laptops. Cindy mentioned another site called ikeepbookmarks that she uses. I'm going to check this out and thought you might like to as well.
I'm glad you enjoyed the math video. My daughter's social studies class in now working on a documentary about a project they are doing on the Holocaust. It's a kid only production and they all have different roles. Today my daughter interviewed a son of a Holocaust survivor and it was video taped. Exciting stuff happening in our own schools. Kim