Journal #3 - Math and Technology in the classroom

In the article, “Speaking Math: Using Chat in the Multicultural Math Classroom,” by Janet Graham and Ted Hodgson discusses the usefulness of the integration and implementation of technology in the math classroom. Students in a multicultural school are using technology to enhance and engage their understanding of mathematics concepts. They are communicating with their peers to aide in comprehension of the material all under the watchful eye of their teacher. The questions and answers are also a tool for the teacher to use as an informal ‘dipstick’ assessment. It lets them know what they need to review and where the confusion is stemming from. The engagement for all learners, particularly EL is also enhanced as with the discussion they have time to plan out their answers or use other student’s answers as guides for their own. Student’s have the opportunity to speak the same language in discussion with peers that share both their subject interests and their desire to understand math concepts. The authors also discuss the integration of this type of technology into other classrooms. For example, teachers could post assignments and extensions of the classroom learning onto a class website. These students could then seek out these answers and respond adding to their overall learning experience. For example, student studying the presidents could look up information in relationship to what they did in office or possibly humorous cartoons. They could follow election highlights or look up commentary and reflect on their findings in discussion as well on those discoveries made by their peers.

Questions to consider:
1. How might a new teacher manage integrating these assignments for students who do not have access to a computer or the internet at home?
The management of this problem is very easy. Teachers can solve this issue several ways. First, classroom time in the computer lab would work to remedy this issue while allowing students to chat at one time with all students in the class not just those whom happened to be logged on at the time. Further this solution allows for teachers to form small cooperative groups in the virtual classroom to ensure students are mixed properly and interacting with every peer. Second, students should have access to school site computers or in class computers to complete these assignments or posts during their free time before, at lunch, or after school. Frequently teachers are around campus after set hours and students could take advantage of this opportunity to finish their school work on school grounds. Another way of managing this situation might be to allow students access to the computers when they finish their work early or as a reward for positive classroom or school wide behavior. Frequently children will get excited to get on the computer even if they know they are completing an assignment as it is just something different to do!
2 What might be some alternative ways to implement this type of activity into a Language Arts class for students with special needs?
Children with special needs particularly benefit from alternative forms of communication. This question interests me because too many special educators simply forgo the use and application of technology in the classroom. Perhaps they use technology themselves but when it comes to having the children work with the medium they are fall short. Student needs this interaction particularly if they have special needs and do not have access to this technology at home. They need meaningful interaction with an alternative form of communication. Some students that suffer from dyslexia or other types of disorders will benefit from the usage of a program that checks their work and helps them formulate proper sentences. A couple examples of implementation could be a class blog or discussion board monitored and observed by the instructor with pre-set tasks and assignments to enhance their learning. Another example might be students could do a class scavenger hunt with questions posted and children would have links that would take them to a specific site to find information. Students could also look up topics online and find other explanations and examples for continued learning.