The following blog was written by Karie Houck, a Math Teacher at Carson High School.
When the school year started there were many things changing; technology being the most obvious. Teaching math I became very nervous, not knowing what I was going to do and how I was going to use technology everyday. One thing that was told to me numerous times and it finally stuck was to take everything “one day at a time.”
I started off with making small adjustments in my classroom. As the semester is coming to a close my students and I have learned to use many different technology resources. We have used Google forms, iBooks, Desmos, IXL, Socrative, Kahoot, and PDF files for assignments. Google forms are great for their warm-ups. The more I used it, the easier it became to get the math problems I needed into the forms. One thing I plan to do next semester is to start collecting more data with the Google forms to help check for proficiency on the topics I am covering. My colleagues and I used an iBook to help review previous math topics and to lead them into new material. This was a student-paced activity, which allowed me to see where my students were struggling and gave me the opportunity to create appropriate groups. Desmos is a math website that allows students to see visually the graphs and equations we are working with. IXL is a great resource for students to practice and receive instant feedback and help. Socrative is a useful tool that allows me to create tests and quizzes for my classes. I have also used this as a way to follow my student’s progress and accuracy through an activity. Kahoot is a game-based review tool that allows you to create a review quiz, which is great before a test. I usually offered extra credit to the student or group that received the highest points. The students mentioned that Kahoot is something that they do in a lot of their classes and they really enjoy the competition aspect. Lastly, my students have become much better at annotating on PDF files. This helps to save paper, and they are able to Air Drop or email an assignment to me.
I have worked hard over the semester to really try and incorporate technology in my classroom. Once I told myself it wasn’t going to happen overnight, everything seemed to get a little easier. I know I still have a long way to go and will make many changes next semester, but I feel like I have made a step in the right direction with technology in my classroom.
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