One semester into the school year, the students greeted me with embellished tales of all they had learned in the first three units they covered in 7th-grade math—I didn’t tell them they should’ve worked through five units by that point. With new students and a new school district, I used tech to devise a four-question formative assessment to gauge whether the material they covered had been learned by the students or simply shown to the students.
I was fortunately presented with an opportunity to sit in on one class taught by my predecessor before his retirement. This was a worthwhile experience as, rather than curate a thesis on the students’ learning, I could witness the learning itself, or lack thereof. Unfortunately, this experience affirmed the dire of the two situations presented above – the students were shown material and asked to click through information on Delta Math. This website allows math facts, lessons, and units to be “taught” and “learned.”
This provided the main reason for the 4-question formative assessment. Yes, the students affirmed they had learned all about angles and triangles. Yet, when presented with the assessment, the scores somehow came back, with 70% of the students correctly answering 0 out of 4 questions. I was worried, yes. At the same time, I felt assured that at least I had a place to start.
In my experiences working within schools over the past 3 years, I have always asked, “Why?” when I see more and more technology introduced to the classroom.
This question isn’t looking for an answer to the debate about whether technology should be used in the classroom. I firmly believe that technology can enhance and supplement traditional teaching methods.
Why is certain tech sourced in the classroom?
Instead, this question is posed to ask why a certain technology is resourced into the classroom.
- Why is this tech better than traditional teaching?
- Does the tech provide something the teacher cannot?
- Are there studies that support this tech in the classroom?
- Are there studies that show the rise in tech-use in classrooms correlates to the fall of academic literacy rates and grade-level math, science, and social studies proficiency rates?
- Are there studies that show an increase in knowledge attainment aligning with an increase in hand-written material?
When it comes to education, I consider myself patiently progressive. Of course, if we find something that aids in an educational environment and allows for students to grasp knowledge at a deeper level, I absolutely support the integration. However, I see more schools, teachers, and classrooms opting to replace older, proven methods of knowledge attainment with the newest tech, almost like the fast fashion trend.
Data on Tech in Classrooms
Jannick Lindner summarizes the data on technology in classrooms in his article, “Technology in Classrooms Statistics: Latest Data & Summary.”
“Over 70% of schools in the US have started incorporating tablets into classroom instruction,” and “63% [of school districts] plan to continue or increase investment in technology”
(Technology in Classrooms Statistics: Latest Data & Summary – WiFiTalents, n.d.)
The only difference is that fast fashion ends up leaving barely used sweatshirts, hoodies, ripped jeans, and wild shoes in its wake. Education, on the other hand, leaves underprepared students continuing to find themselves in deeper need as the content level progresses and builds while the students are still hoping to recover knowledge from previous grades.
Thus, technology will be available and present in my classroom to aid in organization and supplement material as another instance of exposure to students. This instance of exposure will be in a step-by-step format where they first work on problems and material with paper and pencil, something that’s more permanent, tangible, and kinesthetic.
From there, we can progress to group work with whiteboards and laptops and finally to full tech immersion when they have mastered the content and are at a point where questions requiring higher-level thinking become appropriate.
A Lesson on Unit Rates
One example of this is in a recent lesson on unit rates which built upon knowledge acquired through the lesson, eventually leading to the use of laptops to search for necessary information to complete their assignment.
Students began the class with papers, pencils, and white boards as we discussed unit rate as the amount per one of something. In our lesson, I had the students discuss various groceries that their parents buy at a grocery store with a nudge from me to discuss items purchased in packages (cases of soda, carton of eggs, bag of apples, etc.). The students estimated the total price and then divided that price by the number of individual items in the package to determine the unit rate.
Once I felt there was an understanding of the concept, I introduced their assignment as a Family Reunion, where they determined the meal. They were able to use their laptops to find the prices of items they’d want to buy and bring to the reunion, and then they had to determine the cost for one person to attend the family reunion if they ate one of each item brought. There is an asterisk on this; however, they must still show me their mathematical thinking on a separate sheet of paper for anything they will be turning in for review.
Organizationally speaking, the technology we will use in our classroom is Canvas to have access to course rubrics, assignments, and grades. We will also utilize Talking Points for communication between me and the parents and/or guardians of the students.
Evidence-Based Support
In support of my beliefs on technology in the classroom and how to utilize effective technology, I look to the ISTE Standard for Students, number 1.5, Computational Thinker, which states, “Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions” (ISTE.org, 1.5).
In this definition, I read that the students will be responsible for coming up with unique and creative ways to solve problems. From that point, they will then use technology to develop and test the solutions. This is an important distinction to make and is vital to be present in current classrooms. Without this distinction of difference between 1.
Students develop problem-solving skills and then use tech to support their thinking or disprove their hypothesis, and 2. Students using technology to solve problems will produce a population of post-education civilians who will not be able to make decisions in their lives as they didn’t have to flex that muscle while in school.
Using Tech to Solve Problems
I have witnessed students google 7 x 9, -4 + 16, and more. I question how these same students, who can’t make a decision on simple mathematical operations, will be able to make decisions on what career to pursue, where to live, how much to spend on rent, what political or ideological beliefs they hold, and more. If we don’t begin holding back on the progress of technology, we will become dependent on technology. If you don’t think that is possible, just walk into a local coffee shop and take notice of what you see, how people interact with each other, and how many people choose to order online versus at the counter. Better yet, set your own phone and laptop down for a day and see how long you last.
As education and the opinions of education have progressed, the emergence and steamrolling of technology into classrooms will leave some people to read the above paragraphs and envision a classroom that functions more like a prison cell. For whatever reason, reducing the use of technology to a minority of time spent in class induces the feeling of draconian-like ways. Never once have I said students will remain in their seats for the entirety of our 67-minute class. I have never argued for lecturer and note-taker roles to emerge, nor for students only to speak when asked a question.
The Next Steps for Technology
Projects can still be implemented, group work can still be required, and presentations to the class are welcome. Learning can still take place without the need for technology to be present. Most of us reading this can be reminded of that by looking back to our own educations. Somehow, someway, we made it through and developed content knowledge, critical thinking skills, and life skills that, combined, curated the majority of the high-school-educated adults that make up our American civilization.
Sources:
Technology in Classrooms Statistics: Latest data & Summary – WiFiTalents. (n.d.). WiFiTalents. https://wifitalents.com/statistic/technology-in-classrooms/
Charlie Newton is a Raleigh-based math teacher and is currently scheduled to complete a Masters of Arts in Teaching: Mathematics Education (Secondary) in January of 2025. Having spent the past 6 years as an actor in Chicago, he began working at Francis W. Parker School during the pandemic in late 2020. Accumulating experience in various long-term sub positions and as an instructional coach, he developed a love of education and began his Masters degree in 2023 which afforded him the opportunity to begin teaching while enrolled. An interest in North Carolina brought him to Raleigh at the end of 2023 where he spends his free time reading, being outdoors, playing golf, and rooting on Indiana Basketball!