My Technology-Infused Classroom (or, more accurately, the lack thereof...)

Today’s blog post will be centered around the technology-infused classroom; what it looks like and how I plan on having one.



(Oh, the dream!!!! Someday my class will look like this :)
 

 When I think of a technology-infused classroom, I see a room with desks in the middle, and computers lining any available space along the walls. For my own sake, we’ll say this is a high school math class. I see a teacher who spends time teaching the class at the front of the room on some type of interactive whiteboard, and then turns the students loose to expand their understanding of whatever she just introduced them to. I see several students going to the computers, while several others go to the iPad dock station to grab an iPad to take to their desk to do work on. I see the teacher walking around the classroom, guiding and facilitating the learning of the students, but the students themselves taking charge of their own learning. I see several students working together cooperatively in small groups, helping each other accomplish the tasks. I see some of those students becoming “teachers” with their peers, explaining how to get an answer, and in turn, understanding the material even better.


So the big question becomes: Does my room look like this? Nope. Only in my dreams. But, the good news is, I’m getting there! Right now I teach a class called Secondary Math Essentials, and I was given access to a “reading lab” room, where there are thirteen computers that are lined up along two of the walls. There are sixteen desks in the middle of the room, so it is rare that I go into this room with my classes because I have a class of 19 that won’t all fit at the computers at the same time. I had a talk last week with one of my administrators who had heard that I was not using this lab every day, and when I explained why, she said she would see if the school could afford a few more computers for the room, which also allow my classes to fit a few more students in it. My whiteboard Mimio could be transferred to the other room, but I am more comfortable in my own room when teaching the students. The only time I go into the other room is when I have the students get on CatchUp Math to work on the units that they have been assigned.

 

The other class I teach is Secondary Math II, and that class only sees technology up on my whiteboard with the Mimio. I have wanted to implement the computer software that our textbook contract offers us, but none of the other teachers that I work with for the Secondary II class think we have enough time to do it. I used the software last year, when I taught 8th grade math, and I thought it was really great supplemental practice for my students to catch on to concepts we had learned previously in class. The other issue at my school is that our classes are just too big. Even most of our computer labs can’t hold the 30-45 students that we have in each of our classes. I think assigning the modules as homework would work, since our community is affluent and 95% of the students have access to the Internet at home.

 So what am I going to do to create a technology-infused classroom? The first thing I would like to do is get a few more computers in the room I already have access to, allowing me to teach all of my Math Essentials classes in there where students would have the opportunity (and the time) to work on their assigned homework and their CatchUp Math homework. When an App comes out that I know will help the students in my classroom, I will definitely push to get a classroom set of iPads for myself, and maybe a few other teachers so that we could all share them. Right now I’m working on my ability to show students a new concept, and then let them work in partners to make sure they understand it while I walk around and help with any misconceptions or lack of understanding that anyone might have gotten when I was in front of the class. I actually had my very best class so far in the school year yesterday with my Secondary II kids… I randomly selected kids to answer questions, so everyone was on their toes, ready to answer if they got called on (and NO ONE tells me no… Even a girl who was “starting” to lose her voice. That class knew I was serious about answering the questions!). That happened towards the beginning of class, and I felt like most of the students were more involved the rest of the class. Now if I could just get some more technology involved in that lesson, I might be closer to becoming the teacher I’d like to be one day…


What technologies do you use in your class? Would you consider your class a “technology-infused” class, or do you still need some work like me? If you do need some more work, what are some things you’re working on? Share with me, and we can keep brainstorming together!





A little background on this video... It's not my favorite video that I found, but I thought it was applicable to my post, so I included it. The video I REALLY wanted to post, though, can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz0hNJjFy-M. It talks about Edmodo and Infuse Learning, which I will probably be checking out, because it sounded so helpful. They sold me!