At a staff development a few months back a very good point was made about the stigma of math in schools (life). Something along the lines of "grumble, grumble....but that is math....and I am not a "math" person...grumble, grumble" As someone who has struggled with math, checkbooks, budgets, gas mileage and measuring I was surprised to find myself entrenched behind the front lines and going to bat for them. How can kids like math if they are constantly hearing the grumbles about the woes of math and how everyone is so bad at it. I have to admit I have changed my tone. I don't have a lot of opportunities in my class, but I now approach density calculations with the same vigor as someone standing on a bridge with big banners supporting their candidate before an election.
What does this have to do with technology? Well, when I read this blog post (Edublog post of the year for 2007) it was clear there was a connection.
If I could celebrate the genius of mathematics in my classroom there should be some other human out there that can turn on a LCD projector and begin throwing some wiz-bang at the kids. Seriously, that is where we need to start. Wikis, blogs, Moodle, Voicethread, iMovie, Garageband, Twitter, Ning and all that other stuff can come in due time but we ought to begin moving forward without grumbling. When I was roaming the halls of my elementary school we got to go to the "technology room" to play Oregon Trail to learn about MATH...sorta. That was 1985ish. Computers are not going away and we ought to saddle up and begin lumbering along. If we run into an obstacle, we'll caulk the wagons and float it.
I agree. One of the things that holds us back, consistently, as educators is the grumbling. Not that complaining is bad, but complaining because you don't know something? Isn't that exactly what we hope the students will avoid.
ReplyDeleteInstead, to echo your sentiment, model academic curiosity at all levels, and embrace the unknown as an opportunity we expect the students to take.
This level of tech integration is much more than a T.V. and VCR. Students, taught correctly how to use this resource, have a window into the whole world. Not only that, they have a means to be relevant immediately.
So. Go man go! a^2+b^2=c^2.