When reading these articles, it makes me reflect on the way that technology is used in my math classroom. I know that what we have done has been very surface level such as using Blooket or attempting to go paperless and using our LMS for that purpose. For me, this mainly due to my not knowing how to use technology in a way that is beneficial in the math classroom as many students find it difficult to navigate online tools in order to find answers/solutions quickly without understanding how to get there. This is not to say that there haven't been times where it has been beneficial, such as when I had my honors class take a topic, create an outline and film themselves teaching the topic. It was a good way to see what they were able to come up with production -wise, but also what they really understood as opposed to having them regurgitate steps on paper. I suppose that may tie into the Fullan and Langworthy (2014) article where they mention that "as technology enables them to discover, create and use knowledge in the real world faster, more cheaply and with authentic audiences" (p.4) as, in the traditional classroom, there is very little time for something meaningful like that to be able to happen with random assemblies, assessments, diagnostic testing, ACAP and whatever interruptions may happen during the day.
This would also tie into the way that Bloom's Taxonomy and Multiples was talked about in the articles as this showed me that my students, who may not have been able to perform to the best of their abilities on a paper test and, honestly, may have displayed that they did not understand the material, may actually really do understand, they just need a different way to show their abilities as opposed to just traditional methods. I think this would fall somewhere in either applying or synthesizing sections of Bloom's more updated taxonomy (Huitt, 2011). I like that this has, in a way, reminded me of the fact that sometimes, people just need a way that works for them. In some ways, it does make jealous of the other subjects because there are more, in my opinion, ways to use technology to show your learning or help it such as, even as a basic example, Word/Docs being able to suggest and provide feedback on grammar or Canva allowing students to create graphics and these great forms of art that can explain or help visualize what they have learned. Right now, I do not know if this is just a limitation of the subject that I teach or if there are not that many resources currently out there that can do something similar in the math classroom.
I really wish that I had more training on these kinds of things, particularly with how to use more technology to best support and promote learning in the classroom, in addition to making sure that they can accurately show that learning. Sometimes, it feels like we are expected to already know how to implement these things from the job because we as the adults are able to use technology for ourselves, when in reality we need some way to know what we can do to blend what we already know with new resources to help bolster those initiatives. I know we can use things like PowerPoint/Google Slides, Canva or YouTube, but it would be nice to see content focused examples that were focused on bridging that "theoretical" school information that we teach to more of a real life applicable form. Overall though, I would say that these articles have given me something to consider as I get ready to plan for next year and have inspired me to do some more research on applicable online tools. I really want to be able to utilize the abilities that students come to me with and really provide them with those deep learning opportunities, so I am excited to see what I will continue to learn to help make that happen.
References
Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (2014). A rich seam: how new pedagogies find deep learning. London: Pearson. Retrived from https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/global/Files/about-pearson/innovation/open-ideas/ARichSeamEnglish.pdf
Huitt, W. (2011). Bloom et al.'s taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/bloom.pdf