I am officially back to blogging for my new class, Technology to Enhance Literacy. I hate that I have not blogged since my last class which required it. I wish I could do it more but I find it hard to find the time to do it. I am excited to learn more about enhancing literacy through technology. As a math teacher, it is easy to think I don’t need to be concerned with literacy in my classroom. But that thought is immensely incorrect. As we move into the 21st century, it is becoming more and more important for students to clarify and explain their thinking, as well as communicate and collaborate to deepen their understanding of a topic. This is extremely critical in a math classroom. I ran across this article and found the information on literacy in a math classroom very helpful.
During this course, we will be reading from two books. As I completed this weeks reading assignment, I was drawn to the discussion of H.G. Wells’ publication The Time Machine. In this story, a time traveler from 1895 enters a classroom in the year 2010. The time traveler is relieved to find the classroom is not much different from the classroom he left behind. The thought that we still have classrooms in our day and age that still require students to passively take in a teachers lecture day after day is frightening. In Literacy 2.0: Reading and writing in 21st century classrooms, the authors discuss how “students have a deep-seated need to communicate and collaborate, to access information at any time of the day or night, and to have tools that will enable them to synthesize, evaluate, and create information.” Students are hungry for more technology in the classroom. They want and need to collaborate and create. I want to be an educator that feeds that hunger in my students. I want to provide opportunities for literacy to deepen understanding of math topics in my classroom. And I want my students to learn the digital tools they can use to communicate, collaborate, and create for educational purposes.
It is awesome how you still consider literacy important even as a Math Teacher. The article you suggested contains ten great ideas for using speaking and writing in a Math Classroom. Speaking is an important part of literacy. Students need to be able to communicate their ideas with others verbally as well as in written form.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the article you found on using literacy in the math classroom. I often have difficulty finding a variety of ways for my students to write in the math classroom. I think it is important for a student to be able to write out how they have solved a multi-step problem. This helps to show they truly understand how to solve it. I also hope to provide my students with more technology opportunities next year that will help deepen their understanding in the classroom. It can help to keep kids engaged and have purpose in their learning.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that math and literacy should be tied together in the classroom. That is something that is so important for students to know as well. If they are able to do math and also explain their learning, that will further their learning.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that students feed on technology! They are always craving for more.... even at age 3!