Writing, technology, and math

My goal for this year has been to increase writing in my math class. I have been working with our schools' literacy coach to accomplish this goal. For the last two units, we have been trying a day of Writers Workshop near the end of the unit. Since we do math workshop everyday, it has been an easy transition. The last unit we did graphs so it was relatively simple to have the students connect graphs to the real world by writing about a graph. Using decimals and percents, proved to be a little more difficult.

I wanted students to connect a non-fiction article to the decimal/percent concepts we have been learning. Our coach and I were struggling with this but ultimately came up with writing a story problem about the article. We were concerned though because we had never written story problems in class. My coach mentioned we could give students clues while they were working to help scaffold their thinking. She was thinking of envelopes. I thought lets use QR codes. So for each article, students were given 3 QR codes that contained hints to help students create the story problem.

The QR codes worked very well. Both classes were silent and working entire time. The QR codes empowered the students to work independently. I was then able to work with a small group with no interruptions and still felt confident that my students were engaged.

Creating a lesson like this really supports the idea of TPACK. I had already created the lesson and found how to merge technology in. I didn't say lets use QR codes and create a lesson around them. I believe this is why the lesson was so successful.

Adapting My Mission

Today I was able to help a colleague integrate technology into his classroom and I realized how much I enjoy helping others integrate tech into their rooms. My colleague came to me and said he wanted a way to organize his classroom library. Currently, the kids fill out a sheet of paper and put it in a basket to check out a book. He told me he was thinking about QR codes. Instantly, I thought Google forms! So during our prep time, I worked with him to help make this become a reality. I loved seeing how excited he was. I felt successful. This made me think that my mission is more than just integrating technology into my own classroom. I want to help integrate technology outside of those four walls. I am convinced that they way to reach these digital natives it through technology. Helping colleagues will in turn help these students to learn. Now I know what I helped with today is not necessarily enhancing learning, but it could empower a student. Imagine a student who does not like to write so doesn't check books out because she is afraid to fill out the form. Now that student is empowered to check out books because the iPad can do the writing for her. Also, this teacher will now be able to work with Google forms in a simple project. As he becomes comfortable, he may find a content and pedagogy to integrate the forms into. Another important aspect to integrating technology is helping teachers to feel comfortable using the technology. This teacher is using the technology is a way where he can become comfortable with it before actually integrating it into a lesson. I can't wait to help more colleagues!