Math is changing and I want to provide my students with the tools and opportunities to understand that change. Technology is exciting to them; it's something to which they can relate. It's also something that can help make math more engaging and relevant to their lives.
Each and every one of my students is a budding mathematician in his or her own right.
They're still trying to figure out if it's something they like or something they're supposed to hate. In that process, they each show me their own personalities and their own style of learning. Our school has no ethnic majority and that diversity is what sets us apart. All of my students have something meaningful to contribute to class and some have experienced things that I wish no one would ever encounter. Their strength and tenaciousness is what inspires me to be as good of an educator as I can.
My Project
Functions and their graphs. We used to pick inputs, find their outputs, and plot the points. Or, we'd start by giving students the graphs and ask them to write a scenario about each graph. We didn't have a way for students to explore these graphs first. With these eight CBRs, students will be able to explore and easily see how the graphs change before having to make the other conclusions on their own.
With one student holding the CBR and calculator, another student starts from across the room and starts running towards the sensor. The CBR captures that movement and in no time, the two students are watching a graph appear on the screen. Curious as to what would happen if the student walked instead of ran, they start over again. In just minutes, these two students will see two graphs, are able compare their differences, and attribute these differences to the change in their movement. With just this small piece of equipment, their understanding will increase substantially.
We have been trying to bring technology into our classrooms for ages but just haven't really had the proper goal.
It's not about what technology teachers can use to engage their students. It's about what technology the students can use to engage with the material. Middle schools have shied away from graphing calculators in the past, but we are now realizing the power that these machines and their accessories have to make the math come alive and have decided that they are worth investing in.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Hsu and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.