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Technology Reflection

I love the increase in technology available for teaching mathematics for all grade levels over the past decade. I found it very interesting to learn about all the different math apps and websites my classmates found for teaching a variety of mathematical concepts and grade levels. I have also experienced my CT showing students math videos and songs on Youtube throughout the past year that the students loved. We didn’t talk much about this in ETE 339 but I also think the use of online calculators and especially graphing calculators is huge because graphing calculators are so expensive and some of these online programs are free and can help students tremendously. One strength of many of these technologies is that they enhance student engagement and make students want to do math and participate in math games or videos and songs. One weakness is that teachers need to spend extra time to make sure these technologies are appropriate for the students. Even if the math app or website is appropriate for the students, teachers also have to consider that students could exit out of the game and get in trouble on other apps or websites and this can be a lot for teachers to monitor. I want to teach an elementary resource class which would include pulling students to my room for their math instruction. I envision using technology in this type of class to allow students to practice and improve their math skills while I am teaching other students one on one or in other small groups. Personally, I think teachers know that technology is enhancing student learning when you are able to see students are progressing in their math skills and not plateauing or regressing. For example, if students are working on addition facts and are playing math apps related to that, they should be becoming faster when solving those addition problems.

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