Technology has become integral in the classroom in the last year and a half. I have always loved technology, and I would say I am pretty adaptable when it comes to new technology. Still, this past year has included many challenges. Technology can be such a wonderful tool, but it can also be overwhelming or distracting to teachers and students.
I will start by highlighting the good things about technology this past year. So many good things came despite the craziness of online teaching. I want to start with those to show the good part of technology.
The Good:
New (And Improved) Math Resources: Before the push for online learning, many online resources existed but were either new, underfunded, or not popular enough to grow their company to improve. As the push for digital resources rose, a couple of companies rose to the challenge and quickly and professionally updated their services to match the educational needs of students and teachers. Three of these companies specifically related to Math are Desmos.com, Mathigon.org, and Geogebra.org. All of these companies rose to the challenge and quickly improved what they offer and did it with students and teachers in mind.
Of these three resources, Desmos stands out the most. Desmos will always be one of my most recommended resources for any math teacher. Their passion for students and drive for excellence is unmatched. In the past year and a half, they have released countless updates and activities to better meet students where they are. They have made collaboration easier and given students a voice in the math classroom, all while allowing teachers to easily check in on their students’ social-emotional well-being. This resource is a must for any math teacher. I could write so much on this topic and will no doubt write about it in future blog posts.
A Focus On Visualization: One cool thing that came from being online was the push for visualization. Math has always been very visual, but oftentimes that visual aspect can get lost in a traditional classroom. The recent push to incorporate a heavy amount of technology in the classroom has greatly benefited the math classroom. Resources such as Geogebra (for visualizing functions and graphs), and Mathogon (for visual Manipulatives) have had a recent push to create high-quality visual aids and lessons for students.
Virtual Professional Development: Teaching abroad was very challenging my first year. I would hear about so many neat and helpful professional developments but rarely were they on my side of the world. They were often in the United States or Canada. Recently, though, there has been a huge push for virtual conferences and training. This has been great because now these seminars, conferences, and training can be accessed by anyone.
Note: The downside of this is every conference everywhere is now accessible to anyone. This can quickly lead to burnout and the feeling of not doing enough. More on this later.
The other great thing for technology and professional development has been the Math Teacher Blog-o-Sphere (MTBoS). This is a virtual group of math teachers primarily on Twitter that share thoughts, ideas, resources, and general support for the math teacher community. It has thrived in the past year with the recent push for online learning and has been a huge help.
The Bad:
Too Many New Things To Little Training: With all of the great improvements in educational technology, it has come at a cost. There are so many new tools out there that all do great things. Throughout the past year, I have seen well-intentioned educators and leaders suggest so many different resources yet offer no training on them. While the intentions are always genuine, this can be overwhelming (and sometimes harmful) to educators and students. Many times the new resources end up being implemented half-heartedly or not efficiently. Students also have a hard time keeping up with the new technologies. I found myself trying to use all of it because I thought “This is so cool” or “This must be useful” but often after trying it, I found the new resource not effective. This was not due to the resource itself. I have gone back to some and plan to use them in the future. Rather, it was due to a lack of training as well as students trying to manage too many things. If every teacher for every class at a high school requires different apps and websites, it can be too much for students. I found that it was best to stick with the 1 – 2 resources my students were most familiar with (In my case Desmos + Google Classroom). I am a huge fan of all of the new educational technologies that have been developed or reimagined this past year, but that excitement comes with the mindset of it cannot be rushed into the classroom.
Limited Time: This may have just been me and my school, but when we were in online learning, our class time was reduced from 50 minutes to 30 minutes. This was to ensure students did not spend too much time on a screen. While I am 100% in favor of students not spending 8+ hours a day on their computer or device, I found this reduced time very challenging. In terms of teaching content, it was a good reminder to cut the fluff and focus on what is important. The hard part was classroom community. I value relationships and community in my classroom. I try to create a safe space for failure and student enjoyment of learning. This was almost completely removed in our online format due to time. I tried to incorporate as much group work and collaboration as possible, but in 30 minutes I ran out of time far too often. There were some days I was unable to cover content because I saw the students needed community time and just time to talk. I took for granted the time in-person teaching allowed for building that community smoothly and easily. While teaching can be done online, and most of the time effectively, I found that the classroom community is one of the things that suffers the most when learning is digitalized.
Final Thought
Take A Break.
The biggest thing I took from this past year when it comes to technology is that you may need to take a break. It is now easier than ever to fall victim to information overload. There are so many websites, apps, tools, resources, and professional developments that it is so overwhelming. Often it can feel like you have to do all of it to be a good teacher and that if you can’t keep up then you are a failure. This is not the case. It is not a bad thing to step back, slow down, and digest the technology. Maybe say no to a conference, or come back to a new website or app later. It is so easy to think everything must be done now and must be done perfectly the first time. Take breaks from technology. Give yourself credit for what you have learned. Take everything one day at a time.
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