Connecting

Today’s technology has afforded us the ability to connect across communities, states, and even continents.  With the touch of an icon, information from one person can be connected to another within a fraction of a second, even if that person is a country away.

With the advancement of technology, never before have there been such astounding programs that remediate skills across multiple academic areas.  And now, that the technology is light, portable, and intuitive, it can travel with us no matter where our daily routine takes us.  For students, this is incredibly powerful—a precise plan for boosting skills can be prescribed for them, much like a doctor would write out a prescription after a diagnosis.  There are drill-and-practice programs to help build foundations of math, but really the technology is much more powerful than that.  Imagine a generation of a budding work force that did not have a problem-solving skill set…..

While software/apps/programs, etc.  present unique problem solving opportunities for a student, underneath the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher who has lived, breathed and experienced how pedagogy  should be shaped, THAT is where true “growth” begins.  Geoff Schmit, an Illinois physics and computer science teacher sums up his philosophy of technology as “Doing Better Things, over Doing Things Better”.  What does that mean for us as we’re working specifically with math skills?  We don’t just want kids to do better on their foundational skills.  We want them to enjoy the process along the way, make a connection, and develop a problem solving skill set that will benefit them not only on standardized tests, but across academic and social areas.  We want students to “learn how they learn” and then learn the skills in a meaningful, prescribed manner.

I’m reminded of this in a way that has virtually no connection to math!  A few years ago a friend of mine was taking golf lessons, and relayed a story to me about her experience in taking golf lessons.
She decided to take golf lessons to improve her driving skills (or as she describes--her entire game!) There are LOTS of golf software programs, simulators, etc. that claim to help with this, but they were proving fruitless for her.  So, immediately when meeting her golf instructor, she was greeted with a warm smile and a nonjudgmental demeanor (She exclaimed, “Really! He saw hope in me, and there was SOOOO much wrong!”) A swing, a miss, and a few slices later, her instructor was immediately able to key in on the precise errors she was making, and transform my foundational skill set into something functional, and quite enjoyable.  Yes, then he brought out the technology…as they continued to fine-tune her swing, now aided in watching playback and paths being mapped by the virtual technology, it made sense, thanks to his watchful eye, expert advice, and in his establishment of a trusted connection holding no bias or judgment.  Here was an instructor doing “better things” to teach, over just isolated drill and practice. (Although, there still is plenty of that, if any of you play golf!) She learned how all parts of this game were connected, how to think and problem solve instead of simply viewing different types of strokes she may need to use (i.e driving, chipping, putting) as isolated movements.

There definitely is a place for technology in learning; we actually feel without technology this learning would be greatly limited.  Within an environment of connection to students, a well-shaped and sound pedagogy and a warm smile, we look forward to meaningful academic growth!

--Mrs. B

Photo credit:  Young Woman With Laptop by Petr Kratochvil