Purposeful Padding in the Math Classroom - Post 6

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” Randy Pausch

Today we had an off day.   The kids were chatty, our fourth attempt to use Socrative for our bell ringer failed, the kids were off task on the iPads, and we have a quiz tomorrow.   Compared to all of our other days, today left us a little flat.As Pausch said, “The brick walls are there for a reason.”  Gina and I put our heads together during plan time and shared ideas on how we wanted to move forward.    We reflected on the the past two weeks.  We have done an amazing job of integrating the iPads into all class activities, taught the kids how to use the iPads and apps, and now teach with the iPad and Apple TV.   She and I both had some great ideas for the Fraction unit.  Now is the time for us to move even deeper into technology integration.

I shared with Gina about the SAMR Model on technology integration created by Dr. Reuben Puentadura that I learned about on Twitter. Essentially, there are four stages to technology integration: substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition.  As you move to new levels of technology integration, enhancement increases and transformation takes place.

• Substitution - Technology acts as a direct tool substitute with no functional improvement
• Augmentation - Technology acts as a direct tool substitute with functional improvement
• Modification - Technology allows for significant task redesignRedefinition - Tech allows for the creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable 



SAMR Model of Technology in the Classroom from http://rde.nsw.edu.au/tpack-s

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Up until now, we have been using the iPads for substitution.

Examples of Substitution
Without iPads: bell  ringer on paper; With iPads: bell ringer with SocrativeWithout iPads: notes on Paper; With Technology: notes in Doceri

Example of Augmentation
Without iPads: handing in paper homework; With iPads: e-mailing homework

For our new unit on Fractions, we plan to take the students to new levels! Our goal is to utilize the iPads for modification and redefinition of tasks!  Time for us grow even more!  Stay tuned to see what happens as the week continues! 

Lessons Learned
1. Socrative does not allow students to change an answer. Once it is submitted, there is no way to go back.
2.  It is time to use even more of the capabilities of the iPad do individualize instruction and move to deeper levels of learning.Written by Ann Feldmann