The person that I chose to interview is a grade 7-11 teacher in my school. He is in his fifth year of teaching and he has taught in various schools all around Newfoundland and Labrador. He has his intermediate/secondary education degree, majoring in math and science. He is currently teaching multi-grade science, and math. While there are only 22 students from grades 7-11 (no grade 12s this year), he often has 3 grades in one class, and the ability levels are very different. He is the only math/science teacher in junior high/high school. He has quite a challenge on his hands this year.
- How much do you use technology in your math/science classroom?
| Quote | Analysis |
| “I try to use it as much as I can, but I haven’t fully figured out how to use it to its fullest potential in my math class yet. In science classes I use it all the time…”
“Yes we’ll use calculators, but I’d like to be able to take advantage of some of the latest technologies…”
“In science I use Google classroom, the SmartBoard, and iPads all the time. We use them for research mostly. I like using iPads for research because the students lead their own learning. Once they got the hang of what I was asking from them, they took charge…” |
To begin this interview, I wanted to just get a feel for how often this teacher is using technology in his everyday teaching. We don’t have a lot of technology resources in our school, but he explained how he tries to use it as much as possible. Using it for research and projects seemed to be how he would use it the most. He went on to talk about how he hasn’t been able to implement technology into his math classes as much as he would like.
In our school, with limited resources, reality is that there won’t be as many opportunities as there would be in other places, however this teacher is using technology as creatively as possible. Allowing students to guide there own learning shifts the role of the student in his classroom. |
- What are the pros of using technology in the math/science classroom? What are the cons?
| Quote | Analysis |
| “As for pros, again like I said before, technology can let students lead their own learning, and they can learn more than what they’d learn in a ‘sit-down & listen’ science class. They’ll learn something that’s interesting to them, and then they’ll keep looking stuff up to learn more about it…”
“Technology also evens the playing field for a lot of my students. In science, I teach grades 7, 8, and 9 together, and there is a big jump between some of the grade 7s and 9s. When we can use technology, it gives some of the weaker students the ability to be on the same level as the older students – especially those that have learning disorders in reading and writing. Since an iPad can read them the information, or they can speak and it will type for them, we don’t have to worry so much about those students…”
“As for cons, you always have to be careful when letting junior high and high school students do research. Most are mature enough and on task enough that I don’t have to worry about them, but some waste time, looking up unrelated things, and finding games to play. It can become quite a distraction too. I’m always reminding them to stay on task because before you know it, class will be over and they’ll have nothing done…”
“Younger students always have to be guided to find reliable information as well. Not everything you look up is correct so there’s always that barrier.”
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The interviewee reiterated his point here again about how students lead their own learning quite often when they are using technology. He also explained the importance of how students can learn so much more information about different things, specifically things the student is interested in, because they have the ability to continue exploring.
The interviewee also brought up the fact that it is helping his students with learning challenges. In a multigrade class it is already challenging to reach every student, but when they also have learning disorders it can be even more of a challenge. With technology students are able to succeed without constant assistance from the teacher. It allows them to continue growing without their learning challenges holding them back.
The interviewee raises an important fact, which I think many teachers would express, in that technology can sometimes be a distraction if students are not using it correctly or abusing the privilege of using it. Having regular conversations about being a good digital citizen can be helpful. With some teens, it may always be a challenge, but majority of the students should remain on task. He also spoke about younger students (Gr.7 in his context). Technology is now being introduced to students likely before they even reach school, so as students move through the grades, with more and more technology use, they shouldn’t have many issues by grade 7. |
- How much time do you spend planning a class/lesson that uses technology?
| Quote | Analysis |
| “Earlier in my career I would take a long time to plan out a lesson using technology, more so because I wasn’t used to it. Over the years I’ve worked out a lot of the kinks and it doesn’t take me very long anymore. Practice and familiarity helps…”
“Again, I still need work on using technology in my math classes but I think that will come with time…” |
Planning is something that many teachers complain about. And many teachers who are not familiar with the use of technology may find it is even more time consuming to plan a class or lesson that uses technology. The interviewee felt that over time he has become more familiar with the process thus allowing him to not have to spend as much time on it anymore. In Case study 5 – Elementary Space Science, we saw that many teachers felt that technology was too time consuming to get used to. It definitely shows that becoming comfortable and familiar with the technology will help the planning process. |
- Do you take advantage of the professional development offered for using technology in the classroom? Do you feel there is a need for more professional development on this?
| Quote | Analysis |
| “There is definitely a need for more PD. Especially since the world of educational technology is constantly changing and growing…”
“A lot of PD days will not be specific to using technology… There will just be a small portion of the day where they’ll mention it…”
“ A lot of PD is also specific to certain subjects or grades, so its not always available to me, even though I would definitely take advantage of it if I could…” |
I think, depending on location, would say there definitely is a need for more professional development. The interviewee agreed. He thought as a younger teacher, he felt more comfortable with it basically due to exposure, however since the technological world is constantly changing, it makes it difficult to always stay on top of the new resources. |