Integrating Technology into the Classroom

One of the videos I watched about a lesson plan that successfully integrated technology was pretty mind blowing to me. I hope to become a Jr. High math teacher and I had been struggling with how to incorporate technology into a math lesson. Many of the examples I have seen that integrate technology dealt with subjects such as social studies, science and current events. Math just seems so black and white and straightforward. However, this teacher was able to use technology well at the modification level with math! Instead of teaching content during his classroom time, he recorded a series of videos of himself teaching content and posted them to YouTube. Then, he instructed students to subscribe to his YouTube channel and watch a video at home. Then, we the students got to class, they had already been presented with and were somewhat familiar with the content. They were able to spend the entire class period collaborating by practicing what they had learned at home. The teacher set up different stations of different activities that they could practice their skills in different ways. This time also allowed them to be able to ask questions to their peers or teacher if they had difficulty understanding the content. One thing I really enjoy about this strategy is that it allows students to work ahead if they want. All of the videos are prerecorded and are published and available for students to view. This method is called a flipped classroom. I believe this strategy would fall under the modification level in the SAMR model. In this level, technology allows for significant task redesign and the rethinking of lessons and units. This is exactly what this teacher did. He redesigned the traditional classroom model of teaching content during the class period and then practicing it at home. I will definitely be implementing this into my classroom.