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=**Literacy and Technology in Mathematics**= Sami Brown



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//School mathematics reform, constructivism, and literacy: A case for literacy instruction in the reform-oriented math classroom // By: Roni Jo Draper *Note: go to citations page in order to view full citations for all articles

Unfortunately, a JSTOR account is required in order to view the full article. Luckily, registering is free and quick.  The main focus of this article is to locate the common languages and goals of educators both in mathematics and in literacy. Then, once common ground is established, the article goes into describing how a traditional classroom can transform into a constructivist classroom. As defined by Draper, constructivism is “the philosophy, or belief, that learners create their own knowledge based on interactions with their environment including their interactions with other people.” (3). That being said, let me briefly discuss the two methods Draper used to #|promote constructivism in a mathematics classroom. Her first method is DR-TA. Using this method, teachers first find a piece of mathematical text for their students to read. Before introducing the text, the teacher piques their interest in the topic by #|giving them a problem that ties directly to the text they are about to read. Once the problem has been sufficiently tried at, the teacher introduces the reading. From there, the DR-TA method goes on to stop students during different points of the text to consider what they have read and what is to come. The second method Draper mentions is the K-W-L, or what I know, what I want to, what I learned. The “what I know” portion happens before a text is given to the students. This activity is designed to make students consider what they already know about a given topic. Recalling background knowledge gets them ready to take on new information. The “what I want to know” section allows students to set clear objectives for reading the piece. This will guide them through the reading. The “what I learned” segment gives students the opportunity to summarize what they have learned, which will help them solidify and retain the information. Draper ended her article with another plea to transform the traditional classroom into a constructive classroom despite the reproach traditional #|mathematics teachers may feel.  This article is fantastic. There are many works describing how literacy should be incorporated in the classroom, but this article explains why, while acknowledging that the transition may be difficult. Draper acknowledging the difficult transition makes her article more reputable.  This article is great for teachers to print off and keep as a personal reference. Draper gave salient examples teachers will want at their fingertips.



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//Capitalizing on Emerging #|Technologies: A Case Study of Classroom Blogging// By: Robyn MacBride and April Leuhmann

Regrettably, a username and password is required in order to view this full article, as well. Many #|schools and institutions do have access to this material, though. This article addresses how a blog is useful in a specific secondary mathematics classroom. The focus classroom is an eleventh grade Precalculus class, conducted my Mr. K.. The total number of comments on the blog were recorded and then student comments versus teacher comments were compared. This revealed that the students dominated the blog. Mr. K. truly had limited involvement. It is a resource for the students to discuss ideas with one another in a comfortable and anonymous environment. When the students were asked their thoughts on the blog, they all gave positive feedback. Additionally, when asked how students would feel if the blog was removed, the feedback was ardently negative. Mr. K. said the blog helped his students become more comfortable in asking questions, helped students better understand material, and engaged everyone more thoroughly. This blog proved to be a positive experience for all. This article shows that giving students an online resource is a tool they would utilize and benefit from. When Mr. K. stated the blog allows quieter students to speak up online while giving students the opportunity to ask question anonymously, I realized what a great tool this actually is. Getting students to speak up in a math classroom can be difficult because they do not want to look stupid if they do not understand something. This blog allows the students to learn freely without fear of judgment. Incorporating the use of a blog in a mathematics classroom is a creative ways to add writing in an interactive, fun, and effective way. The key to making a good blog, though, is how you present it to the students. Allowing kids to be anonymous if they want is a great tool. Also, incorporating a chat box not only lets students discuss and learn problems together, but it gives the teacher insight into what the students may or may not be having difficulty with. Plus, people tend to be more open about their problems when addressing them over the internet. All of this writing about math forces students to reflect on what they have learned. Blogs really do establish a wonderful learning community that will follow the students from the blog and into the classroom.



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//Writing in Mathematics: An Alternative Form of Communication for Academically Low-Achieving Students// By: Juliet A. Baxter, John Woodward, Deborah Olson

Yet again, log in information is required in order to access this full article, but I highly recommend getting an account because this article is a good one. This article focuses on a seventh grade math classroom that often used journaling as a writing tool to enhance mathematical understanding. This study focuses on the four lowest achieving students in the class and discussed how journaling affected them. This study specifically focuses on mathematical proficiency, which is defined as having conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic competence, adaptive reasoning, and productive disposition. Data was collected through classroom observation, interviews with the teacher, and through reading the students’ math journals. The study found that there is a strong relationship between interest in mathematics and mathematical achievement. Those who were more interested in math tended to do better. Furthermore, the journals revealed some other significant things. Ideally, students develop a more coherent and complete understanding of math through writing about it. This study showed that journaling allowed the teacher to see what the students were and were not understanding, allowing her to base subsequent lessons around these facts. Also, journaling provided the teacher with a picture of what the students were thinking and gave the students a way to communicate their thoughts and troubles to the teacher confidential from the rest of the class. Writing to teachers is a great alternative for oral communication because everyone participates. Throughout this study, the four students that were focused on did not participate in class. Therefore, the journals were key for the teacher in knowing what she needed to do to help these struggling individuals. Some students even personally addressed the teacher through the journals asking for help. Journaling is a great way to not only incorporate literacy into a mathematics classroom, but it is also very beneficial in teaching mathematics content. All teachers should try to incorporate a strategy such as this, most notably because it gives the students another way of communicating with the teacher. This is important because not all students are comfortable asking for help face to face. Furthermore, journals give students the opportunity to answer a question, whereas in class, many students take a back seat to the higher achieving individuals in the room.



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//Thinking (And Talking) About Technology in Math Classrooms// By: E. Paul Goldenberg

Alas! Finally an article you can read without having to create a username! Unfortunately, the entire article is not available, but what is available is enough. This article objectively discusses the pros and cons of introducing technology into the classroom. Computers and graphing calculators are the focus technologies. The technology used does not matter so much as //how// it is used. There are many wonderful tools available, but they must be used wisely. Do not use a technology that takes away from the necessary computational skills needed. Furthermore, technology should not be used if it undermines the deeper knowledge students attain through mapping out the steps to reach a solution. On the other hand, technology should be used in order to highlight or illustrate certain problems. For example, in order to illustrate properties of triangles, a virtual triangle may be manipulated in order to show students exactly how triangles work. Also, if the purpose of the lesson is not to teach students basic arithmetic skills, and doing such calculations would make the problem unnecessarily burdensome, then by all means implement technology. This article is good if a teacher is on the fence about implementing technology. It is also good for those who are definitely applying it. Cautions are given to teachers that should be heeded. Many times, technology enters a classroom only as a distraction as opposed to a valuable learning tool. This article discusses how teachers can fall into the trap of distracting technology, and how to avoid it. Overall, this is a great resource for teachers thinking about adding a bit of technology into the classroom. There are definite advantages, but there can also be extreme disadvantages when not used properly. This article highlights the good and the bad quite well.

Here are all of these wonderful articles on including literacy tools and technology in the classroom, but it is a bit overwhelming. A great deal of information is presented. Therefore, here is an example lesson that includes both literacy tools and technology. Enjoy!

Citations and other helpful links!