Math 371 Technology for STEM Educators

Today I want to write about a certain student that we are all very familiar with. As future math teachers, we all know of the student who is convinced that they do not have the “math gene”. By this I mean, the student that thinks that they are incapable of learning and doing math. As a tutor, have been working with a student who literally believes that he will not pass his math class because he was not capable of learning the material. For his privacy, in this post I am going to call him John. I tutored John in college algebra last semester, and now I have him again this semester. Last semester, John barely showed up to his tutoring sessions, and when I asked him why he wasn’t showing up he told me that it was because he thought it was pointless and that he wasn’t going to learn it anyways so there was no point getting extra help. Personally, I think that the reason he was doing so poorly was because he wasn’t letting himself learn. John had one last session last seme...

              When I was a kid, my mom would do this thing where she’d pick out a random person in the mall or airport and then tell me his/her life story. At first, I was quite amazed. I would think, is my mom psychic? Eventually I grew up, and I realized she was just joking and making up some elaborate story. Despite her stories not being real, I learned to watch people and see if I could learn anything about them by noticing small things.               Teaching is a career in which we never stop learning. We’re constantly changing (and hopefully improving) the way we go about instruction. I have been watching teachers my whole life, but I have really focused on watching them starting my sophomore year in high school when I decided I wanted to become a math teacher.               I...

We live in a society today that is predicated on technology. So it is only fitting that, in many ways, education is now reliant on technology. While I am all for the use of technology in a classroom, I think it is best used as a means to supplement teacher instruction, rather than replace it.  Throughout my experiences growing up, I know several teachers that have based their entire lesson plan around a video or diagram they found on the Internet. But then, the impossible happens; technology stops working (for whatever reason) and it’s like we have lost our ability to breathe. I am as guilty of this as anyone else, when my phone or laptop suddenly experiences issues at the most inopportune time. However, as a teacher in a classroom, there are several ways around this dilemma. Take the information that was going to be presented in the video and/or diagram and relay it to your students based on your understanding. Or, perhaps proceed with new material and show your students the ...

As a teacher or pre-service teacher, it can be very beneficial to attend various workshops, seminars, and/or conferences. Back in high school, I did not understand why all my teachers would miss a day or two of school to attend a conference. Some of them wanted to while others were upset about it because they were forced to attend. So, I kind of got the idea in my head that workshops were annoying or were somewhat a waste of time especially if you already knew how to teach the material to your students. My perspective has completely changed after being in the program here at SDSU. In October of 2018, I attended the NCTM Regional Conference in Kansas City. Not only did I attend seminars focused on how to incorporate better teaching methods into the classroom, but I also attended workshops focused on technology resources for teachers. These technology resources were aimed at aiding and furthering instruction in the classroom. These sessions really opened my eyes to what I as a teach...

When most college students think of technology in the classroom, they probably think of professors struggling to get the projector to work or turning the sound on for a video in class. I believe students most likely do not think they need to learn how to use technology for classes. But for me, this was not the case. Technology is newer to me as a student. I grow up homeschooled all the way until I graduated high school. I have had to learn a lot of basic things that most students learn in high school. For example, making a presentation on powerpoint or typing efficiently. While I was homeschooled, I hand wrote all my papers and assignments. I also did not use a computer for much besides occasionally watching a video to learn. Now as a college student, I am glued to my laptop for most of my homework. But even with having to learn many new things at once, I have grown to enjoy all the recourses online. It is amazing how much knowledge and help there is out there online. As a "math...