This week I had a completely inspiring SDAS* meeting. This was a complete shock as most SDAS meetings are a formality and the collective understanding is let's get this over with. The only people in the meeting were David Williams, geometry teacher Stacey Tekell, and myself. This is always fun because we have very similar teaching philosophies and love integrating technology. Stacey started talking about her topic and David and I almost started jumping up and down with excitement. She wants to switch up the way she teaches geometry. She wants the students to watch the lesson online for homework and use class time to practice the skills.
Stacey attended a technology conference in Boston last summer where this idea was presented. Her plan is to record her lessons using the Promethean Board record feature. She will then post the lesson online. Students will watch the lessons at home and take notes. The next day students will bring their notes to class for Stacey to check. She will then answer questions about the lesson and help students as they work problems. This structure allows her to be more of a facilitator.
Stacey, David, and I discussed the benefits and possible problems. We thought the benefits would be that students would practice working problems correctly rather than incorrectly at home. The teacher would be there to facilitate learning rather than lecture the students. This would hopefully decrease the amount of outside tutoring students would seek. Another benefit would be that math would be more like the other subjects where class time is for practice and homework is preparation. The possible problems are backlash to change, students not watching the lesson, and technological issues. While some students and parents may initially not like the new approach, they will accept it if the student is more successful. David assured Stacey the administration would support her with parents. Some students won't do the lesson at home, but they also wouldn't do homework. The student could always watch the lesson during class instead of receiving help with problems. David solved the technology problem by offering to make one of the computer labs open for 30 minutes before school each morning so students could watch the lesson at school.
While I'm not sure this approach would be as useful in my classroom, it was exciting to see another teacher and an administrator embrace something so different. Sometimes I feel people use technology to make the old way fancy or there is some complex project involved. This is definitely using technology in a completely different way but it makes sense. It is not anymore time consuming but it will help students be more successful. Now to get my name on next year's conference list...
*SDAS is HPISD's alternative teacher evaluation program to PDAS. Each teacher develops a question that they study throughout the year. The question must relate to improving student achievement. Teachers are divided into groups that meet 6 times throughout the year to discuss progress on their questions.
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