Mathematics with Technology

This week, I listened to two podcasts hosted by Judy Chandler that dealt with Mathematics and Technology in everyday classroom settings. Judy Chandler is a math mentor trainer, technology integration specialist and a math teacher. She says that when she talks to most math teachers about using technology in their classrooms, they say that they do not have enough time to integrate technology into their lessons, that they need to finish the book before the final exam, that their students are doing well enough without using technology, or that they just don't understand the importance of using technology in their mathematics classrooms.Students have many conventional tools that they use in the math class but these conventional tools may not bring the topic as alive as using technological tools would. Implementing technology-centered mathematics lessons takes less time that teachers realize and may actually provide better use of class time. Also, Judy Chandler says that she has found that more lessons may be covered in less time with this technological approach to mathematics. In the second podcast, Ms. Chandler says that students should think mathematically and not just learn the rules and algorithms of mathematics. They should understand the "why" of mathematics. Technology can help students visualize the solutions to some math problems and help students see practical applications for their mathematics lessons. If students can think of math critically and by using questions, they can "learn how to learn" and can grasp the concepts more easily. Ms. Chandler ends both episodes of her Mathematics PodCasts by sharing this website http://www.noteshare.ACTEM.org/noteshare. She also gives us the public password, ACTEM, for this site. Ms. Chandler says that there are many helpful math and technology tools on this website.
Podcasts like this can be of help to me as a teacher because they help me to see other teachers' opinions. Ms. Chandler is a math teacher and talks with other math teachers and she has found that they do not have the same views on things. Maybe the way that my school does something is different from how another school does something. Neither way may be right nor wrong but I won't know of a different method unless I hear about it from someone and these podcasts provide ways to get new ideas from other teachers.
Also, podcasts about technology are more and more important in today's society since more and more people are becoming heavily dependent on technology. Without using technology, students may find the concepts boring or out-of-date. Also, since technology can help bring the subject alive, students find it easier to comprehend. Again, if my school doesn't use technology very much, I may not be fully aware of what sorts of resources are available to me for use in my classroom. Podcasts like this one, though, provide not only reasons why I should use technology but also websites to view in order to improve upon my use of technology in my classroom.