Transliteracy is the idea that one is able to create,communicate and take in content across a variety of settings including verbal, non-verbal, visual and technological. According to blogger Suzana Sukovic, “Transliteracy consists of skills, knowledge, thinking and acting, which enable a fluid ‘movement across’ in a way that is defined by situational, social, cultural and technological contexts.”
When thinking about transliteracy in the context of teaching math content I immediately think about the ways in which my students engage with mathematics. Students are accustomed to learning math in the most traditional sense of instruction. They actually like direct instruction because it is a familiar process and takes the focus off of them. My students like when I lecture because they can be passive in their learning; taking notes and writing down examples, without actually being invested in the development of problem solving. Employing the principles of transliteracy to my instructional practice will include diversifying the ways that I communicate content to my students and in turn will influence the ways that they are required to take in information. This semester, creating videos and posting lectures/tutorials online helped my students to see the benefit of online content. They were able to re-watch videos, engage with content they didn't understand the first time they saw it, and fast forward through parts of my lecture they felt comfortable with. This was particularly helpful for my students who require accommodations and those who are still learning English. Some students even branched out and explored other math content on YouTube. I think that most teachers are intimidated by transliteracy because they think that transliteracy equates to required use of technology. I think that, while technology use should be included in any curriculum that embraces transliteracy, it is not required. Teachers who explain to their students the differences between taking notes from a lecture and taking notes while reading a text book are engaging in transliteracy. There are elements of transliteracy that we engage with everyday without realizing it. As innovative teachers we need to encourage and foster its development among our peers.
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As my capstone project began I was concerned with the math anxiety that was so apparent among my math 1 students. The desire to cure my students of math anxiety and increase their performance on assessments drove my research. My intended audience throughout the first semester of this program was other math teachers also concerned about the math anxiety our students displayed.
As my research evolved during the second semester, I began to focus more on engagement techniques as a means of better preparing my students. My audience shifted to teachers who wanted to engage their students in content practice in and outside of class time. Now after marrying my two concerns and refining my current capstone project - using a flipped classroom model as a means of reducing the cognitive strain that students face, my audience now includes any teacher looking for techniques to combat the negative affects cognitive strain has on students, in particular math teachers who will see the correlation between cognitive strain and math anxiety. In terms of innovative teaching and use of technology, my capstone speaks to teachers interested in a flipped or blended classroom model. More specifically, those interested in the use of digital tools to create video tutorials for their students to use outside of class for frontloading of new information and remediation. My hopes for my capstone center on my desire to help students overcome the fear and anxiety they face when confronted with math. Unfortunately, fear of math evolves into dislike for math related content and that dislike is normalized by a mathphobic society. If students are given the space to process their math anxiety and taught practical habits for success in math I believe that all students are fully capable of performing math at high levels.
In terms of how my goals align with those of the program, I want to innovate my instructional practice by using technology in meaningful ways to increase the likelihood that my students are engaging with math content outside of the classroom so that they come to class more prepared to perform math. By helping my students to engage with math content at home (flipping my classroom) they will come to class with a reduced cognitive load, better able to focus on the transfer of content from working memory to long term memory, and less anxious about math. We are a pretty open and friendly cohort. We have many members who work at the same school sites which makes it easy for us to communicate our needs in person. For the last two semesters we have supported each other greatly through leaving encouraging and engaging comments on each others blogs. Their comments help me to think deeper while also giving me the confidence I need to make it through all the stress of teaching while working on a masters. I will continue to provide this support to my cohort as well as being responsive to any other needs. The only group norm that I can think of requesting is that we continue to have our work due on the Sunday nights of the week that assignments are due. We worked this out with the professors during our second semester as it gave us another day to complete work, with the understanding that we would all be timely in our responses to each other blogs. Im looking forward to working with this group of people for one more semester and then collaborating outside of the program after we graduate! Creation of my project blueprint When I started thinking about the blueprint for my DQ project I thought a flowchart of the major events that have taken place since the end of EDUC 790 and throughout EDUC 791, would be the most appropriate way to illustrate my thinking. I zoomed out from my involvement in the research process and thought of the events that have had to take place to ensure that I was addressing the needs of my DQ. Creating a blueprint helped me figure out the next steps of my research and create a timeline for when I will accomplish my last rounds of data collection before school ends. Looking at the completed blueprint, seeing all that I have done and all the things that remain for me to do, I realize how much work I have completed in this research project. Seeing the flow of ideas helps me to see the logical thinking that I have been using throughout this process despite my constant feelings of being lost. Creation of my flipped classroom model
As I was creating my project blueprint, I got to a point where I had to define a flipped classroom. I wanted to define what the expectations would be for the teacher and the students. Creating a separate model for the “flipped classroom cycle” was my attempt to summarize the necessary steps for running a successful flipped classroom. In my model for the flipped classroom cycle I defined two phases, the “At home phase” and the “In class phase”. Each phase consists of the required actions of both teacher and student. What each role must do to achieve success in this flipped format. After defining each phase and the requirements of the roles in each phase I was better able to show students what I was doing and what I expected them to do during this new cycle of learning. This model blueprint helped me to establish clear expectations for myself and for students. |
Brandon DeJesusMath Archives
July 2019
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