Goal: To create a classroom where the uniqueness of middle school students is not only tolerated, but embraced through technology. 

Engagement: While only 23, every day my students still give me the same smirk and eye roll that I gave my mother when I helped set up her first iPhone. Our students see their phones and technology as ways of entertainment, communication, expression, and productivity. It is their own place of expertise, in which they are rule makers of social etiquette on every social media site, explorers of all technology hacks, and problem solvers with the internet at their finger tips. I mean when I have a student fixing my projector from a post deep down in the depths of Reddit, it is clear there is some unused power that I am not harnessing. So let's pair this fascination of technology, with the world that very much created it, mathematics! I am ready for students to laugh at my use of Internet Explorer while simultaneously explaining the converse of the Pythagorean theorem at a caliber that beats mine. 

Differentiation: At YES! Prep Southeast we do not level our core middle school math classes. Providing ALL of our students with an excellent understanding in mathematics means that all students learn together and challenge each other. However, this does leave a teacher with a drastic spectrum. There are students who could teach the class themselves if left to their own devices, as well as students who you would love to be able to steal for another hour of instruction. While I would love to be able to give each student a lesson that challenges them to their highest potential, that too often looks like a worksheet that keeps my highest kids "occupied" and complete frustration for my students who need the most help. Having the technology of chromebooks could solve this problem in two different ways.

1) Supplemental. Students who finish the traditional classwork early can hop on a chromebook to practice today's material at a higher rigor, or complete a supplemental lesson not in the traditional 8th grade curriculum. There are several programs, both free and of cost that I have researched through EduSurge product review.

• Braining Camp 
• DimensionU
• HeyMath

2) Curriculum Based. A resource called Front Row allows students to complete standard aligned problems at different level of rigor depending on the TEK, or objective we are covering. Practice is differentiated, without the environmental and organizational catastrophe of 4 different leveled packets being printed off for in class practice. Check out their website for videos and more information.

 Immediate Feedback: There is nothing more tragic and disheartening than to walk over to a student eager to announce that they have finished the entire practice, and to let them know they made the same error 30 times over throughout the entire packet. You have feelings of guilt as an educator for not catching it earlier, and a student thinking "Why do I even bother?". Using a program such as Front Row, allows students to receive immediate feedback on the first problem. Students find and correct the mistake the first time on their own, encouraging empowerment from making mistakes, instead of defeat. 

Collaboration: Let us all take a journey back to our middle school selves where the social anxiety was real, and the learning often was second. I think we can all empathize with the sweats that one got when assigned groups were announced and team work was expected. I still have flashbacks to when my biology group took our sheep heart back to my house to dissect around my kitchen table while Mama Watson made her own scientific observations about my lack of social prowess. Interacting with people is hard, especially in middle school. 

However, have you ever noticed how easily our students shoot texts back in forth, or I guess Kiks now a days? Technology is an excellent medium to incorporate collaboration and complement in person team work. There are several programs that turn what could be isolated practice into projects that incorporate the entire class. 

• CueThink
• Evernote
• More ideas here...

Budget:

30 Chromebooks ($179.99 each) $5,400 total

Bretford Store and Charge ($1,953)

Total: $7,353

Back Up Plan