Seaford math teachers embrace digital tools

Math teachers at Seaford High School have embraced technology throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

With the hybrid instructional model, they have become accustomed to teaching students both in-person and at home at the same time, and have a variety to digital tools to do it.

Through OneNote, teachers can distribute math worksheets for students to complete. Teacher Jessica DelGuercio said students essentially create a digital notebook that keeps all of their notes and assignments together in one place. It also is easier for teachers, who can review student work with just a few clicks.

The devices provided to students by the district through the Personalized Digital Learning Initiative also work well for math. DelGuercio and her colleague Marie Savage explained that most people have an easier time solving equations by writing than typing, but because the touch screen HP laptops all include a stylus, students can do their work on the computer with the same ease as if they were writing on a sheet of paper. Of course, pen, paper and calculators haven’t gone extinct from math classrooms either.

With Microsoft Teams, teachers can connect with all students in the class, regardless of their location, and can even share the screen of any student to show an example of good work. Teacher Ryan Stephens likes the feature in which he can assign students for small-group work in virtual meeting rooms. This allows them to collaborate even if some of the students in the group are in school and the others are at home.

“Even if they're not in the classroom, it’s like they are,” he said.

Stephens said the technology aspect also provides more time for learning. If he wants to give his students a timed assignment, he simply sends it to their computers. The time saved handing out and collecting papers is additional time he gains to help students master math content.

Kevin O’Reilly teaches statistics courses and their laptops are great tools for quickly and easily looking up data. When it comes time for research projects, in which students find and analyze data sets, they add their topic to a shared spreadsheet in Microsoft Forms so no two students pick the same idea.  

The math teachers said they are very appreciative for the high level of professional development they have received on how to incorporate these different resources into their instruction and support all students in a hybrid-learning model. Ms. Savage said that eventually school will return to normal, but she expects that these digital tools will continue to be used by the math department because they have so well received by the teachers and students. 

—Brian Stieglitz