The the requested funds, I will purchase a class set of TI Nspire calculators. Below are the reasons I am requesting the funds for the calculators and the differences it will make for my students.

a. Self-Directed Student Learning with Teacher as a Facilitator – I have had the opportunity to participate in a graduate fellowship program while working on my master’s degree at the University of Memphis. This is a four-year program tailored to math and science teachers, providing us with professional development to enrich how we teach students math and science. One invaluable teaching method I have learned in this program is the discovery-learning model. This innovative approach encourages students to discover learning through the use of technology, math investigations, exploration activities, and real world projects. The teacher has a role who serves as someone who facilitates learning versus a “sage on the stage.” With the TI-Nspire calculators, students are able to combine and link various representations of graphs, geometry, algebraic expressions, data tables, and text. In addition, students are able to actually move graphs, data, and various mathematical representations, which allow for learner exploration. Having the TI-Nspires allow for a more efficient model of a self-directed learning approach in my class.

b. Conceptualizing Mathematics – Math is so much more than just rote memorization and knowing formulas. When students can conceptualize mathematics, they can come up with an idea about how and why math works. The TI-Nspire calculators come with software that have math labs that provide guidance and direction for explorations. These labs encourage students to formulate conclusions about topics. The result is more cognitive work being placed on the student to allow him to develop his critical thinking skills, which allows for a conceptualized understanding of how and why math works. Being that the math labs are real world application challenges, the labs increase student engagement. Naturally, this engagement fuels the desire to want to know why math works which leads to the conceptualization of the subject matter.

c. Assessment Feedback – With the navigator system feature on the TI-Nspire calculators, students can wirelessly submit a variety of assessments. These assessments range from short answer, free response, graphing, or multiple choice which enable me to provide immediate feedback. This will be helpful for my students to know if they are on track to master a given objective. It will also help me to quickly adjust my instruction so that students are able to get the best support. During whole group discussions, students can privately submit responses through their calculators. This eliminates the public discomfort of getting an answer incorrect. Often with whole group discussions, there are some students that do not contribute as much and some students dominate the conversation. With the TI-Nspire, I can give students time to submit their individual answers to whole group questions before we discuss in class. This ensures 100% of students will participate in whole group discussions.

e. Individualized Learning – Each student works at a different pace. Having Chromebooks in class will give students the autonomy to review a skill not yet mastered, or explore a topic in depth they might have found interesting. Having access to online videos and tools will aid students as they work in class. The high level interventions available with Chromebooks will further differentiate the learning and pace.

f. Persistent Problem Solvers – One of my class goals is for students to be “persistent problem solvers.” This means they might not know an answer to a problem, but they will use all possible resources to figure out the solution and will work tirelessly to solve it. I believe the use of technology in my class will allow for students to exhaust all possible resources as they become efficient problem solvers. It will also develop and promote skills in mathematics visualization exploration.

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