Electronic math slates free teachers to be fully engaged with students

Special to the Leader-Press

It may not be a magic carpet, but teacher S. Lee Junior High math teacher Rebecca Gulick believes her new math slate is as close as it gets.

Copperas Cove ISD purchased 80 electronic, wireless math slates for teachers from third grade through Algebra I using Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.

“Math teachers were requesting for digital wireless slates to present math problems from anywhere in the classroom, said CCISD Director of Digital Learning and Innovation Dani Patterson. “The district responded by purchasing the slates and providing hands-on professional development to teachers on how to use the wireless slates in their instruction. Teachers were given a wireless slate during the training and were able to connect the wireless slate to their teacher laptops.”

Upon leaving the training, Gulick used the math slate in her classroom the very next day.

“The slate allows me to unchain myself from the front of the classroom while presenting my lessons,” Gulick said. “I’m able to demonstrate how to solve problems while checking student work at the same time.”

Teachers may now stand in the back of the room and write on the slate and, like magic, what they write appears on the interactive whiteboard at the front of the classroom. Teachers can stand in the front of a room full of students, showing them how to work out a math problem, and all students can view the steps the teacher is sharing to solve the math problem.

Guilick said that most importantly, the electronic math slates provide the opportunity to provide immediate feedback to students.

“It allows me to be fully engaged with all students instead of just being tethered to the front of the class,” Guilick said. 

House Creek Elementary third grade math teacher Thad Shumaker used the new math slate with his students immediately following the training.

“Mr. Shumaker was able to walk the room monitoring his students while still being able to demonstrate the math problems on the white board,” said House Creek Elementary Instructional Coach Jessica Bredwell.  “Using a wireless digital slate during his math lessons allows him to work through math problems anywhere in the classroom.”

The math slate connects wirelessly to a computer from as far as 52 feet so teachers can share their steps to solving the math problem from virtually anywhere in the classroom.