Introduction
I currently teach 7th grade mathematics on a laptop team at Henry C. Conrad Middle School in Wilmington, DE. Conrad is an urban middle school with a diverse population of students, 72% of whom receive free or reduced lunches. The school's ethnicity levels are 39% Hispanics, 30% African American, 29% Caucasian, and 1% American Indian and Asian American students. There are approximately 700 students enrolled in the school. Students wear uniforms to discourage gang activity and encourage equity among all students.
My team of 108 students is part of a laptop program where each student carries a laptop to class. These laptops are provided by the school and remain at the school for students to use while at school. The laptop program facilitates the use of technology in my instructional practices as I am expected to have the students on the laptops as often as possible. Sometimes this expected use of laptops is difficult to accomplish, as the district expectations are to utilize Connected Mathematics to address the Delaware content standards. If a school has Holt resources, they are used as supplemental to Connected Mathematics. Conrad does not have access to Holt resources except the teacher's edition. However, there are currently many interactive web resources that facilitate the lessons within the Connected Mathematics series, which I utilize in my classroom.
I teach four math classes within a block schedule where each of my classes is an hour and 5 minutes in length. Each class is a heterogeneous group of students — mathematical abilities and ethnicities. Conrad does not track students nor does it currently offer honors math courses. It is imperative that the teacher offer differentiated instruction within the lesson to meet the diverse abilities in each class. The laptop program facilitates differentiated instruction as students can utilize the interactive sites to target their needs and enrich their investigations into mathematical concepts.