From a former CTAP 4 staff member:
County:  Alameda
District:  Piedmont USD
School: Piedmont Middle

Over the years educators have sometimes struggled to find innovative uses of technology for the math classroom beyond the graphing calculators. This is not the case for this middle school math teacher! When you walk in to Tamara Knapp’s math classroom at Piedmont Middle School in Alameda County – technology is just a normal part of the landscape. Tamara has been using a variety of technology tools over the years but her natural style and use of the interactive SMART Board, eInstruction CPS clickers and the online iText from Prentice Hall makes you wish this could have been your junior high math class. In her current assignment, she is teaching Algebra and Pre-Algebra and using the Prentice Hall hardcopy textbook as well as the iText, an interactive online textbook, in her daily instruction. This online version (iText) also allows the students access to their text from home as well.

Tamara is able to provide dynamic lessons using an interactive whiteboard that projects images of her computer screen.  Students work on solving problems on the board or on problems proposed by an interactive manipulative with input from the rest of the class. Instant evaluation of students’ grasp of the material is possible with the CPS clickers which students use to answer questions.  Responses are anonymous so all students can participate without fear of embarrassment, yet the teacher can get an instant picture of the level of understanding.  Students are engaged and using the academic vocabulary necessary to discuss and solve all kinds of mathematical problems and challenges. And it is fun! Even cooler – this idea of online text is meeting the needs of our digital- mobile students just by being online. Some of Tamara’s students are accessing their textbook on an iPhone or Blackberry to complete their homework while on the road.

For more information about the interactive board in Tamara’s classroom visit: http://www2.smarttech.com
For information about the clickers visit:  http://www.einstruction.com
And for more about the iText from Prentice Hall visit: http://www.phschool.com/

To ask Tamara a question email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it