Online Math Resources

Online math practice is something that teachers have been working toward for a few years now. Incorporating some of the main websites such as Khan academy, Desmos and  IXL allow students to practice within the classroom and also at home if they have the resources. But there are more interactive websites outside of these main three. One website that I learned about in my internship was called prodigy. The website has students going on a quest like activity and in order to advance in the quest they must answer math problems. I went to their website and found an article called “ 7 Reasons Prodigy is Right for Your School.” To me, one of the big positives of using prodigy is that it has a curriculum that is aligned to the content standards. This is great so when students are going over these activities, they are still creating building blocks to go off of other lessons. Another great thing that prodigy does is that it has differentiated and personalized learning. The article states that they have a feature that allows teachers to edit their templates for them to create specific lessons or differentiation and even if teachers do not use this feature, the prodigy program will differentiate following the standards. The final piece that I like about this website is that it uses the data collected from student work and turns them into progress reports that help track the student development and growth. 

Going back to the first three, they all do still have their positive aspects and they must be doing a few things right if they are the main three I see teachers using. One that I have been looking into lately is Desmos. One of the common things I have noticed as I was researching about desmos is that most teachers use it for the graphing calculators as they can cost upwards of $200 each and these online ones are free. Although this is a great resource of desmos, they offer many other things through the teacher activities. A blog about Desmos in the Math Classroom discusses the ways that one teacher utilizes desmos in their classroom. They discuss how they use Desmos to easily solve the students conjectures, bring in outside elements such as art, and even how desmos allows them to have a more social classroom. I think my favorite part about this blog post is that the teacher wrote about how desmos activities got the students excited to be a part of class. One of the students had gone on a vacation but still wanted to participate in the class activity, so the teacher sent the student the access code and this student was able to participate even when they were not in the classroom. Having students who are excited to learn and using a platform that promotes that will help create a welcoming learning environment within the classroom. 

Online Learning

This week I had the chance to catch up with some of my high school classmates. Most of whom are in their residency year or even first year teachers. It was very interesting to her what they are having to go through when it comes to teaching students online. It is another example as to why teachers have to be ready to adapt to any situation at any time. With what is going on in our world today, I wanted to look into what makes a good teacher be a good teacher online as well.

I found a site with many tips, but I found a few of them to be more important than others. The most important one I found was to be present. Teachers need to let their students know that they are there for them, even if it is not in person. Checking in with them often is important to making sure they are staying on track. With this being said, it is important to make sure you are asking your students for feedback. Since you are not able to see them understand or not understand the content in the classroom, it should be a priority to ask for their feedback. Ask them if items are making sense, or if there is anything that you can do better. It is vital to make sure they still feel that you are there for them. Another important part of making online learning successful is to make sure you are setting expectations for the students. Make sure they know what they are supposed to be doing, and that they are doing these tasks to the expectations you set. It is also important to make sure that there are not too many expectations. Especially in a time like this, it is important that teachers are understanding of personal lives. It is also beneficial to do more discussion posts and group work. With the technology we have access to, it is vital that students are staying connected to one another and still continuing to learn from one another. Teachers still need to remember the relationship aspects of teaching. It is beneficial to check in with students individually to make sure they are okay both personally and with tasks in the classroom.

I then take a few steps back and look at this type of learning from a student’s perspective. It is not easy, nor is it how we wanted to learn, but we need to find a way to continue to learn and grow. With all of our classes going online, and being a future teacher, it makes be acknowledge what professors and teachers are doing for us to still have access to an education. It makes me proud of the profession I am going into, and very excited to be one of the teachers having to adapt in the future. After hearing the thoughts and experiences of my old classmates, and now present teachers, I am certain that I am in the right profession.