Live. Love. Math.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Integrating Technology in the Secondary Math Classroom

It's been a hot minute since I have written a post, but I am back. As teachers, you know how crazy life can get and it has been exactly that for the past few years. Yes. Years.

My goal this past school year was to integrate technology into my daily lessons as often as possible. This ranged from using the TI Nspire calculators with the Navigator system, to ipads, to just booking the computer lab. We are also a "bring your own device" campus, but with 7th graders that can open up a can of worms that I am just not interested in managing, mmkay?

One of my favorite things that I did this year was dive head in with Schoology as a platform to house all course materials. Students still received paper copies of most things, but files were housed on Schoology in our course materials folder in the event it was lost or students wanted to re-do an assignment. This also saved me a lot of time from standing at the copier since I could load a digital copy of a resource on Schoology and students could access on their ipads. Students were more engaged using technology, and I had an extra 10 minutes to drink HOT coffee before school started. I know, I can't believe it either.

Screenshot of my course from the 1st semester

It was so easy to navigate for students and parents. I am all about things making my life easier and this was it! By the end of the first month of school, I am able to provide simple instructions about where their activity is located and they can find it. It leaves me more time to go work on on one with students who need it most.

When you put students in purposeful groups, and provide tools to not get bogged down in the math, real magic can happen. Don't get me wrong, I am all about students having the skills they need in order to solve basic math problems without calculation devices. But, if that is not the main skill that I am assessing, I am going to allow my students to have a calculator available to them. Here, they are working on a Pythagorean Theorem task. While they all have a calculator available to them, they chose NOT to use it. That is powerful.

Many people think that teaching an accelerated course means that your students are all above grade level. That is simply not the case. In my class, I will have students who range from having barely passed the state test to scoring perfectly. There is a lot of differentiation that needs to occur in order to meet my kiddos where they are and grow them all. I want to be able to extend the learning for my truly GT students but also not leave behind my strugglers. Technology allowed me to do that this year. I am looking forward to incorporating it even more next year!

Sunday, August 2, 2015

It's time for the Back to School Sale!

One thing I love about this time of year is new school supplies and new TPT products to purchase for my classroom! I like to change things up so I don't get bored of using the same activities over and over again. I am going to share with you some things that I am glad I purchased last year, and some things that I am super stoked to purchase tomorrow!

Last year, I bought these and they were awesome!

Integers! I wanna be a Rock-Star Relay - A fun way to review!

Have you ever used any of MissMathDork's relays? Have you been living under a rock!? They are the best thing that has entered my classroom on a review day since I don't know what. This was perfect for my 6th graders last year! She even has bundles for you to create your own.

Pumpkin Coloring Activity Template - Personal Use Only!

I LOVE All Things Algebra and these coloring activities. I use them as an activity to leave with a sub because the coloring keeps them busy. I also choose my 10-12 juiciest problems to put on these so that they are getting rigorous practice AND not having free time to annoy a substitute!

This activity is a great way to close out a class period when you have a few extra minutes!

Some things that I JUST. CANNOT. WAIT. to purchase are:

AND, a whole lot of digital paper!

My store will be discounted 20% and you can receive an additional 10% off your whole purchase with the promo code BTS15 at checkout! Click the logo below to be taken to my store.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Enhancing Basic Skills Without Losing Class Time

Hello, friends! I hope that you have had a wonderful summer so far. It is about that time for me to start thinking about going back to school (as hard as that is right now!) and I began reflecting upon some things that worked for me last year. If you are in Texas, then you know how hard of a shift we made with new standards this year. I found myself feeling a great need to "fill in all the gaps" that my kiddos had. However, we simply didn't have the time. I had to come up with a way to help them without using class time.

I taught two grades last year: 6th Grade On Level Math, and 7th Grade Pre-AP Math. Needless to say, they had very different gaps.

On my campus, we have 5 minute passing periods. If you are on an elementary campus or don't have as long of a passing period, you may need to tweak this for your campus.

Here's what I came up with: I made flash cards (using index cards and a sharpie that still had some life left in it!) for whatever skill it was that my kids were severely struggling with. For my 6th graders, it was multiplication facts at first, and for my 7th graders, it was integer operations. (Can I get an AMEN?!)

Anyhow, I made about 60 flashcards of varying difficulty for each set and used different colors so that I could easily identify which set was for which grade level. At the end of each class, I would dismiss my kids, and wait at the door for my next class. They were already trained to wait until I told them they could go in, so this was an easy transition.

The first kid would get a card that looked like this:

They weren't necessarily this easy, but on the back would be the answer like this:

I had them reversed as well, where a larger factor would appear first.

And, again, the answer was on the back.

If the student got the right answer, they went into class and completed whatever task was on the board for them. If the answer was incorrect, I did one of two things. Sometimes, I let the student take the card with them to the back of the line and when they got back up to the front they would need to explain why the answer is what it is. Other times, I would send them to the back of the line to review their notes and when they came back up, they would get a different card. It was a great way to hold them accountable for skills that they should have mastered.

If I had hall duty, I would have the first student who answered correctly show the cards to the rest of the class. The kids would compete to get to class first to have this honor. It was hilarious. Who rushes to get to MATH!?

I'm going to be completely honest here. I didn't think this would work as well as it did. I would use the same exact set for a week or two before switching to something a bit more difficult based on what we were learning in class. I had amazing results! The kids cheered each other on, which was great, and were so proud of themselves when they got the answer right on the first try. They enjoyed being challenged. Which made me ecstatic.

The best thing that ever happened was this:

Remember when I said that my 7th graders were struggling with integer operations? Well, that is because it was now a 6th grade standard and it used to be a 7th grade standard. My students unfortunately did not get very much instruction the prior year and were frustrated big time. This was about the time that my 6th graders were learning integer operations and as a 6th grader walks by during the passing period, he sees the card I am showing to a 7th grader and he yells out, "Hey! How come the 7th graders get easier cards than we do?!" This really motivated my 7th graders to master this and move on to a new stack of cards!

So, if you are looking to start something like this in your classroom, but don't have time to make the cards yourself, my first two sets are available for purchase in my TpT store. More sets will be coming soon. If you have any requests, leave me a comment or send me an email and I will add it to my list!

This particular set has 120 cards used to practice multiplication facts complete with answers on the back of the cards. Click the image for more information.

This set has 96 cards (24 for each integer operation) with the answers on the backside. Click the image for more information.

Have a great school year!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

16 Secondary Mathletes You NEED to be Following!

Ever notice that the internet is flooded with elementary math ideas, but that finding quality secondary materials is virtually impossible.... LOOK NO FURTHER! I'd love to introduce you to the

Secondary Mathletes!

Live.Love.Math - Danielle Krantz

Grades 5 - 9

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