MATH TOOLS
DESMOS.COM
Not only do I have my students use this as their graphing and scientific calculator in class, but on the teacher side of things I can create lessons, activities, labs, etc for my students to interact with individually or in groups. I can watch and monitor their progress as the go through the activity and currently the team at desmos is beginning to release curriculum for algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2. If you have google classroom you can easily invite and sync your classes to integrate seamlessly with desmos. |
GEOGEBRA.ORG
I don't have as much experience with GeoGebra however I have used it a few times in my geometry class to great effect. Students get a join code, interact with a lesson you have assigned to them and you can monitor progress, see completed work, and help as the work through the task. It also has a scientific and graphing calculator feature that you can access without signing in, like desmos. |
DELTAMATH.COM
Deltamath is a powerful tool that lets you assign your students homework. As students work through an assignment if they are not successful with a particular type of problem deltamath will give them similar problems until they can successful solve that type. It is extremely adaptive and comprehensive. You must make classes for your students within the deltamath website which you can then share the log in information with your students. |
FLIP.COM
Flip is a video recording/sharing website or app that has many uses! In the past I have had my students share videos with just me where they talk through solving mathematical problems, upload videos so that other students can create distance vs time graphs based on what they are viewing, and so much more! Get creative with how your students can use video to show how they learn or interact with math! |
IXL.COM
IXL is another math site that will provide your students with adaptive learning through having them complete practice problems. You can view their progress, assign problem sets, however there is only a 30 day free trail and after that you or your school must purchase a plan.
IXL is another math site that will provide your students with adaptive learning through having them complete practice problems. You can view their progress, assign problem sets, however there is only a 30 day free trail and after that you or your school must purchase a plan.
STYLE
CANVA.COM
I have used canva to update the style of my assignments, projects, and classroom decor. I have also used it to update the look of some presentations that I have for my students, updates that I post in google classroom, my syllabus, and other notes that I send home. It is easy to find these things already created that then you can edit to fit your needs, or you can create your own through multiple different template options. |
GOOGLE SUITE
In 2019 I received my level 1 and 2 google certification as my school district planned to adopt google classroom as our district platform. Through this I learned so many different ways to use the google suite to improve my lessons in slides, activities and assignments in docs or sheets, and integrating all of these things (including linking out to other useful tools such as desmos) through google classroom. |
INSPIRATION
YOUCUBED.ORG
During my 12 years of teaching I have always had the mindset that any student can be successful in learning mathematics. Jo Boaler, founder of the website YouCubed.org and leading mathematics instructor and inspiration to me, promotes the growth mindset in mathematics through her many videos, activities, and books that can be found on her site. I have used many of her Week of Inspiration Math activities in my classroom to help my students build upon their growth mindset and to become mathematical pattern seekers! ITEACHALGEBRA
As someone who early in their career made a shift from having students take their own notes, or sometimes complete fill in the blank binder notes to having students create their own interactive notebook and having it essentially become their own math textbook I needed help in recreating all my materials. I have taken so much inspiration from Rory Yakabov's foldables and activites that not only have I created my own based on her designs and ideas but I have even purchased many of her items on Teachers Pay Teachers. |
DAN MEYER
I first stumbled upon Dan Meyer's blog when searching for engaging ways to introduce my students to quadratics. This is when I found the idea of 3 Act Math that Dan Meyer began in his classroom many years ago. He has complied many of his own 3 Act Math lessons as well as many others created by other educators on his site that everyone is free to use. I have found so much student engagement through this model that introduces a question through a cliffhanger video or image that students will discover on their own. You then provide them with the information necessary to 'solve the question'. And then finally in the 3rd act you reveal the answer. MATHMEDIC.COM
One of the last Professional Development opportunities that I decided to attend on my own time was presented by the team behind the website Math Medic. They started off by creating materials for AP Stats and now have everything from that down to Algebra 1. Their believe is to 'experience first, formalize later'. By introducing a real world problem that students would potentially encounter and have to solve there is buy in and then you can show them the fancy mathematical terms later. I have found through using their materials and creating my own activities like it that it gets even the students who think math is not important talking! |